Faculty Q&A
There are 280 Q&As.
Faculty Q&As are in-depth one-on-one interviews with Harvard Business School faculty on a variety of subjects, where faculty share insights on their latest research and future plans.
HBS Begins Teaching Consumer Finance
| Q&A with: | Peter Tufano |
|---|---|
| Published: | October 28, 2009 |
| Feature: | Lessons from the Classroom |
Last spring HBS became the first top-ranked U.S. business school to offer a course in consumer finance. Professor Peter Tufano talks about the course and his determination to make consumer finance a broadly accepted academic pursuit. From the HBS Alumni Bulletin.
The New Deal: Negotiauctions
| Q&A with: | Guhan Subramanian |
|---|---|
| Published: | October 26, 2009 |
| Feature: | Executive Education |
Whether negotiating to purchase a company or a house, dealmaking is becoming more complex. Harvard Business School professor Guhan Subramanian sees a new form arising, part negotiation, part auction. Call it the negotiauction. Here's how to play the game.
7 Lessons for Navigating the Storm
| Q&A with: | William W. George |
|---|---|
| Published: | October 13, 2009 |
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Leading in crisis requires a combination of skills and behaviors—personal and professional—that can be mastered, says HBS professor Bill George. A crisis, difficult as it is, also presents an opportunity to develop and grow. Q&A and excerpt from 7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis.
The Vanguard Corporation
| Q&A with: | Rosabeth Moss Kanter |
|---|---|
| Published: | October 5, 2009 |
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
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.
The Height Tax, and Other New Ways to Think about Taxation
| Q&A with: | Matthew Weinzierl |
|---|---|
| Published: | September 8, 2009 |
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
The notion of levying higher taxes on tall people—an idea offered largely tongue in cheek—presents an ideal way to highlight the shortcomings of current tax policy and how to make it better. Harvard Business School professor Matthew C. Weinzierl looks at modern trends in taxation.
Why Competition May Not Improve Credit Rating Agencies
| Q&A with: | Bo Becker |
|---|---|
| Published: | August 31, 2009 |
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Competition usually creates better products and services. But when competition increased among credit rating agencies, the result was less accurate ratings, according to a study by HBS professor Bo Becker and finance professor Todd Milbourn of Washington University in St Louis. In our Q&A, Becker discusses why users of ratings should exercise a little caution.
High Commitment, High Performance Management
| Q&A with: | Michael Beer |
|---|---|
| Published: | August 10, 2009 |
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
High commitment, high performance organizations such as Southwest Airlines, Johnson & Johnson, McKinsey, and Toyota effectively manage three paradoxical goals, says HBS professor Michael Beer. His new book explains what all companies can learn. Q&A
Corporate Social Responsibility in a Downturn
| Q&A with: | V. Kasturi Rangan |
|---|---|
| Published: | August 3, 2009 |
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Financial turmoil is not a reason to scale back on CSR programs—quite the opposite, says HBS professor V. Kasturi "Kash" Rangan. As a marketing scholar Rangan is optimistic about strategic CSR efforts that provide value in communities and society. Q&A
Social Network Marketing: What Works?
| Q&A with: | Sunil Gupta |
|---|---|
| Published: | July 27, 2009 |
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Purchase decisions are influenced differently in social networks than in the brick-and-mortar world, says Harvard Business School professor Sunil Gupta. The key: Marketers should tap into the networking aspect of sites such as Facebook.
Markets or Communities? The Best Ways to Manage Outside Innovation
| Q&A with: | Karim R. Lakhani |
|---|---|
| Published: | July 20, 2009 |
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
No one organization can monopolize knowledge in any given field. That's why modern companies must develop a new expertise: the ability to attract novel solutions to difficult or unanticipated problems from outside sources around the world. A conversation with Harvard Business School professor Karim R. Lakhani on the keys to managing distributed innovation.
