Product development

Why is it that we can get into a rental car and know what 43 out of the 45 buttons do, but we can’t figure out how to use call forwarding on the 12-button phone that has been sitting on our desk for 10 years? This wonderful question was raised many years ago by Donald […]

When a customer buys a product he or she goes through a complex process of balancing the price of the product against the perceived benefits, costs, risks, and value in use of the product. If the customer thinks this way when analyzing a purchase, say these authors, it makes great sense for marketers to set […]

The author of this article says he would be the last one to argue that the approach described here is a complete view of marketing. Then again, he is convinced that the approach enables marketers to achieve three important objectives. First, it enables them to identify the markets in which their companies have the best […]

It’s fashionable today to enthuse over globalized markets and cite glowing examples of standardized marketing winners around the world. True, some markets are globalizing, and more companies are taking advantage of them with signal success. But the rosy reports of these triumphs usually neglect to mention the complexities and risks involved; for every victory in […]

Traditional processes will only slow you down.

They cost almost nothing.

Climate change is a pressing concern for Bill Gates, who has just published a new book on the subject. He spoke with HBR's editor-in-chief about the need...

Leaders need to rethink who gets to contribute — and how.

In the continuing quest for business growth, many CEOs are turning to their CIOs and IT organizations because technology is absolutely essential to two...

It involves a Winnebago.

Lessons from a 10-year review of Sony Ericsson’s product development process.

The other day one of my clients asked me a deceptively simple question: What is the best market research technique? It turned out to be a leading question,...

Diversity, cohesiveness, and autonomy might seem critical to group innovation. But don’t take them too far.

For 20 years, we've been exploiting the same fundamental technologies.

What 145 empirical studies conclude.

Accelerating technological improvements have changed the speed with which new innovations penetrate markets. Graphed over time, the market adoption of...

Author’s note: Alistair Hanna, Michael Reopel, and Stuart Flack, all of McKinsey & Company, contributed to this article. The U.S. defense industry is struggling to reorganize itself for growth, if not for survival. The disappearance of the communist threat and the desperate need to revive the U.S. economy have taken the defense industry for a […]

It's about discovery, incubation, and acceleration.

When you head up a big construction project for your organization, coming in on time and on budget isn't enough. If you want to avoid squandering what...

The regularity of the growth cycles of living organisms has always fascinated thoughtful he observers regularity and of has the invited growth a cycles variety of living attempts to apply the same principles—of a predictable sequence of rapid growth followed by maturation, decline, and death—to companies and selected industries. One such concept, known as the […]