Ten innovative books authored by Harvard Business School faculty members were published this spring covering a wide array of management topics.
Rethinking the MBA (Harvard Business Press, 2010)
by Srikant M. Datar, David A. Garvin, and Patrick G. Cullen
In this landmark book, Professors Srikant Datar and David Garvin and Research Associate Patrick Cullen examine three broad trends shaping business education: the move away from traditional programs to more diverse offerings, increased questioning by employers of the value of the MBA degrees, and the resulting shifts in enrollment patterns.
One Report (Wiley, 2010)
by Robert G. Eccles, Michael Krzus
Senior Lecturer Robert G. Eccles and Michael Krzus of Grant Thornton LLP discuss the idea, meaning, and challenges of producing a single report that combines the information found in a company's required financial reporting with voluntary sustainability reporting. One Report explains why integrated reporting is necessary for companies and provides insights into how it is done around the world.
Chasing Stars: The Myth of Talent and the Portability of Performance (Princeton University Press, 2010)
by Boris Groysberg
Associate Professor Boris Groysberg offers insights into the fundamental nature of star performers, examining whether one company's star performers can continue their success at another firm. He focuses on Wall Street analysts who change firms and suffer an immediate and lasting decline in performance. Groysberg also explores how some Wall Street research departments are successfully growing, retaining, and deploying their own stars.
Reorganize for Resilience (Harvard Business Press, 2010)
by Ranjay Gulati
Professor Ranjay Gulati reveals how resilient companies prosper in both good times and bad by immersing themselves in the lives of their customers to drive growth and increase profitability. Based on over a decade of research, the book focuses on how to build resilient companies, using examples such as Cisco Systems, Starbucks, and Best Buy.
Beauty Imagined (Oxford University Press, 2010)
by Geoffrey Jones
Professor Jones provides the first authoritative history of the global beauty industry, from its emergence in the 19th century to the present day. His book shows how successive generations of entrepreneurs created companies and built brands that shaped perceptions of beauty. These firms not only democratized access to beauty products, once the privilege of elites, but also defined the gender and ethnic perceptions of beauty, and its association with a handful of cities, notably Paris and later New York.
Winning in Emerging Markets: A Road Map for Strategy and Execution
(Harvard Business Press, 2010)
by Tarun Khanna and Krishna Palepu
In Winning in Emerging Markets, Tarun Khanna and Krishna Palepu outline a practical framework for developing emerging market strategies based not on broad categorical definitions like geography, but on a structural understanding of these markets. Their framework describes how "institutional voids"—the absence of intermediaries like market research firms and credit card systems to efficiently connect buyers and sellers—create daunting obstacles for companies trying to operate in emerging markets. Understanding these voids—and learning how to work with them in specific markets—is the key to success.
Different: Escaping the Competitive Herd (Random House, 2010)
by Youngme Moon
Professor Moon discusses the importance of companies' offering something that is meaningfully different from the competition. She asserts that over the past two decades, a disproportionate number of companies that achieved great success did so simply by figuring out a way to break away from the herd-to be radically and dramatically different from other firms. The book not only celebrates these mavericks; it deconstructs and demystifies what they've accomplished in a manner that makes their achievements understandable and accessible.
Handbook of Leadership Theory and Practice (Harvard Business Press, 2010)
by Rakesh Khurana and Nitin Nohria
Based on the Harvard Business School Centennial Colloquium "Leadership: Advancing an Intellectual Discipline" and edited by HBS professors Nitin Nohria and Rakesh Khurana, this volume brings together important scholars and practitioners from diverse fields to take stock of what we know about leadership and to set an agenda for future research. According to Khurana, the purpose behind the book was to create a foundation for a long-term, programmatic approach to looking at the phenomena of leadership through a variety of perspectives: impact, theory, variability; leadership in practice; and leadership development.
Negotiauctions (W. W. Norton & Company, 2010)
by Guhan Subramanian
Professor Guhan Subramanian, who teaches at both HBS and Harvard Law School, argues that traditional negotiation strategies don't always fit the complex, ever-changing deal situations that occur in today's business environment. He explores the situation in which negotiators are "fighting on two fronts"-across the table, of course, but also on the same side of the table with known, unknown, or possible competitors. Delving into case studies such as buying a house and selling "toxic" assets into the U.S. government's bailout fund, the book applies research, experience, and classroom-tested "negotiauction" strategies.
Denial: Why Business Leaders Fail to Look Facts in the Face---and What to Do About It (Penguin Group, 2010)
by Richard Tedlow
In his latest book, Richard Tedlow tackles two essential questions: Why do smart leaders often refuse to accept the facts that threaten their companies and careers? And, how do we find the courage to resist denial? He examines organizations once weakened by denial, including Ford and Coca-Cola, as well as companies such as Intel that avoided catastrophe by dealing with harsh realities head-on.
