Harvard Business Review

{{Short description|American management magazine}} {{use mdy dates|date=July 2021}} {{use American English|date=July 2021}} {{Infobox Magazine | title = Harvard Business Review | logo = File:Harvard Business Review logo 2024.png | image_file = File:HBR JanFeb25.jpg | image_alt = border | editor = Amy Bernstein | editor_title = Editor in Chief | previous_editor = Adi Ignatius, Thomas A. Stewart | frequency = 6 times per year | circulation = 343,321 | circulation_year = December 2024 | category = Business | company = [[Harvard Business Publishing]] | publisher = Sarah McConville | founded = {{start date and age|1922}} | firstdate = October 1922 | country = United States | based = [[Brighton, Massachusetts]], U.S. | language = English | website = {{official URL}} | issn = 0017-8012 }}

'''''Harvard Business Review''''' ('''''HBR'''''){{cite news |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/11/business/media/11adco.html |title=Harvard Business Review Revamps |date=December 10, 2009}}{{cite news |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/15/opinion/reviewing-harvard-s-business-review.html |title=Reviewing Harvard's Business Review |date=March 15, 2002}} is a general [[management]] magazine{{Cite press release|url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190403005592/en/Harvard-Business-Review-Announces-New-Podcast-Network-HBR-Presents|title=Harvard Business Review Announces New Podcast Network, HBR Presents|date=April 3, 2019}}{{Cite web|title=Harvard Business Review (HBR) {{!}} PreventionWeb.net|url=https://www.preventionweb.net/organizations/23297|access-date=2021-07-08|website=preventionweb.net|archive-date=July 9, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709190505/https://www.preventionweb.net/organizations/23297|url-status=dead}} published by [[Harvard Business Publishing]], a not-for-profit, independent corporation that is an affiliate of [[Harvard Business School]]. ''HBR'' is published six times a year and is headquartered in [[Brighton, Massachusetts]].

''HBR'' covers a wide range of topics that are relevant to various industries, management functions, and geographic locations. These include leadership, negotiation, strategy, operations, marketing, and finance.{{cite web|url=http://hbr.org/guidelines-for-authors-hbr |title=Harvard Business Review Guidelines |publisher=Hbr.org |date=2012-12-31 |access-date=2013-09-10}} ''HBR'' has published articles by [[Clayton Christensen]], [[Peter F. Drucker]], [[Justin Fox]], [[Michael E. Porter]], [[Rosabeth Moss Kanter]], [[John Hagel III]], [[Thomas H. Davenport]], [[Gary Hamel]], [[C. K. Prahalad]], [[Vijay Govindarajan]], [[Robert S. Kaplan]], [[Rita Gunther McGrath]] and others.{{cite news |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/14/business/private-sector-seeing-the-corporation-s-demise.html |title=Private Sector; Seeing the Corporation's Demise |date=November 14, 1999}}{{Cite web|url=https://tv.cuny.edu/bio/justin_fox|title=Justin Fox|website=CUNY TV}} Several management concepts and business terms were first given prominence in ''HBR''.

''HBR''{{'}}s worldwide English-language circulation is 250,000. ''HBR'' licenses its content for publication in nine international editions.{{cite journal |url=https://hbr.org/global-editions |publisher=Hbr.org |title=HBR Global Editions |journal=Harvard Business Review |date=April 28, 2016 |access-date=2023-07-20}}

==Background== ===Early days=== [[File:HarvardBusinessReview.jpg|thumb|Some issues of ''Harvard Business Review'']] ''Harvard Business Review'' began in 1922 as a magazine for [[Harvard Business School]]. Founded under the auspices of Dean Wallace Donham, ''HBR'' was meant to be more than just a typical school publication. "The paper [''HBR''] is intended to be the highest type of business journal that we can make it, and for use by the student and the business man. It is not a school paper," Donham wrote. Initially, ''HBR''{{'}}s focus was on [[macroeconomic]] trends, as well as on important developments within specific industries.

Following [[World War II]], ''HBR'' emphasized the cutting-edge management techniques that were developed in large [[corporation]]s, such as [[General Motors]], during that time. Over the next three decades, the magazine continued to refine its focus on general management issues that affect business leaders, billing itself as the "magazine for decision makers". Prominent articles published during this period include "[[Marketing Myopia]]" by [[Theodore Levitt]] and "Barriers and Gateways to Communication" by [[Carl R. Rogers]] and Fritz J. Roethlisberger.

===1980s through 2009=== In the 1980s, Theodore Levitt became the editor of ''Harvard Business Review'' and changed the magazine to make it more accessible to general audiences. Articles were shortened and the scope of the magazine was expanded to include a wider range of topics. In 1994, Harvard Business School formed Harvard Business Publishing (HBP) as an independent entity.

In 2002, a management and editorial staff shakeup occurred at the publication after the revelation of an affair between editor-in-chief [[Suzy Welch|Suzy Wetlaufer]] and former General Electric CEO [[Jack Welch]]. The two met when Wetlaufer was interviewing Welch while researching an article for the magazine.{{cite web |last1=Jennings |first1=Marianne M. |title=Affair Takes Shine Off 2 Adulterers |url=https://www.deseret.com/2002/4/18/19649275/affair-takes-shine-off-2-adulterers |website=Deseret News |date=April 18, 2002 |access-date=January 4, 2021}} Two senior ''Harvard Business Review'' editors left, citing an unfair office climate and complaining that the affair had broken ethical standards. Shortly after the resignations, Wetlaufer resigned on March 8, 2002 amid further rebuke by remaining staff.{{cite web |last1=DePaulo |first1=Lisa |title=If You Knew Suzy… |date=May 6, 2002 |url=https://nymag.com/nymetro/news/media/features/5976/ |publisher=New York Magazine}} Three months later, the publisher, Penelope Muse Abernathy, was also forced out.{{cite news |last1=Armstrong |first1=David |title=Harvard Business Review Publisher Is Forced to Resign Amid Overhaul |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1026170411870381840 |newspaper=Wall Street Journal |date=July 9, 2002 |access-date=January 4, 2021}}

Between 2006 and 2008, HBP went through several reorganizations but finally settled into the three market-facing groups that exist today: Higher Education, which distributes cases, articles, and book chapters for business education materials; Corporate Learning, which provides standardized on-line and tailored off-line leadership development courses; and Harvard Business Review Group, which publishes ''Harvard Business Review'' magazine and its web counterpart (HBR.org), and publishes books (Harvard Business Review Press).

