HBS Articles!

Readers’ Choice: The latest readers’ picks from Harvard Management Update Here are the latest Harvard Management Update articles that readers found most useful:

When the Boomers Leave, Will Your Company Have the Leaders it Needs? Anne Field There’s a major demographic change on the horizon, one that portends a leadership crisis for many organizations. The fact is, a significant number of highly trained and highly placed baby boomers in leadership positions will become eligible to retire in the next five years. When they do leave, will your company have enough talent ready and able to step into their shoes? Here, experts share their advice for providing your organization’s future leaders with training that is both highly effective and highly efficient.A New Approach to Keeping Your Best on Board Lauren Keller Johnson Retaining top talent will be a major competitive imperative for companies in the next decade. So what steps can your organization take to encourage retention? HMU delves into more than a decade of research by Brooks C. Holtom, Terence R. Mitchell, and Thomas W. Lee on what they term job embeddedness and outlines specific practices that companies and individual managers can implement to increase job embeddedness–and consequently, retention. Making Every Leadership Moment Matter Judith A. Ross Many managers don’t believe they can change direct reports’ performance–or, if such change is possible, they are convinced it requires a long and arduous process. But research from theUniversity of Nebraska’s Gallup Leadership Institute (GLI) shows that employees’ thoughts and behaviors can be altered–within hours–if managers focus on building hope, efficacy/confidence, resilience, and optimism. Stop Demotivating Your Employees! David Sirota, Louis A. Mischkind, Michael Irwin Meltzer It’s a shocking statistic: In about 85% of companies, employee morale declines sharply after just the first six months–and continues to deteriorate for years afterward. The fault, according to the authors, who surveyed about 1.2 million employees at 52 primarily Fortune 1000 companies, lies squarely with management, which often unwittingly demotivates employees and diminishes, if not outright destroys, their enthusiasm. This article describes how individual managers’ behaviors and styles are contributing to the problem and shows what they can do to turn this around.Conventional Wisdom…with Frances Frei: “Don’t bring me problems–bring me solutions!” Frances X. Frei, Christina Bielaszka-DuVernay One of the more counterproductive things a manager can say is “Don’t bring me problems–bring me solutions.” So says Frances Frei, an associate professor atHarvard Business School, who is interviewed in this article by HMU’s Christina Bielaszka-DuVernay on how to improve your company’s performance–by creating an environment that encourages the identification and solving of problems. Trust Makes the Team Go ‘Round Judith A. Ross As many highly accomplished managers are discovering, managing virtually is not the same as managing face-to-face. Cultural and language differences become magnified, as do conflicts. It is much easier to hide errors and problems, sweep misunderstandings under the rug, and make erroneous assumptions. And such mistakes and mix-ups are more likely to become full-fledged disasters when the group does not feel free to acknowledge and address them openly. Don’t panic. These problems are not inevitable–as long as team leaders remember to focus on one critical element as they build and manage their virtual operations: trust. Leading in Times of Change Kerry A. Bunker, Michael Wakefield During change, leaders must perform a delicate balancing act: they have to make tough decisions without losing sight of the emotions and concerns of employees. To do this, the authors argue, requires managing the tension between seemingly opposing tasks and capabilities, for instance: “Show a sense of urgency” and “Demonstrate realistic patience.” The article guides you in striking the right balance to drive successful change.Make Your Good Team Great: Increase Group Emotional Intelligence to Increase Group Results Judith A. Ross Groups rather than individuals are what make high-performing companies tick. The ideal team merges individual proficiencies and strengths into one superperforming whole with capabilities that surpass even those of its most talented member. But such teams do not grow on trees. High-performing teams possess high levels of group emotional intelligence (EI). HMU spoke with EI experts, identifying three key practices to get your team’s EI off to a solid start and looking at techniques used by Xerox Canada and Johnson & Johnson that resulted in increased EI. Feedback That Works Cynthia M. Phoel Fundamentally, feedback is a good thing. But most managers say they dislike giving feedback. Moreover, they don’t think the feedback they do give is as effective as it could be. This article distills the expertise of several management thought leaders into eight specific suggestions for creating effective, positive feedback conversations that result in better performance for managers and career growth for employees.Getting More from Executive Coaching Lauren Keller Johnson A skilled executive coach can be invaluable in helping you make the most of the opportunities that cross your path–and surmount the obstacles that corporate life throws before you. But not only does coaching require significant investment–both financial and in terms of executive time–but it is also an emerging practice whose quality can vary widely. In this article, experienced coaches and executives who have benefited from coaching share their step-by-step advice on getting the most from a coaching relationship.

