Publications

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June 1987
Supplement

Au Bon Pain: Interviews with Ron Shaich and Len Schlesinger, Video

By: W. Earl Sasser, Christopher Hart and Lucy N. Lytle

To be used with Au Bon Pain: The French Bakery Cafe, the Partner/Manager Program. View Details

Keywords: Employee Relationship Management; Human Resources; Management Systems; Selection and Staffing; Programs; Partners and Partnerships; Food and Beverage Industry

December 1993 (Revised March 1997)
Case

Recruiting at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co.

By: John J. Gabarro, Herminia M. Ibarra, John P. Kotter and Andrew P. Burtis

Examines the recruiting process of Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co. (BHC), an investment banking firm known for its work with middle market companies. Specifically, presents a profile of the firm and its recruiting process and then examines that process through the firm's... View Details

Keywords: Investment Banking; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Job Interviews; Banking Industry

June 2023
Supplement

Social Media Background Screening at Fama Technologies (B)

By: Joseph Pacelli, Jillian Grennan and Alexis Lefort

Fama Technologies is an online screening company that uses AI to analyze job applicants' publicly available online content for signs of risk and culture fit. The case opens with Ben Mones, founder and CEO, looking to secure funding from venture firms. He is running... View Details

Keywords: Human Resources; Recruitment; Retention; Selection and Staffing; Organizational Culture; Talent and Talent Management; United States

November–December 2020
Article

Rethinking the On-Demand Workforce

By: Joseph B. Fuller, Manjari Raman, Allison Bailey and Nithya Vaduganathan

As companies struggle with chronic skills shortages and changing labor demographics, a new generation of talent platforms, offering on-demand access to highly trained workers, has begun to help. These platforms include marketplaces for premium expertise (such as Toptal... View Details

Keywords: Talent Acquisition; Platforms; Skilled Labor Recruitment; Gig Economy; Talent and Talent Management; Selection and Staffing; Internet and the Web; Strategy; Digital Platforms

September 2019 (Revised October 2019)
Case

Bill Connors and The Farm, a Comcast NBCUniversal Innovation Hub (Powered by Boomtown)

By: Linda A. Hill and Eric Mankin

In 2017, Bill Connors, the President of Comcast’s Central Division, launched a startup accelerator in Comcast’s new Atlanta Regional headquarters. Comcast was America's largest cable and internet service provider, having built a profitable business bundling television... View Details

March 2011 (Revised March 2013)
Supplement

a-connect: In Search of Talent Partners (B)

By: Robert G. Eccles and Penelope Rossano

The a-connect: In Search of Talent Partners (B) case updates company changes since the (A) case. Key updates include leadership and management appointments and organizational changes. View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Selection and Staffing; Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Consulting Industry

October 2004
Case

Sales Force Training at Arrow Electronics (B)

By: Jason R. Barro, Brian J. Hall and Aaron Zimmerman

Supplements the (A) case. A rewritten version of an earlier supplement. View Details

Keywords: Human Resources; Compensation and Benefits; Recruitment; Retention; Selection and Staffing; Salesforce Management; Competition

01 Dec 2010
News

How to Survive Past Start-up

Art by Craig Frazier Related Links Alumni New Venture Contest Opens Webinar series (ongoing) Entrepreneurship at HBS (video) Harvard Launches Innovation Incubator Why is it that even when smart, educated, well-networked people launch new companies, a few strike gold,... View Details

Keywords: Bill Murphy Jr.; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; Information; Health and Personal Care Stores; Retail Trade

Web

Working Groups, Upcoming Event, and Resources | About

(thankfully, to-date, none have been identified). Our state-of-the-art Security Operations Center is staffed 24/7, and we flexibly adapt patrols to match campus activity. Any individual with concerns about their personal safety should... View Details

April 2006 (Revised March 2007)
Case

Drexel Burnham Lambert (A): "The Smartest People on Wall Street Can be Had"

By: Boris Groysberg, Anahita Hashemi and Brendan Reed

In February 1990, Drexel Burnham Lambert declared bankruptcy amid a slew of scandals. Equities chief Arthur Kirsch hoped to keep his high-performing 600-person team intact. Could he find a company that would take on such a massive group hire? Competitors were already... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Decision Choices and Conditions; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Selection and Staffing; Leadership; Negotiation; Groups and Teams; Power and Influence; Society

May 1996
Background Note

The GM's Operational Challenge: Managing Through People

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Ashish Nanda

Highlights and explores how a general manager adds value to the firm at the operational level by managing through people. Discusses how assumptions about human motivation influence the employment contract that the general manager implicitly enters into with the workers... View Details

Keywords: Employee Relationship Management; Selection and Staffing; Contracts; Managerial Roles; Operations; Problems and Challenges; Labor and Management Relations; Motivation and Incentives; Value

November–December 2023
Article

Look the Part? The Role of Profile Pictures in Online Labor Markets

By: Isamar Troncoso and Lan Luo

Profile pictures are a key component of many freelancing platforms, a design choice that can impact hiring and matching outcomes. In this paper, we examine how appearance-based perceptions of a freelancer’s fit for the job (i.e., whether a freelancer "looks the part"... View Details

Keywords: Freelancers; Gig Workers; Demographics; Prejudice and Bias; Selection and Staffing; Jobs and Positions; Analytics and Data Science

July 2013
Supplement

Interview with Bill Allen and Maria Pejter: A.P. Møller - Maersk Group

By: Boris Groysberg

In 2012, Bill Allen and Maria Pejter, of Maersk Group's Human Resources Department, sat down to consider some key aspects of Maersk's talent management strategy. In this video, Allen and Pejter discuss in some greater detail some of the challenges they faced as... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Development; Human Resource Management; Talent Management; Organizational Change And Transformation; Corporate Culture; Hiring; Employee Training; Strategy; Selection and Staffing; Talent and Talent Management; Training; Retention; Diversity; Denmark

October 2019 (Revised February 2020)
Case

Thermax—Changing of the Guard

By: Christina R. Wing and Inakshi Sobti

Thermax is an engineering company in India that provides integrated solutions in energy, environment, and chemicals. The Aga family along with family trusts owns 62% of the company. Post a restructuring exercise in 2000, Thermax transforms itself from a small family... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Transformation; Business Conglomerates; Strategy; Management Succession; Selection and Staffing; Organizational Culture

2010
Chapter

Crime Distribution and Victim Behavior during a Crime Wave

By: Rafael Di Tella, Sebastian Galiani and Ernesto Schargrodsky

The study of how crime affects different income groups faces the difficulty that crime-avoiding activities vary across these groups. Thus, a lower victimization rate in one group may not reflect a lower burden of crime, but rather a higher investment in crime... View Details

Keywords: Safety; Wealth and Poverty; Selection and Staffing; Crime and Corruption; Income; Leading Change; Information Management; Argentina

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December 2010 (Revised October 2012)
Teaching Note

Employment Vignettes (TN)

By: Lena G. Goldberg and Chad Carr

Teaching Note for 311021. View Details

Keywords: Cases; Selection and Staffing; Legal Liability; Employees; Business Startups; Resignation and Termination

September 2004 (Revised November 2004)
Case

Sanford C. Bernstein: Growing Pains

By: Boris Groysberg and Anahita Hashemi

To remain competitive, Sallie Krawcheck and Lisa Shalett, Sanford C. Bernstein's director of research and associate director of research, respectively, were examining the need to expand the research department's size, not only domestically but also internationally.... View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Selection and Staffing; Management Teams; Organizational Culture; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Expansion