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How Incentives for Long-Term Management Backfire

Harvard Business Review

To hear long-term investors tell it, company executives have embraced short-term thinking like never before. Two obvious pieces of evidence: The use of earnings for share buybacks that cost more than they’re worth, and dividend increases that divert cash from long-term investment.

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Managing in an Age of Winner-Take-All

Harvard Business Review

The advent of the modern organization and the practice of management constitutes a “social technology” that has been equally transformative. The forces of technology and management will continue to hold equal sway as the 21st century unfolds. This is a situation that cannot endure.

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Business Needs to Do What Government Can't

Harvard Business Review

In short, change would happen, but at a dangerously slow pace. Levi Strauss, intriguingly, has used biomimetic techniques in developing new production techniques for jeans. PUMA has led the field; its then-CEO Jochen Zeitz conceived an Environmental Profit and Loss (EP&L) for the company with PwC and Trucost.

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Finally, Proof That Managing for the Long Term Pays Off

Harvard Business Review

Companies deliver superior results when executives manage for long-term value creation and resist pressure from analysts and investors to focus excessively on meeting Wall Street’s quarterly earnings expectations. We’ve seen companies such as Unilever, AT&T, and Amazon succeed by sticking resolutely to a long-term view.

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4 Ways CEOs Can Conquer Short-Termism

Harvard Business Review

In a recent survey , 70% of respondents said that CEOs focus too much on short-term financial results, and nearly 60% said that they don’t focus enough on positive long-term impact. These findings mirror the growing chorus of voices in business and academia that point to short-termism as being a major threat to business.

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The 6 Ways Business Leaders Talk About Sustainability

Harvard Business Review

For example, in the 1990s, leading businesses like 3M adopted concepts like eco-efficiency, focusing on saving and making money through the better management of materials, energy and waste. The focus of people using a resources frame to understand sustainability is often on waste reduction and technological innovation.

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