by Jim Heskett - Publications - Faculty & Research

16 Apr 2008
Lessons from the Classroom

Chris Christensen: Legend of the Classroom

School's 75th anniversary in 1984, a case-method colloquium organized by Christensen and colleagues Jim Heskett and David Garvin drew 85 participants from 60 universities... View Details

Keywords: by Deborah Blagg; Education

14 Nov 2007
Research & Ideas

Growing CEOs from the Inside

Succession planning is hard work: It must be embraced by the organization and driven by the CEO. In the book, Bower identifies best practices companies can follow to identify, groom, and train internal... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Employment

25 Apr 2012
What Do You Think?

How Will the “Age of Big Data” Affect Management?

of direct process control in which decisions have to be made "in the flow" in situations where there isn't time for conventional analysis (at least by humans). Is this a glimpse into the future of decision-making (without analysis... View Details

Keywords: Re: James L. Heskett

06 Apr 2016
Research & Ideas

Should Entrepreneurs Pitch Products or Ideas for Products?

idea because the monopoly surplus is higher than that from a duopoly,” Luo explains. This intuition was originally developed by her colleagues Dennis Yao at Harvard Business School and Jim Anton from Duke... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Motion Pictures & Video; Entertainment & Recreation; Banking

24 Feb 2020
Research & Ideas

The Hidden Vulnerabilities of Open Source Software

underscore the importance of understanding where open source is most used and could be vulnerable to attack. The report, ‘Vulnerabilities in the Core,’ a Preliminary Report and Census II of Open Source Software, was prepared by the... View Details

Keywords: by Frank Nagle and Jenny Hoffman; Computer

20 May 2016
Op-Ed

World Health Organization Lacks Leadership to Combat Pandemics

public advisories, and it is regarded as more of a policeman than a partner by national governments. Its many dedicated scientists produce useful reports on the global state of public health, but the WHO's bureaucracy impedes the decisive... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Health

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

Spirit at Work: The Search for Deeper Meaning in the Workplace

"spiritual anchors for the new millennium." Clearly, something of a nonmaterial nature is stirring in the corporate temple. But questions abound. Just what does it mean to bring spirituality into the workplace? Is this an appropriate way to help people feel... View Details

Keywords: by Marguerite Rigoglioso

07 Feb 2005
Research & Ideas

How “Career Imprinting” Shapes Leaders

new book, Career Imprints: Creating Leaders Across an Industry, is scheduled to be published in April by Jossey-Bass. Mallory Stark: What is career imprinting? Monica Higgins: Career imprinting refers to the process View Details

Keywords: by Mallory Stark

26 Jan 2009
Research & Ideas

Where is Home for the Global Firm?

costs," he continues, "while readily identifiable and daunting, must be compared with the potentially large benefits created by managerial specialization and the ability to access differentiated resources easily." In the following... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

16 Jul 2024
Op-Ed

Corporate Boards Are Failing in Their No. 1 Duty

appointments go wrong Let’s begin by taking a look at three examples of poor leadership at public companies and addressing what went wrong. Then, I will recommend five ways boards can ensure they appoint the right leader as CEO: General... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George

07 Feb 2011
Lessons from the Classroom

Creating the Founders’ Dilemmas Course

to deal with the big risks introduced by that decision; and Jim Triandiflou, founder and CEO of Ockham Technologies, who worries about losing control of the company as he and his cofounder consider various... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Education

19 Jul 2010
Research & Ideas

How Mercadona Fixes Retail’s ’Last 10 Yards’ Problem

impact on profits." Adopting Mercadona's approach also requires a leader with a strong backbone. Ton notes that Jim Sinegal, CEO of Costco, another retailer with good labor practices, had been criticized View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail; Food & Beverage

2012
Book

Harder Than I Thought: Adventures of a Twenty-First Century Leader

By: Robert D. Austin, Richard L. Nolan and Shannon O'Donnell

Being a great leader today is much harder than you think—meet Jim Barton. He's a newly minted CEO, rising leader of a firm in transition, and manager of massive complexity—thanks to our incredibly networked and increasingly unpredictable world of business. What if you... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Complexity; Crisis Management; Problems and Challenges; Volatility

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15 Sep 2011
Research & Ideas

High Ambition Leadership

Fredberg, and Flemming Norrgren. "The world of business has been governed by an implicit leadership model," Beer explains. "With the exception of a minority of CEOs, however—those we interviewed and others like them—the purpose of the... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

24 Jul 2006
Research & Ideas

How Kayak Users Built a New Industry

from these standards. By the same token, the dominant design of rodeo kayaks (as of about 2000) involves a short, center-buoyant, planing hull made of molded plastic. Bill Abernathy of HBS and Jim Utterback... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Entertainment & Recreation

06 Sep 2005
Research & Ideas

The Best Place for Retirement Funds

paper called, "Asset Allocation and Asset Location: Household Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances," published by the Journal of Public Economics in August, 2004. Using data from the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF),... View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen

22 Apr 2002
Research & Ideas

Does Spirituality Drive Success?

spirituality in business. Can Spirituality Drive Success? Should It? In a session exploring how spirituality can lead to business success, panelist Tony Schwartz confessed to one distinction: he was perhaps the only person in the world who was "driven to the... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace, Sean Silverthorne & Wendy Guild

15 Aug 2005
HBS Case

Classic Cases Live On at HBS

case has been interesting, Berg notes. Once, during an MBA class attended by Lincoln's president, a student declared that he had high regard for Lincoln but he preferred three-piece suits and executive dining halls to eating in a company... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons

05 May 2003
Research & Ideas

SEC Commissioner Sees “Healing and Reform”

causes of the scandals were systemic rather than a matter of a proverbial "few bad apples." In the panel, moderated by HBS professor Krishna Palepu, panelists also said that new laws ,and regulations were already making a... View Details

Keywords: by Catherine Walsh

23 Jun 2003
Research & Ideas

Psychology, Pathology, and the CEO

Haythornthwaite engaged large teams to work on a new strategy for Invensys, while Jim Kilts devised Gillette's strategy for each line of business by himself, working with a small group of trusted executives.... View Details

Keywords: by Rosabeth Moss Kanter

Publications