- 19 Dec 2006
- First Look
- 18 Dec 2006
- Lessons from the Classroom
Grooming Next-Generation Leaders
Organizations succeed by identifying, developing, and retaining talented leaders. Professors W. Earl Sasser and Das Narayandas, who teach leadership development in one of Harvard Business School's Executive Education programs, discuss the fine points of leadership development. Key concepts include: Talent provides organizations a key competitive advantage, but there must be managers and a process in place to identify and nurture next-generation leaders. Large and small companies may have a leg up in leadership development. Medium-sized organizations have the most difficulty with talent identification because these companies often lack the infrastructure and human resources capabilities. What separates true leaders from the merely capable is flexibility in leadership styles in order to meet challenges of the global economy, rapid commoditization, and hyper-competitive environments. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 15 Dec 2006
- Working Paper Summaries
The Business of Free Software: Enterprise Incentives, Investment, and Motivation in the Open Source Community
IBM has contributed more than $1 billion to the development and promotion of the Linux operating system, and other vendors such as Sun are ramping up open source software efforts and investment. Why do information technology vendors that have traditionally sold proprietary software invest millions of dollars in OSS? Where have they chosen to invest, and what are the characteristics of the OSS projects to which they contribute? This study grouped OSS projects into clusters and identified IT vendors' motives in each cluster. Key concepts include: Cluster 1, the "money-driven cluster," consisted of projects that have received almost all of vendor investments. The eighteen projects in this cluster have received over $2 billion in investment. Cluster 2, the "community-driven cluster," has a large number of projects that have received almost no vendor investment. IT vendors have generally ignored projects in this cluster and appear to have no coordinated strategy for dealing with them. Examining the impact of projects in both clusters shows that vendors have not invested uniformly in high-impact OSS projects. Instead, vendors invest in projects that can serve to draw revenues to their own (largely proprietary) core business. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 13 Dec 2006
- Research & Ideas
Improving Public Health for the Poor
Microfinance may offer a window on new methods for widening access to healthcare for the poor, says Harvard Business School's Michael Chu. He and colleagues at the Harvard School of Public Health have embarked on a new project to serve this critical sector. Bringing together public healthcare and market forces "could have huge impact," he says. Key concepts include: Poverty is defined by three billion people in the world living on less than $2 a day. Public health as a private good should be complementary to public health as a public good, not in opposition to it. Project Antares wants to take high-impact initiatives and deliver them through commercial means. Part of its measure of success is whether a higher percentage of the population is helped than would be otherwise. Poverty cannot be tamed with a single solution. It needs an arsenal comprising education, healthcare, housing, access to basic services, and access to capital. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 12 Dec 2006
- First Look
- 11 Dec 2006
- Working Paper Summaries
Three Perspectives on Team Learning: Outcome Improvement, Task Mastery, and Group Process
Organizations increasingly rely on teams to carry out critical strategies and operational tasks. How do teams learn, and what factors are most important to team learning? This paper reports on current perspectives and findings that address these questions, looking at empirical studies on team learning from three areas of research: outcome improvement, task mastery, and group process. Overall, Edmondson and coauthors characterize the nature of research to date and assemble what is known and unknown about the theoretically and practically important topic of team learning. Key concepts include: Team learning has value for organizations; learning in teams is seen as a key mechanism through which learning organizations become strategically and operationally adaptive and responsive. Research on team learning is at a crossroads. How the learning of individual work teams translates into organizational learning is not well understood, and management literature to date offers few insights. One avenue for future research is the durability and utility of team-based networks for the organization as a whole. Learning in teams almost necessarily plays a role in developing the knowledge and skills of individuals who compose the team. Another avenue for future research is how individuals benefit from their team learning experiences in terms of intellectual, career, and personal development goals. Organizations stand to benefit when ideas are cross-fertilized and diverse individuals learn to work together. "Outsiders" can introduce valuable ideas. Learning and execution are often at odds: Learning by its nature involves uncertainty, false starts, and occasional dead ends. Team learning in organizations must be recognized as a strategy for tolerating forays into the unknown. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 11 Dec 2006
