Lessons from the Growth Outliers - HBR Article available for download
This is an article about an exceptional group of companies - publicly traded, with market cap as of 2009 of over $1 Billion USD - who were able to grow their net incomes by at least 5% a year for a total ten-year period. In it, I find that they combine remarkable stability with remarkable change. The first 500 readers to click on the link below will be able to access a free .pdf file of the final published article.
Click here to receive the download.
If you missed it, email me and I'll have a hard copy sent to you.
Happy New Year!
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- Posted Rita McGrath on January 05, 2012
Growth ambitions, yes. Growth capability? Still working on that…
My colleagues over at the growth practice at consultancy Accenture surveyed some of their largest clients about their growth prospects. The results are in my blog, "ready for growth, but not prepared" over at the Harvard Business Review site. Among the more interesting findings are that the firms all believe growth is important and is back on the agenda, but struggle with finding the right capabilities to support it.
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- Posted Rita McGrath on August 24, 2011
More women in top management = more success as a company
Experts and observers have long argued that there is a benefit to firms of having more women in senior decision-making roles. The reasons are many, including the importance of diversity, the fact that senior women more readily represent female customers (the majority of buyers in many industries), and a general openness to talent. Some new research done at Columbia finds that companies with women in the top team do enjoy a performance benefit. Interestingly, this doesn't apply to firms that have a female CEO (rare though they are). Worth a look.
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- Posted Rita McGrath on May 26, 2011
Does doing good mean doing well? Research from colleague Ray FIsman
In a recent piece in Columbia Ideas at Work, my colleague Ray Fisman summarizes some research he has done on whether promising to donate a portion of one's proceeds to charity means more profits for eBay sellers.
Among their findings:
Turns out — based on our eBay evidence — the champions of corporate philanthropy have gotten the story at least half right. Take a Giving Works item advertising that 10 percent of proceeds will be given to charity. It’s nearly 20 percent more likely to sell than its noncharity twin at a price that’s about 2 percent higher. (Items where 100 percent is donated to charity — hardly a sustainable business strategy — are nearly 50 percent more likely to sell and result in sales prices that are 6 percent higher).
They also found that sellers new to eBay benefitted more than experienced sellers. He hypothesizes that this is due to the signal of trustworthiness sent by being engaged with charity.
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- Posted Rita McGrath on May 26, 2011
Intelligent Failure Noted in The Economist
In an article published in the April 16 Economist, the positive side of failure, as featured in a recent special issue of the Harvard Business Review is discussed. Interesting reading for those of us who follow failures and try to learn from them.
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- Posted Rita McGrath on April 25, 2011
