by John Macomber - Publications - Faculty & Research

05 Jun 2009
What Do You Think?

What Does Slower Economic Growth Really Mean?

Summing Up If not useful growth, what are we measuring? And why? This column does not thrive on general agreement. And this past month discussants came close to general agreement on the proposition that economic growth is not measured properly View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett; Financial Services; Construction; Real Estate

23 Jul 2001
Research & Ideas

Sam Walton: Great From the Start

store business in a serious way. He bought the lease to prevent his "friendly" rival John Dunham from acquiring the property and expanding his Sterling Store. Newport already had a couple of department stores. One of these was... View Details

Keywords: by Richard S. Tedlow; Retail

15 Mar 2022
Research & Ideas

This Workplace Certification Made Already Safe Companies Even Safer

the Senator John Heinz Professor of Environmental Management. He partnered on the research with HBS doctoral student Kala Viswanathan and Duke University professor Matthew Johnson. Widespread adoption, but does the standard work? Some 2.8... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

04 Apr 2023
Book

Two Centuries of Business Leaders Who Took a Stand on Social Issues

While shareholders still reign supreme at many companies, a widespread shift toward more responsible business practices is driving more leaders to take a stand on social and environmental issues today, says Harvard Business School Professor Geoffrey Jones. Jones... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Consumer Products; Fashion; Retail; Green Technology

08 Feb 2022
Research & Ideas

Silos That Work: How the Pandemic Changed the Way We Collaborate

Employers were so impressed with how smoothly their employees handled remote work during the dramatic lockdowns in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic that many are going permanently remote, ditching expensive office leases and allowing employees to communicate... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald

01 Jun 2005
News

The Nature of Change

history, but it’s also about today. And it gives me the opportunity to ask the students questions about an institution — HBS — that they’re quite familiar with by that point.” The data on the Class of 1949 is drawn from a survey View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; The Class the Dollars Fell On; case; capstone course; John Shad (MBA 1949); class of 49; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

25 Oct 2011
Research & Ideas

Chasing Stars: Why the Mighty Red Sox Struck Out

Anaheim Angels starting pitcher John Lackey, signed in December 2009 to a five-year $85 million deal; San Diego Padres first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, lured in 2011 by a seven-year deal at $154 million; and... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Sports; Banking

16 Aug 2006
Research & Ideas

Is MySpace.com Your Space?

Social networking sites such as MySpace.com are some of the most trafficked on the Web—MySpace had 46 million unique users in June and features nearly 100 million personal profiles posted by users, many of whom are in their teens and... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Advertising; Information; Publishing

13 Apr 2009
Research & Ideas

Kind of Blue: Pushing Boundaries with Miles Davis

only two short sessions in 1959. At the age of 32, Davis coaxed innovative ideas out of his players—among them greats including John Coltrane and Bill Evans—that took everyone by surprise. He also remade the... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Music

31 Oct 2018
What Do You Think?

What is the Function of Fear in Leadership?

leader’s role should involve reducing fear among associates to a minimum. Beatriz commented that, “quite often, team members paralyze due to fear and start delegating upward New KPIs, action plans, and strategies that don’t decipher the bad organizational habits and... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

How to Make Climate Risk Good Business

The risk profiles of many real estate markets are rapidly increasing globally. Insurers and mortgage brokers are taking note and adjusting their offering based on widely available climate data and predictive analytics. John Macomber suggests that consumers and... View Details

27 Jun 2016
Research & Ideas

These Management Practices, Like Certain Technologies, Boost Company Performance

Along with colleagues Nicholas Bloom, Stanford University, and John Van Reenen, London School of Economics, Sadun challenges this view in a new National Bureau of Economic Research working paper, Management as a Technology? They argue... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

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

01 Mar 2013
Video

HBS at the Kumbh Mela

06 Dec 2022
Research & Ideas

Latest Isn’t Always Greatest: Why Product Updates Capture Consumers

idea, showing that the less time they gave people to examine a choice, the more likely they were to go for the newer option. “When you are under time pressure, you are even less likely to scrutinize the options, and particularly likely to take the revised label at face... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Consumer Products; Retail

09 Feb 2024
HBS Case

Slim Chance: Drugs Will Reshape the Weight Loss Industry, But Habit Change Might Be Elusive

what may at first blush appear to be an easier fix: new drugs such as Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro, says Harvard Business School Professor Regina E. Herzlinger, who has studied the American health care system for decades. Wegovy has been approved View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Health; Pharmaceutical

22 Mar 2021
Research & Ideas

How to Learn from the Big Mistake You Almost Make

and express the value of resilience to their teams, the likelihood that workers will report such incidents increases. That was the main finding of Resilience vs. Vulnerability: Psychological Safety and Reporting of Near Misses with Varying Proximity to Harm in... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Health

19 Jul 2017
News

Why Government 'Nudges' Motivate Good Citizen Behavior

12 May 2021
Book

The Hard Truth About Being a CEO

also will help you fight the insularity and sense of isolationism that comes with leadership roles. Reprinted by permission of John Wiley & Sons. Excerpted from Hidden Truths: What Leaders Need to Hear... View Details