MIT Sloan – Management Review

A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling gives companies more opportunities to challenge regulations, but they may face more regulatory uncertainty as well. David Zimmer July 30, 2024 Reading Time: 6 min  Brian Stauffer In June 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the long-standing Chevron doctrine, fundamentally altering how businesses interact with federal regulations. The decision will almost certainly make it easier for companies to challenge agency regulations and other agency…

Topics Column Our expert columnists offer opinion and analysis on important issues facing modern businesses and managers. More in this series subscribe-icon Subscribe Share Otto Steininger/Ikon Images “Is such-and-such innovation disruptive?” It’s a question I’ve been asked countless times. At a recent workshop, for instance, a participant I’ll refer to as Sue asked about “cultivated meat,” a broad term for meat that is produced in a laboratory. Some analysts have…

Frontiers From ideation to user testing, large language models are allowing companies to explore more ideas and iterate faster. Tucker J. Marion, Mahdi Srour, and Frank Piller July 29, 2024 Reading Time: 8 min  Topics Frontiers An MIT SMR initiative exploring how technology is reshaping the practice of management. More in this series Patrick George/Ikon Images As enterprises experiment with generative AI use cases, one promising area is emerging: incorporating…

Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images To create a competitive advantage in an increasingly uncertain and unpredictable world, building an organizational change muscle is as important, if not more so, than having a great strategy, well-run operations, or the right talent. While the ability to react quickly to emerging trends, threats, and opportunities has been necessary for successful businesses for centuries, the pace of change in the past few decades…

A winning CXO plays a crucial role in influencing customer satisfaction and company success. Amelia Dunlop July 24, 2024 Reading Time: 4 min  Fergs/Ikon Images Remember the idea of keeping an empty chair in the corporate boardroom as a reminder that the customer deserves a seat at the table? The concept of “experience” embraces every touch point that a customer (or an employee) has with a company or brand, from…

In this short video, the 2024 Paris Olympics’ sustainability director offers business leaders advice on making dramatic cuts to carbon emissions. MIT Sloan Management Review July 23, 2024 Reading Time: 1 minute subscribe-icon Subscribe Share [embedded content] Sustainability efforts, including carbon reduction, are a priority for many organizations. However, many leaders struggle to scale this work. “Just knowing that it can be done would have been helpful from the start,”…

Topics Strategy Global Strategy Jon Krause/theispot.com The Philippines isn’t new to foreign investment. Long considered one of the striving tiger cub economies, its bustling ports and big cities have represented attractive investment opportunities for companies like General Electric, KKR, and Cargill.1 However, despite its prime location, young English-speaking workforce, and considerable natural-resource wealth, its performance lags behind that of its Association of Southeast Asian Nations peers.2 For foreign businesses looking…

Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images Companies are under increasing pressure to improve supply chain transparency, particularly around working conditions in remote factories. Government regulations, the best practices of peers, and attention from outside stakeholders all make it increasingly critical that leaders ensure that partners producing goods for the company operate fair, safe, and equitable workplaces. A key tactic in fostering such supply chain transparency is to implement on-the-ground, in-person…

Topics Column Our expert columnists offer opinion and analysis on important issues facing modern businesses and managers. More in this series subscribe-icon Subscribe Share Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images Ever get an animal in your house? Not a dog, a cat, or a hamster, but a wild animal: a bird that flew in and started frantically flapping around; a squirrel that invaded the fireplace. Growing up in North Carolina,…

Research Highlight Disrupt or adapt: Which is the best choice for your company? Here’s how to frame the decision. Murat Tarakci, Fabian J. Sting, Jan Recker, and Gerald C. Kane July 16, 2024 Reading Time: 8 min  Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images The Research The authors conducted numerous interviews and onsite observations during a period of six years at Australian retail chain Woolworths as it engaged in strategic competition…

