Continuous Improvement - Publications - Faculty & Research

25 Apr 2014
Research & Ideas

To Pay or Not to Pay: Argentina and the International Debt Market

Editor's note. Argentina is in the midst of a continuing saga regarding its 2002 default on its sovereign debt, a case that the US Supreme Court will decide soon. HBS finance professor Laura Alfaro, who served from 2010 to 2012 as... View Details

Keywords: by Laura Alfaro

18 Jun 2001
Research & Ideas

Caught in the Cogs: When Manufacturing and IT Meet

instead, it has become integrated with the whole manufacturing process—David Upton But once that decision has been made, "sitting" is far from the operative word for IT systems, which require the same kind of continuous View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner

23 Aug 2016
First Look

August 23, 2016

ventures. We introduce a formal model of voting where agents face costly tacit information to improve their decision quality. Equilibrium outcomes suggest a theoretical tension for group decision-making between the benefits of information... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

07 Jan 2008
Research & Ideas

Pursuing a Deadly Opportunity

recipients with educational goals (74 percent vs. 47.5 percent). The entrepreneurial venture had a higher representation of recipients with continuing medical education goals (31.7 percent vs. 26 percent) and catered to medical devices... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Health

14 May 2020
Research & Ideas

What Leaders Can Do to Fight the COVID Fog

needed while some are not. How to change the organization and management teams to create new competencies without changing your essence and core values?” Skills needed now: Continuous learning and integrating new information; developing... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Robin Abrahams

29 May 2007
First Look

First Look: May 29, 2007

needs of the "poorest of the poor," who cannot even repay loans and therefore do not qualify as Habitat beneficiaries? How can Makar continue to innovate to achieve the greatest mission impact while maintaining funding and... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

08 Apr 2011
Research & Ideas

Will the Japan Disaster Remake the Landscape for Green Energy in Asia?

to be just the start of much more privately financed initiatives to come in the next few years. Most recently, the first offshore RMB bond issue for wind energy was completed by China WindPower in Hong Kong and led by HSBC, reinforcing investor appetite for the sector.... View Details

Keywords: by Dennis Fisher; Energy; Utilities

21 Apr 2020
Research & Ideas

7 Successful Battle Strategies to Beat COVID-19

change and uncertainty, and military frameworks play a foundational part of this training. A significant milestone was achieved in 2001 with the emergence of the Agile Manifesto, foundational principles initially aimed at improving... View Details

Keywords: by Euvin Naidoo

24 Jul 2019
Lessons from the Classroom

Can These Business Students Motivate Londoners to Do the Right Thing?

purpose company” with employees in London, New York, Singapore, New Zealand, and Sydney, with a new office opening soon in Toronto. Aside from generating big tax dollars for the UK, BIT has seen successes in areas ranging from reducing unemployment and increasing... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

21 Apr 2008
Research & Ideas

The New Math of Customer Relationships

a difficult step for many organizations to take. Q: Which of the companies that you profiled continue to shine today? Any notable exemplars from the past that have lost their way? A: Identifying exemplar organizations is somewhat... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

23 Dec 2002
Research & Ideas

Partnering and the Balanced Scorecard

improvements in performance.3 We created the Balanced Scorecard because financial measurements had become insufficient for contemporary organizations. Strategies for creating value had shifted from managing tangible assets to... View Details

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan & David P. Norton

10 Nov 2020
Sharpening Your Skills

Research News and Tips: Innovating Across Time Zones

stakeholders. Here is some expert advice. “Early on, entrepreneurs should avoid a focus on overly specific solutions and instead present the big picture,” write Rory McDonald and Robert Bremner in Harvard Business Review. “When changing course, they can then signal... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

29 Feb 2000
Research & Ideas

Whence IT Value?

During the past few years inventory turns among U.S. manufacturers have climbed steadily, and it appears as if productivity has improved nicely. One explanation for these happy trends is that the massive investments we've been making in... View Details

Keywords: by Andrew McAfee

13 Oct 2003
Research & Ideas

How to Pick Managers for Disruptive Growth

succeed in that context. The "graduates" of this school would have finely honed operational skills in managing quality programs, process improvement teams, and cost-control efforts. Even the most senior manufacturing executives... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Raynor

23 Jun 2003
Research & Ideas

Psychology, Pathology, and the CEO

financial and strategic decision making. But along the way, I also noted another important aspect of this leadership task, a related line of effort that seemed to go largely unnoticed and unstudied by observers but that was just as vital to View Details

Keywords: by Rosabeth Moss Kanter

01 Apr 2015
Research & Ideas

The Slow, Steady Battle to Fix Cancer Care

on a holistic treatment plan comprising one of eight "bundles." “If we can drive down costs while improving outcomes, that will be much more favorable to our economy and to our competitiveness as a nation” "We're hoping... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Health

23 Sep 2008
First Look

First Look: September 23, 2008

teamwork in decision-making, the challenges of group decision-making, and the strategies for engaging team learning skills and attitudes to improve both the quality of and commitment to group decisions. Purchase the exercise:... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

28 Apr 2003
Research & Ideas

Shareholders Key to Corporate Reform

have been made about how to improve governance. Though strongly worded, many of these are surprisingly modest in nature—much like plugging holes in a dike. In fact, nearly all the suggestions lie well within the existing framework of... View Details

Keywords: by Cynthia A. Montgomery & Rhonda Kaufman

07 Jul 2015
First Look

First Look: July 7, 2015

Partnership's efforts to improve local public education. As the case opens in May 2014, the Partnership's leaders must decide whether to continue to try to improve public... View Details