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    The World Management Survey at 18: Lessons and the Way Forward
    06 Apr 2021Working Paper Summaries

    The World Management Survey at 18: Lessons and the Way Forward

    by Daniela Scur, Raffaella Sadun, John Van Reenen, Renata Lemos, and Nicholas Bloom
    With a dataset of 13,000 firms and 4,000 schools and hospitals spanning more than 35 countries, the World Management Survey provides a systematic measure of management practices used in organizations. This paper gives an overview of lessons learned and a management policy toolkit for policymakers.
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    Author Abstract

    Understanding how differences in management “best practices” affect organizational outcomes has been a focus of both theoretical and empirical work in the fields of management, sociology, economics and public policy. The World Management Survey (WMS) project was born almost two decades ago with the main goal of developing a new systematic measure of management practices being used in organizations. The WMS has contributed to a body of knowledge around how managerial structures, not just managerial talent, relates to organizational performance. Over 18 years of research, a set of consistent patterns have emerged and spurred new questions. We will present a brief overview of what we have learned in terms of measuring and understanding management practices and condense the implications of these findings for policy. We end with an outline of what we see as the path forward for both research and policy implications of this research program.

    Paper Information

    • Full Working Paper Text
    • Working Paper Publication Date: March 2021
    • HBS Working Paper Number: 21-093
    • Faculty Unit(s): Strategy
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    Raffaella Sadun
    Raffaella Sadun
    Charles Edward Wilson Professor of Business Administration
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