===Redesign=== In 2009, ''HBR'' brought on [[Adi Ignatius]], the former deputy managing editor of [[Time (magazine)|''Time'']] magazine, to be its [[editor-in-chief]].{{Cite web|url=https://www.thebalancesmb.com/best-business-magazines-4176680|title=The 8 Best Business Magazines of 2020|last=Delbridge|first=Emily|date=November 21, 2019|website=The Balance Small Business|publisher=Dotdash|location=New York City|at=Best for Professionals:Harvard Business Review|access-date=8 Feb 2020|archive-date=April 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414070005/https://www.thebalancesmb.com/best-business-magazines-4176680|url-status=dead}} Ignatius oversees all editorial operations for Harvard Business Review Group. At the time that Ignatius was hired, the United States was going through an [[Great Recession|economic recession]], but ''HBR'' was not covering the topic. "The world was desperate for new approaches. Business-as-usual was not a credible response," Ignatius has recalled. During this period the frequency of ''HBR'' switched from ten times per year to six times per year.{{cite news|author=Faisal Kalim|title="Magazines are alive and well": Publishers refresh their strategies for the print format|url=https://whatsnewinpublishing.com/magazines-are-alive-and-well-publishers-refresh-their-strategies-for-the-print-format/|access-date=1 June 2020|work=WNIP|date=13 August 2019|archive-date=May 28, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230528040045/https://whatsnewinpublishing.com/magazines-are-alive-and-well-publishers-refresh-their-strategies-for-the-print-format/|url-status=dead}}

As a result, Ignatius realigned ''HBR'''s focus and goals to make sure that it "delivers information in the [[zeitgeist]] that our readers are living in." ''HBR'' continues to emphasize research-based, academic pieces that would help readers improve their companies and further their careers, but it broadened its audience and improved reach and impact by including more contemporary topics.

As part of the redesigned magazine, Ignatius also led the charge to integrate the print and digital divisions more closely, and gave each edition of ''HBR'' a distinct theme and personality, as opposed to being a collection of academically superlative, yet mostly unrelated articles.

''HBR'' won the [[2020 Webby Award|2020 Webby Award for Business Blog/Website]] in the category Web.{{cite web |last1=Kastrenakes |first1=Jacob |title=Here are all the winners of the 2020 Webby Awards |url=https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/20/21263445/2020-webby-awards-winners-lil-nas-x-nasa-jon-krasinski |website=The Verge |access-date=22 May 2020 |language=en |date=20 May 2020}}

In 2025, ''HBR'' launched HBR Executive, a $700-a-year subscription for senior leaders.{{Cite web |date=2025-06-02 |title=Harvard Business Review Launches HBR Executive, a New Premium Subscription for Senior Leaders |url=https://www.hbs.edu/news/releases/Pages/hbr-executive.aspx |access-date=2025-06-04 |website=Harvard Business School |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Sciaudone |first=Christiana |date=2025-06-13 |title=HBR Adds C-Suite Product, Latest in Long Line to Target Top Tier Executives |url=https://www.amediaoperator.com/news/hbr-adds-c-suite-product-latest-in-long-line-to-target-top-tier-executives/ |access-date=2026-02-23 |website=A Media Operator |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Schultz |first=Ray |title='Harvard Business Review' Starts Premium Subscription Product |url=https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/406359/harvard-business-review-starts-premium-subscript.html |access-date=2026-02-23 |website=www.mediapost.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Tobitt |first=Charlotte |date=2025-07-03 |title=Harvard Business Review 'bets big' on $700 a year subscription tier |url=https://pressgazette.co.uk/paywalls/business-and-management-magazine-brand-launches-700-a-year-subscriptions/ |access-date=2026-02-23 |website=Press Gazette |language=en-US}}

==McKinsey Awards== {{See also|Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award}} Since 1959, the magazine's annual [[McKinsey & Company|McKinsey]] Award{{cite news |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/10/29/archives/management-how-a-boss-works-in-calculated-chaos-management-how-an.html |title=Management: How a Boss Works in Calculated Chaos |author=Frederick Andrews |date=October 29, 1976}} has recognized the two most significant ''Harvard Business Review'' articles published each year, as determined by a group of highly independent judges. Past winners have included Peter F. Drucker, who was honored seven times; Clayton M. Christensen; Theodore Levitt; Michael Porter; [[Rosabeth Moss Kanter]]; John Hagel III; and [[C. K. Prahalad]].

== References == {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons category}}

• {{Official website}}

{{Harvard}}

[[Category:1922 establishments in Massachusetts]] [[Category:Bimonthly magazines published in the United States]] [[Category:Business magazines published in the United States]] [[Category:Harvard Business Publishing magazines]] [[Category:Magazines established in 1922]] [[Category:Magazines published in Massachusetts]] [[Category:Ten times annually magazines]]