個案總覽

The difficult task of achieving worldly success while also storing up spiritual treasure is perennially with us, in good times and in bad. Today, however, as the economy has cooled and companies have demonstrated their mortality, questions about meaning and value appear more relevant, even urgent. HBR associate editor David A. Light recently spoke with the Reverend Peter J. Gomes, one of the nation's best-known preachers and the minister at Harvard University's Memorial Church, about why and how it is both possible and necessary to reconcile a life of success with a life of faith. To do so, says Gomes, you must first "get used to it"--come to terms with the age-old tension between being rich in spirit and rich in worldly goods. Second, you should "get over it"--arrive at an understanding of the value and responsibilities associated with power and wealth. Finally, "get on with it"--figure out how you can live your life spiritually while continuing to lead in the business world. For those wondering how to get on with spiritual development, Gomes cites the growing phenomenon of senior executives gathering with peers--out of shared need, not shared accomplishment--to pray, study sacred texts, and share their religious life together. He counsels that it's never too late to get on with it. Gomes concludes that business will continue to be one of the most significant forces in American culture, but it will always struggle against people's need for a perspective that is beyond this world's.

Business is shaped by ideas. But how do you separate enduring ideas from passing fancies? In this, the first edition of the annual HBR List, our editors spotlight five breakthrough ideas that are truly shaping the future of business. Even a great business model is not enough. The rise and fall of dot-coms left markets reeling and CEOs scratching their heads. The most important lesson of the debacle: squishy thinking about "business models" is no substitute for a distinctive strategy. Change is changing. In recent years, pundits have urged executives to incite revolutions within their companies. But a growing group of experts now suggests that the best companies actually evolve through incremental change--change that builds on rather than subverts their heritage. Ego makes the leader. By looking deeply into executives' psyches, we are beginning to unlock the enigma of leadership. While there will never be a single recipe for successful corporate stewardship, an understanding of the human ego can shed light on leadership's most fundamental components. Only connect. In business organizations, what's really important about people is not their individual skills but the relationships they form with one another. By investing in "social capital," companies can often push their performance to a whole new level. The biology century dawns. In the twentieth century, product innovations tended to spring from physics. But in the new century, biology may be the central source of innovation. From genomics to biomimicry, the study of life promises to change what companies sell and even how they operate.

Here's a primer on XML, an Internet technology that's helping to shape the future of e-business.

Internet entrepreneur Martin Varsavsky applies what he does best--building high-tech companies--to improving education in Argentina.

What does cyberspace mean for physical retail space? Has on-line shopping changed the fundamentals of retailing? And how should managers evaluate new in-store technologies? In this article, the heads of Marks and Spencer, Neiman Marcus, and Karstadt join two distinguished academics to look at what's in store for the bricks-and-mortar store. There's no doubt that new technologies have made retailing more complicated and more competitive. Using the Web, for example, consumers can conceivably sidestep their corner store and patronize shops across the country or around the world. Eventually, they might forsake retailers altogether, shopping directly from manufacturers. By the same token, though, managers can use technology to magnify the benefits of their location--using Web sites to show, for example, the retail topography of a local town and to highlight when stores that sell particular products will be open. And new in-store technologies promise managers--and customers--increased efficiency and more knowledgeable service. It's too early to predict how these new technologies will play out. But the contributors suggest that the fundamentals of retailing really haven't changed. Whether they know it or not, consumers still weigh the same factors when determining where to shop: scope of product assortment, price, convenience, service, and ambiance. The Internet has just added another layer of urgency to an already established agenda--forcing managers to examine their priorities in newly creative ways.

In recent years, major industries in the United States have been deregulated--for example, telecommunications, airlines, and banking--and now the winds of change are blowing through the electric utility industry. But the experts do not agree on how much change is good for the country and how fast it should occur. Thomas R. Kuhn of the Edison Electric Institute, Pradeep ("Pete") Mehra of the Ford Motor Co., Robert L. Ball of Alcan Aluminum Corp., Richard C. Green, Jr. of UtiliCorp United, Donald E. Felsinger of San Diego Gas & Electric Co., David L. O'Connor of the Massachusetts Division of Energy Resources, Michael Shames of the Utility Consumers' Action Network, and John R. Hodowal of IPALCO Enterprises express their differing viewpoints in HBR's Perspectives, covering such topics as stranded costs, aggregation of small consumers, vertical deintegration, performance-based rate making, and retail wheeling of power.