Business and society

Workers would benefit, and so would the economy.

Three strategies, based on interviews with 37 senior leaders.

Ugh.

Extra ventilation often means using more energy - but it doesn't have to.

Progress has been both glacial and uneven.

I was just a year out of college, and interviewing for a sales assistant position at PaineWebber. One of my prospective bosses offered me $24,000. I countered with $27,000. He pulled out his calculator like a gun from a holster, punched in $3,000, divided it by 52, and in a clipped tone responded, “That’s only […]

Samsung’s Lee Kun-hee was in power, then out of power, and is now in power again. And that’s not making life easy for his former employee Kim Yong-chul. As reported today, the latter is in a form of career exile after accusing his boss and other top executives of corruption. The complaint got results: Lee […]

Online advertising is opaque and often funnels money to sites that can damage your brand. Here’s how companies can protect themselves.

A senior manager at Cisco once suggested to me that there are two types of challenges in organizations — capacity problems and complexity problems. Capacity problems are those that require more, fewer or different resources. Complexity problems require new thinking and a creative approach. For example, increasing market share for your product can often be […]

You can’t move away from what scares you.

Dismayed by the State Department employees who peeked at Senator Barack Obama’s, Senator Hillary Clinton’s and John McCain’s passport files? Shocked by the nineteen employees, including physicians, who furtively glanced at Britney Spears’ medical files? Don’t be. Snooping isn’t rare. When I worked for CSO, a magazine devoted to executive-level security professionals, I heard countless […]

The widely held notion of “Japan, Inc.” is exaggerated; there is no monolithic business-government link. Even so, the cooperation (without incorporation) between the large corporate combines and the government bureaucracy is impressive in its strength and focus on the common economic good—especially in view of its achievements worldwide. As the economic power of the United […]

Congress and regulators must curb combinations that adversely affect the cost and quality of care.

Examining groups like ISIS and al Qaeda through an organizational lens.

New research suggests that social entrepreneurs may benefit from short bursts of business exposure.

On this blog, I’ve speculated on the factors that lead to highly talented women dropping out of their once-chosen careers and thus not being available to take the next step, leading to one consequence that these folks are not available in the pool of candidates for top jobs. With this as backdrop, it was fascinating […]

Innovation deserves protection.

Abuse. And it's not only a problem for Twitter.

Entrepreneurs sit on the sidelines for fear of innocently running afoul of the law.

The sector is a test case for how new technology will play out.

Phumlaphi Rita Zwane, founder of Busy Corner, a thriving Shisanyama (African barbeque) business in Thembisa, South Africa, faced a pivotal decision amid...

Between 2010 and 2012, SolarCity experienced tremendous growth in an industry that was generally perceived to be struggling. Many other solar start-ups...

With Method standing at number seven on Inc. magazine's list of the 500 fastest-growing companies in 2006, cofounder Adam Lowry is searching for a biodegradable...

This case explores the very different paths taken by the Ford Motor Company and the General Motors Corporation in the first three decades of the twentieth...

The primary objective of this case is to introduce the concepts of sustainability and its operationalization in practice. To achieve this objective, the...

This case considers Nestlé's creating shared value (CSV) strategy, which focused on the three categories of nutrition, water, and rural development. In...

The adoption of information technology (IT) in public services in India has been uneven and fraught with numerous difficulties. The case describes a context...

APA Technologies, a startup in the trucking industry, faced a significant challenge with its innovative product, the Tyro - an automatic tire inflation...

Bradford, an old New England industrial city, is experiencing an economic boom. The city has recently adopted a 'linkage agreement' policy, requiring...

This case describes the founding of Chinese coffee chain Luckin Coffee in 2017 and its path to surpassing Starbucks as the largest coffee chain in China...

In 1992, the United Nations (UN) Convention on Climate Change urged UN members to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in order to limit global...

Khayal Gumaan, a professor at a reputable Canadian university, had many years of experience teaching on campus, where she prided herself in creating a...

Supplements Sabena Belgian World Airlines.

In October 2007, the OLPC reported production delays and missed its shipment date. In early November, the $100 PC finally went into production, with initial...

Sonali Saini was the founder of Sol's ARC, a nonprofit organization that worked to benefit neurodiverse individuals. She had just returned from a meeting...

In 2012, China attained a historic development milestone with more Chinese citizens living in cities than in the countryside. China's rapid urbanization,...

DHAN is a non-government organisation with a difference. It is neither a philanthropic organisation nor a service organisation but a development organisation...

Four college friends market a beverage that combines ingredients like those in a drink they consumed in college bars. It includes a caffeinated energy...

China's oil industry, with majority ownership vested in the government, had engaged in an "equity oil" strategy for the past few years--acquiring equity...

The iPierian case profiles a startup biotechnology company leveraging the recent development of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)-adult stem cells...

Workers would benefit, and so would the economy.

Three strategies, based on interviews with 37 senior leaders.

Ugh.

Extra ventilation often means using more energy - but it doesn't have to.

Progress has been both glacial and uneven.

I was just a year out of college, and interviewing for a sales assistant position at PaineWebber. One of my prospective bosses offered me $24,000. I countered with $27,000. He pulled out his calculator like a gun from a holster, punched in $3,000, divided it by 52, and in a clipped tone responded, “That’s only […]

Samsung’s Lee Kun-hee was in power, then out of power, and is now in power again. And that’s not making life easy for his former employee Kim Yong-chul. As reported today, the latter is in a form of career exile after accusing his boss and other top executives of corruption. The complaint got results: Lee […]

Online advertising is opaque and often funnels money to sites that can damage your brand. Here’s how companies can protect themselves.

A senior manager at Cisco once suggested to me that there are two types of challenges in organizations — capacity problems and complexity problems. Capacity problems are those that require more, fewer or different resources. Complexity problems require new thinking and a creative approach. For example, increasing market share for your product can often be […]

You can’t move away from what scares you.