by John Macomber - Publications - Faculty & Research

06 Nov 2019
Op-Ed

Torched Planet: The Business Case to Reinvent Almost Everything

The world is. on. fire. The Earth is burning. We only have a little time to arrest climate change, and if we fail to do so the consequences will be both dire and irreversible. We have the technology and the resources to fix things, if we want to. We even have a... View Details

Keywords: by Rebecca Henderson; Energy

03 Aug 2016
What Do You Think?

How Can We Hold the “Leadership Industry” Accountable?

training they provide, market pressures, corporate governance shortcomings, and even the nature of leadership itself. John led the charge by saying, “Having taught within business schools for 20 years, I’ve... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Education

02 Apr 2001
Research & Ideas

Not All M&As Are Alike—and That Matters

activity sponsored by Harvard Business School. That study sought to examine questions of M&A strategy and execution with a new rigor. Our in-depth findings will emerge over the next year or two, in the form of various books, articles,... View Details

Keywords: by Joseph L. Bower

13 Jun 2012
HBS Case

HBS Cases: A Startup Takes On the Credit Ratings Giants

beginning. John Moody issued the first bond ratings in 1909. Fitch and the precursor to S&P did so in the 1920s. The industry continued on a relatively stable path until 1970, when its business model shifted from raising revenues... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish; Banking; Financial Services

19 Aug 2013
Research & Ideas

Studying How Income Inequality Shapes Behavior

running lab experiments is that we can simulate many different types of inequality and look at many different types of decisions.” "You'd think that with such a large change in our society, you'd see a definitive impact somewhere," says David A. Moss, the... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

20 Jun 2011
Lessons from the Classroom

Fame, Faith, and Social Activism: Business Lessons from Bono

"'Creative capitalism,' 'conscious capitalism,' 'stakeholder capitalism,' call it what you will," Koehn adds. "The larger social footprint and role of business are here to stay." The project, inspired by a friend, began with Koehn, a... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard; Entertainment & Recreation

11 Sep 2006
Research & Ideas

Negotiating When the Rules Suddenly Change

maneuver strategy in the military. Much of the best contemporary thinking in this realm was advanced by the late Colonel John Boyd, a Pentagon maverick. His decision-making model has become influential in... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Wheeler; Sports

15 Nov 2018
Book

Can the Global Food Industry Overcome Public Distrust?

ingredients, and some farmers who are seen as wasteful keepers of their lands. “Perhaps no economic system is viewed with suspicion by so many people around the world as the food system,” writes Goldberg, who is recognized as the creator... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Agriculture & Agribusiness

30 Jan 2017
Research & Ideas

Vanguard, Trian And The Problem With 'Passive' Index Funds

On August 31, 2016, many investors celebrated the 40th birthday of one of the world’s most successful financial instruments: the mutual index fund, created by Vanguard founder John C. Bogle. Index funds,... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services

07 Oct 2013
Research & Ideas

The Case for Combating Climate Change with Nuclear Power and Fracking

a path to the future.” Lassiter, the Senator John Heinz Professor of Management Practice in Environmental Management, has spent several years studying the intersection between entrepreneurial finance and environmental concerns. He... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Energy; Utilities

23 Dec 2002
Research & Ideas

Setting the Stage: A Young Scholar at HBS

Sloan Foundation Program on the Corporation as a Social Institution, and the John E. Rovensky Fellowship Fund. He was interviewed by Laura Linard, the director of HBS Historical Collections.Linard: Can you... View Details

Keywords: by Laura Linard; Banking; Financial Services

08 Nov 2024
HBS Case

What Wartime Service Taught These Historic Leaders

entrepreneurial hustle, working with a friend to turn new German helmets into “war souvenirs” by painting them to look battle-worn. The rest is business lore: He never gave up on his cartoons, working relentlessly to improve them,... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman; Entertainment & Recreation

20 Jan 2003
Research & Ideas

Fixing Corporate Governance: A Roundtable Discussion at Harvard Business School

With corporate America rocked by revelations of conflict of interest, malfeasance, negligence, and greed, a group of HBS professors recently gathered to review the current crisis. Is it a case of dé jà vu or an unprecedented, systemic... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons

04 Sep 2001
Research & Ideas

Governing the Family-Run Business

The topic of governance is hot. Shareholders, managers, and business advisors are demanding improved governance of (typically public) companies by strengthening their boards of directors and developing more responsive shareholder... View Details

24 Sep 2012
Research & Ideas

Why Do We Tax?

call that goal the "Utilitarian criterion" after the philosophical framework that supports it. Since pioneering work in the 1970s by Nobel laureate James Mirrlees, the Utilitarian criterion has dominated tax research. It has had enormous... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Legal Services

18 Aug 2011
Lessons from the Classroom

Business Plan Contest: 15 Years of Building Better Entrepreneurs

and context. By afternoon, 28 teams in the business and social venture tracks will be named semifinalists. A later round of judging will narrow the field to nine finalists, with the winners to be announced just over two weeks later. First... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Education

13 Aug 2008
Research & Ideas

The Inner Life of Leaders

of California and at Harvard Business School, where he became a member of the HBS faculty. McNamara was a devotee of managerial control, an expertise he applied in his work at the Ford Motor Company and later at the Department of Defense as secretary in President View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

11 May 2009
Research & Ideas

The IT Leader’s Hero Quest

a host of dynamic multimedia material competing for his or her attention, we wanted to create a high-quality, engaging classroom experience. Both plot and character development in the book are inspired by a popular storytelling structure... View Details