Harvard Business Review Articles
Harvard Business Review is the most prestigious and demanding business journal in which to have an article published. The average acceptance rate for unsolicited articles is under 0.1%. The Bloom Group has so far helped write and place many HBR articles with a success rate of over 50%. Here are some examples:
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The Next Revolution in ProductivityThis article, written by consultants Ric Merrifield (Microsoft), Jack Calhoun (Accelare) and Dennis Stevens (Synaptus), was published in June 2008. Titled the “The Next Revolution in Productivity,” it describes how companies can reach beyond business process improvement to a new frontier of efficiency using an approach called a business capabilities analysis. The Bloom Group helped the authors craft the article proposal, capture a case study, and ghostwrite the manuscript. |
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Finding the Weak LinksEarly in 2006, Harvard Business Review came to us asking whether we knew of thought leaders on the topic of sales for an upcoming issue on the sales function. Indeed, we did. One of our clients was the Forum Corp., a Boston-based global leader in sales, leadership and customer experience training and consulting. Knowing that Forum continually conducts research on how companies run the sales function and what motivates sales professionals, we put HBR in contact with the people at Forum (including Tom Atkinson) who were in the middle of that research. The result: two Forum articles on sales in the July 2006 issue of HBR. |
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Sales Reps' Biggest MistakesThis was the second of the two articles that Forum Corp. published in HBR in its July 2006, based on our recommendation to HBR that Forum was a rich source of research on the sales function (which continues to this day). |
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Give a Little, Get a LittlePublished in the September 2005 issue, this article was by two Texas Tech University business professors, Eric Walden and James Wetherbe. They came to Bloom Group late in 2004 with the idea of a short article for HBR. It was about the intellectual property that companies often put at risk when they outsource business processes and information systems. However, the authors contend that there are times in which companies should share the rights to the information assets they hand over to outsourcers, as Merrill Lynch did with Bloomberg in the 1980s. We helped the authors structure their ideas and edited their submission. |
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Innovation as a Last ResortThis article, by strategy expert Michael Treacy (of Treacy and Company), was published in the July 2004 edition of HBR. It explained why many companies should not focus on breakthrough innovations but rather seek more incremental improvements to products and processes. The Bloom Group performed editorial review and copy editing. |
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Bottom Feeding for Blockbuster BusinessesThe cover article of the March 2003 edition of HBR, “Bottom-Feeding for Blockbuster Businesses” was authored by three consultants at Deloitte: David Rosenblum, Doug Tomlinson (now the CEO and founder of wine bar chain Vino Volo) and Larry Scott. It explains how many successful businesses (including Wal-Mart, Paychex, Wellpoint Health Networks, and Dermologica) saw potential in markets and customer segments that others regarded as unprofitable or otherwise undesirable. It discusses how these companies turned them into hugely profitable businesses. The Bloom Group assisted with research, idea development, ghostwriting and placement. |
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A Consultant's ComeuppanceBloom Group Partner and Founder Robert Buday wrote this fictional case study (published in the February 2003 edition of HBR) on a consulting firm whose largest client, a major bank, has put the account at risk. The bank's new CEO, asks the consulting firm to present their case as to why they should remain at the bank. The case study and follow-on discussion discuss what the fictional consulting firm should say in the meeting to retain its client. |
What Clients Say...
“What if there were a way to make your best ideas 10% to 25% more compelling? And what if that incremental improvement made the difference between your ideas being rejected and being published in top business journals?
"As an author of 32 books and hundreds of articles, I have learned the importance of people who can help me develop a compelling and cogent argument. This has become crucial because there is much more competition for authors who want to publish in leading business journals.
"Editors want manuscripts that say more with less. The Bloom Group works that magic with mine and collaborates with editors at top business journals to achieve consistent success.”
James C. Wetherbe, PhD, Stevenson Chaired Professor of MIS, Rawls College of Business, Texas Tech University
What Clients Say...
“The Bloom Group helped us capture our ideas and turn them into article submissions at prestigious management journals such as Harvard Business Review, which published our article ‘The Next Revolution in Productivity’ in 2008. We also used them to help us flesh out and edit a chapter of our book ‘Rethink.’
“We would not have been successful had it not been for the efforts of The Bloom Group team. Not only were their writing and editorial skills top-notch, more importantly they coached us on what they thought would and would not be successful. It was so helpful to have that outside voice that could credibly steer us in a better direction.
Ric Merrifield, Principal Business Architect, Microsoft Corp.
Can We Help?
At the Bloom Group we help companies generate business with powerful ideas. We help them research and develop their points of view, and then publish them in print, online, and in multimedia forms. We also orchestrate sustained programs to generate leads. If your thought leadership marketing needs a boost, ask how we can help.
