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We Can’t Study Short-Termism Without the Right Metrics

Harvard Business Review

If a company has beat or missed its EPS targets by less than two cents , that means the company has nipped and tucked its quarterly results just enough to meet the target EPS number it committed to analysts. What if concentrated market power of a few companies in an industry has made these companies more profitable than usual?

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The Authenticity Trap for Workers Who Are Not Straight, White Men

Harvard Business Review

Moving up in an organization depends on looking and acting like a leader, on being perceived as having “executive presence” (EP). According to research from the Center for Talent Innovation (CTI), EP constitutes 26% of what senior leaders say it takes to get to the next promotion.

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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.

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Business Needs to Do What Government Can't

Harvard Business Review

Just under 1,000 companies account for half of the world's market capitalization, Eccles notes. Breakthrough requires an end to systemic inequities by opening up processes, information - and markets. Companies like Unilever are on an open innovation drive, while GSK and Novartis are focusing on access to medicines in poorer markets.

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How Incentives for Long-Term Management Backfire

Harvard Business Review

Four hundred seventy-one companies in the S&P 500 bought back stock last year, and 372 companies expanded their dividends — actions undertaken in spite of the need to invest heavily to keep up with global market changes. For example, one large technology company embraced a strategy to win through new digital businesses.

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Yes, Short-Termism Really Is a Problem

Harvard Business Review

.” Keiretsu “was widely seen as a great Japanese strength,” Summers notes, “yet even apart from Japan’s manifest macroeconomic difficulties, Japanese companies lacking market discipline have squandered leads in sectors ranging from electronics to automobiles to information technology.”

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What Apple Should Do with Its Massive Piles of Money

Harvard Business Review

In this letter, I’d like to explain more fully why I view the $51 billion already spent by Apple on open market (including accelerated) share repurchases under your leadership as a major misallocation of resources for both the company and the U.S. Rather, they trade in outstanding shares in the hope that their market price will increase.