- 18 Nov 2016
- Sharpening Your Skills
Sharpening Your Skills: Making a Fast Start on a New Job
Everyone has to begin a new job—even presidents! We look to the archives for what Harvard Business School experts have recommended for making a splashy start. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 11 May 2015
- Research & Ideas
A Road Map to Fix America’s Transportation Infrastructure
Why is America's transportation system so outdated, why should we care, and what can we do about it? Rosabeth Moss Kanter offers a road map to roadway recovery in her new book, Move: Putting America's Infrastructure Back in the Lead. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 13 Mar 2014
- Research & Ideas
Can We Get To Where We Need To Go?
America's infrastructure woes and how to fix them were front and center at the recent summit, America on the Move: Transportation and Infrastructure for the 21st Century, led by Rosabeth Moss Kanter. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 06 Dec 2013
- Op-Ed
HBS Faculty Remember Nelson Mandela
Harvard Business School faculty Nitin Nohria, Linda Hill, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, and Gautam Mukunda remember Nelson Mandela, a leader who truly made a difference in the world. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 19 Jun 2013
- Research & Ideas
Analyzing Institutions to Solve Big Problems
The academic study of institutions provides important insights into complex problems, but is often criticized for lacking practical relevance. Institutional theorists gathered at Harvard Business School to discuss how to make their work more broadly understood and useful. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 20 May 2013
- Research & Ideas
The Long-Term Fix to US Competitiveness
Participants at a Harvard Business School event were urged by professors Michael Porter and Jan Rivkin to chart a new path forward to improve US competitiveness. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 17 Apr 2013
- Research Event
Conference Challenges Gender Conventions
A conference at Harvard Business School addressed the on-the-ground reality of women leaders 50 years after the first women were admitted to the two-year MBA Program at Harvard. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 20 Feb 2013
- Research & Ideas
Big Deal: Reflections on the Megamerger of American and US Airways
The proposed marriage between American Airlines and US Airways would create the nation's largest airline. Professors Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Stuart Gilson reflect on a megamerger. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 25 Oct 2012
- Research & Ideas
10 Reasons Customers Might Resist Windows 8
Has Microsoft become too innovative? Professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter, a leader in the field of change management, discusses reasons that people might not rush to embrace Windows 8. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 23 May 2012
- Research & Ideas
Five Ways to Make Your Company More Innovative
How do you create a company that unleashes and capitalizes on innovation? HBS faculty experts in culture, customers, creativity, marketing, and the DNA of innovators offer up ideas. From HBS Alumni Bulletin. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 27 Oct 2011
- Research & Ideas
Horrible Boss Workarounds
Bad bosses are generally more inept than evil, and often aren't purposefully bad, says Professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter. She discusses common bad-boss behaviors, and how good colleagues can mobilize to overcome the roadblocks. Key concepts include: Common traits of bad bosses include a failure to communicate goals effectively, if at all; a failure to realize that employees have more to offer than their job descriptions dictate, and a tendency to get caught up in the details to the detriment of the big picture. Employees can work around bad-boss roadblocks by proactively mobilizing their peers toward a common goal. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 19 Jul 2011
- Research & Ideas
Rupert Murdoch and the Seeds of Moral Hazard
Harvard Business School faculty Michel Anteby, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, and Robert Steven Kaplan explore the moral, ethical, and leadership issues behind Rupert Murdoch's News of the World fiasco. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 07 Jun 2011
- Working Paper Summaries
The Institutional Logic of Great Global Firms
In practice, many large firms are now realizing the importance of humanism in corporate management. But in academia, much of management theory is still stuck on the ideas of early industrialization - focusing solely on the idea that the only real value is financial value. In this paper, Rosabeth Moss Kanter discusses how social logic guides the practices of many high-performing companies. Kanter suggests that such successful practices should provoke the creation of new economic theory, which will in turn provoke other firms to take note. She puts forth several propositions to make the case. Key concepts include: Regarding the firm as a social institution is a buffer against uncertainty and change, and generates a longer-term perspective than merely considering financial concerns. Articulation and transmission of social values can evoke positive emotions, stimulate intrinsic motivation, and propel self- or peer-regulation among a firm's employees. Embracing globalization requires a concern for social issues that extend beyond the boundaries of the firm. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 28 Apr 2011
- Op-Ed
While Waiting for Japan’s Recovery, Let’s Enhance Supplier Competitiveness at Home
