Short-termism - Publications - Faculty & Research

17 Nov 2009
First Look

First Look: Nov. 17

only 14% in the last quarter of 2008 but contracted nearly as much as new lending for restructuring (LBOs, M&A, share repurchases) relative to the peak of the credit boom. After the failure of Lehman Brothers in September 2008 there was a run by View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

01 Dec 2008
News

Lesson from the Fall

The awarding of “up-front” bonuses — before cash and profits from commercial endeavors — invites employees to maximize their short-term interests while compromising the company’s long-term interests. Systems of reward that ignore... View Details

Keywords: Malcolm S. Salter; Oil and Gas Extraction; Mining; Electric Power Generation, Transmission, Distribution; Utilities

04 Dec 2000
What Do You Think?

Have We Overdone Deregulation and Privatization?

Summing Up Let's hear it for deregulation, at least its long-term effects. It's well worth the short-term disruptions and consumer confusion. That's the near-unanimous judgement of those of you responding to my recent piece on the... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

Web

Support for Students with Disabilities | MBA

can be made for short-term disabilities related to accidents or medical conditions and treatments. The Disability Coordinator in the MBA Student & Academic Services office will assist students with disabilities to identify barriers and... View Details

24 Apr 2014
News

Ensuring success through education

spirit. I tell them if they believe and work hard . . . they can be successful,” says Özyeğin. “Life is a marathon, not a hundred-meter dash. Young men and women have to strive for long-term sustainable achievements, rather than View Details

26 Sep 2018
News

Getting Life Back in Balance

Wattle Range Council. “I was becoming more and more disillusioned with working for a nameless, faceless shareholder, where short-term financial returns were becoming more important than long-term sustainability,” he says. That said, a... View Details

Career Coach

Nathan Lasche

Nathan (Stanford ‘02, HBS ‘10) is currently a Product Manager at YouTube / Google where he focuses on building YouTube’s music products. Prior to YouTube, Nathan was an early employee at the edtech company Knewton in New York, and bootstrapped a View Details

12 Nov 2001
Research & Ideas

Facing the New World Order

obviously, in which the short-term uncertainty is profound. Our study traditionally has been a medium- to long-term focus. That is, looking at the determinants of high levels of living standards and sustained economic growth over a... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

01 Dec 2003
News

An Authentic Leader

excess costs, which was a good thing. But many CEOs saw how much people were making in these takeovers and raiding attempts and thought they should be well compensated too. They started to get very large rewards for eliminating costs and pumping up View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

Portrait Project

Daniella Yacobovsky

Visiting has become harder as his memory slips away. First short-term memory faded, and then long-term memory followed, and finally my name has joined that list of items just beyond his cerebral grasp. His warm smile recognizes my face,... View Details

16 Jul 2024
Op-Ed

Corporate Boards Are Failing in Their No. 1 Duty

the enterprise and repeatedly tried short-term fixes, all while depending too heavily on financial earnings, rather than innovation. Boeing: The world leader in aviation for 100 years, Boeing lost sight of its purpose to produce safe,... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George

22 Feb 2022
News

Research Brief: The Fresh Start Effect

range of behaviors where there’s a virtuous option with long-term gains that we should be engaging in and a tempting one with short-term gains,” Beshears observes. That might include tackling a challenging work project, facing up to a... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint

01 Mar 2019
News

Research Brief: Unveiling the Truth about Transparency

things happen for a firm under a high-transparency environment,” Cullen says. Employees, on the other hand, may find short-term gains by having open conversations about wages but potentially long-term losses. Transparency benefits some... View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Myers

01 Mar 2018
News

From Das’s Desk

Reflective Leader program Today, however, the practice of education is changing, from a short-term learning intervention to one centered on a lifelong process of development. At HBS, our core mission is to keep the School relevant for... View Details

Keywords: Das Narayandas

06 Aug 2008
News

Caution to the Winds

had installed on the White House roof. Imagine if alternative energy had instead been an ongoing national priority for the last thirty years. Wouldn’t the American economy, the country itself, and indeed the rest of the world be much better off today? Entrenched, View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons

07 Aug 2015
Research & Ideas

Obama’s Clean Power Plan: Can Nuclear Power Beat the Global Threat of Coal?

This week, President Obama and the Environmental Protection Agency released the final version of the Clean Power Plan, a major set of rules and incentives aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from America's power plants. The plan requires each state to meet a... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Energy; Utilities

06 May 2019
Research & Ideas

Consumers Blame Business for Global Health Problems. Can Business Become the Solution?

targets. What are these executives not seeing? “First and foremost, CEOs and other C-suite leaders must make an explicit commitment to health and well-being.” Edmondson and Koh: Typically, companies have focused on short-term financial... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Health

29 Jan 2019
News

Seth Klarman on the Critical Value of the Long View

short-term thinking—while companies that operate in good faith are overlooked. “You have people who are princes, who have good values, who treat people right,” Klarman says in the article. “We don’t tend to pay a lot of attention; we... View Details

11 Jan 2018
News

Taking the High Road

world a better place than there are people that we might see up close at any one point in time that put challenges in front of us that may be very hurtful and very significant, but are actually going to be very short-term in the long... View Details

01 Dec 2002
News

Bad Times for Business

think more carefully about how they manage and organize themselves. Palepu: Paul, you spoke about the breakdown of checks and balances in the system generally. Can you elaborate? Healy: One thing that strikes me is the enormous pressure for View Details