Publications

2016
Working Paper

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Modern Administrative State, 1912–1925: Trade Associations, Codes of Fair Competition, and State Building

By: Laura Phillips Sawyer

From its founding in 1912 through the interwar years, the Chamber's history shows a persistent preoccupation with progressive economics and policy-making. Rather than flouting the new ideas of institutional economics, which favored federal regulators overseeing data... View Details

Keywords: Organizations; Trade; Business and Government Relations; Competition; United States

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October 2011 (Revised May 2015)
Case

The American Repertory Theater

By: Rohit Deshpande, Allen S. Grossman and Ryan Johnson

When Diane Paulus, artistic director and CEO of the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) first started in 2008, she attracted media coverage around an aesthetic that aimed to give the audience more ownership over the theater experience, excited theatergoers by... View Details

Keywords: Advertising Campaigns; Arts; Business Model; Leading Change; Media; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Nonprofit Organizations; Competitive Strategy; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; North and Central America

23 May 2023
Research & Ideas

Face Value: Do Certain Physical Features Help People Get Ahead?

charisma as a leader’s moral conviction, need for power, and ability to transfer an idealized vision to followers—it’s more than just straight-up beauty. Having it can mean the difference between making it to the C-suite and getting stuck... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin

17 Aug 2020
Research & Ideas

What the Stockdale Paradox Tells Us About Crisis Leadership

constantly reiterating the organizational purpose and operationalizing it as tasks. Talk of vision and ideals may seem a luxury that a crisis does not allow for, but this is a tremendous mistake. “A man must relate to a community, a... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Robin Abrahams

17 Dec 2012
Research & Ideas

Teaming in the Twenty-First Century

Buckminster Fuller. "It's what indirectly got me into this game in the first place," she explains. "I began to understand part of a larger vision of using thoughtful design to solve big problems in the world and I became interested in how... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish

01 Nov 2017
What Do You Think?

What Are the Real Lessons of the Wells Fargo Case?

control, questionable organizational (particularly human resource management) practices, and human behavior traits in general. As “Former Employee” put it, “much of the language in the Visions and Values about caring for team members and... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Banking

09 Oct 2012
First Look

First Look: October 9

significant changes in teaming networks and behaviors in ways that improved operational performance. Implications of team scaffolds for theory and practice are discussed. Download the paper: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1987724 Cases & Course MaterialsWarby Parker:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

July 2020 (Revised November 2020)
Case

Gera Developments: Leadership at a Crossroads

By: Christina R. Wing and John Masko

For decades, Gera Developments (Gera) was a boutique family-owned real estate development firm in Pune, India. But since 2000, managing director Rohit Gera had turned the company into a dynamic innovator in housing solutions for urban Indian families. Over the 2010s,... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Business Growth and Maturation; Construction; Geographic Location; Global Strategy; Globalized Firms and Management; Housing; Leadership Style; Management Succession; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Family Ownership; Family and Family Relationships; Urban Development; Customization and Personalization; Real Estate Industry; Maharashtra; India; United States

14 Feb 2022
Research & Ideas

Curiosity, Not Coding: 6 Skills Leaders Need in the Digital Age

let go In today’s world, vision and strategy are still essential, but the ability to orchestrate collective action—co-creation instead of top-down direction—has never been more important. To this end, leading in the digital era is an... View Details

Keywords: by Linda A. Hill, Ann Le Cam, Sunand Menon, and Emily Tedards; Technology

November 2020 (Revised June 2022)
Case

Community-First Public Safety

By: Mitchell B. Weiss and Sarah Mehta

How many police officer positions to fund? In August 2020, the question facing St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, which might have seemed routine to another mayor at another time in another place, was anything but. A pandemic had rendered the city some $19-$34 million short... View Details

Keywords: Race; Law Enforcement; Governance; Decision Making; Safety; Social Issues; Public Administration Industry; United States; Minnesota; Saint Paul

October 19, 2021
Article

The Facebook Trap

By: Andy Wu

Facebook has a clear mission: Connect everyone in the world. Clarity is good, but in Facebook’s case, it has also put the company in a bind because the mission—and the company’s vision for creating value through network effects—has also become the source of its biggest... View Details