Topics Social Responsibility Sustainability Dan Page/theispot.com Leaders can’t escape the global imperative to reduce the contributions businesses make to environmental degradation, but deep down, many harbor doubts: Can a profit-driven organization also be sustainable? Pressure to grow revenue and control costs is constant. How can a leader feel confident in pursuing more sustainable choices and defending them to boards and shareholders sensitive to the often higher costs of greener approaches?…

Topics Column Our expert columnists offer opinion and analysis on important issues facing modern businesses and managers. More in this series subscribe-icon Subscribe Share Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images The proverbial ship of artificial intelligence is moving ahead at warp speed, icebergs and societal risks be damned. The pace of change in what it can do is staggering. Breathless predictions say AI will add trillions of dollars to the…

Intense monitoring of individual output doesn’t lead to more productive employees and can limit workers’ professional growth. Stacia Garr and Priyanka Mehrotra July 10, 2024 Reading Time: 4 min  Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images Reports that U.S. productivity was up 3% in the fourth quarter of 2023 were seen as good news for the economy. But to understand what’s really happening — and avoid the perils of misplaced confidence…

Catch up on articles you might have missed and get expert advice on hard truths about meetings, AI and data science, return-to-office mandates, and more. Laurianne McLaughlin July 02, 2024 Reading Time: 3 min  subscribe-icon Subscribe Share When I interviewed Phillip G. Clampitt in early 2024 about how leaders could better handle employee pushback, I sensed that he had much more wisdom to offer on the topic. One particular pain…

Leaders face tough choices on whether and how their businesses should take a public stance on current events. Today’s conflicts may be particularly precarious to navigate. Cynthia E. Clark July 01, 2024 Reading Time: 3 min  Topics Leadership Corporate Social Responsibility Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images Growing concern over polarizing culture wars points to the need for leaders to understand when it makes sense for their company to speak…

For chief marketing officer success, focus on helping them attain the right skill set at the right corporate growth stage. Kimberly A. Whitler and Jonathan Metrick June 26, 2024 Reading Time: 6 min  Nick Lowndes/Ikon Images Chief marketing officer turnover has long been a challenge for companies. As a company matures, it can become clear that the CMO’s leadership skills and abilities no longer align with the organization’s needs —…

Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images For the growing number of organizations committing to decarbonization, meeting their goals can take a frustrating amount of time. The decarbonization journey is a nontraditional marathon — with a lot of ambiguity regarding the nature of the track — and many organizations struggle to identify where to start and how to scale their decarbonization efforts. We believe that these “marathon runners” can learn a…

Topics Column Our expert columnists offer opinion and analysis on important issues facing modern businesses and managers. More in this series subscribe-icon Subscribe Share Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images Gen Z employees — workers in their early to late 20s — often get painted in anecdotes about their supposed lack of engagement in the workplace, their embrace of working from their living rooms, or their reluctance to commute to…

Executives often fear that they’ll lose control and speed by engaging employees in strategic planning. But here’s a new playbook that works. Alexander Loudon June 19, 2024 Reading Time: 8 min  Tang Yau Hoong/Ikon Images As the newly appointed CEO of Hema, a struggling European retail chain with 750 stores and 19,000 employees, Saskia Egas Reparaz faced a daunting challenge. The year before, in 2020, the company had posted a…

Download the Event Summary Download (PDF) Technology is given undue agency — it shifts, it disrupts, it eliminates. At Work/24: The Human Factor, a virtual summit held May 2, 2024, MIT Sloan Management Review brought together experts in artificial intelligence, change management, workplace culture, and human resources. Their goal: to help leaders understand how teams can thrive in a tech-dominated, AI-fueled world of work. MIT SMR editor in chief Abbie…

In this short video, MIT Sloan CIO Symposium speakers and CIO Leadership Award finalists share advice on the AI threat vectors to focus on now. MIT Sloan Management Review June 18, 2024 Reading Time: 1 min  subscribe-icon Subscribe Share [embedded content] At a time when cybersecurity is paramount, artificial intelligence tools introduce even more complexity for IT and business leaders. The AI tools, the large language models that power them,…

