News from the attic by Calvert Markham

Some people are hoarders and I am one. I took Harvard Business Review (HBR) for many years and – throwing things away being foreign to my nature – stored back copies in my attic.

It’s a great journal and many of the ideas that since have become more widely used got their first airing in HBR. So I have decided to give some of these ideas an airing in what I call “news from the attic”; it’s an item in our monthly email newsletter which culls interesting ideas published in HBR from about 20 years ago. My editorial selection has been because they offer perennial wisdom; or that they set out ideas at the start of their becoming well known; or that time has shown them to magnificently wrong! I hope you can tell the difference and enjoy the selection.

Strategic sourcing	Although outsourcing is a relatively new phenomenon in services, it has been around a long time in manufacturing. There are lessons to be drawn therefore from manufacturing and in Harvard Business Review in November-December 1992, Ravi Venkatesan sets out a basis for the strategic make or buy decision based on his experience in manufacturing with Cummins Engine. He noticed that easy-to-make, commodity parts were being manufactured in-house, while those that were more complicated were being bought in. The logic for this was that commodity parts were easy to make – representing a quick win – and that they preserved jobs.
Little things mean a lot	This month’s item comes from a different part of the attic – our own newsletter. In those days we were called Consultancy Skills Training – CST. Here’s what we said in an item we published ten years ago in early 2002. One of the most revealing things a professional service firm can do is to move around to the other side of the table and become a client itself. It’s a rare chance to monitor, not just how others perform, but also one’s own reactions as a potential buyer.
Why change programes don't produce change	Harvard Business Review November – December 1990, “Why Change Programs Don’t Produce Change”, by Michael Beer, Russell A Eisenstat, and Bert Spector. Paradoxically they then of course produce a recipe for an effective change programme!
Is an MBA worthwhile?	Recent press comment has called into question the value of a university degree, while beyond this, there are questions being raised about the value of the MBA. Some recruiters are now saying that it’s not the MBA but where you studied that really matters.
How the management consulting industry has moved on – or not?	It is interesting that PwC and now KPMG have removed the fig leaf of “business advisory services” to reveal their activities as fully fledged consulting practices. Looking back it is interesting to see what the playing field looked like in 1985. The table below, taken from the Economist September 1987, shows the estimated worldwide revenues for the top 20 consulting firms.
Staple yourself to an order	This was the exhortation from authors Shapiro et al in the July-August 1992 edition of Harvard Business Review. They claimed that “Most companies rarely view the order management cycle as a whole system, especially because each step may require a bewildering overlap of functional responsibilities.”
The balanced scorecard	We are now used to the idea of the balanced scorecard – the idea of trade-offs between different measures of performance rather than the single-minded pursuit of just one measure.
Performance measurement manifesto	This News from the attic is taken from Harvard Business Review Jan-Feb 1991, when Robert Eccles published “The performance measurement manifesto”.....
The new productivity challenge	Peter Drucker is always worth quoting and this month’s featured article is “The new productivity challenge”, which appeared in Harvard Business Review in November 1991. He makes the point that the massive increases in manufacturing productivity instigated by Taylorism in the late 19th century.....
Harvard Business Review	Two things stand out for me in Hamel and Prahalad’s article in Harvard Business Review July/August 1991. The .....
Teaching smart people how to learn	n his Harvard Business Review article “Teaching smart people how to learn” published in May-June 1991, Chris Argyris introduced the concept of.....
Looking back at predictions	When we look back at predictions about the future, it is often to deride them as being very far from the reality that has emerged. Not so with this month’s chosen article, “Into the telecosm” by George Gilder,.....
Global Work Force 2000	This month’s archive moment is taken from Harvard Business Review March - April 1991, in which William B Johnston’s article “Global Work Force 2000: The new world labor market” appeared. ....
Why Change Programs Don’t Produce Change	Harvard Business Review November – December 1990, “Why Change Programs Don’t Produce Change”, by Michael Beer, Russell A Eisenstat, and Bert Spector. Paradoxically they then of course produce a recipe for an effective change programme! ....