Publications

April 2006 (Revised May 2007)
Case

Apple Computer, 2006

By: David B. Yoffie and Michael Slind

Apple has reaped the benefits of its innovative music player, the iPod. However, its PC and server business continue to hold small market share relative to the worldwide computer over the past few years. Will the iPod lure new users to the Mac? Will Apple be able to... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Product Positioning; Performance Evaluation; Information Infrastructure; Music Entertainment; Time Management; Information Technology Industry

February 2008
Article

Where Do Transactions Come From? Modularity, Transactions, and the Boundaries of Firms

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

This article constructs a theory of the location of transactions and the boundaries of firms in a productive system. It proposes that systems of production can be viewed as networks, in which tasks-cum-agents are the nodes and transfers—of material, energy and... View Details

Keywords: Boundaries; Production; Market Transactions; Supply Chain; Management; Cost; Theory; Performance Productivity; Information Management; Complexity

Find at Harvard

Read Now

October 1999 (Revised July 2002)
Case

WingspanBank.com (A)

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Daniel Galvin

The case describes the new product development process for WingspanBank.com, an Internet-only financial services "infomediary" created by a team from Bank One's First USA division. The creation of the bank is described from concept development to prelaunch decision... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Decision Making; Information Management; Management Practices and Processes; Managerial Roles; Product Development; Performance Consistency; Competitive Advantage; Internet; Financial Services Industry; Web Services Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

10 Jan 2005
Research & Ideas

How to Put Meaning Back into Leading

organizational behavior. Our ideas have been profoundly influenced by these early scholars. Q: What concerns you about the emphasis of leadership studies on economic performance rather than social impact? A: In more recent organizational... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

13 Sep 2012
Research & Ideas

Why Public Companies Underinvest in the Future

managers to favor short-term profits over long-term gains. The research results suggest that managers of public companies are under much more pressure than their private-firm counterparts to show short-term... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish

22 Jan 2018
Sharpening Your Skills

Why You Are Unhappy at Work

Blues A shockingly low 25 percent of employees feel connection to their company's mission. Bill George discusses fixes to rebuild purpose in their work. How Small Wins Unleash Creativity The most powerful tool managers have to motivate... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

Article

Exploring the Duality Between Product and Organizational Architectures: A Test of the 'Mirroring' Hypothesis

By: Alan MacCormack, Carliss Y. Baldwin and John Rusnak

A variety of academic studies argue that a relationship exists between the structure of an organization and the design of the products that the organization produces. Specifically, products tend to "mirror" the architectures of the organizations in which they are... View Details

Keywords: Organization Design; Architecture; Modularity; Open Source Software; Communication; Design; Governance; Management Practices and Processes; Open Source Distribution; Product Design; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Structure; Performance; Problems and Challenges; Behavior; Software

06 Feb 2006
What Do You Think?

Should CEOs of Public Companies Offer Earnings Guidance?

exacerbate the tension between short-term performance and long-term success of the corporation…. While different in form, this hedge fund pressure raises management and board issues similar to those... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Financial Services

December 1997 (Revised March 1998)
Case

Mid Ocean Limited: Trading Catastrophe Index Options

By: Kenneth A. Froot and Markus Mullarkey

An insurance industry executive must evaluate the potential of a set of newly-offered catastrophe insurance derivatives. The background addresses the roles of traditional reinsurance and securitization efforts in providing risk transfer and risk financing in the "cat"... View Details

Keywords: Commodity Market; Derivatives; Insurance; Capital Markets; Natural Disasters; Risk Management; Financial Management; Financial Strategy; Performance Evaluation; Insurance Industry; Bermuda

22 Nov 2016
First Look

November 22, 2016

organizational selling, and influencing innovation adoption. Purchase this case: https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/product/517020-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 117-106 Management Control Systems Module 6: Evaluating Strategic Profit... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 2004
Article

Underwater Options and the Dynamics of Executive Pay-to-Performance Sensitivities

By: Brian J. Hall and Thomas A. Knox

Keywords: Management; Compensation and Benefits; Performance

Find at Harvard

07 Dec 2010
First Look

First Look: Dec. 7

underlying your strategy and analyze how it's implemented through your business processes and structures. Drawing on decades of research into performance management systems and organization design, Seven... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 2018
Case

Kaiser Permanente Colorado: Primary Care Plus

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Mahek A. Shah

A geriatrician in Kaiser Permanente’s Colorado region is concerned with the high and growing cost of treating the elderly population. She introduces a new care model, Primary Care Plus, using an interdisciplinary team of a primary care doctor, palliative care... View Details

Keywords: Primary Health Care; Elderly Patients; Integrated Practice Unit; Interdisciplinary Care; Health Care and Treatment; Age; Cost Management; Performance Improvement; Health Industry; United States; Colorado

2020
Working Paper

The Impact of CEOs in the Public Sector: Evidence from the English NHS

By: Katharina Janke, Carol Propper and Raffaella Sadun

Abstract Governments worldwide have sought to reform the delivery of public services by mimicking private sector governance models that grant CEOs greater autonomy and give them responsibility for meeting key government targets. We examine the effectiveness of this... View Details

Keywords: CEOs; Management; Performance; Public Sector; Measurement and Metrics; Health Industry

Read Now

2013
Working Paper

Helping You Help Me: The Role of Diagnostic (In)congruence in the Helping Process within Organizations

By: Colin M. Fisher, Julianna Pillemer and Teresa M. Amabile

Through an inductive, multi-method field study at a major design firm, we investigated the helping process in project work and how that process affects the success of a helping episode, as perceived by help-givers and/or -receivers. We used daily diary entries and... View Details

Keywords: Groups and Teams; Knowledge Management; Performance; Cooperation

SSRN

Read Now

03 Sep 2020
Op-Ed

Why American Health Care Needs Its Own SEC

care SEC would have many issues to work out. It would have to establish standard definitions for specific quality measurements. Risk-adjusters would need to develop ways to compare providers’ performance at widely varying practices... View Details

Keywords: by Regina E. Herzlinger; Health

19 Jul 2011
First Look

First Look: July 19

claims about the benefits of broader operational scope. The performance benefits of focus are typically attributed to reduced complexity, lower uncertainty, and the development of specialized expertise, while the benefits of greater... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

August 2009
Case

Meeting the Diversity Challenge at PepsiCo: The Steve Reinemund Era

By: David A. Thomas and Stephanie Creary

This case profiles PepsiCo's diversity journey under the leadership of former chairman and CEO Steve Reinemund who instituted diversity as one of the company's strategic imperatives. It demonstrates the ways in which Reinemund partnered with his leadership team and... View Details

Keywords: Diversity; Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Culture; Performance Effectiveness; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Food and Beverage Industry; United States