"We are not the first to face what seem like overwhelming challenges," says HBS professor and business historian Nancy F. Koehn. A new volume edited and narrated by Koehn, The Story of American Business: From the Pages of The New York Times, presents more than a hundred timely articles from the 1850s to today. Q&A and book excerpt.
The financial crisis provides a sobering reminder of what happens when innovation fails to drive productive economic growth. For over a decade, money from around the world poured into the United States seeking innovation. Despite these massive investments, when adjusted for inflation, U.S. GDP grew slowly with much of the growth coming from government, professional, and business services, including real estate and outsourcing. What's more, inflation adjusted wages stalled for many, even as consumer spending increased. This paper argues that innovation is not a side business to a real business: rather, innovation is the foundation of a successful business.
Entrepreneurs, take heart. True, the global economic malaise removes opportunities and precious resources—but also adds them in new and interesting ways, argues HBS senior lecturer Bhaskar Chakravorti. In this Q&A he identifies reasons for optimism, and shows how entrepreneurs can think differently about bad news.
Published in 2008
How do your coworkers affect your decision to become an entrepreneur? The vast majority of entrepreneurs launch their new ventures following a period of employment in established organizations. To date, factors such as the degree of bureaucracy that individuals have experienced have been shown to shape their likelihood to go into business for themselves. But socialization matters, too. Nanda and Sørensen show that the career experiences of coworkers shape both the information and the resources available to prospective entrepreneurs, as well as the value that individuals attach to entrepreneurial activity as a career choice.
Entrepreneurship in both China and India is rising dramatically and thriving under quite different conditions. HBS professor Tarun Khanna explains what it all means in this Q&A about his new book, Billions of Entrepreneurs: How China and India Are Reshaping Their Futures and Yours. Plus: book excerpt.
Published in 2007
HBS professor Jim Heskett sums up many creative responses from readers on the role of business in combatting global climate change. Online forum now closed.
Published in 2006
Podcast: For Harvard Business School professor Richard S. Tedlow, Intel co-founder Andy Grove is one of the most important and intriguing CEOs in American business history. In this interview, Tedlow discusses his new biography, Andy Grove: The Life and Times of an American with Jim Aisner.
Professor Myra Hart's New Path program helps Harvard Business School alumnae re-enter the work world. Here is a look at what participants learned about life, work, and the quickly changing world of business.
A look behind how professor John Deighton developed a case study of mystery writer James Patterson. From the HBS Alumni Bulletin.
Published in 2005
The best way to become an entrepreneur is to jump into the water and get your feet wet, said several successful businessmen at the Harvard Business School Entrepreneurship Conference.
A "Robin Hood" cardiac hospital in India—which charges wealthy patients, yet equally welcomes the destitute—is an exciting example of entrepreneurship in the subcontinent, says HBS professor Tarun Khanna.
Published in 2004
The $60 billion global luxury goods market’s most recognizable brands—Thomas Pink, Steuben, Godiva, among them—are refreshing products and creating lower-priced lines.
A new database on great American leaders offers surprising insights on the nature of leadership. A Q&A with Tony Mayo, executive director of the Harvard Business School Leadership Initiative.
What is it like today for women entrepreneurs in their quest for venture capital funding? In an interview, professor Myra M. Hart shares her latest research and ideas.
Published in 2003
For best results, managers should tap into the pride of their employees. This article from Harvard Management Communication Letter explains how.
Polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton is the subject of a new HBS case study. Professor Nancy F. Koehn discusses lessons for leaders from the voyage of the Endurance.
Starting and sustaining a minority-owned business has never been easy. The challenges are even greater in today's tough economy. Successful entrepreneurs share their experiences.
One moved back home. Another said his career subscribed to "chaos theory." The career paths of new Harvard Business School MBAs have wandered, some very far, from where the young executives had anticipated.
Published in 2002
In conjunction with the major exhibit "Enterprising Women: 250 Years of American Business," the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study recently presented a two-day program entitled Women, Money and Power. Harvard Business School professor Nancy F. Koehn participated in the conference's opening panel—an informal discussion and reflection on the exhibit and its major themes.
American society throws women entrepreneurs plenty of roadblocks. But at the recent Women, Money, and Power conference, a new generation of businesswomen offered advice and ideas for change. Harvard Business School professor Linda A. Hill led the discussion.
Are you cut out to conquer the challenges facing today's entrepreneur? HBS professor Walter Kuemmerle has developed a litmus test to help you decide. Two key questions: Do you have the patience to start small? Are you a closer?
How do entrepreneurs stoke their courage during a recession? For a determined group who started their own businesses during easier times, the answer at the recent conference was simple: There's still nothing that compares to entrepreneurship.
Published in 2001
How do you make the jump from leading a small team in the proverbial garage to heading a multibillion-dollar business? HBS professor Nancy F. Koehn has answers. Second of two parts.
What can we learn from the lives of six masterful entrepreneurs from 1759 through the present day? Lots, according to HBS professor Nancy F. Koehn, as she explains in a conversation about her latest book.
People are buzzing about two classes at HBS that showcase the School's new approach to teaching management. Hear from the instructors who lead them and alumni who took the plunge. John S. Rosenberg takes you there in this article from Harvard Magazine. Part two.
Visit two classes that showcase HBS's new approach to teaching management, and hear from alumni who took the plunge. John S. Rosenberg sorts it all out in this article from Harvard Magazine. Part one of a two-part series.
Published in 2000
Twenty-five years after graduation, four members of the HBS Class of '75 reflect on the enterprising spirit that has characterized both their generation and their own careers.
Can the entrepreneurial spirit that's thrived in the U.S. and flourished amid the bloom of the dot.com economy make it in Europe and, if so, what will it take?
Two CEOs at the forefront of the transformation in the way businesses buy and sell goods—Scott Randall of FairMarket (HBS MBA '87) and Glen Meakem of FreeMarkets (HBS MBA '91—spoke with Professor Bill Sahlman recently about their paths to new business models and what they've learned along the way.
Published in 1999
John H. Patterson's sales management techniques built National Cash Register into the dominant force in its industry and had a major impact on the development of modern selling. This excerpt from Business History Review looks at one aspect of the Patterson method.
The Virginians in Jamestown, the Puritans in Massachusetts Bay, the Quakers in Pennsylvania and other early settlers of what later became the United States all brought with them elements of capitalism, precursors of the future nation's market-driven direction. In this excerpt from his article "American Capitalism" in Creating Modern Capitalism: How Entrepreneurs, Companies, and Countries Triumphed in Three Industrial Revolutions, HBS Professor Thomas K. McCraw looks at the early years of capitalism on the North American continent.
The term entrepreneur — literally, "undertaker"—has been around for over two centuries, but attempts to define it have remained elusive. In this excerpt from their article "Entrepreneurial Management: In Pursuit of Opportunity," HBS Professors Howard H. Stevenson and Teresa M. Amabile look back at the roots of entrepreneneurship as an academic field of interest and ahead to what they believe will be "the entrepreneur's century."
