Publications

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November 1989 (Revised April 2018)
Case

Automation Consulting Services

By: Robert Simons and Hilary Weston

Illustrates the management control challenges that are associated with rapid growth and geographic expansion. Situated at an offsite Executive Committee Retreat. The three founding partners of a specialized consulting firm are grappling with several difficult questions... View Details

Keywords: Geographic Location; Governance Controls; Policy; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Teams; Expansion; Consulting Industry

Research Summary

What Makes the Bonding Stick? A Natural Experiment Testing the Legal Bonding Hypothesis

On March 29, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court signaled its intention to geographically limit the reach of the U.S. securities antifraud regime and thus differentially exclude U.S.-listed foreign firms from the ambit of formal U.S. antifraud enforcement. We use this legal... View Details

Keywords: Securities Litigation; Corporate Governance

May 2017
Article

Sacred versus Pseudo-sacred Values: How People Cope with Taboo Trade-Offs

By: Philip E. Tetlock, Barbara A. Mellers and J. Peter Scoblic

Psychologists have documented widespread public deference to "sacred values" that communities, formally or informally, exempt from tradeoffs with secular limits, like money. This work has, however, been largely confined to low-stakes settings. As the stakes rise,... View Details

Keywords: Tradeoffs; Values and Beliefs; Civil Society or Community

August 2017
Article

The First Deal: The Division of Founder Equity in New Ventures

By: Thomas F. Hellmann and Noam Wasserman

We examine the trade-off between efficiency and equality within the context of entrepreneurial founding teams. Using a formal theory where founders may have preferences over relative outcomes, we derive predictions about the antecedents and consequences of dividing... View Details

Keywords: Equality and Inequality; Entrepreneurship; Equity

January 2014 (Revised November 2021)
Case

Filene's Basement: Inside a Fired Customer's Relationship

By: Jill Avery and Susan Fournier

How, in a business climate in which building relationships with customers has dominated both managerial thought and marketing budgets, could Filene's Basement have fired a loyal customer, one who was formally and informally recognized as a best customer? This case... View Details

Keywords: CRM; Retailing; Marketing; Consumer Behavior; Customer Relationship Management; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Marketing Strategy; Brands and Branding; Retail Industry; United States

01 Apr 2008
News

The Leader Within

January 2022
Article

Who Creates New Firms When Local Opportunities Arise?

By: Shai Benjamin Bernstein, Emanuele Colonnelli, Davide Malacrino and Timothy McQuade

We examine the characteristics of the individuals who become entrepreneurs when local opportunities arise. We identify local demand shocks by linking fluctuations in global commodity prices to municipality level agricultural endowments in Brazil. We find that the firm... View Details

Keywords: Firms; Entrepreneurs; Demand Shocks; Entrepreneurship; Personal Characteristics; Demographics; Opportunities; Brazil

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Program

Program for Leadership Development

Program for Leadership Development has no formal educational requirements, admission is a selective process based on your professional achievement and organizational responsibilities. The Application Process We select applicants who... View Details

06 Nov 2014
News

Harvard Business School Marks Completion of First Cohort of HBX CORe

November 2005 (Revised March 2007)
Case

Leadership Development at Goldman Sachs

By: Boris Groysberg, Scott A. Snook and David Lane

In November 1999, 11 of Goldman Sachs' finest gathered to put the final touches on a revolutionary leadership development plan. Following Goldman's explosive growth during the 1990s and its eventual IPO in 1999, a diverse group of leaders from across the firm were... View Details

Keywords: Initial Public Offering; Leadership Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Skills; Organizational Design; Planning

October 1990
Article

Troubled Debt Restructurings: An Empirical Analysis of Private Reorganization of Firms in Default

By: S. C. Gilson, J. Kose and L. H. P. Kang

This study investigates the incentives of financially distressed firms to restructure their debt privately rather than through formal bankruptcy. In a sample of 169 financially distressed companies, about half successfully restructure their debt outside of Chapter 11.... View Details

Keywords: Theory; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Restructuring

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May 2018
Article

The Changing Craft of Selling

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Tiffani Bova

This article draws on two surveys: one with more than 3,100 sales professionals about trends affecting the role(s) of sales in their companies, and the other with over 7,000 consumer and business buyers about their expectations when dealing with sales people. The... View Details

Keywords: Sales; Change; Trends; Performance Effectiveness

February 1991 (Revised November 2010)
Case

Tennessee Controls: The Strategic Ranking Problem

By: Robert L. Simons and Dale Geiger

Tennessee Controls has instituted a new formal asset acquisition process to rank competing proposals. Judy Starnes, the new division manager, is asked to rank three proposals by using techniques to quantify economic returns, risk, as well as the credibility of the... View Details

Keywords: Capital Budgeting; Governance Controls; Management Systems; Strategic Planning; Mathematical Methods; Electronics Industry

30 Sep 2015
News

Four Ways To Get Your Global Team To Gel

07 Feb 2019
HBS Seminar

Davide Malacrino, International Monetary Fund

September 2019 (Revised February 2020)
Teaching Note

Fishbowl: Scaling Up

By: Leslie K. John

Email mking@hbs.edu for a courtesy copy.

Teaching Note for HBS No. 919-013. Fishbowl is a social media app that allows professionals to connect with other relevant professionals both within their company and... View Details

October 2015
Article

Managing the Performance Tradeoffs from Partner Integration: Implications of Contract Choice in R&D Projects

By: Alan MacCormack and Anant Mishra

Formal contracts represent an important governance instrument with which firms exercise control of and compensate partners in R&D projects. The specific type of contract used, however, can vary significantly across projects. In some, firms govern partnering... View Details

Keywords: ＂＂Partner Integration; Contract Choice; R＆D Project Management; Relational Contracts; Partnering Performance; Research and Development; Projects; Partners and Partnerships; Performance; Contracts

Program

Advanced Management Program

Although the Advanced Management Program has no formal educational requirements, admission is a selective process based on your professional achievement and organizational responsibilities. Read More The Application Process HBS seeks... View Details

June 2020
Case

Career Karma: Growth in a Time of Global Uncertainty (A)

By: Laura Huang, Elizabeth Jiang and Brandon Yu

Career Karma is a startup focused on helping individuals looking to transition careers into computer engineering roles or similar fields by preparing them for formal technical training programs, or “coding bootcamps,” that would lead to a successful career pivot upon... View Details