by Joseph Lassiter - Publications - Faculty & Research

16 Mar 2020
Research & Ideas

How the Coronavirus Is Already Rewriting the Future of Business

intermediate term, we will see companies that rely on global supply chains be hurt. Once companies run through their existing safety stocks of raw materials or parts provided by a far-flung supplier base, they may face challenges filling... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

12 Apr 2022
Book

Racism, Colonialism, and Britain's Legacy of Violence

Empire can set before itself in this regard,” Winston Churchill declared to the 1921 Imperial Conference, “and that is there should be no barriers of race, colour, or creed which should prevent any man by merit from reaching any station... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

08 Mar 2021
In Practice

COVID Killed the Traditional Workplace. What Should Companies Do Now?

A year ago, COVID-19 forced many companies to send employees home—often with a laptop and a prayer. Now, with COVID cases subsiding and vaccinations rising, the prospect of returning to old office routines appears more possible. But will employees want to flock back to... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

17 Jan 2020
In Practice

6 Traits That Set Top Business Leaders Apart

clarify the complex "They can communicate very clearly and succinctly—usually with short words and short sentences—and even on complex issues. They've developed the skills necessary to really get to the heart of things." Joseph L.... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

05 May 2022
HBS Case

College Degrees: The Job Requirement Companies Seek, but Don't Really Need

example, data from 2015 show that just 16 percent of existing US production-worker supervisors had a college degree, but 67 percent of the job postings for the same position required degrees, shows research by HBS Professor View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald

Article

The Error at the Heart of Corporate Leadership

By: Joseph L. Bower and Lynn S. Paine

Agency theory, a new model of governance promulgated by academic economists in the 1970s, is behind the idea that corporate managers should make shareholder value their primary concern and that boards should ensure they do. The theory regards shareholders as owners of... View Details

Keywords: Agency Theory; Business and Shareholder Relations; Leadership; Corporate Governance

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19 Dec 2023
Research & Ideas

15 Podcast Episodes That Grabbed Listeners in 2023

the organization. Chief People Officer Hanna Fager talks to Joseph Fuller about the process, from lining up skills to maintaining an inclusive corporate culture. The Parlor Room Mihir Desai on Apple's Powerful Financial Model Mihir Desai,... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

05 Dec 2022
Research & Ideas

5 Companies Where Employees Move Up the Ladder Fast

assesses America’s 250 largest public companies as ranked by Fortune magazine. “All employers are not created equal in terms of the type of springboard they provide for advancement and that's something that workers and employment... View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds

29 May 2009
Research Event

Business Summit: Introduction to the Future of Market Capitalism

Editor's Note: This is a summary of an HBS Business Summit presentation. View a full summary and video of the event on the HBS Centennial Web site linked below. Date of Event: October 14, 2008 Speaker: Joseph L. Bower, HBS faculty... View Details

Keywords: Re: Joseph L. Bower

02 May 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Profits and Economic Development

Keywords: by Dan Schwab & Eric Werker

15 Jul 2013
Research & Ideas

Five Imperatives for Improving Health Care

conference and survey from Harvard's business and medical schools may prove particularly timely. Delivered by the Forum on Healthcare Innovation, which was formed last year with encouragement from the respective deans of the two... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Health

09 May 2017
What Do You Think?

Should Management Be Primarily Responsible to Shareholders?

it) creates undue risk of moral hazard, simply because boards and senior management are often significant shareholders. If it is true that the average tenure of a CEO today is 3 years, how could any sane CEO not seek to maximize share value View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

16 Jul 2012
Research & Ideas

Are You a Strategist?

I'll ask a participant at random, 'Do you have that clarity in your company?' And there's always a pause. That pause gives them away." To illustrate the importance of clear purpose, The Strategist touts Swedish home goods retailer IKEA, founded in 1943 View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

19 Apr 2004
Research & Ideas

Birth of the American Salesman

Scott. The book looks at the changing image of the salesman, represented by the likes of George Babbitt and Willy Loman. In the end, says Friedman, salesmen not only fed America's thirst for consumerism, they also shaped it. Laura Linard:... View Details

Keywords: by Laura Linard

19 Feb 2014
Research & Ideas

Racist Umpires and Monetary Ministers

the corners" in baseball parlance—and more likely to throw it straight over the plate where it is easier to hit. In other words, the pitchers seemed to compensate for discrimination by throwing the ball in areas where the outcome was... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Sports; Information; Publishing

30 Nov 2021
In Practice

What's the Role of Business in Confronting Climate Change?

The 26th annual United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties, also known as COP26, ended with a hard-fought pact that called on businesses and governments to meet their climate change goals faster. The event followed an August report by the Intergovernmental... View Details

Keywords: by Lynn Schenk and Dina Gerdeman

14 Oct 2021
In Practice

Reunited and It Feels (Not) So Good: Tips for Managing a Rocky Return

such friction by implementing rigid policies based on the presumption that they have correctly anticipated how the pandemic will evolve. Designing and implementing any durable policy requires having a firm grasp of what the world—the “new... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

05 Sep 2012
What Do You Think?

Will Business Management Save US Health Care?

Summing Up What Role Will Management Play in Saving US Health Care? The verdict is in, according to respondents of this month's column: Problems confronting health care in the US are much larger and broader than those that can be solved View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett; Health

01 Nov 1999
Research & Ideas

John H. Patterson and the Sales Strategy of the National Cash Register Company, 1884 to 1922

knew of them. The first N.C.R. sales script was the creation of Patterson's brother-in-law Joseph H. Crane. "How I Sell National Cash Registers," which became known as the Primer, contained instructions not only on what salesmen... View Details

Keywords: by Walter A. Friedman

April 2022 (Revised July 2022)
Case

Stalin’s Capitalists: American Business and Soviet Industrialization

By: Jeremy Friedman, Jingyu Liu and Christine Riggle

In the late 1920s and early 1930s when Joseph Stalin, leader of the world’s first Communist state, sought to industrialize his largely peasant country on an unprecedented scale, he turned for help to those who had the most experience constructing on such a scale:... View Details

Keywords: Communism; Industrialization; Socialism; History; Industry Growth; Economic Systems; Soviet Union

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