Faculty & Research
Joseph L. Bower

Joseph L. Bower

Donald K. David Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus

Donald K. David Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus

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Joseph L. Bower
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Featured Work Publications Research Summary

JOSEPH L. BOWER, Donald K. David Professor Emeritus, has been a leader in general management at Harvard Business School for 51 years. He also served on the faculty of the Harvard Kennedy School during its first decade.  He has served in many administrative roles including Senior Associate Dean.  An expert on corporate strategy, organization, and leadership, he has devoted much of his teaching and research to challenges confronting corporate leaders in today’s rapidly changing hyper-competitive conditions. Professor Bower has been active in the development of institutions and programs. Between 1968 and 73 he helped establish the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Vienna, Austria. In 1978, he founded the Program for Senior Managers in Government as a joint program of Harvard Business School and the School of Government; and in 1995 he founded the General Manager Program at Harvard Business School. He was deeply involved in the efforts to build the new joint MBA-MPP degree program offered by the Business School and the Kennedy School of Government.

Presently, he is co-leading a project on The Future of Market Capitalism. The first result of the project was a book co-authored with Dutch Leonard and Lynn Paine, titled Capitalism at Risk: Rethinking the Role of Business, published October 2011 by Harvard Business Press. Based on three years of work and interviews around the world, the book draws on discussions with business leaders to identify ten potential disruptors of the global market system. Presenting examples of companies already making a difference, the authors explain how business must serve both as innovator and activist--developing corporate strategies that effect change at the community, national, and international levels.

Bower is the author or coauthor many articles, some 200 case studies and videos and more than a dozen books: The CEO Within: Why Inside-Outsiders Are The Key To Succession Planning was published in November 2007 by HBS Press and was a Financial Times to 10 for that year; From Resource Allocation to Strategy (with C. Gilbert) was published in 2005 by Oxford University Press, and won the Best Book award in 2006 from “Strategy + Management.” .

Professor Bower has also consulted widely on problems of succession, strategy and organization with companies here and abroad. He is a director of Anika Therapeutics, Inc., Loews Corporation, and New America High Income Fund. He is a life trustee of the New England Conservatory of Music and has served on many other company and non-profit boards.

Professor Bower is a graduate of Harvard University AB '59 magna cum laude, MBA '61 a Baker Scholar with high distinction, DBA '63.  Married to Elizabeth Potter, he lives in Cambridge, has two children, two step-children, five grandchildren, and 3 step-grandchildren.

Featured Work
Capitalism at Risk: Rethinking the Role of Business

The spread of capitalism worldwide has made people wealthier than ever before. But capitalism's future is far from assured. The global financial meltdown of 2008 nearly triggered another Great Depression, economies in Europe are still teetering, and powerful forces-income inequality, resource depletion, and mass migrations from poor to rich countries, to name just a few-pose serious threats to continued prosperity. How can the future of capitalism be secured? And who should spearhead the effort? Many observers point to government. But in Capitalism at Risk, the authors argue otherwise. While they agree that governments must play a role, they maintain that businesses should lead the way. Indeed, for enterprising companies, the current threats to market capitalism present vital opportunities. Drawing on discussions with business leaders around the world, the authors argue that companies must stop seeing themselves as bystanders and instead develop innovative business strategies that address the disruptors, produce profitable growth, and strengthen institutions at the community, national, and international levels.  

The CEO Within
Why Inside Outsiders Are The Key To Succession Planning
With rising CEO turnover, companies are increasingly looking outside for qualified candidates. Sure, externally recruited CEOs bring fresh perspectives and connections. But they lack the in-depth knowledge of the company s culture and history that they need to succeed. Result? Many deliver disappointing performances.

Companies can avoid this scenario, contends Joseph Bower in The CEO Within. Drawing on a decade s research (including interviews with leading CEOs) and experience managing the succession process, Bower explains how companies can develop a cohort of internal candidates one of whom may be suited to the increasingly demanding CEO role. The key? Groom inside-outsiders. These leaders view their role through the lens of someone who just bought the company unencumbered by the cognitive and emotional baggage that comes from a long tenure in the organization. But they also leverage the knowledge they ve accumulated about the company s people, suppliers and customers, and future direction.