The Obama administration and US companies do not have to wait for Japanese suppliers to recover from earthquake damage, argues Harvard Business School professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter. Action can be taken now to ensure that America invests in growing our domestic stock of world-class suppliers. Key concepts include: A national campaign to enhance supply-chain partnerships could ensure that America invests in growing our domestic stock of world-class suppliers—an action that could also accelerate job creation. Big companies should target high-potential small companies as suppliers, providing them training, access to domestic and international business opportunities, and lower supplier costs through pooled purchasing or insurance. Because the concept does not require every company to do the same thing, and in fact simply asks companies to increase their efforts to do things already in their portfolio, it does not involve complicated coordination. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 26 Apr 2011
- Op-Ed
HBS Faculty Comment on Environmental Issues for Earth Day
Harvard Business School faculty members offer their views on the many business facets of "going green." Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 27 Dec 2010
- Research & Ideas
HBS Faculty on 2010’s Biggest Business Developments
Three Harvard Business School professors—former Medtronic chairman and CEO Bill George, economist and entrepreneurship expert William Sahlman, and innovation and strategy authority Rosabeth Moss Kanter—offer their thoughts on the most significant business and economic developments of 2010. Key concepts include: Social networking is the most significant business development of 2010, says Bill George, noting that some 600 million people are now active on Facebook—and half of them spend at least an hour per day on the site. The problems of the Great Recession continued to dominate the economy in 2010, according to Bill Sahlman, who says that the popular media have grossly underestimated both the current deficit and level of debt in the United States. Rosabeth Kanter points out that new technology shined in 2010, in spite of the world's economic anxieties. She gives kudos to the Apple iPad, which accelerated the trend toward digital content. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 05 Oct 2009
- Research & Ideas
The Vanguard Corporation
In the book SuperCorp, Rosabeth Moss Kanter lays out a model for 21st-century companies that care as much about creating value for society as they do value for shareholders and employees. The best part: It pays to be good. Key concepts include: Companies with a very strong sense of purpose use it to guide and speed up innovation. All the vanguard companies studied, save one, outperformed their peers during the recession. Leaders must engage employees in discussions around principles and the applications to the business. Vanguard companies are dynamic places to work, with employees having a say on when and where they work. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 24 Aug 2009
- Research & Ideas
SuperCorp: Values as Guidance System
In her new book SuperCorp, professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter details how vanguard companies such as IBM, Cemex, and Omron are rewriting the nature of the business enterprise and how firms will gain sustainable prosperity in the 21st century. Read our excerpt. Key concepts include: Grounding strategy in a sense of wider societal purpose provides many significant advantages and only a few potential disadvantages. Vanguard companies gain both a moral compass and an entire guidance system. To be strategic, a principles-based initiative must contribute to the fundamental way the company makes money, with customers and clients in mind. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 23 Jul 2009
- Working Paper Summaries
Informed and Interconnected: A Manifesto for Smarter Cities
To make our cities and communities smarter, we must become a little smarter ourselves, seeking information and an agenda to forge connections enabling collaboration, according to HBS professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter and IBM's Stanley S. Litow. Their vision is that someday soon, leaders will combine technological capabilities and social innovation to help produce a smarter world. That world will be seen on the ground in smarter cities composed of smarter communities that support the well-being of all citizens. This paper outlines eight challenges facing cities and the communities they encompass, based on experience in the United States. Kanter and Litow provide examples of practices and programs led by both government and nonprofit organizations, many technology-enabled, that point the way to solutions, and they conclude with a call for leaders to embrace an agenda for change. Key concepts include: The need for a new approach to U.S. communities is an urgent imperative because of the biggest global economic crisis since the Great Depression. Significant barriers to solving urban problems include geographic sprawl, residential mobility, the location of jobs, the lack of overarching strategic impact goals, weakened civic leadership, and social isolation. By examining each barrier in turn (and the ways they reinforce each other), it is possible to see the opportunities for significant transformation if communities could become "smarter," with technology helping spread information and facilitate interconnections. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
New Research and Ideas, May 9
How Do You Reorg Big Bird? ... Organized for a downturn ... Finding a new market for Fitbit.