by Michael D. Watkins - Publications - Faculty & Research

14 Apr 2003
Research & Ideas

Pay-for-Performance Doesn’t Always Pay Off

their ability to reach if not surpass the goals, start banking on the extra money. In practice, however, the process of connecting pay to performance may be far trickier that it at first appears, according to HBS professor Michael Beer.... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

17 Sep 2024
HBS Case

The Climate Targets Leaders Need to Know as Regulations Loom

Michael Toffel, the Senator John Heinz Professor of Environmental Management at Harvard Business School. Roughly 42 percent of Fortune 500 companies said they’d reached an environmental target or committed to reaching one View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

11 Apr 2023
Op-Ed

The First 90 Hours: What New CEOs Should—and Shouldn't—Do to Set the Right Tone

10 weeks won’t make up for any ground that gets lost. When Michael Watkins published his best-selling book The First 90 Days 20 years ago, the world was a kinder, gentler, and slower place. Today, given the... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch

03 Jan 2011
Research & Ideas

Most Popular Articles of 2010

Judging by the most-read articles and faculty working papers over the last year, our readers continue to be fascinated by the emergence of social networks and their potential impacts on business and... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

08 Mar 2021
In Practice

COVID Killed the Traditional Workplace. What Should Companies Do Now?

A year ago, COVID-19 forced many companies to send employees home—often with a laptop and a prayer. Now, with COVID cases subsiding and vaccinations rising, the prospect of returning to old office routines appears more possible. But will employees want to flock back to... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

20 Oct 2010
Op-Ed

Export Competitiveness: Reversing the Logic

D.C.: 2010. Clemens, M. and J. Williamson. 2004. "Why Did the Tariff-Growth Correlation Change after 1950?" Journal of Economic Growth 9 (1): 5-46. Coe, D. and E. Helpman. 1995. "International R&D Spillovers."... View Details

Keywords: by Christian Ketels

30 Apr 2020
Book

Fighting Climate Change Requires a New Capitalism

Rebecca Henderson spent her young adult years living two lives. At work, she preached the risks of resisting change to MBA students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, drawing on lessons she learned while watching factories close as a management consultant.... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Energy

04 Oct 2007
What Do You Think?

Has Managerial Capitalism Peaked?

Summing Up The clear consensus of those responding to this month's column is that managerial capitalism, as John Bogle terms it, has peaked. But what will follow it is less clear. Many doubt that the form of owners' capitalism represented View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

Research Summary

Corporate Diplomacy

Michael Watkins is defining a top management function of increasing importance: the conduct of corporate diplomacy. Senior executives conduct the business equivalent of international diplomacy when they negotiate to sustain or transform relationships with influential... View Details

06 Dec 2004
What Do You Think?

Why Do Managers Fail to Act on Their Predictions?

Orleans. Although Southwest has never had a fatal accident in its history, the odds are that it will sometime in the future. And the organization is ready to respond to what Max Bazerman and Michael Watkins... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

02 Jan 2007
Research & Ideas

Most Popular Articles of 2006

Healthcare Michael Porter is considered by many to be the world's foremost authority on competition and strategy. He discusses the need for fundamental reform in the way the United States delivers... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

06 Jul 2009
What Do You Think?

Are You Ready to Manage in an Irrational World?

proved that each generation perceives its actions as rational but to (the) next it may appear irrational. This is the path to growth and development of civilization." Frances Pratt said, "What is normal and rational is framed by... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

01 May 2020
In Practice

COVID-19’s Hard Lessons Might Prepare Business for Climate Change

The coronavirus pandemic caught the business world by surprise, but the catastrophe might force companies to face a crisis that has been unfolding in plain sight: climate change. We asked faculty members affiliated with the Business and... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

10 Nov 2003
Research & Ideas

A Fast Start on Your New Job

What are the first things you should do in your new post? In this e-mail Q&A, Michael Watkins offers strategies that he researched while preparing his new book, The First 90 Days: Critical Success... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

03 Jan 2017
Research & Ideas

5 New Year's Resolutions You Can Keep (With the Help of Behavioral Science Research)

I'll Have the Ice Cream Soon and the Vegetables Later: Decreasing Impatience over Time in Online Grocery Orders by Todd Rogers, Katherine L. Milkman, and Max H. Bazerman. If you have resolved to exercise more, try ignoring what your peers... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

12 Feb 2008
First Look

First Look: February 12, 2007

Hassell, and Michael D. Kimbrough Periodical:Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting (forthcoming) Abstract The 1990s were characterized by substantial increases in the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

04 Jan 2010
Research & Ideas

Best of HBS Working Knowledge 2009

companies batten down the hatches, we need leaders who don't compromise on standards and values that are essential in flush times. Fortunately, such leaders do exist. Their insights can help other organizations weather the current crisis, says HBS professor emeritus... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

24 Sep 2013
First Look

First Look: September 24

invest in platform quality in open-source and proprietary two-sided platforms. Open platforms have open access, and developers invest to improve the platform. Proprietary platforms have closed access, and investment is done by the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

05 Nov 2009
Research & Ideas

A Market for Human Cadavers in All but Name?

for cadavers. Anteby's current research examines the morality of markets by focusing on the U.S. supply and demand of cadavers for medical research and education.) Anyone who has been trained as a physician—or is close to someone who has... View Details

Keywords: by Michel Anteby; Health

27 Sep 2004
Research & Ideas

How Leaders Build Winning Streaks

official responsibility for Continental Airlines' decision to keep flying during the power blackout in August 2003, but that decision was foreordained by the actions of all the other people who claimed leadership on the ground, and knew... View Details

Keywords: by Rosabeth Moss Kanter

Publications