Harvard Business Review Announces 56th Annual HBR McKinsey Award Winners

BOSTON, March 17, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Harvard Business Review is pleased to announce that economist William Lazonick is the 2014 HBR McKinsey Award winner for his September article "Profits Without Prosperity."

In the article, Lazonick describes the damaging effects of massive stock buybacks, arguing that they undermine income equality, job stability, and growth, and mostly serve the interests of executives, whose compensation is often heavily based on stock.

"It's a meticulously researched piece that offers a bold and compelling view of why corporate profitability has not translated into widespread economic prosperity," said Amy Bernstein, editor of Harvard Business Review. "We're pleased to recognize it as the year's top article."

Lazonick is a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, where he directs the Center for Industrial Competitiveness. He is also co-founder and president of The Academic-Industry Research Network.

To learn more about Lazonick's study, watch this video explainer.

The annual HBR McKinsey Awards, judged by an independent panel of business and academic leaders with input from members of HBR's Advisory Board, commend outstanding articles published each year in Harvard Business Review. This year's announcement appears in the April issue of the magazine, which is available online today and hits newsstands March 24.

This year's HBR McKinsey Awards also recognizes three finalists:

• "The Transparency Trap" by Ethan Bernstein
• "Contextual Intelligence" by Tarun Khanna
• "The Discipline of Business Experimentation" by Stefan Thomke and Jim Manzi

The 2014 HBR McKinsey judges were: Scott Anthony, Managing Partner, Innosight; Cathy Benko, Vice Chairman and Managing Principal, Deloitte LLP; Beth Comstock, Chief Marketing Officer, GE; Kurt Kuehn, Chief Financial Officer, UPS; Roger Martin, Premier's Chair in Productivity and Competitiveness and Academic Director of the Martin Prosperity Institute, Rotman School of Management; Rita Gunther McGrath, Professor, Columbia Business School; Chris Meyer, CEO, Nerve LLC; Vineet Nayar, Cofounder, Sampark Foundation; Alex "Sandy" Pentland, Professor and Director of the Human Dynamics Laboratory and the Media Lab Entrepreneurship Program, MIT; Kevin Sharer, Senior Lecturer, Harvard Business School; and Don Sull, Senior Lecturer, MIT Sloan School of Management.

About the HBR McKinsey Awards
Since 1959, the HBR McKinsey Awards have recognized practical and groundbreaking management thinking by determining the best articles published each year in Harvard Business Review. Past winners include Peter Drucker, Clayton M. Christensen, Daniel Goleman, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, George Stalk, Michael E. Porter, Mark R. Kramer, and John Kotter.

About Harvard Business Review
Harvard Business Review is the leading destination for smart management thinking. Through its flagship magazine, 13 international licensed editions, books from Harvard Business Review Press, and digital content and tools published on HBR.org, Harvard Business Review provides professionals around the world with rigorous insights and best practices to lead themselves and their organizations more effectively and to make a positive impact.

SOURCE Harvard Business Review