Publications

Web

Building and Sustaining a Successful Enterprise - Course Catalog

HBS Course Catalog Building and Sustaining a Successful Enterprise Course Number 1504 Baker Foundation Professor of Management Practice Willy Shih Senior Lecturer Derek van Bever Fall; Q1Q2; 3.0 credits 28 Sessions Paper/Project Senior... View Details

14 Jun 2023
Research & Ideas

Four Steps to Building the Psychological Safety That High-Performing Teams Need

The idea went mainstream in 2012, when Google’s Project Aristotle identified psychological safety as a key component in successful teams. Edmondson says the theory took on more urgency as organizations faced uncertainty and complexity... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin

09 Mar 2003
Research & Ideas

Six Keys to Building New Markets by Unleashing Disruptive Innovation

in what situation—to guide their decision making around innovation. Managers typically grow impatient when we tell them this. "Theory?" they say. "That sounds like theoretical. That sounds like impractical." But theory... View Details

Keywords: by Clayton M. Christensen, Michael E. Raynor & Scott D. Anthony

Web

Building and Sustaining a Successful Enterprise Q4 - Course Catalog

HBS Course Catalog Building and Sustaining a Successful Enterprise Q4 Course Number 1507 Baker Foundation Professor of Management Practice Willy Shih Spring; Q4; 1.5 credits 13 sessions Paper This short version of BSSE will focus on core... View Details

03 Oct 2023
Research Event

Build the Life You Want: Arthur Brooks and Oprah Winfrey Share Happiness Tips

coauthor of the new book Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier, for an intimate, powerful conversation that touches on: the mistake people make in thinking that money, power, and fame will bring them happiness;... View Details

Keywords: by HBS Staff

March 2015
Article

Business Model Evaluation: Quantifying Walmart's Sources of Advantage

By: Humberto Brea-Solís, Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Emili Grifell-Tatjé

We develop an analytical framework on the basis of the economics of business performance to provide quantitative insight into the link between a firm's business model choices and its profit consequences. The method is applied to Walmart by building a qualitative... View Details

Keywords: Business Models; Quantitative Analysis; Walmart; Production Theory; Business Model; Competitive Advantage; Profit

Read Now

13 May 2014
Working Paper Summaries

The Contaminating Effects of Building Instrumental Ties: How Networking Can Make Us Feel Dirty

Keywords: by Tiziana Casciaro, Francesca Gino & Maryam Kouchaki; Legal Services

2017
Chapter

Paul R. Lawrence: A Career of Rigor, Relevance, and Passion

By: Michael Tushman

Paul R. Lawrence was one of the earliest and most influential figures in the emergence of organizational behavior as a field of study. He was a pioneer in creating a body of work on organization design, leadership, and change in both the private and public sectors.... View Details

Keywords: Organization Design; Contingency Theory; Public And Private Organizations; Rigor And Relevance; Biography; Organizational Design; Leadership; Learning; Leading Change

18 Apr 2000
Research & Ideas

Learning in Action

"The most effective learning strategy depends on the situation," writes David A. Garvin. "There is no stock answer, nor is there a single best approach." In Learning in Action, he illustrated the diversity of learning organization strategies with examples from several... View Details

Keywords: by David A. Garvin

Article

Howard Raiffa: The Art, Science, and Humanity of a Legendary Negotiation Analyst

By: James K. Sebenius

Rightly known as the “father of negotiation analysis,” Howard Raiffa was my thesis advisor, colleague, and friend for over 30 years. The bulk of this article develops an account of his intellectual trajectory from game theory to statistical decision theory to decision... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Analysis; Bargaining; Howard Raiffa; Negotiation; Personal Development and Career

16 Apr 2001
Research & Ideas

Breaking the Code of Change

Two dramatically different approaches to organizational change are being employed in the world today, according to our observations, research, and experience. We call these Theory E and Theory O of change.... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Beer & Nitin Nohria

Research Summary

Overview

By: Tatiana Sandino

In studying management control systems, Professor Sandino aims to understand how different control mechanisms can help lead employees within an organization to achieve common goals. Her work builds on contingency theory by exploring environmental, strategic, and... View Details

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

Educators

Article

Toward Resource Independence—Why State-Owned Entities Become Multinationals: An Empirical Study of India's Public R&D Laboratories

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury and Tarun Khanna

In this paper, we build on the standard resource dependence theory and its departure suggested by Vernon to offer a novel explanation for why state-owned entities (SOEs) might seek a global footprint and global cash flows: to achieve resource independence from... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Resource Allocation; Supply Chain; State Ownership; Growth and Development Strategy; India

16 Jan 2006
Research & Ideas

Adam Smith, Behavioral Economist?

from one of Smith's earlier works, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, that caught the attention of Harvard Business School professor Nava Ashraf and coauthors Colin Camerer and George Loewenstein. In "Adam Smith, Behavioral... View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen

2013
Book

Constructing Green: The Social Structures of Sustainability

By: Rebecca Henn and Andrew J. Hoffman

Buildings are the nation's greatest energy consumers. Forty percent of all our energy is used for heating, cooling, lighting, and powering machines and devices in buildings. And despite decades of investment in green construction technologies, residential and... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Green Technology; Green Building; Transition; Social Issues

27 Sep 2012
News

Guanxi or关系: one word, many interpretations

04 Jun 2012
Research & Ideas

The Business of Life

unusual application of an economic term delighted Christensen, a management professor known around HBS and the globe as both a brilliant business thinker and a deeply religious man. For more than a decade he has been a go-to consultant for several big organizations—his... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

June 2008
Article

The Market for Mergers and the Boundaries of the Firm

By: Matthew Rhodes-Kropf and David Robinson

We relate the property rights theory of the firm to empirical regularities in the market for mergers and acquisitions. We first show that high market-to-book acquirers typically do not purchase low market-to-book targets. Instead, mergers pair together firms with... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Assets; Investment; Property; Mathematical Methods; Boundaries