Harvard Business Review - Answers to Common Business Management Questions



















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Welcome to HBR Answers.

Every day, managers face tough problems and challenges. Working with experts, our editors have identified questions and selected Harvard Business Review articles that will get you the answers to these problems.

To start, select from the list of topics on the left.









Change Management

How can I make successful changes in my company?

Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail



















Cracking the Code of Change



















The Hard Side of Change Management















Executive Summary





Why Change Programs Don't Produce Change



















The Quest for Resilience















Executive Summary







What are some examples of successful change programs?

Change Through Persuasion















Executive Summary





Home Depot's Blueprint for Leading Change















Executive Summary





Leading Change When Business Is Good















Executive Summary







How can I motivate people to embrace change?

Your Company's Secret Change Agents















Executive Summary





The Tools of Cooperation and Change















Executive Summary





Turning Goals into Results: The Power of Catalytic Mechanisms



















Reaching and Changing Frontline Employees





















How can I help people deal with the emotional impact of change?

Why Do Employees Resist Change?



















Managing Change: The Art of Balancing



















Leadership and the Psychology of Turnarounds





























Decision Making

How can my company improve the way it makes decisions?

Competing on Analytics















Executive Summary





Evidence-Based Management















Executive Summary





Conquering a Culture of Indecision















Executive Summary





Who Has the D? How Clear Decision Roles Enhance Organizational Performance















Executive Summary





Stop Making Plans; Start Making Decisions















Executive Summary





How Management Teams Can Have a Good Fight





















How can I become a more effective decision maker?

The Hidden Traps in Decision Making















Executive Summary





What You Don't Know About Making Decisions



















Delusions of Success: How Optimism Undermines Executives' Decisions















Executive Summary





Decisions Without Blinders















Executive Summary







Should I trust my gut or not?

When to Trust Your Gut



















Don't Trust Your Gut



















Competing on Analytics















Executive Summary





Evidence-Based Management















Executive Summary















Innovation

How can I foster productive creativity?

Managing for Creativity















Executive Summary





Creativity Is Not Enough



















The Discipline of Innovation



















Building an Innovation Factory



















How to Kill Creativity



















Putting Your Company's Whole Brain to Work





















How can my company build breakthrough businesses without hurting the profits from the core?

Building Breakthrough Businesses Within Established Organizations















Executive Summary





Meeting the Challenge of Corporate Entrepreneurship















Executive Summary





The Ambidextrous Organization















Executive Summary





Meeting the Challenge of Disruptive Change



















Darwin and the Demon: Innovating within Established Enterprises















Executive Summary







How should I manage the transition from an idea to a successful new product?

The New Rules for Bringing Innovations to Market















Executive Summary





Innovation Versus Complexity: What Is Too Much of a Good Thing?















Executive Summary





Marketing Malpractice: The Cause and the Cure















Executive Summary





Innovating for Cash















Executive Summary















Leadership

What are the seminal HBR articles on leadership?

What Makes a Leader?















Executive Summary





Level 5 Leadership: The Triumph of Humility and Fierce Resolve















Executive Summary





What Leaders Really Do



















The Work of Leadership



















Managers and Leaders: Are They Different?















Executive Summary







How can I become a better leader?

What Makes an Effective Executive















Executive Summary





Leadership That Gets Results



















Why Should Anyone Be Led by You?



















Seven Transformations of Leadership















Executive Summary





The Discipline of Building Character





















What's the difference between a leader and a manager?

Managers and Leaders: Are They Different?















Executive Summary





The Five Minds of a Manager















Executive Summary





What Effective General Managers Really Do



















What Leaders Really Do



















The Work of Leadership





























Managing People

How can I keep good people in my company?

Growing Talent as if Your Business Depended on It















Executive Summary





A Players or A Positions? The Strategic Logic of Workforce Management















Executive Summary





Designing High-Performance Jobs















Executive Summary





Managing Middlescence















Executive Summary





A Market-Driven Approach to Retaining Talent





















How can I create high-performing teams?

The Discipline of Teams















Executive Summary





Building the Emotional Intelligence of Groups



















Managing Multicultural Teams















Executive Summary





Virtuoso Teams















Executive Summary





Can Absence Make a Team Grow Stronger?















Executive Summary







How can I improve weak performers?

A New Game Plan for C Players



















Competent Jerks, Lovable Fools, and the Formation of Social Networks















Executive Summary





The Real Reason People Won't Change





















How can I get the best from my middle managers?

In Praise of Middle Managers



















Let's Hear It for B Players



















The Middle Manager as Innovator















Executive Summary





The Five Minds of a Manager















Executive Summary





Understanding People People















Executive Summary







How can I help my new managers succeed?

Saving Your Rookie Managers from Themselves



















Beware the Busy Manager



















Management Time: Who's Got the Monkey?



















Managing Your Boss















Executive Summary





Becoming the Boss















Executive Summary







How can I help my best performers become even better?

The Risky Business of Hiring Stars















Executive Summary





Job Sculpting: The Art of Retaining Your Best People



















Managing Away Bad Habits





















How do I keep my people motivated and committed?

One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees?



















How to Motivate Your Problem People



















Why Incentive Plans Cannot Work



















Pygmalion in Management



















Power Is the Great Motivator



















Fair Process: Managing in the Knowledge Economy





















What are the most effective coaching techniques?

The Executive as Coach



















The Set-Up-to-Fail Syndrome



















Pygmalion in Management



















A Better Way to Deliver Bad News





















How can I stop my employees from wasting so much time?

Management Time: Who's Got the Monkey?



















Beware the Busy Manager



















Reclaim Your Job















Executive Summary







How can I foster an appropriate level of work/life balance in my company?

