Publications

19 Oct 2022
Op-Ed

Cofounder Courtship: How to Find the Right Mate—for Your Startup

you are a technologist, but lack management or operating skills (marketing, sales, etc.), you may benefit from a more seasoned business leader as cofounder who has seen the movie before. While many operating skills can be learned,... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Austin

2020
Working Paper

Novel Risks

By: Robert S. Kaplan, Herman B. "Dutch" Leonard and Anette Mikes

All organizations practice some form of risk management to identify and assess routine risks in their operations, supply chains, strategy, and external environment. These risk management policies, however, fail in the presence of novelty. Novel risks arise from... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Policy; Failure; Organizational Change and Adaptation

Read Now

January 2021 (Revised March 2021)
Technical Note

Strategy and Strategic Thinking

By: Eric Van den Steen

This note gives managers a concrete perspective on what ‘a strategy’ really is, what makes a decision ‘strategic,’ and what ‘strategic thinking’ means. It also gives them practical frameworks to assess whether some set of decisions is really a strategy and how to... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Alignment; Strategy Definition; Strategy And Execution; Strategy Test; Strategy; Strategic Planning; Decision Making

2008
Chapter

Artistic Methods and Business Disorganization

The idea that artists' work can usefully inform business practice has gained support in recent years. Managers have long described some business activities as "more art than science," but usually they've meant by this that they don't understand the activity and can't... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Creativity

September 2002
Case

Seattle Public Schools, 1995-2002 (B): The Performance Agenda

Describes the implementation in Seattle Public Schools, under the direction of Superintendent Joseph Olchefske, of a systemwide standards and accountability scheme, known as the Performance Agenda. The Performance Agenda set academic standards for students and defined... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Management Practices and Processes; Social Entrepreneurship; Education; Education Industry; Seattle

December 1989
Background Note

Note on How Organizations Can be Structured

By: D. Q. Mills

Describes four basic organizational forms--hierarchy, division, matrix, and cluster. Diagrams of each are included. Their strengths and weaknesses under different business environment conditions are detailed. There is a table comparing the forms on several key... View Details

Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Culture; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure

20 Jan 2014
Research & Ideas

Language Wars Divide Global Companies

language problems but also what managers can do to overcome them. Neeley explores language and its connection to power dynamics on global teams in Language as a Lightning Rod: Power Contests, Emotion Regulation, and Subgroup Dynamics in... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard

August 2004 (Revised March 2009)
Exercise

Your Own Case Study

By: Joshua D. Margolis and Sarah Marie Kauss

Designed to aid in the transfer and application of knowledge gained from the executive program to the live situation that program participants face in their jobs. Teaching Purpose: To bring practical relevance to executive education programs, permitting focused... View Details

Keywords: Executive Education; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Management; Practice

May 2009
Article

The Definitive Guide to Recruiting in Good Times and Bad

By: Claudio Fernández-Aráoz, Boris Groysberg and Nitin Nohria

This article includes a one-page preview that quickly summarizes the key ideas and provides an overview of how the concepts work in practice along with suggestions for further reading. Few companies are thinking about hiring right now, but that's a mistake. If history... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Management Practices and Processes; Managerial Roles

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17 Apr 2022
Book

How to Avoid the 'Ethical Slide' That Leads Companies Astray

Company managers have likely heard the old quip: Business ethics is a contradiction in terms. That’s because too often, business is viewed as a hard-hearted enterprise, driven by getting ahead at all costs, even if that means cutting... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

May 2011
Article

The Growing Power of Non-financial Reports

By: Ioannis Ioannou and George Serafeim

We are exploring the value of forcing corporations to issue sustainability reports, which provide information about corporate performance in terms of social, environmental and governance issues. In a breakthrough study they asked, what is the effect of mandatory... View Details

Keywords: Value; Reports; Performance; Management Practices and Processes; Globalization; Power and Influence; Natural Environment; Governance; Social Issues

Research Summary

Overview

By: Ayelet Israeli

Professor Israeli utilizes econometric methods and field experiments to study data driven decision making in marketing context. Her research focuses on data-driven marketing, with an emphasis on how businesses can leverage their own data, customer data, and market data... View Details

Keywords: Channel Management; Pricing; Pricing Policies; Online Marketing; E-commerce; Analytics; Econometrics; Field Experiments; Data Analytics; Artificial Intelligence; Value Of Data

October 2000 (Revised June 2017)
Case

Vyaderm Pharmaceuticals: The EVA Decision

By: Robert Simons and Indra A. Reinbergs

In 2016, the new CEO of Vyaderm Pharmaceuticals introduces an Economic Value Added (EVA) program to focus the company on long-term shareholder value. The EVA program consists of three elements: EVA centers (business units), EVA drivers (operational practices that... View Details

Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Employee Relationship Management; Economic Growth; Economic Systems; Management; Motivation and Incentives; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Performance Evaluation; Decision Choices and Conditions; Pharmaceutical Industry; Washington (state, US)

March 2008
Article

When Growth Stalls

By: Matthew S. Olson, Derek C. M. van Bever and Seth Verry

This article includes a one-page preview that quickly summarizes the key ideas and provides an overview of how the concepts work in practice along with suggestions for further reading. An abrupt and lasting drop in revenue growth is a crisis that can strike even the... View Details

Keywords: Growth Strategy; Revenues; Crisis Management; Revenue; Growth and Development Strategy

March 1995 (Revised January 1996)
Background Note

Managerial Networks

Describes a managerial network as a set of relationships critical to a manager's ability to get things done, get ahead, and develop personally and professionally. "Networking" refers to the activities associated with developing and managing such relationships.... View Details

Keywords: Networks; Management Practices and Processes

December 2006 (Revised January 2007)
Case

Infosys in India: Building a Software Giant in a Corrupt Environment

By: Rawi E. Abdelal, Rafael M. Di Tella and Prabakar (PK) Kothandaraman

Shortly after Infosys was founded in 1981, its managers faced a major turning point when they made a decision to operate without giving in to the petty corruption rife in the Indian economy. Within just a few years, that decision had truly defined the company. Over the... View Details

Keywords: History; Management Style; Moral Sensibility; Policy; Business and Government Relations; Decisions; Business Growth and Maturation; Situation or Environment; Crime and Corruption; Business Strategy; Information Technology Industry; Computer Industry; India

October 2020 (Revised February 2024)
Case

Divesting Harvard's Endowment

By: Daniel Green, Luis M. Viceira and Holly Fetter

By early 2020 Harvard University was facing growing pressure from students, faculty, and alumni to divest its $40 billion endowment of financial stakes in fossil fuel producers. Its previous policy of avoiding the issue was quickly becoming outdated—$21 trillion of... View Details

Keywords: Divestment; Harvard University; ESG; Higher Education; Investment Portfolio; Environmental Sustainability; Strategy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact