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Harvard Business Review

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Harvard Business Review, often called HBR, is a major general management magazine.

HarvardBusinessReview
HarvardBusinessReview

It is published by Harvard Business Publishing. This is a not-for-profit, independent corporation. It also serves as an affiliate of the Harvard Business School. The magazine is headquartered in Brighton, Massachusetts. HBR is a vital resource for understanding how modern organizations function. It provides research-based content to help people improve their companies. It also helps individuals advance their professional careers.

The magazine operates by sharing academic research and management expertise. It covers many different business functions. These include leadership, negotiation, and strategy. It also explores operations, marketing, and finance. The content is designed to be relevant to many industries. It also addresses various geographic locations around the world. HBR aims to deliver information that matches the current zeitgeist. This means the content reflects the spirit and mood of the times. It helps readers navigate complex professional environments.

Today, Harvard Business Publishing is organized into three distinct market-facing groups. The first group is Higher Education. This group distributes articles, book chapters, and cases for business education. The second group is Corporate Learning. This group provides leadership development courses. These courses can be standardized online or tailored offline. The third group is the Harvard Business Review Group. This group manages the HBR magazine and its website, HBR.org. It also publishes books through the Harvard Business Review Press.

HBR has a long history that began in 1922. Dean Wallace Donham founded the magazine for the Harvard Business School. He wanted it to be a high-quality business journal. He stated it was not merely a school paper. Initially, the magazine focused on macroeconomic trends. It also studied important developments within specific industries. After World War II, the focus shifted. The magazine began emphasizing cutting-edge management techniques. It studied how large corporations, such as General Motors, operated during that era.

Significant changes occurred during the late 20th century. In the 1980s, Theodore Levitt became the editor. He made the magazine more accessible to general audiences. He shortened the articles and expanded the topics. In 1994, Harvard Business School formed Harvard Business Publishing as an independent entity. In 2009, Adi Ignatius became the editor-in-chief. He led a redesign of the magazine. He integrated the print and digital divisions more closely. He also gave each edition a distinct theme and personality.

The scale of HBR's influence is quite large. Its worldwide English-language circulation is 250,000. The magazine also licenses its content for nine international editions. In 2025, the organization launched HBR Executive. This is a new subscription service for senior leaders. It costs $700 per year. The magazine's impact is also seen through awards. Since 1959, it has presented the annual McKinsey Award. This award recognizes the two most significant articles published each year. A group of independent judges selects the winners.

Many famous thinkers have contributed to the magazine. These authors helped introduce important management concepts to the world. Notable contributors include Peter F. Drucker and Michael E. Porter. Other writers include Clayton Christensen and Rosabeth Moss Kanter. Theodore Levitt and C. K. Prahalad are also well-known names. Many business terms first gained prominence in HBR articles. For example, Theodore Levitt wrote "Marketing Myopia." Carl R. Rogers and Fritz J. Roethlisberger wrote about communication barriers. These ideas continue to shape how people think about business today.

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