Product and Service Management

Product and Service Management (recurring activities to manage a product or service)Written by Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD, Authenticity Consulting, LLC. Copyright 1997-2007.
Adapted from the Field Guide to Nonprofit Program Design, Marketing and Evaluation.Product (or service) management includes a wide range of management activities, ranging from the time that there’s a new idea for a product to eventually providing ongoing support to customers who have purchased the new product. Every organization conducts product management, whether it’s done intentionally or unintentionally.This module provides a wide overview of considerations in developing and managing a product. How a product is developed or managed is depends very much on the nature of the organization and its products, for example, retail, manufacturing, wholesale, etc. Note that different people might even have different categorizations for the activities described below.NOTE: Nonprofit organizations often provide services in the form of “programs”, rather than “products” — although the services from the programs are certainly “products” to groups of clients. Therefore, readers from nonprofit organizations might be better served to read the following guide:
Basic Guidelines for Nonprofit Program Design and MarketingSections of This Topic Include:Basic Introduction to Product Management
Approaches to Developing Products and Services
Product Idea
(Are You Planning a New Business Around Your New Idea?)
Product Evaluation — Can Your Idea Become a Viable Product orService?
Product Development — Building Your Product or Service
Product Production — Ongoing Building of Products or Services
Product Distribution, Advertising and Promotion, Sales and Service

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Basics Introduction to Product ManagementBusinesses can generate revenue from selling more of the current products to more of the current customers (customer maximization), more of the current products to new customers (customer development), new products to current customers (product development), or new products to new customers (diversification).To Broaden Your Perspective on Product ManagementMany of the activities in product management are also activities in the overall process of marketing.
Basics of Marketing (from idea to evaluating to developing to producing)
Life Cycle Planning (everything has a life cycle, including products)Broaden Your Perspective Even More?( Or If You Need an Investor or Funder)If the reader is highly motivated at this point, then he or she might scan the information about the basics of business planning. Business planning is usually conducted when starting a new organization or a new major venture, for example, new product, service or program. Essentially, a business plan is a combination of a marketing plan, strategic plan, operational/management plan and a financial plan. Funders or investors usually require a business plan. Far more important than the plan document, is the planning process itself.
Basics of Business PlanningApproaches to Developing Products and ServicesThere are five different approaches that people use to develop a product or service. The following article provides an overview of each of the methods.
Approaches to Developing Products and ServicesIdea for New Product or ServiceSources of IdeasAt this stage, someone has an idea for a new product or service. Ideas can come from many sources, for example:
1. Complaints from current customers (see Customer Service and Customer Satisfaction)
2. Requests for Proposals from large businesses, government agencies, etc.
3. Modifications to current products (see Innovation)
4. Suggestions from employees, customers, suppliers, etc. (see Creative Thinking)Also see How to Find a Product to Market (short, reflective piece on developing an idea)Protecting Your IdeasIt’s likely that someone else will think your idea is a good one, too! Therefore, it’s important to protect your idea as much as possible, for example, by getting copyrights, trademarks or patents. See U.S. Intellectual Property LawYou may want to “package” your product with others, or sell your new product as a set of products. The following link might help you in this consideration.
Naming and Branding
Intellectual PropertyYou might also want to minimize the chance of an employee taking the idea and starting their own business. See
Non-Compete AgreementsAre You Planning a New Business Around Your Idea?If you are planning to start a new for-profit business or nonprofit business around your idea for a new product or service, then you will benefit from reading information in the topics Starting a For-Profit Business or Starting a Nonprofit Organization. Note that information in these two topics will guide you through assessing the feasibility of your new business — information in the rest of this topic about product management will include assessing the feasibility of developing a new product. It’s likely that if you are starting a new business, you will eventually need information in the rest of this topic about product management.Product Evaluation — Can Your Idea Become a Viable Product/Service?You Need More than a Good IdeaJust because it seems like a great idea doesn’t mean that it can become a product. A viable product needs to be profitable (or, in the case of a nonprofit, at least sustainable), including being producible and marketable. Also, the product should be related to the purpose, or mission, of your business. Businesses can go bankrupt by trying to be too many things to too many customers, rather than doing a few things very well.If You Need an Investor or Funder for Your IdeaFor-profits that need investment money will benefit from the following link.
Fundraising (For-Profit)Nonprofits that need funding will benefit from the following link.
Fundraising (Nonprofit)As noted above, you very well may need a business plan to convince the investor or funder that your idea is viable to become or product or service. See Basics of Business PlanningVerifying that Your Idea Can Become a Good Product or ServiceAt this point, you will benefit from understanding the basics of marketing, particularly how to conduct market research and a competitive analysis. If your idea still seems like a good one, then it’s important to know how you will position and identify your new product to the market. You’ll certainly want to know how much you might charge for it (that is, its price to the customer). The following links will guide you through these considerations.
Marketing Research (is there a need for your new product? by whom? how do they want it?)
Competitive Analysis (who are your competitors? what are they selling? can you compete?)
Pricing (how to come up with a price, based on development costs, etc.)If you plan to promote, sell and/or distribute products over the Internet, you’ll want to review information in the topic E-Commerce.Product Development (Building Your Product or Service)At this point, you’ve concluded that your idea can become a viable product. Now you’re faced with actually building the product itself. The particular process you use to build your product or service depend very much on the nature of the product or service. The following links might help you as you develop your unique process to build your product.You certainly should develop and implement a project plan to build your product.
Project Planning (method to carefully plan and track development of the product/service)You should seriously think about developing and implementing a project plan to build your product.
Operations Management (wide variety of practices to build your product)Businesses are coming to learn that it’s never too early to integrate principles of quality management into the design and development of products and services.
Basics About Quality ManagementProduct Production — Ongoing Building of Products and ServicesAgain, the particular processes you use repeatedly to produce your products and services depend very much on the nature of your product or service. The following links will help you to develop the new product or service, including regularly tracking how many versions you have produced.
Control Function of Management (variety of ongoing management activities to coordinate operations)
Basics About Quality Management
Operations Management (wide variety of activities in regard to overall operations of organization)
Configuration Management (tracking the various new versions of the products and services)Product Distribution, Advertising and Promotion, Sales and ServiceThere are several major methods you can use to get your products or services to your customers or clients. The following link will help you select the most appropriate method(s).
DistributionAdvertising and promotion of products and services are often some of the most under-rated activities by new business owners. Many people strongly believe that if they build it, buyers will come. In this increasingly expanding and competitive marketplace, you must ensure your products and services are prominently in the minds of your customers and clients. This requires ongoing advertising and promotion.
Advertising and PromotionEven if your products and services are prominently in the minds of your customers and clients, you need to facilitate the process of their buying (or, sometimes in the case of nonprofits, using) your products and services. This often requires cultivating an ongoing relationship with customers and clients to understand their needs, explain how your products and services can meet those needs, and facilitate the “closing” of the sale, that is, where they sign “on the dotted line”.
SalesCustomers are increasingly knowledgeable and intelligent in their buying habits. Depending on the nature of the product or service, a warranty (or promise of ongoing repair and/or support for some period of time) can greatly reassure customers when considering the purchase of your products.
WarrantiesNot only can high-quality customer service earn a strong reputation for your business and products, it can also support continued purchases and revenue (and even new ideas for new products and services) from current customers.
Customer Service

