MIT Sloan Management Review

INTELLIGENCE: New developments, research and ideas in management

Too many managers still view their workforces as costs to be controlled and cut. There is a better way, but it requires organizational and societal will.

The pursuit of self-interest can produce a lot of good, but it needs a bit of guidance if society is to prosper.

Although the relevance of corporate philanthropy is widely accepted, few companies achieve significant, lasting societal impact because most lack a cohesive strategy. Effective philanthropy must be run no less professionally than the core business.

Many common marketing activities are coming under greater scrutiny from regulators, lawyers and scholars. Companies are scrambling to figure out how that will affect competition.

The real business case for sustainability requires more radical, fundamental and difficult change than most are ready to consider, but anything less ignores the real problem and may, in fact, contribute to it.

Green marketing hasn’t fulfilled its initial promise, but companies can be more effective with it if they realize that a one-size-fits-all strategy doesn’t exist. Consumers swear that they want green products, but in checkout aisles, most revert to more common requirements — convenience, availability, price, quality and performance. The authors show how companies today can choose among several different green strategies targeted to specific customer segments.

The health care crisis in the United States has become a business crisis, as exploding costs put increasing pressure on companies’ bottom lines. The authors argue that companies should go on the offensive, both to reduce costs and to seek improvements in the quality of care, by partnering with employees and providers. Many companies, from giants like Johnson & Johnson and Textron to manufacturers with only a few hundred employees, are having success with this approach.

When companies act dishonestly, the psychological costs outweigh any short-term gains. Dishonesty ultimately decreases repeat business and increases worker turnover and employee theft. Degradation of a company’s reputation, adverse effects on employee values and increased surveillance of workers through expensive new systems eat at an organization’s health. The authors offer proof that honesty is still the best policy.

Before September 11, the Bush administration was often criticized for going it alone in foreign relations, notably in its decisions to abrogate the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty and to reject the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on global warming. Since September 11, while the United States has built a broad coalition against terrorism and is talking seriously [...]