Placed squarely at the intersection of succession planning and leadership development, this book describes the distinguishing attributes of the inside-outsider and reveals how to recruit, nurture, and promote this special type of leader. With a healthy supply of qualified internal candidates, companies get the leadership they need when they need it.

The Corporate Leader
How Corporate Managers Contribute Value
In today's economic climate, corporate leaders in multidivisional and multinational companies face a uniquely broad set of challenges. While putting in place the systems, relationships, and strategies that foster business unit success, you also must lead the business as a whole, optimizing financial strategy in a turbulent global economy, generating synergies across units, and creating opportunities beyond the current business. The Corporate Leader explores this multifaceted role in depth, helping you balance competing demands while maintaining the big-picture focus that positions your organization for future success.
Books
Journal Articles
Book Chapters
  • Bower, Joseph L. "The Most Successful CEOs Come from Within." In How CEOs Can Fix Capitalism, edited by Raymond V. Gilmartin and Steven E. Prokesch, 124–127. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press, 2013. Electronic. View Details
  • Bower, Joseph L. "Managing the CEO's Succession: The Challenge Facing Your Board." Chap. 9 in Boardroom Realities: Building Leaders Across Your Board. 1st ed. Edited by Jay A. Conger, 253–275. Jossey-Bass, 2009. View Details
  • Bower, Joseph L., and Clark Gilbert. "Linking Resource Allocation to Strategy." In From Resource Allocation to Strategy, edited by Joseph L. Bower and Clark Gilbert. U.K.: Oxford University Press, 2005. View Details
  • Bower, J. L., and Clark Gilbert. "A Revised Model of the Resource Allocation Process." In From Resource Allocation to Strategy, edited by Joseph L. Bower and Clark Gilbert. U.K.: Oxford University Press, 2005. View Details
  • Eisenmann, Thomas R., and Joseph L. Bower. "The Entrepreneurial M-Form: A Case Study of Strategic Integration in a Global Media Company." Chap. 13 in From Resource Allocation to Strategy, edited by Joseph L. Bower and Clark Gilbert. U.K.: Oxford University Press, 2005. View Details
  • Bower, J. L. "When We Study M&A, What Do We Learn?" In Mergers and Acquisitions: Creating Integrative Knowledge, edited by Amy Pablo and Mansour Javidan. U.K.: Blackwell Publishing, 2004. View Details
  • Bower, Joseph L. "The Purpose of Change, A Commentary on Jensen and Senge." Chap. 3 in Breaking the Code of Change, edited by Michael Beer and Nitin Nohria. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2000. View Details
  • Bower, Joseph L., and Clayton M. Christensen. "Disruptive Technologies: Catching the Wave." Chap. 29 in The Entrepreneurial Venture. 2nd ed. by William A. Sahlman, Howard H. Stevenson, Michael J Roberts, and Amar V. Bhide, 506–520. Harvard Business School Press, 1999. View Details
  • Bower, J. L. "Process Research on Strategic Decisions: A Personal Perspective." Chap. 2 in Strategic Decisions, edited by Patrick Barwise and Vassilis Papadakis. Dordrecht/Boston/London: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1998. View Details
  • Bower, Joseph L., and Clayton M. Christensen. "Disruptive Technologies: Catching the Wave." In Seeing Differently: Insights on Innovation, edited by John Seely Brown. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 1997. View Details
  • Bower, J. L. "Management Revolution: The Response to Global Glut." In Managing Excess Capacity, edited by C. Baden-Fuller. Cambridge: Basil Blackwell, 1990. View Details
  • Bower, Joseph L. "The Managerial Estate." Chap. 8 in The U.S. Business Corporation, An Institution in Transition, edited by John R. Meyer and James M. Gustafson, 149–168. Cambridge, MA: Ballinger Publishing Company, 1988. View Details
  • Bower, Joseph L. "Managing in a Politicized World." In Strategic Management Frontiers, edited by John H. Grant. Greenwich, CT and London: JAI Press, 1988. View Details
  • Bower, Joseph L. "Restructuring Petrochemicals: A Comparative Study of Business and Government Strategy to Deal with a Declining Sector of the Economy." In U.S. Competitiveness in the World Economy, edited by Bruce R. Scott and George C. Lodge. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1985. View Details