All of the product management activities so far come down to achieving one, ongoing major outcome:
Customer Satisfaction

 # Source: http://www.managementhelp.org/prod_mng/prod_mng.htm  

The ‘Bird of Gold’ : The rise of India’s consumer market

Private equity and venture capital funds have been betting on Indian domestic consumption story for a year or two now. They have reasons to believe that they are on the right path. No less than McKinsey Global Institute has concluded that India will be one of the world’s largest consumer markets by 2025. A survey by MGI – titled The ‘Bird of Gold’: The rise of India’s consumer market – said that India will catapult to the fifth largest consumption market by 2025 from the current 12th rank.
But there is a caveat. The country has to sustain and accelerate the economic growth (the study is based on the assumption that GDP growth will grow at an average compounded growth of 7.3 per cent a year).
So what does it mean? By 2025, India’s middle class may have multiplied 12 times, to reach 583 million from the current 50 million. Not just that, there will be over real “wealthy” 23 million Indians, while the number of the poor will drop from 54 per cent of the population in 2005 to 22 per cent by 2025.
The study forecasts that aggregate consumption in India will grow fourfold in real terms, from Rs 17 trillion at present to Rs 70 trillion by 2025. Essentially, the Indian income levels will almost triple.

What Will They Spend On
The study says the expenditure on foods, beverage and tobacco will see a remarkable drop as a proportion to overall expenditure by 2025. They may remain the single largest category in terms of spend, but their share will drop to 25 per cent from 42 per cent.
So who will benefit? Transport (aviation, anyone?) and healthcare will be the second and third biggest markets by then, according to the study. Communication will grow the fastest – at 13 per cent a year on an aggregate basis. See the graph on the right.

You can download the full report here.

# source: The ‘Bird of Gold’ : The rise of India’s consumer market, McKinsey Global Institue, 3rd May 2007.