MIT Sloan Management Review

How do you get more people to recycle? Pair it with that great American pastime: shopping.

Every year, the Wall Street Journal puts out a ranking of the top ten venture-backed clean-tech companies based in the U.S. with “the greatest potential to succeed.â

What’s one of the challenges to successful management or process innovation in an existing business? The array of organizational structures that are designed to keep current processes running smoothly.

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.

What’s “crowd funding”? It involves consumers investing small amounts of money (as little as $1) in the businesses of musicians or fashion designers whose products they fancy.

Here’s another example of a company reporting economic benefits from environmentally sustainable practices.

This week’s official launch of Tata’s Nano — the world’s most inexpensive car — could be a sign of the times.

 It's not uncommon to hear experts suggest that recessions are good for innovation -- in part because hard times encourage new thinking. John Chambers, Cisco's chair and CEO, goes even further. Earlier this month, in a Wall Street Journal column, he described  the current economic situation as "the biggest opportunity of our lifetime."

As the downturn continues, some technology start-up companies are closing or being acquired at low prices, The Wall Street Journal reports. That, along with a reported decrease in angel investing, raise questions about the environment for innovation.

But the news isn't all bad.

Business use of “social network analysis” is in the news — and is a topic featured in the Winter 2009 issue of MIT Sloan Management Review.

Are performance reviews passé? At the very least, they are a hot discussion topic  --  judging from reactions to the lead story in this week's edition of Business Insight, which we at SMR produce in collaboration with The Wall Street Journal.Â

Mixed news this week from American Airlines: On the plus side for most people, American plans to respond to flight attendants' concerns and ban porn on its in-flight Wi-Fi system.

According to a June 13th article in The Wall Street Journal, some companies are starting to reexamine their decision to outsource production to China — because rising oil costs make the transportation of goods across the globe more expensive.

That's a phenomenon Michael J. Mol might call a shift of the outsourcing curve.