Harvard Business Review Classics

Nobel-Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman argues that business leaders need to understand the differences between economic policy on the national and international scale and business strategy on the organizational scale. Economists deal with the closed system of a national economy, whereas executives live in the open-system world of business. Moreover, economists know that an economy must be run on the basis of general principles, but businesspeople...

In Control in an Age of Empowerment, Robert Simons explains how to give employees the freedom to innovate while protecting your firm from loose cannons. Using powerful examples, Simons shows how to apply four powerful management "levers" to balance autonomy with control: Traditional diagnostic control systems, Belief systems, Boundary systems, and Interactive control systems. Used in concert, these four levers give you the control you need--without...

Corporate values and corporate operations have always been dynamically intertwined, but today more than ever the trend toward focusing on the social impact of the corporation is an inescapable reality that must be factored into managerial decision making. Instead of the utopian and sometimes anticapitalistic bias that marks much of applied business philosophy, this article presents a process of ethical inquiry that is immediately accessible to managers...

Conflict in the workplace is natural-and even necessary. Colleagues who challenge one another's thinking tend to consider a richer range of options, which ultimately leads to better business decisions. How Management Teams Can Have a Good Fight reveals the tactics managers can use to ensure that these healthy back-and-forth moments remain constructive and focused on the issues. Managers who embrace this kind of positive conflict will find increasingly...

What makes for a great meeting? As a leader, how can you keep discussions on point and productive? In How to Run a Meeting, Antony Jay argues that too many leaders fail to plan adequately for meetings. In this bestselling article, he defines the characteristics that contribute to success, from keeping formal minutes to acknowledging junior staff first. These guidelines will help you get demonstrably better results from every meeting you run. Since...

In this seminal article, innovation experts Clayton Christensen, Stephen P. Kaufman, and Willy C. Shih explore the key reasons why companies struggle to innovate. The authors uncover common mistakes companies make-from focusing on the wrong customers to choosing the wrong products to develop-that can derail innovation efforts, and offer a better way forward for management teams who want to avoid these obstacles and get innovation right. Since 1922,...

We live in an age of unprecedented opportunity: with ambition, drive, and talent, you can rise to the top of your chosen profession regardless of where you started out. But with opportunity comes responsibility. Companies today aren't managing their knowledge workers careers. Instead, you must be your own chief executive officer. That means it's up to you to carve out your place in the world and know when to change course. And it's up to you to keep...

What business is your company really in? That's a question all executives should all ask before demand for their firm's products or services dwindles. In Marketing Myopia, Theodore Levitt offers examples of companies that became obsolete because they misunderstood what business they were in and thus what their customers wanted. He identifies the four widespread myths that put companies at risk of obsolescence and explains how business leaders can...

In this provocative exploration into the nature and value of power in organizations, authors David McClelland and David Burnham reveal how the drive for influence is essential to good management. The authors provide a wealth of counterintuitive insights about what using power really means in today's business landscape. Power Is the Great Motivator is a must-read for all managers seeking to foster high morale and a strong sense of responsibility and...

As established markets become less profitable, companies increasingly need to find ways to create and capture new markets. Despite much investment and commitment, most firms struggle to do this. What, exactly, is getting in their way? World-renowned professors W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne, the authors of the best-selling book Blue Ocean Strategy have spent over a decade exploring that question. They have seen that the trouble lies in managers'...