Conducting Layoffs: 'Necessary Evils' at Work
| Q&A with: | Joshua D. Margolis and Andrew L. Molinsky |
|---|---|
| Published: | July 6, 2009 |
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
"The core challenge for everyone who performs necessary evils comes from having to do two seemingly contradictory things at once: be compassionate and be direct," say Joshua D. Margolis of Harvard Business School and Andrew L. Molinsky of Brandeis University International Business School. Their research sheds light on best practices—typically overlooked—for the well-being of those who carry out these emotionally difficult tasks. Q&A
The Return of the Salesman
| Q&A with: | Walter A. Friedman |
|---|---|
| Published: | June 8, 2009 |
| Feature: | History Teaches |
Salesmen have received a bad rap over the years, but increasingly the profession is drawing scholarly interest. Business History Review coeditor Walter A. Friedman discusses the publication's recent themed issue on salesmanship.
The Unseen Link Between Savings and National Growth
| Q&A with: | Diego A. Comin |
|---|---|
| Published: | May 18, 2009 |
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Professor Diego Comin and fellow researchers find a little observed link between private savings and country growth. The work may offer a simple interpretation for the East Asia "miracle" and for failures in Latin America. Q&A.
The IT Leader's Hero Quest
| Q&A with: | Robert D. Austin, Richard L. Nolan, and Shannon O'Donnell |
|---|---|
| Published: | May 11, 2009 |
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Think you could be CIO? Jim Barton is a savvy manager but an IT newbie when he's promoted into the hot seat as chief information officer in The Adventures of an IT Leader, a novel by HBS professors Robert D. Austin and Richard L. Nolan and coauthor Shannon O'Donnell. Can Barton navigate his strange new world quickly enough? Q&A with the authors, and book excerpt.
Building Businesses in Turbulent Times
| Q&A with: | Lynda M. Applegate |
|---|---|
| Published: | April 27, 2009 |
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
An economic crisis is a charter for business leaders to rewrite and rethink how they do business, says Harvard Business School professor Lynda M. Applegate. The key: Don't think retrenchment; think growth.
Misgovernance at the World Bank
| Q&A with: | Eric D. Werker |
|---|---|
| Published: | April 20, 2009 |
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Board members may be inclined to advance their own interests at voting time. This appears true for the World Bank's Board of Executive Directors, too. The problem? Many countries are being shut out of development funding. New research by Harvard Law School student Ashwin Kaja and HBS professor Eric Werker tells why misgovernance at the World Bank should be corrected.
Kind of Blue: Pushing Boundaries with Miles Davis
| Q&A with: | Robert D. Austin |
|---|---|
| Published: | April 13, 2009 |
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Since it hit the airwaves half a century ago, Kind of Blue by Miles Davis has influenced the hearts and minds of jazz fans everywhere. Its songs became instant classics, and it has also converted many a nonfan to appreciate the music's subtlety and complexity. In a new business case, HBS professor Robert D. Austin and Carl Størmer highlight the takeaways for thoughtful managers and executives from this story of creation and innovation.
Clay Christensen on Disrupting Health Care
| Q&A with: | Clayton M. Christensen |
|---|---|
| Published: | April 8, 2009 |
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
In The Innovator's Prescription, professor Clayton Christensen and his coauthors target disruptive innovations that will make health care both more affordable and more effective in the future. Q&A with Christensen. From the HBS Alumni Bulletin.
Professional Networks in China and America
| Q&A with: | Roy Y.J. Chua |
|---|---|
| Published: | March 30, 2009 |
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
While American managers prefer to separate work and personal relationships, Chinese counterparts are much more likely to intermingle the two. One result: Doing business in China takes lots of time, says HBS professor Roy Y.J. Chua.
When the Internet Runs Out of IP Addresses
| Q&A with: | Benjamin G. Edelman |
|---|---|
| Published: | March 16, 2009 |
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Experts predict that within three years we will see the last of new Web addresses. What will happen then? The best solution is to create a market for already assigned but unwanted numbers, says Harvard Business School professor Ben Edelman.
