Monthly Archives: May 2011

So far, 2011 has been a remarkable year. With events like those that have changed the power dynamics throughout the Arab world, or the tsunami in Japan that disrupted many global supply chains, it’s easy to think that the world … Continue reading →

How does one successfully manage a company with a dozen diverse, decentralized businesses of varying sizes that employ over 100,000 people in 130 countries, especially in an uncertain economic environment? The answer is to make things simple, says Bill Allen, … Continue reading →

The data seem clear on David Sokol’s conflict of interest in the Berkshire/Lubrizol deal. He bought shares in Lubrizol, and then encouraged Berkshire to buy the company. He claimed that because he didn’t know whether Berskhire would follow his recommendation … Continue reading →

The challenge for the Chief Marketing Officer is to create marketing and brand building that is both exceptional and efficient in the face of country, product, and functional silos. To study that problem, I interviewed more than 40 CMOs and … Continue reading →

In my 1997 HBR article, Beyond Greening: Strategies for a Sustainable World, I made the case for sustainability as a key driver of business growth. Now, well over a decade later, as developing-economy competitors take the lead, U.S. companies still … Continue reading →

A couple of weekends ago, as I was watching Lady Gaga’s appearance on Saturday Night Live, I found myself wondering whether her rise to stardom might mark a shift. Are we looking at the return of something more reckless and … Continue reading →

Think of a team of military commandos and an image of camouflaged, disciplined athletes in their late teens or early twenties might pop into your head. But Navy Seal Team 6, the secret elite group that recently killed Bin Laden, … Continue reading →

This post is part of the HBR Insight Center Making Collaboration Work. On recent visits to India, we have found that “innovation” is the buzzword on everybody’s lips. Indian CEOs and policy-makers inject this word into practically every sentence they … Continue reading →

“Create a social media presence that highlights your expertise,” I told a room full of entrepreneurs. “And that will do more to drive business to your site than anything else you can afford during your startup phase.” Then came the … Continue reading →

The Harvard Business Review‘s mission is to improve the practice of management and its impact on a changing world. So when we were first contacted about a possible collaboration by the Management Innovation eXchange (MIX), which sees its role as … Continue reading →