Publications

Read Now

30 Oct 2017
Research & Ideas

Asking Questions Can Get You a Better Job or a Second Date

intelligent as well.” The research, published in the paper It Doesn’t Hurt to Ask: Question-Asking Increases Liking, examined data from online chats and face-to-face speed dating conversations. In addition to Brooks, the coauthors were Karen Huang, HBS and Department... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

October 2023
Case

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: A Curriculum Provider Puts Itself on the Hook for Student Outcomes

By: John J-H Kim, Derek C. M. van Bever, Michael Norris and Max Hancock

Jack Lynch, CEO of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) since 2017, was leading the company’s transformation from a legacy textbook publisher to a digital-first student outcomes provider, which earned subscription revenue from digital products and curriculum. In 2023, HMH... View Details

Keywords: Edtech; Textbook; Publishing; Leading Change; Change Management; Transformation; Digital Transformation; Expansion; Business Strategy; Publishing Industry; Education Industry; United States

05 Sep 2014
News

Keeping Education in Check

South resulted in increased academic abilities across the board, from spatial analysis to mathematics scores to reasoning. In 2003, William Bart and Michael Atherton of the University of Minnesota wrote a paper that discussed the... View Details

Keywords: Maureen Harmon

December 2012 (Revised January 2015)
Technical Note

Early Career LBOs Using the Search Fund Model

By: Howard Stevenson, Michael Roberts and Jim Sharpe

The funded search model is one alternative for individuals who, at some point in their career, want to run their own companies. This note looks at the funded search, as a means to entrepreneurship through acquisition and describes the path to buy and run a business... View Details

Keywords: Search Funds; Search; Entrepreneurial Finance; Investor Behavior; Career Planning; Entrepreneurial Management; Fundraising; Negotiation; Entrepreneurship; Capital Structure; Borrowing and Debt; Personal Development and Career; Private Ownership; Acquisition; Finance; Leveraged Buyouts

January 1997
Background Note

Conducting a Performance Appraisal Interview

By: Michael Beer

Discusses typical problems experienced by managers in conducting performance appraisal interviews. The underlying causes of these problems are analyzed and ideas are presented that might help managers overcome these problems. A rewritten version of an earlier note. View Details

Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Managerial Roles; Performance Evaluation; Problems and Challenges

Web

ICIC - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

HBS ISC About Michael Porter About Michael Porter A Letter from Michael Porter Biography The Essential Porter Honors & Awards Affiliated Organizations & Institutions VBHCD... View Details

June 2020 (Revised March 2024)
Case

Deloitte's Pixel (A): Consulting with Open Talent

By: Michael L. Tushman, John Winsor and Kerry Herman

Deloitte Consulting’s General Manager Balaji Bondili, head of Pixel, considers how best to grow Deloitte Consulting’s use of open (on-demand) talent, as consulting companies and their clients face transformative change in the way client engagements and projects get... View Details

Keywords: Disruption; Talent and Talent Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Consulting Industry; United States

Web

Strategy for Health Care Delivery - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

offered in cooperation with the HBS Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness (ISC). Key Benefits In this program, you will use a value framework—first introduced by HBS professor Michael E. Porter in his book Redefining Health Care—as a... View Details

March 2017 (Revised July 2019)
Case

Walmart: Navigating a Changing Retail Landscape

By: Michael E. Porter and Jorge Ramirez-Vallejo

As the largest company, by revenue, in the world, Walmart has been a lightning rod for criticism. However, in an attempt to stay ahead of traditional and digital retailers, and keep customers satisfied with evolving demands, the company is strengthening its competitive... View Details

Keywords: Shared Value; Strategy; Department Stores; Sustainability; Social Responsibility Of Business; Value Creation; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Retail Industry

Web

Course History - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

and preparing for the most challenging issues that a new CEO is likely to face. The Harvard Business Review article “Seven Surprises for New CEOs,” by Michael E. Porter, Jay W. Lorsch, and Nitin Nohria, describes some key takeaways from... View Details

1982
Book

Business Policy: Text and Cases

By: C. Roland Christensen, Kenneth R. Andrews, Joseph L. Bower, Richard G. Hamermesh and Michael E. Porter

Keywords: Policy; Information; Cases

Find at Harvard

1984
Chapter

Theory of the Firm: Managerial Behavior, Agency Costs and Ownership Structure

By: Michael Jensen and William H. Meckling

Keywords: Managerial Roles; Management Style; Ownership; Organizational Structure; Theory

SSRN

November 2004 (Revised January 2007)
Case

Ice-Fili (Abridged)

By: John R. Wells, Pai-Ling Yin and Michael G. Rukstad

Designed as an overview of all aspects of the strategy process: industry analysis, positioning, dynamics and sustainability, and scope issues of corporate strategy, including vertical integration, horizontal diversification, and location issues. Ice-Fili is the largest... View Details

Keywords: Product Positioning; Geographic Location; Competition; Vertical Integration; Corporate Strategy; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Russia

Article

The (Perceived) Meaning of Spontaneous Thoughts

By: Carey K. Morewedge, Colleen Giblin and Michael I. Norton

Spontaneous thoughts, the output of a broad category of uncontrolled and inaccessible higher-order mental processes, arise frequently in everyday life. The seeming randomness by which spontaneous thoughts arise might give people good reason to dismiss them as... View Details

Keywords: Spontaneous Thoughts; Self-Insight; Meaning; Attribution; Judgment And Decision Making; Decision Making; Cognition and Thinking

Find at Harvard

Read Now

January 1988 (Revised January 2007)
Background Note

Leading Change

By: Michael Beer

Presents a conceptual framework for understanding the process of leading organizational change. Change leaders must create dissatisfaction with the status quo, develop a vision of the future state, and manage a process that sequences and orchestrates events and changes... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Leading Change

20 Oct 2010
Op-Ed

Export Competitiveness: Reversing the Logic

D.C.: 2010. Clemens, M. and J. Williamson. 2004. "Why Did the Tariff-Growth Correlation Change after 1950?" Journal of Economic Growth 9 (1): 5-46. Coe, D. and E. Helpman. 1995. "International R&D Spillovers." European Economic Review 39:... View Details

Keywords: by Christian Ketels

summer 1996
Article

Ambidextrous Organizations: Managing Evolutionary and Revolutionary Change

By: Michael Tushman and C. O'Reilly

Keywords: Management; Change