Business administration and support services

To really win their loyalty, forget the bells and whistles and just solve their problems.

For decades prior to the 1980s, governments around the world increased the scope and magnitude of their activities, taking on a variety of tasks that the private sector previously had performed. In the United States, the federal government built highways and dams, conducted research, increased its regulatory authority across an expanding horizon of activities, and […]

Most businesspeople will serve on the board of a nonprofit organization at some point. But the governance of nonprofits can differ dramatically from the governance of businesses. Even the best intentions can prove disastrous when new board members fail to understand that their traditional business experience can carry them only so far.

At age 74, Yoshiko Shinohara is a towering figure in Japanese business. She has created a wealth of job opportunities, including many for women, by founding the temporary-staffing agency Tempstaff and lobbying to strike down laws that stifled the temp industry. Tempstaff now has approximately 3,300 employees and is a public company. For the past […]

Connecting with your best customers doesn’t have to involve Twitter or Facebook.

Whether, when, and how to take a family or individually owned company public are decisions that have faced a great many entrepreneurs. They have taken actions that have brought happiness and fulfillment to some and unhappiness to others. Perhaps people who are presently reflecting on such dilemmas can draw some useful thoughts from a study […]

Some of the freshest ideas for evaluating employees are coming from an unexpected source: the public sector.

No one, not Joseph in Egypt or Alfred Sloan, has ever faced a managerial challenge as far-reaching as the one Mikhail Gorbachev has set for himself. In his own writings and speeches the Soviet economy comes across as a huge, failing industrial corporation whose workers are demoralized and whose managers are complacent about everything but […]

Traditionally, business viewed the social sector as a dumping ground for spare cash, obsolete equipment, and tired executives. But today smart companies are approaching it as a learning laboratory.

Despite mounting pressure on businesses to prove their faithfulness to the earth, managers share no common understanding of what this might mean in their own companies. Many continue to see environmentalism against the backdrop of an adversarial public arena, as a struggle over ever-stricter emissions codes and wildly varying punishments for misconduct. Who can blame […]

Every industry and profession has its own vocabulary: words that describe technologies, processes, and materials. These can sound exotic to the uninitiated, but they’re critical to doing the job. Individual companies sometimes have their own custom-tailored definitions. As people move from firm to firm, they must master new terms and new meanings—or fail to assimilate. […]

HBR’s fictionalized case studies present dilemmas faced by leaders in real companies and offer solutions from experts. This one is based on research by Jeffrey Pfeffer. Adam Baker had been bothered all day by the blunt message his boss and mentor, Merwyn Straus, had delivered to him on the phone that morning: Adam was not […]

We all know we can learn from our mistakes. So why not go out and make some? Here’s a systematic way to make carefully planned mistakes that pay off.

One man’s plan for blasting open the electricity market.

One of history’s most remarkable organizational achievements—the large public corporation, governed by an independent board of directors—has served society for most of this century as an unrivaled creator of wealth and employment. Now it is an endangered species, and we must take strong measures to preserve and renew it. Patient capital is the foundation on […]

After days of meetings, J.F. Winchester, president of MDC Industries, felt no closer to a decision about whether MDC should exercise its option to buy a new and safer wallboard technology. Sitting down at his desk, he noticed the file marked “Goerner Wallboard Press Coverage,” which the media relations director had dropped off last week. […]

America’s banking crisis presents choices both perilous and promising. Perilous, because the failure to act intelligently will lead to the most serious economic collapse since the Great Depression. As much as 25% of the U.S. banking system—representing assets of more than $750 billion—has begun to post such massive loan losses that it must focus on […]

Reports of the “eclipse of the public corporation” underestimate its institutional staying power and unique capacity for renewal. In his recent HBR article, Michael C. Jensen, a distinguished scholar of corporate finance and governance, argues for a revolution in the structure of ownership and control in the U.S. economy.1 I share many of his criticisms […]

Since Alexander Graham Bell’s day, businesses have bought telephone services the same way they’ve purchased electricity, janitorial functions, and water for the cooler—as packaged offerings defined by an outside provider. Sure, companies could choose from a menu of configuration options and service plans, but, in the end, the phone company or vendor called the shots. […]

Patients are becoming more demanding consumers. But the medical industry isn’t just another business.