MIT Sloan Management Review

Harvard economist Kenneth Rogoff gave a fascinating guest lecture at MIT earlier this week -- looking at commonalities in a number of financial crises. Rogoff, who recently coauthored a new book, This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly with Carmen M.

Innovation strategy expert Vijay Govindarajan thinks that businesses should be careful not to abandon innovation in their quest for efficiency and cost control during a recession — but they may need to reduce their focus on risky breakthrough innovation plans.

C.K. Prahalad thinks we are entering a period where a key challenge is managing volatility and discontinuities.

In the last 12 months, “innovation has become more important, not less,” according to innovation expert Vijay Govindarajan.

How is innovation faring during the economic downturn? The answer depends on whom you ask. Recently, we have seen interesting, but somewhat conflicting, reports on the state of innovation in the U.S. economy.

First, The Wall Street Journal reported some surprising good news last week: Despite the economy, large U.S.

Don’t have all the resources you’d like due to the economic downturn? Fear not: Resource constraints can spark creativity, according to a new article.

“What will be the long-term impact of the crisis on technological innovation?” Joshua Gans examines that question in the new Spring 2009 issue of MIT Sloan Management Review.

Put aside the myth of the ‘tamed’ business cycle. In the wake of the current economic downturn, managers must learn how to use the business cycle for competitive advantage.

Here’s an interesting idea: Now may be an opportune time to perform repair work within your organization.

Image courtesy of Flickr user Sharon Drummond.

Any one of us—and any one of our organizations—could be forgiven for behaving at the moment like a bear confronting winter. I don’t mean behaving “bearishly,” as investors do. No, I mean behaving literally like a bear—which is to say, shutting down the system.

Looking for new strategies for doing business in the recession? Consider strategies employed by companies from emerging markets — where economic volatility and constraints on consumer disposable income are commonplace.

Bhaskar Chakravorti of Harvard Business School offers insights about entrepreneurship and innovation during a downturn,

A professor’s analysis of innovation during the Great Depression suggests that downturns can present opportunities — if you have cash and good ideas.

Today's Wall Street Journal features an article that highlights a subtle but interesting difference in management style between Toyota Motor Corp. and Detroit's Big Three. Toyota in the U.S. currently finds itself with excess capacity for models such as pickup trucks.