  • Bower, Joseph L., and Yves L. Doz. "Strategic Management: A New View of Business Policy and Planning." In Strategic Management: A New View of Business Policy and Planning, edited by Daniel E. Schendel and Charles W. Hofer. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1979. View Details
  • Bower, Joseph L. "On the Amoral Organization." Chap. 6 in The Corporate Society, edited by Robin Lapthorn Marris, 178–213. Halsted Press, 1974. View Details
  • Bower, Joseph L. "Strategy Determination in Long-Range Planning." In Essentials of Corporate Planning, edited by Subhash Jain and Surendra Singhvi, 147–151. Oxford, OH: Planning Executives Institute, 1973. View Details
  • Bower, Joseph L. "Descriptive Decision Theory from the 'Administrative' Viewpoint." Chap. 3 in The Study of Policy Formation, edited by Raymond A. Bauer and Kenneth J. Gergen. New York: Free Press, 1968. View Details
Working Papers
  • Yu, Howard H., and Joseph L. Bower. "Taking a 'Deep Dive': What Only a Top Leader Can Do." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 09-109, April 2009. (Revised February 2010, May 2010.) View Details
  • Bower, Joseph L., and Clark Gilbert. "Manage Resource Allocation to Craft Strategy." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 07-018, September 2006. View Details
  • Bower, Joseph L. "When We Study M&A, What Are We Learning?" Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 03-026, September 2002. View Details
  • Eisenmann, Thomas R., and Joseph L. Bower. "The Entrepreneurial M-Form: A Case of Strategic Integration in a Global Media Company." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 99-005, July 1998. View Details
  • Bower, Joseph L., and Toma Noda. "For New Business, Manage Learning Not Earning." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 98-061, January 1998. View Details
  • Bower, Joseph L. "The Organization of Markets." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 92-032, December 1991. View Details
Cases and Teaching Materials
Presentations
  • Bower, Joseph L. "Future of Market Capitalism: Global Growth." Paper presented at the HBS Global Business Summit, Harvard Business School, Boston, MA, October 13–14, 2008. View Details
Other Publications and Materials
  • Bower, Joseph L., and C. M. Christensen. "Catching the Next Wave: Why Good Customers Make It Hard." Harvard Business Review Press, 1993. View Details
Research Summary
The Future of Market Capitalism
In 2009 we are aware of the fragile state of our market system.  But a careful examination of the long term prospects for the global economy reveal other problems that may destabilize the system that has created so much wealth in the period since the second world war.   This project is exploring the threats to future prosperity within and without the system of market capitalism and the ways business leaders can work to mitigate those threats.
Management of Succession
An outgrowth of the work on the corporate office has been a more focused study on the management of succession. This work identified the reasons why the management of CEO succession has proved so difficult for so many companies as well as the way the best companies are able to manage the CEO succession process.  The key is the development of "inside-outsiders" men and women with deep understanding of the capabilities and culture of their organization who have both managed to maintain an objective perspective that enables to perceive the need for fundamental change and cultivate the skill set that enables to manage the transformation of their companies.
Creating Corporate Value Added
In response to dramatic changes in the business environment--hypercompetition in many traditional industries, short product life cycles, and new competitors based in emerging nations--successful companies have responded by repositioning themselves in the global markets and building new layers of capability. The entrepreneurial leaders of these companies find ways to use corporate strengths to add value to the performance of their business units. 'To a surprising extent,' says Professor Joe Bower, a leading expert in the fields of corporate strategy and public policy, 'we see similar challenges met with a common range of tools across very different companies.'

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