For managers and teams, this is an unhealthy rapport. Here’s how to stop rolling your eyes and start treating each other like full-fledged adults. Jennifer Jordan June 17, 2024 Reading Time: 11 min  Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images To prepare for an upcoming program with a global chemicals company, I conducted a series of interviews with the top managers and the people who reported to them. I heard a…

Magazine Summer 2024 Issue Radar These research-backed tips can help you improve your prompting strategies for better results from large language models. Kaushik Viswanath June 10, 2024 Reading Time: 1 min  Topics Data, AI, & Machine Learning AI & Machine Learning Radar Brief insights on emerging trends in management from the opening pages of MIT Sloan Management Review’s quarterly print magazine. More in this series subscribe-icon Subscribe Share Getty Images…

1. The Ethical Matrix is based on a bioethical framework originally conceived by philosopher John Mepham for the sake of running ethical experiments. For a detailed presentation, see C. O’Neil and H. Gunn, “Near-Term Artificial Intelligence and the Ethical Matrix,” chap. 8 in “Ethics of Artificial Intelligence,” ed. S.M. Laio (New York: Oxford University Press, 2020). 2. C. O’Neil, H. Sargeant, and J. Appel, “Explainable Fairness in Regulatory Algorithmic Auditing,”…

Magazine Summer 2024 Issue Machine learning solutions can miss the mark when data scientists don’t check their assumptions. Adopting a beginner’s mindset in any domain can help. Dusan Popovic, Shreyas Lakhtakia, Will Landecker, and Melissa Valentine June 11, 2024 Reading Time: 14 min  Paul Garland In our collective decades of experience building, leading, and studying companies’ machine learning (ML) deployments, we have repeatedly seen projects fail because talented and well-resourced…

Topics Responsible AI The Responsible AI initiative looks at how organizations define and approach responsible AI practices, policies, and standards. Drawing on global executive surveys and smaller, curated expert panels, the program gathers perspectives from diverse sectors and geographies with the aim of delivering actionable insights on this nascent yet important focus area for leaders across industry. In collaboration with More in this series subscribe-icon Subscribe Share For the third…

Magazine Summer 2024 Issue Large language models can enhance data and analytics work by helping humans prepare data, improve models, and understand results. Pedro Amorim and João Alves June 11, 2024 Reading Time: 15 min  Topics Data, AI, & Machine Learning AI & Machine Learning Paul Garland The glare of attention on generative AI threatens to overshadow advanced analytics. Companies pouring resources into much-hyped large language models (LLMs) such as…

“How can we protect the privacy of our customers’ personal data while leveraging that data via AI and analytics?” This question reflects a growing internal dilemma as companies pursue advanced analytics and artificial intelligence.The troves of data that customers’ ever-more-digitalized lives produce can be a rich source of insight for organizations using advanced analytics tools. At the same time, this data is a deep source of concern to IT staffs…

subscribe-icon Subscribe Share Auditing Algorithmic Risk Cathy O’Neil, Jake Appel, and Sam Tyner-Monroe Key Insight: A set of frameworks can help organizations identify potential harms posed by algorithms, AI tools, or large language models (LLMs). Top Takeaways: As business uses of artificial intelligence, LLMs, and other algorithmic applications expand, so, too, does the possibility of unintended negative consequences for users and other stakeholders. The authors introduce two auditing frameworks —…

Topics Column Our expert columnists offer opinion and analysis on important issues facing modern businesses and managers. More in this series subscribe-icon Subscribe Share Paul Garland We all love a good “what went wrong” story. Analyses of corporate failures are a staple of the management genre, alerting leaders to hidden dangers and unexamined vulnerabilities. But studying our weaknesses and mitigating them only goes so far; it doesn’t actually tell us…