- Research & Ideas
Fixing Price Tag Confusion
"Partitioned" price tags that include a main price plus additional charges (Lamp: $70, Bulb, $5, Shipping: $15) may be confusing your customers. When is an all-inclusive price the best bet? Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 08 Dec 2006
- Working Paper Summaries
The Industry R&D Survey: Patent Database Link Project
The development and diffusion of new innovations are central to economic growth, and understanding the firm-level underpinnings of technology progress is important to academics, policymakers, and business managers. While many researchers have examined (either separately or together) corporate research and development and technology diffusion, they run into two significant data constraints. William R. Kerr and Shihe Fu describe how they developed a new dataset for studying corporate innovation that encompasses three important existing datasets. This paper summarizes the Industry R&D Survey for researchers who want to study innovation through the Census Bureau's data. Key concepts include: The developed platform offers an unprecedented view of the R&D-to-patenting innovation process and a close analysis of the strengths and limitations of the Industry R&D Survey. This R&S platform can, through the Census Bureau's file structure, facilitate other studies of how innovation leads to productivity. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 08 Dec 2006
- Working Paper Summaries
When Learning and Performance are at Odds: Confronting the Tension
While most people agree that learning leads to improved performance, there are several ways in which learning and performance in organizations can be at odds. First, when organizations take on a new learning challenge, performance often suffers in the short term, because new behaviors or practices are not yet highly skilled. Second, by revealing and analyzing their failures and mistakes—a critical aspect of learning—individuals or work groups may appear to be performing less well than they would otherwise. This paper reviews research that describes the challenges of learning from failure in organizations, and argues that these challenges can be at least partly addressed by leadership that creates a climate of psychological safety and that promotes inquiry. Key concepts include: In organizations, the costs of learning may at times be more visible than the benefits. Therefore, leaders must publicize this idea broadly, or else learning may not happen. Experimentation, by its nature, will inevitably result in failures; yet without these failures learning cannot occur. Leadership is essential for fostering the mindset, group behaviors, and organizational investments that promote learning now and invest in performance later. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 06 Dec 2006
- Op-Ed
India Needs to Encourage Trade with China
Although India and China have increased bilateral trade over the last five years, the amount is far less than what would be expected. Harvard Business School professor Tarun Khanna says India has primarily itself to blame. From The Economic Times. Key concepts include: China and India recorded $19 billion in bilateral trade in 2005, much less than would be expected of countries similar in size, within geographic proximity, and with shared cultural ties. Indians' fears about Chinese competition and unease over past border wars result in procedural and other roadblocks to increased trade, at India's disadvantage. China benefits from the trade more than India, both by selling more and better products to India and by welcoming Indian investment in China. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 05 Dec 2006
- First Look
- 04 Dec 2006
- Research & Ideas
The Money Connection—Understanding VC Networks
Venture capital firms often consider investments in companies located far away or in unfamiliar industries. How do they spot these opportunities and also reduce risk? It's the power of networks, says Harvard Business School professor Toby Stuart—and understanding how they work in VC is just now starting to be understood. Key concepts include: Networks are important in all industries, but especially so in VC where investment opportunities can be located far away from the centers of venture capital. "Spanning ties" enable investors with fixed locations and industry expertise to learn of opportunities outside their geographic and industry domains, while also reducing risk. Ties are more likely to form between VC firms in the context of bandwagons, such as a "hot" IPO market, that create a rush of excitement around particular types of companies. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 01 Dec 2006
- What Do You Think?
How Important Is Quality of Labor? And How Is It Achieved?
A new book by Gregory Clark identifies "labor quality" as the major enticement for capital flows that lead to economic prosperity. By defining labor quality in terms of discipline and attitudes toward work, this argument minimizes the long-term threat of outsourcing to developed economies. By understanding labor quality, can we better confront anxieties about outsourcing and immigration? Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 29 Nov 2006
- Research & Ideas
Rich or Royal: What Do Founders Want?
