Publications

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November 2023 (Revised December 2023)
Background Note

Talent Incubator Rankings

By: Boris Groysberg and Sarah L. Abbott

In 2023, The Official Board surveyed 853 executives on the topic of talent incubators/academy companies. Executives were asked to list the top three academy companies within their function, industry, and country. They were also asked: what practices differentiate these... View Details

Keywords: Talent Development And Retention; Hiring; Performance Management; Human Resource Management; Human Capital; Human Resources; Performance; Talent and Talent Management; Organizational Culture

December 2021
Article

Entrepreneurial Learning and Strategic Foresight

By: Aticus Peterson and Andy Wu

We study how learning by experience across projects affects an entrepreneur's strategic foresight. In a quantitative study of 314 entrepreneurs across 722 crowdfunded projects supplemented with a program of qualitative interviews, we counterintuitively find that... View Details

Keywords: Crowdfunding; Experience; Prediction; Timeline; Complexity; Entrepreneurship; Learning; Experience and Expertise; Forecasting and Prediction

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April 2019
Case

American Ballet Theatre

By: Anita Elberse, Tsubasa Nakajima and Melissa Rodman

Kara Medoff Barnett, executive director of American Ballet Theatre (ABT), widely regarded as one of the world’s premier ballet companies, faces several challenges. It is June 2018. Despite its prestige, the company’s $45 million annual budget and $22 million endowment... View Details

Keywords: Performing Arts; Superstars; Talent; Talent Development; Non-profit; Contracts; Labor Economics; General Management; Arts; Entertainment; Media; Talent and Talent Management; Nonprofit Organizations; Marketing; Strategy

June 2001
Exercise

Strategic Human Resource Management Applications Exercise

By: Michael Beer

Overview of a method for diagnosing and developing an organization's capability to achieve its goals and implement its strategy, with exercises for application. A rewritten version of an earlier exercise. View Details

Keywords: Competency and Skills; Goals and Objectives; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Design; Strategy

29 Sep 2022
News

SAP’s Tony Pante Asks These Four Questions to Connect with His Team

07 Sep 2021
News

Immelt in the Hot Seat: Episode 2

Illustration by Ket-le / iStock; photo courtesy of Jeff Immelt Subscribe on iTunes Subscribe on Spotify More Skydeck episodes Jeff Immelt (MBA 1982) Jeff Immelt (MBA 1982) Dan Morrell: In 2009, in the wake of the financial crisis, with ratings agencies weighing whether... View Details

01 Dec 2018
News

Research Brief: Bargaining for Better

Kathleen McGinn (photo by Tracy Powell) Kathleen McGinn (photo by Tracy Powell) By the time they reach eighth grade, about 61 percent of girls in Zambia have dropped out of school—a rate three times higher than their male counterparts. Interventions have shown little... View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Myers

01 Sep 2018
News

3-Minute Briefing: Rob Price (MBA 1997)

I learned classical piano in the traditional way as a kid, but as soon as I could get a synthesizer and play Foreigner and Journey, I escaped. That, for me, reinforces how our method builds on traditional programs. Our philosophy is that playing music that one loves... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; Educational Services

01 Dec 2016
News

Takeaways

Edited by April White Peter A. Gudmundsson photo by Susan Young Peter A. Gudmundsson photo by Susan Young “All organizations need great people. Veterans are great people, so all organizations need to hire veterans.” —Peter A. Gudmundsson (MBA 1990), The Veteran Hiring... View Details

01 Dec 2005
News

Alumni Achievement Awards: Honorees and Victories

The starting five: This year's Alumni Achievement Award winners included (clockwise, from lower left) Judy Haberkorn, Lou Gerstner, Joe O'Donnell, Rahul Bajaj, and Nancy Barry. The group visited HBS in September and took part in a case discussion with members of the... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Management; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

2010
Working Paper

Making the Numbers? 'Short Termism' and the Puzzle of Only Occasional Disaster

By: Nelson P. Repenning and Rebecca Henderson

Much recent work in strategy and popular discussion suggests that an excessive focus on "managing the numbers"—delivering quarterly earnings at the expense of longer-term investments—makes it difficult for firms to make the investments necessary to build competitive... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Performance Improvement; Competitive Advantage; Earnings Management; Management Practices and Processes; Revenue; Quality; Competency and Skills; Motivation and Incentives; Auto Industry; United States

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2008
Working Paper

Product Development and Learning in Project Teams: The Challenges are the Benefits

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Ingrid M. Nembhard

The value of teams in new product development (NPD) is undeniable. Both the interdisciplinary nature of the work and industry trends necessitate that professionals from different functions work together on development projects to create the highest quality product in... View Details

Keywords: Competency and Skills; Learning; Management Skills; Product Development; Projects; Groups and Teams; Conflict Management; Social and Collaborative Networks

01 Jun 2004
News

At Work in the Fields with the Lord

In California’s Coachella Valley, Sister Marsha Allen (MBA 1976) is spearheading a coalition of nonprofits and charitable organizations in an effort to build a tent city for the 20,000 migrant farmworkers and their children who come to the valley every year to harvest... View Details

Keywords: Agriculture

01 Mar 2007
News

Security Chief

Parker Imagine having a conversation with the head of HR that goes something like this: Over the past several years with the company, I’ve helped turn around an ailing division. Now I’d like to try my hand at managing a growth business. Anything available? When you... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; technology-based security business; Management; Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices; Management

01 Mar 2010
News

Light Looks Back on Forty-Year HBS Career

Photos by Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard University News Office Jay Light, the School’s ninth dean, retires in June after a distinguished forty-year career at HBS. As a young mission analyst at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, Light applied to the MBA Program... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

July 2019
Case

Bjarke Ingels Group

By: Boris Groysberg and Aldo Sesia

Danish-born Bjarke Ingels is regarded as a giant in the field of architecture. He started his firm—the Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)—in 2005 in Copenhagen. Fourteen years later, the firm has additional offices in New York City, London, and Barcelona and employs over 500... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Design; Growth Management; Leadership; Organizational Culture; Talent and Talent Management; Urban Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Construction Industry; Service Industry; Real Estate Industry; Denmark; Spain; United Kingdom; United States; New York (city, NY)

January 2009 (Revised February 2011)
Case

Solvay Group: International Mobility and Managing Expatriates

By: Boris Groysberg, Nitin Nohria and Kerry Herman

Marcel Lorent, head of International Mobility at Brussels-based Solvay Group, faces decisions on the expatriation status of four of his firm's talented executives. Each decision will impact the candidate's professional and personal life and will have implications for... View Details

Keywords: Leadership Development; Globalized Firms and Management; Work-Life Balance; Talent and Talent Management; Residency; Employees; Brussels