MIT Sloan Management Review

Courtesy of BMW.

Continuous innovation is the engine that drives highly successful companies such as Apple, General Electric, Google, Honda, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, Sony, Tata group and many others.

Too often, business students see little overlap between the jobs they plan to do — and those they consider most socially responsible or would most enjoy.

Many organizations commit large amounts of resources to maintain their competitiveness through innovative activities.

Managers have been inundated with advice on the dos and don’ts of laying off employees. But the truth is that there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to downsizing.

As research on the National Football League reveals, sometimes the specific nature of a job determines whether a great performer at one company can replicate that performance at another.

The departure of talented employees can actually benefit a company, depending on where those individuals are hired. Therefore organizations must learn how to lose certain battles in order to win the war.