Topics Radar Brief insights on emerging trends in management from the opening pages of MIT Sloan Management Review’s quarterly print magazine. More in this series subscribe-icon Subscribe Share Courtesy of GE Appliances Kevin Nolan, an engineer by training and a 28-year veteran of GE, is the president and CEO of GE Appliances. He became the company’s CTO in 2006, 10 years before its acquisition by China-based multinational Haier Group. MIT…

Radar Paid influencers with the biggest follower counts may not give companies the most bang for their buck, research finds. The MIT SMR Editors June 10, 2024 Reading Time: 2 min  Topics Radar Brief insights on emerging trends in management from the opening pages of MIT Sloan Management Review’s quarterly print magazine. More in this series subscribe-icon Subscribe Share Getty Images The top social media influencers command top dollar for…

Coaching for the Future-Forward Leader Sanyin Siang June 06, 2024 Reading Time: 2 min  Topics Coaching for the Future-Forward Leader Leadership roles come with new personal and professional challenges — and Sanyin Siang, board and CEO coach, adviser, and author, is here to help with an advice column for top managers. More in this series We are going through an organizational transformation, which will involve a workforce reduction. How can…

Companies that modularize and externalize their best capabilities are in a strong position to seize unexpected opportunities. Mark J. Greeven, Howard Yu, and Jialu Shan June 05, 2024 Reading Time: 13 min  Neil Webb/theispot.com Prediction is hard. The longer the time range — six months, three years, a decade — the less reliable any forecasting becomes. And yet, some companies prosper through extreme uncertainties. Consider cosmetics giant L’Oréal. When COVID-19…

When an employee is experiencing a health crisis, it impacts their colleagues as well. Leaders must support everyone affected, with sensitivity and professionalism. Benjamin Laker, Vijay Pereira, Jack Tillotson, and Sammy Toyoki June 04, 2024 Reading Time: 11 min  Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images When an employee is diagnosed with a terminal illness, the complexities of workplace management deepen significantly. It’s not merely about handling the practicalities of business…

Topics Social Responsibility Sustainability Dan Page/theispot.com The Research This research was based on qualitative case analyses of organizations that have implemented circular economy models. Data collection involved a mix of structured interviews with company managers, review of company documents, and review of in-depth case studies. The analysis identified key patterns in successful adoption of circular models and the strategic decisions, challenges, and outcomes associated with circular economy practices. Companies seeking…

In this short video, MIT Sloan CIO Symposium speakers and CIO leadership award finalists share advice on generative AI issues to prioritize. MIT Sloan Management Review May 30, 2024 Reading Time: 1 minute Topics Data, AI, & Machine Learning AI & Machine Learning subscribe-icon Subscribe Share [embedded content] Given the rapid pace at which generative AI continues to advance, it’s natural to worry about the completeness of your implementation plans.…

Frontiers Research Highlight Using large language models to generate text can save time but often results in unpredictable errors. Prompting users to review outputs can improve their quality. Renée Richardson Gosline, Yunhao Zhang, Haiwen Li, Paul Daugherty, Arnab D. Chakraborty, Philippe Roussiere, and Patrick Connolly May 29, 2024 Reading Time: 7 min  Topics Data, AI, & Machine Learning AI & Machine Learning Frontiers An MIT SMR initiative exploring how technology…

Topics Column Our expert columnists offer opinion and analysis on important issues facing modern businesses and managers. More in this series subscribe-icon Subscribe Share Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images The chairman of a large European enterprise approached me over drinks at an event for board members and CEOs on how to build enterprise security resilience. We started talking about cybersecurity risk — a grave concern for many boards. “I…

Mark Airs/Ikon Images Imagine that burst of enthusiasm when a senior executive unveils a plan that promises a significant and lasting impact on the organization’s financial performance. “Our new product creates more value for our customers than anything else on the market, and we should get paid accordingly,” they proudly declare. “If we measure and communicate that value precisely, then we can finally get the return we deserve.” The sales…