Publications

Research Summary

Areas of Interest

By: Michael A. Wheeler

Primary Topics: complexity, dispute resolution, ethics, improvisation, moral leadership, negotiation, psychodynamics

Additional Topics: alliances, cognition, conflict, creativity, crisis management, decision-making, electronic... View Details

January 2014 (Revised February 2016)
Case

U.S. Government Debt and the Debate over a Balanced Budget Amendment

By: Matthew Weinzierl, Katrina Flanagan and Alastair Su

In the first decade of the 21st century, national debt as a share of GDP rose dramatically in the United States and across the developed world. This case consists of excerpts from leading commentators explaining and commenting on this trend and the economic and moral... View Details

Keywords: National Debt; Social Discount Rate; Ricardian Equivalence; Government and Politics; Macroeconomics; United States

July 1991 (Revised June 1993)
Background Note

Conflicting Responsibilities

By: Joseph L. Badaracco

Presents a framework for resolving issues in which managers' responsibilities--to shareholders, employees, other stakeholder groups, and to their own values and commitments in life--conflict with each other. The framework analyzes these issues in terms of duties,... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Employees; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Structure; Personal Development and Career; Business and Shareholder Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations

21 Mar 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Risk Management―The Revealing Hand

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan and Anette Mikes; Financial Services; Banking

02 May 2022
News

Business Ethics: What Everyone Needs to Know

Article

Adam Smith, Behavioral Economist

By: Nava Ashraf, Colin Camerer and George Loewenstein

Adam Smith's psychological perspective in The Theory of Moral Sentiments is remarkably similar to "dual-process" frameworks advanced by psychologists, neuroscientists, and more recently by behavioral economists, based on behavioral data and detailed observations... View Details

Keywords: Behavior; Economics

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27 Sep 2021
News

Why Leaders Aren’t Powerful without This One Thing

Joseph L. Badaracco

Joseph L. Badaracco is the John Shad Professor of Business Ethics at Harvard Business School. He has taught courses on business ethics, strategy, and management in the School's MBA and executive programs.

Badaracco is a graduate of St. Louis... View Details

2009
Chapter

Government as Risk Manager

By: Tom Baker and David Moss

We explain the four basic ways to manage risk: prevention, risk shifting, risk spreading, and loss control. We set out five principles of effective government risk management gleaned from extensive historical study: (1) link responsibility and control, (2) manage moral... View Details

Keywords: Government and Politics; Risk Management; Risk and Uncertainty; Safety

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April 1, 2024
Article

Leading a Company That Can Thrive in a Chaotic World

By: Thomas Buberl, Bill George, Hubert Joly and Nitin Nohria

Worldwide, the past few years have been marked by multiple, intersecting crises — and things aren’t likely to get less complicated anytime soon. The authors met with a group of CEOs to discuss how they lead amid this ongoing chaos. To thrive in this chaotic new world,... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Leadership Development

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June 2008
Case

Kidney Matchmakers

By: Brian J. Hall and Nicole Bennett

In this case we look at the design and development of an unconventional market, where neither money nor traditional "goods" are exchanged. Kidney exchange is an idea pioneered by HBS professor and market designer Alvin Roth and a small group of innovative doctors. This... View Details

Keywords: Moral Sensibility; Disruptive Innovation; Market Design; Market Transactions; Value Creation; Health Industry

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March 1994
Case

Fremont Financial Corporation (A)

Fremont Financial is an asset-based lender to middle-market companies. This case considers two options for Fremont to raise capital to finance its loan portfolio. Fremont can: 1) extend its existing bank line of credit, or 2) issue commercial paper through a special... View Details

Keywords: Financial Markets; Capital; Corporate Finance; Financial Services Industry

February 1994
Case

Fremont Financial Corporation

Fremont Financial is an asset-based lender to middle-market companies. The firm has three options to raise capital to finance its loan portfolio. Fremont can (1) extend its existing bank line of credit, (2) issue commercial paper through a special purpose-conduit, or... View Details

Keywords: Financial Markets; Capital; Corporate Finance; Financial Services Industry

06 Dec 2021
News

Rescue & Recovery

Tjada D’Oyen McKenna (MBA 2002) sits in front of a photo mural on the walls of the Mercy Corps offices in Washington, DC After a full-on morning of Zoom sessions from her home office in Potomac, Maryland, Tjada D’Oyen McKenna (MBA 2002) climbs into her SUV and plugs... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; photographed by Stephen Voss; Social Assistance; Health, Social Assistance

August 2004 (Revised December 2005)
Case

Li Ka-Shing

By: Nitin Nohria and Bridget Gurtler

From his humble beginnings in China as a teacher's son, a refugee, and later as a salesman, Li provides a lesson in integrity and adaptability. Through hard work, and a reputation for remaining true to his internal moral compass, he was able to build a business empire... View Details

Keywords: Leadership Development; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Leadership Style; Success; Business Conglomerates; Ethics; Values and Beliefs; China

July 1976 (Revised April 1983)
Case

Corning Glass Works: The Electronic Products Division (A)

By: Michael Beer

Describes a division of Corning Glass Works that finds itself with deep financial and organizational problems. Severe conflict and lack of coordination exist between functional groups. Employees do not have a sense of direction and morale is low. Provides sufficient... View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Change Management; Transformation; Employees; Working Conditions; Business or Company Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation