Is interactivity the greatest marketing opportunity of all time? Or does it represent 101 ways to lose money? If it is an opportunity, how will it manifest itself? What will interactive marketing look like, and what will it mean for customers and for companies? Those were some of the questions explored in May 1996 at the Harvard Business School Conference on the Future of Interactive Marketing. HBR's Perspectives, introduced by conference chairman John Deighton, capture some of the highlights of the discussions. Commentator Martin Levin of Microsoft Corp., for example, stresses the importance of making sure a company's use of the Web is appropriate; Patrick Barwise of London Business School discusses security issues; Stephen Haeckel of IBM's Advanced Business Institute notes that surprises are fundamental to progress in exploiting interactive technology; Richard Tedlow of the Harvard Business School takes a skeptical stance with regard to the often dazzling claims made for high-tech interactivity. Eight other commentators from the busness world, academia, and government also offer insights.

Wherever you look in business, there's a new level of interest in entrepreneurship. As attention at corporations swings away from retrenchment and toward growth, more and more people are wondering why some companies are able to stimulate creativity and initiative among their employees more effectively than others. What do those organizations do to convert intriguing ideas into commercial ventures?

Information technology now permeates every aspect of a business, requiring CEOs today to involve themselves in IT planning and decision making. Which IT investment responsibilities should the CEO delegate and to whom? When senior executives consider IT investment options, what should they look for? How do they learn what they need to know to ask the right questions? What role should other managers play in the decision? Six experts--Bob L. Martin, Gene Batchelder, Jonathan Newcomb, John F. Rockart, Wayne P. Yetter, and Jerome H. Grossman--share their views.

The use of derivatives--a broad term referring to such diverse instruments as futures, swaps, and options--has become increasingly popular in recent years as corporations look for new and better ways to manage risk. The high-profile losses of Procter & Gamble, Metallgesellschaft, and other companies are sending an important signal to senior managers: financial decisions that were previously designed and implemented by specialists need to be monitored more closely from the very top of organizations. In "Framework for Risk Management" (November-December 1994), Kenneth A. Froot, David S. Scharfstein, and Jeremy C. Stein present a guide for helping managers develop a coherent risk-management strategy. This issue's Perspectives section opens up the discussion on derivatives to a group of experts.

In the last ten years, products have proliferated in every category of consumer goods and services, and the deluge shows few signs of letting up. Most companies are pursuing product expansion strategies--in particular, line extensions--full steam ahead. But as John Quelch and David Kenny argue in "Extend Profits, Not Product Lines" (September-October 1994), evidence indicates that such aggressive tactics can be hazardous. Quelch and Kenny offer several guidelines for avoiding the pitfalls of wanton line extensions and sharpening product line strategies: improve cost accounting, allocate resources to popular products, research consumer behavior, coordinate marketing efforts, work with channel partners, and foster a climate in which product-line deletions are encouraged. In this issue's Perspectives section, nine experts offer their views on product-line management and the logic of line extensions.

In "Making Competition in Health Care Work" (July-August 1994), Elizabeth Olmstead Teisberg, Michael E. Porter, and Gregory B. Brown ask a question that has been absent from the national debate on health care reform: How can the United States achieve sustained cost reductions while at the same time maintaining quality of care? The authors argue that innovation driven by rigorous competition is the key to successful reform. A lasting cure for health care in the United States should include four basic elements: Corrected incentives to spur productive competition, universal insurance to secure economic efficiency, relevant information to ensure meaningful choice, and innovation to guarantee dynamic improvement. In this issue's Perspectives section, eleven experts examine the current state of the health care system and offer their views on the shape that reform should take.

Responding to environmental problems has always been a no-win proposition for managers, report Noah Walley and Bard Whitehead in "It's Not Easy Being Green" (May-June 1994). Help the environment and hurt your own business, or irreparably harm your business while protecting the earth. Recently, however, a new common wisdom has emerged that promises the ultimate reconciliation of environmental and economic concerns. Being green is no longer a cost of doing business; it is a catalyst for constant innovation, new market opportunity, and wealth creation. This new vision sounds great, yet it is highly unrealistic. Environmental costs are skyrocketing at most companies, with little chance of economic payback in sight. Given this reality, should "win-win" solutions be the foundation of a company's environmental strategy? In this issue's Perspectives section, twelve experts assess both viewpoints.