In a much debated research paper last year, Princeton economist Alan S. Blinder concluded that up to 38 million jobs, or 29 percent, of US jobs are potentially offshorable within the next couple of decades -- that is, capable of being outsourced to workers in other countries. ...
To make a critical decision, we often siphon in as much raw data as possible, listen to expert advice, run scenarios, and then place our bet or bets on the most logical course of action. But if you notice, the captain of the Starship Enterprise was not...
Following the historic 9 percent run up in oil futures June 6, expect your customers to be more concerned than ever about prices. But it's not just customers you have to worry about -- you need to be thinking right now about how to manage your business through the deepening...
The single most valuable player in almost any company is its chief executive officer. Given that, most firms surely have succession plans ready to go when Mrs. CEO steps off to another opportunity or the Board decides to go in another leadership direction. Right? Um, not so...
Most medical professionals take an oath that charges them to consider the broader implications of their actions on society. Business leaders, of course, take no such oath. Until recently, it was commonly accepted that the only interests they served were those of shareholders and, to a lesser...
Harvard Business Review Editor Thomas A. Stewart has a thought-provoking list for you to contemplate, and its title doesn't lack for confidence: 9 Sure Bets For The Future. To give you a flavor, here are three of the nine trends Stewart thinks are sure enough for you...
Thanks to the Enron-style management lapses and collapses, shareholders suddenly find their collective voices being heard more than ever by boards of directors. For any investor who has ever suffered through an annual meeting, you know that shareholder proposals almost routinely get shot shot down by directors,...
An ascendant philosophy in the area of product development and marketing goes like this: focus on a few products but do them better than anyone else; fire your least profitable customers and shower love on the money makers; choose carefully distribution partners who will add value rather than...
It may not be right, but we often overlook unethical behavior in others. In a recent working paper, Harvard Business School professor Max Bazerman and colleagues explain the psychological reasons why this is so, and what companies can do about it. The paper, See No Evil: When...
Your mama told you that good deeds will be rewarded. But in the emerging area of corporate social responsibility, or CSR, it's far from clear that socially responsible companies are rewarded financially in the marketplace, according to researchers. "While doing good doesn't appear to destroy shareholder value,...
In life, it is usually easier to say no than yes. But in product development the opposite is more likely true -- it's hard to turn down a major customer asking you to add more features to your product. Resist the temptation. Feature creep adds back-end...