Keywords: Business And Society; Mission and Purpose; Network Effects; Value Creation; Corporate Accountability; Strategy

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2015
Working Paper

Moving to the Adjacent Possible: Discovering Paths for Export Diversification in Rwanda

By: Ricardo Hausmann and Jasmina Chauvin

How can Rwanda, which currently has one of the lowest levels of income and exports per capita in the world, grow and diversify its economy in presence of significant constraints? We analyze Rwanda's historical growth and trade performance and find that Rwanda's high... View Details

Keywords: Export Diversification; Industrialization; Economic Complexity; International Trade; Rwanda; Diversification; Trade; Transportation; Developing Countries and Economies; Rwanda

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September 2023 (Revised June 2024)
Case

Kaspi.kz: Building Trust through Innovation

By: Sandra J. Sucher, Fares Khrais and Marilyn Morgan Westner

This case is written to help students explore how companies can maintain and develop trust while innovating, how to identify and respond effectively to warning signs that they may not be as trusted as they believe, and how being trusted can aid in expanding and growing... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Culture; Trust; Technology Adoption; Innovation and Invention; Banking Industry

June 2021
Case

Akira Fukabori and Kevin Kajitani at avatarin (A) (Abridged)

By: Linda A. Hill and Emily Tedards

In 2016, Akira Fukabori and Kevin Kajitani, aeronautical engineers at All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd., began to wonder why, in a world of accelerating globalization and digital connectivity, those who lived in far-remote villages or impoverished urban areas could not... View Details

Keywords: Agility; Ecosystem; Innovation Ecosystems; Innovation; Crowdsourcing; XPRIZE; Open Innovation; Partnership; Government; Collaboration; Co-creation; Purpose; Impact; Social Impact; Movement; Organizational Behavior; Organizational Ambidexterity; Ambidexterity; Culture; Culture Change; Global Teams; Experimentation; Space; Space Industry; Airline Industry; Start-up; Platform Business; Platform Strategy; Platform; Digital; Robotics; Robots; Avatar; Telepresence; Innovation Lab; Mobility; COVID-19; Intrapreneurship; Public-private Partnership; Innovation and Invention; Technological Innovation; Partners and Partnerships; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Alignment; Leadership; Leading Change; Diversity; Organizational Culture; Change Management; Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Digital Platforms; Transportation Industry; Aerospace Industry; Japan

24 Jul 2000
Research & Ideas

Value Maximization and Stakeholder Theory

organization. Value maximization is not a vision or a strategy or even a purpose, it is the scorecard for the organization. We must give people enough structure to understand what maximizing value means in such a way that they can be... View Details

Keywords: by Michael C. Jensen

06 Jun 2016
Research & Ideas

Skills and Behaviors that Make Entrepreneurs Successful

Opportunities. Measures skills and behaviors associated with the ability to identify and seek out high-potential business opportunities. Vision and Influence. Measures skills and behaviors associated with the ability to influence all... View Details

Keywords: by HBS Working Knowledge

27 Jun 2005
Research & Ideas

Asian and American Leadership Styles: How Are They Unique?

and discussion of business, to distinguish among leadership, management, and administration. They are in fact very different; each is valuable and has its place. Briefly, leadership is about a vision of the future and the ability to... View Details

Keywords: by D. Quinn Mills

July 2015 (Revised October 2015)
Case

Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank

By: Amy C. Edmondson, Erin L. Henry, Andreas Georgoulias and Natalie Bartlett

Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank details the development of the bank's new Office of Outreach Partnerships to sustain a culture of innovation through maintaining and generating partnerships in order to fulfill the bank's greater... View Details

2011
Chapter

American Exceptionalism?: A Comparative Analysis of the Origins and Trajectory of U.S. Business Education Development

By: Rakesh Khurana

As business education in an academic setting becomes an increasingly global phenomenon, the university-based business school in America remains a unique institution. This holds true despite the fact that the American business school as it evolved in the post-World War... View Details

Keywords: Values and Beliefs; Business History; Business Education; Power and Influence; Society; United States; Europe