Job Sculpting: The Art of Retaining Your Best People



















Work and Life: The End of the Zero-Sum Game



















Extreme Jobs: The Dangerous Allure of the 70-Hour Workweek















Executive Summary







What are the best practices around diversity issues?

Dear White Boss...



















Leadership in Your Midst: Tapping the Hidden Strengths of Minority Executives















Executive Summary





Making Differences Matter: A New Paradigm for Managing Diversity



















The Truth About Mentoring Minorities: Race Matters



















From Affirmative Action to Affirming Diversity





















How can I encourage talented women at my company?

A Modest Manifesto for Shattering the Glass Ceiling



















Executive Women and the Myth of Having It All



















Off-Ramps and On-Ramps: Keeping Talented Women on the Road to Success















Executive Summary















Managing Yourself

What are the seminal HBR articles on managing yourself?

Managing Oneself















Executive Summary





Managing Away Bad Habits



















What Makes an Effective Executive















Executive Summary







How can I develop a greater understanding of my strengths and weaknesses?

What to Ask the Person in the Mirror















Executive Summary





How to Play to Your Strengths















Executive Summary







How can I become -- and remain -- passionate about my work?

Success That Lasts















Executive Summary





Do Your Commitments Match Your Convictions?















Executive Summary





How to Stay Stuck in the Wrong Career



















Reawakening Your Passion for Work



















Job Sculpting: The Art of Retaining Your Best People





















How should I prepare for my next job?

The Right Way to Be Fired



















Toward a Career-Resilient Work Force



















A Market-Driven Approach to Retaining Talent



















What's Your Story?















Executive Summary







What physiological factors impact my work performance, and what can I do about them?

The Human Moment at Work



















Overloaded Circuits: Why Smart People Underperform















Executive Summary





The Making of a Corporate Athlete



















Sleep Deficit: The Performance Killer















Executive Summary





Primal Leadership: The Hidden Driver of Great Performance





















How can I manage my boss more effectively?

Managing Your Boss















Executive Summary





Meetings That Work: Plans Bosses Can Approve



















The Necessary Art of Persuasion





























Marketing

What are the keys to creating customer loyalty?

The Mismanagement of Customer Loyalty



















Zero Defections: Quality Comes to Services



















Why Satisfied Customers Defect



















The One Number You Need to Grow















Executive Summary





Putting the Service-Profit Chain to Work





















What are some smart strategies around pricing?

How to Fight a Price War



















Versioning: The Smart Way to Sell Information



















Pricing and the Psychology of Consumption





















How can my company maximize the value of our brand(s)?

The Brand Report Card



















Three Questions You Need to Ask About Your Brand



















Kill a Brand, Keep a Customer















Executive Summary





Selling the Brand Inside



















Customer-Centered Brand Management















Executive Summary







What are the best practices in customer relationship management?

CRM Done Right















Executive Summary





Avoid the Four Perils of CRM



















The Quest for Customer Focus















Executive Summary





Diamonds in the Data Mine





























Negotiation

How can I become a more skilled negotiator?

Six Habits of Merely Effective Negotiators



















Negotiating the Spirit of the Deal



















3-D Negotiating: Playing the Whole Game















Executive Summary





Getting Past Yes: Negotiating as if Implementation Mattered















Executive Summary







How can I become more persuasive?

Change the Way You Persuade



















Harnessing the Science of Persuasion



















The Necessary Art of Persuasion



















The Power of Talk: Who Gets Heard and Why





























Strategy and Execution

What are the fundamentals of strategy?

What Is Strategy?



















How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy



















Building Your Company's Vision



















The Core Competence of the Corporation



















Competing on Capabilities: The New Rules of Corporate Strategy





















What are some innovative strategies for beating the competition?

Growth Outside the Core















Executive Summary





Blue Ocean Strategy















Executive Summary





Hardball: Five Killer Strategies for Trouncing the Competition















Executive Summary





MarketBusting: Strategies for Exceptional Business Growth















Executive Summary







What are some common obstacles to execution?

Strategic Intent















Executive Summary





Transforming Corner-Office Strategy into Frontline Action



















Turning Great Strategy into Great Performance















Executive Summary





Using the Balanced Scorecard as a Strategic Management System



















What Really Works















Executive Summary







How should my company formulate its strategy?

How to Have an Honest Conversation About Your Business Strategy















Executive Summary





Strategy as Simple Rules



















Marketing Myopia















Executive Summary















Technology and Operations

How can IT better support my company's strategy?

IT Doesn't Matter



















Getting IT Right















Executive Summary





Six IT Decisions Your IT People Shouldn't Make



















Putting the Enterprise into the Enterprise System



















Mastering the Three Worlds of Information Technology















Executive Summary







What are the best ways to run my supply chains?

Aligning Incentives in Supply Chains















Executive Summary





The Triple-A Supply Chain















Executive Summary





What Is the Right Supply Chain for Your Product?



















Building Deep Supplier Relationships















Executive Summary





Rapid-Fire Fulfillment















Executive Summary







How can I turn my company's operations into a competitive advantage?

The Superefficient Company



















How Process Enterprises Really Work



















Deep Change: How Operational Innovation Can Transform Your Company















Executive Summary





The Power of Virtual Integration



















Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System























Do you have a question that's not on the list? Please let us know via the e-mail link below. We can't promise to answer each e-mail individually, but we will regularly add topics and questions, based in part on your suggestions. E-mail Us

Please let us know via the e-mail link below. We can't promise to answer each e-mail individually, but we will regularly add topics and questions, based in part on your suggestions. E-mail Us















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