It's a fundamental tension many entrepreneurs face, the conflict between wanting to become rich and wanting to keep control of their new company. Few can have both. Professor Noam Wasserman discusses his research into the motivations of entrepreneurs and the people who invest in them. Key concepts include: Entrepreneurs are often motivated by the potential of money and control, but very few ever achieve both. A fundamental tension between "rich and regal" starts to develop as entrepreneurs look to attract resources to grow their ventures. Investors need to understand the motivations of the entrepreneurs they back to make sure goals are aligned. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 27 Nov 2006
- What Do You Think?
What’s to Be Done About Performance Reviews?
What can we do to make performance reviews more productive and less distasteful? Should their objectives be scaled back to just one or two? Should they be disengaged from the determination of compensation and, if so, how? Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 27 Nov 2006
- Research & Ideas
Manly Men, Oil Platforms, and Breaking Stereotypes
Men who work in dangerous places often act invulnerable to prove their merit as workers and as men—objectives that can lead to decreased safety and efficiency. Professor Robin Ely and her team helicoptered to offshore oil platforms in order to understand "manly men" and how working environments can be changed to alter men's enactments of manhood. Key concepts include: Men's masculine identity (like women's feminine identity) is a profoundly social and cultural phenomenon. In dangerous, male-dominated work settings, men's tendency to gain respect by demonstrating and defending their masculinity is costly. Efforts to appear invulnerable block precisely the kinds of actions that encourage safety and effectiveness. Offshore oil platforms, although male dominated, are also improving safety dramatically. Rather than seeking to prove how tough, proficient, and cool-headed they are, platform workers purposefully make themselves vulnerable in order to perform their jobs more safely and effectively. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 22 Nov 2006
- Research & Ideas
CEO Succession: The Case at Ford
When Ford Motor Company looked to replace Bill Ford as CEO, it turned not to another auto industry insider but instead to Boeing's Alan Mulally. We talk with Harvard Business School professor Joseph L. Bower to better understand Ford's move and the larger issues of CEO succession. Key concepts include: New CEOs are often plucked from outside the company—about a third of the time for S&P 500 companies. Industry knowledge isn't a specific determinant of a new CEO's success, but knowledge of the business is crucial—see Lou Gerstner at IBM. Companies need to plan CEO succession ten years in advance—not react to an immediate situation. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 21 Nov 2006
- First Look
- 20 Nov 2006
- Research & Ideas
Open Source Science: A New Model for Innovation
Borrowing a practice that is common in the open source software community, HBS professor Karim R. Lakhani and colleagues decided to see how "broadcasting" might work among scientists trying to solve scientific problems. The results? Promising for many types of innovation, as he explains in this Q&A. Key concepts include: Practices in the open source software community offer a model for encouraging large-scale scientific problem solving. Open up your problem to other people in a systematic way. A problem may reside in one domain of expertise and the solution may reside in another. Find innovative licensing ways or legal regimes that allow people to share knowledge without risking the overall intellectual property of the firm. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
The Political Economy of Capitalism
Capitalism is often defined as an economic system where private actors are allowed to own and control the use of property according to their own interests, and where the invisible hand of the pricing mechanism coordinates supply and demand in markets in a way that is automatically in the best interests of society. Government, in this perspective, is often described as responsible for peace, justice, and tolerable taxes. Bruce Scott argues in this chapter that for a capitalist system to evolve in an effective developmental sense through time, it must have two hands, not one: an invisible hand that is implicit in the pricing mechanism, and a visible hand that is explicitly managed by government through a legislature and a bureaucracy. Inevitably the actions of the visible hand imply a strategy, no matter how implicit, shortsighted, or incoherent that strategy may be. Key concepts include: Government has two quite different roles to play in a capitalist economy, as an administrator of an ongoing system and as an innovator. Political leaders have prime responsibility for mobilizing the power to promote changes to the system. Capitalism has two hands, first the familiar if invisible hand of price mechanisms that coordinate economic actors within current frameworks, and second the visible hand of government, where it is both an administrator and an innovator. The visible hand of the state must be able to intervene in order to modernize market frameworks in a timely way, while at the same time administering and enforcing existing rights and responsibilities as a complement to the invisible hand. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.