Publications

Research Summary

Vicarious Learning in Organizations

To advance the study of how individuals learn through their interactions with others, Professor Myers has adopted a vicarious learning theory lens. Vicarious learning allows individuals to learn from the outcomes of others’ experiences, rather than solely their own... View Details

Keywords: Learning And Development; Learning; Health Industry

July 2008 (Revised December 2011)
Supplement

ghSMART(-er) & Co., 2008: Pioneering in Professional Services

By: Noam T. Wasserman and Ashraf Haque

Geoff Smart, founder and CEO of ghSMART & Co., wanted to build ghSMART into the #1 management-assessment firm for CEOs and investors. However, he had just received two pieces of very bad news: the demise of an existing project and the loss of a $1 million engagement he... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Managerial Roles; Organizational Structure; Problems and Challenges; Loss; Motivation and Incentives; Service Industry

October 2017 (Revised October 2020)
Case

Coaching Makena Lane

By: Ethan Bernstein and Om Lala

Makena Lane has a gift for producing results, even in the challenging retail context of the 2010s, but she also has a knack for “ruffling some feathers” in the process. Recruited to a Fortune 500 grocery and pharmacy retailer after climbing to Associate Principal in... View Details

14 Jun 2010
Research & Ideas

The Hard Work of Measuring Social Impact

professor Herman "Dutch" Leonard), for nonprofit board members, in November. In two working papers that break down what makes social impact easier or more difficult to measure (one coauthored with HBS professor V. Kasturi Rangan), Ebrahim... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

January 2005
Tutorial

Buying Time

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Managers must frequently make decisions involving trade-offs between cash flows to be paid or received at different points in time. Accountants, in turn, must describe transactions that involve the payment and/or receipt of cash far in the future. This interactive... View Details

Keywords: Cash Flow; Value; Interest Rates; Financial Statements

May 2014
Case

Building a High Performance Culture at IDFC

By: V.G. Narayanan and Vidhya Muthuram

IDFC was set up in 1997 to direct private finance to infrastructure projects in India. Over the years, it expanded its capabilities to become a 'complete solutions provider' offering financing solutions including debt and equity, investment banking, brokerage and asset... View Details

September 2016 (Revised March 2018)
Case

Qalaa Holdings and the Egyptian Refining Company

By: Victoria Ivashina and Marc Homsy

This case follows Qalaa Holdings, a successful Egypt-based private equity firm, and gives insight into the types of investments it pursued, its growth over time, and the limited partner base it had at hand. It also allows students to consider and debate whether the... View Details

Keywords: Africa; Structuring And Financing Large Projects; Private Equity; Infrastructure; Project Finance; Emerging Markets; Financial Services Industry; Egypt; Africa

Research Summary

Overview

In my research historical inquiry plays an important part in understanding the continuities from the pre-1949 past and the complex convergence of business institutions in the process of China’s current economic, political, and social modernization. Historians are able... View Details

Keywords: Business History; China; Business Government Relations; Entrepreneurs; Family Business; Industrial Development; Infrastructure; Transportation; Entrepreneurship; History; Manufacturing Industry; Transportation Industry; Rail Industry; Construction Industry; Asia

14 Jul 2003
Research & Ideas

Understaffed and Overworked: What Now?

challenge on her hands. Perhaps you are attempting to manage your way through a similarly exigent scenario. Trying to accomplish everything that used to be done by two or three people, you may be feeling stressed, maybe more than a bit... View Details

Keywords: by Paul Michelman

12 Nov 2008
First Look

First Look: November 12, 2008

Development (TvT) of Amsterdam, Holland, was deeply worried about the status of his largest ongoing project: the Amsterdam World Trade Center (WTC). As the discretionary developer, van Tartwijk needed to present his firm's recommendations to WTC owners and municipal... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

January 2021
Case

Saham Group: It's In the Genes

By: Christina R. Wing and Gamze Yucaoglu

The case opens in August 2020 as Moulay Mhamed Elalamy (Mhamed), CEO of the Saham Group (the Group), a pan-African investment company that operates a variety of businesses out of Morocco, contemplates the Group’s identity, its investment strategy, and how to navigate... View Details

Keywords: Family and Family Relationships; Family Business; For-Profit Firms; Transformation; Transition; Emerging Markets; Change Management; Private Equity; Investment; Strategy; Insurance Industry; Real Estate Industry; Education Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Morocco; Africa

30 Mar 2020
Research & Ideas

The New Rules for Remote Work: Pandemic Edition

leaders need a new game plan. We asked Harvard Business School professors to provide practical advice for managing large-scale, long-term remote work at a time when many employees are not only distracted by the commotion in their homes,... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

16 Oct 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Opening Platforms: How, When and Why?

Keywords: by Thomas R. Eisenmann, Geoffrey Parker & Marshall Van Alstyne

04 Feb 2014
What Do You Think?

Has Listening Become a Lost Art?

management don't listen or don't know how, we can't tap the full power of the amazing talent in our own organizations. Listening is learning." Rosa Urtubi added that "listening is assuming the responsibility, generosity to do something... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

August 2022
Case

In-Q-Tel: Innovation On A Mission

By: Joshua Lev Krieger and Josh Lerner

In 2022, the leaders of In-Q-Tel (IQT) considered what was next for the unique mission-driven organization. Since 1999, IQT had one mission: to be the most sophisticated source of strategic technical knowledge and capabilities to the U.S. government and its allies. IQT... View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; National Security; Technological Innovation; Research; Geopolitical Units; Risk Management; Recruitment; Growth and Development Strategy; Venture Capital; Knowledge Management; Information Industry; Banking Industry

August 2013
Case

Pixability: Bettina's Board Walk

By: Noam Wasserman and Yael Braid

Description: Bettina Hein, founder-CEO of Pixability, is meeting with her board of directors to discuss her startup's fundraising prospects and the recent strategic pivot. Though Bettina loves the entrepreneurial exhilaration of "riding a rollercoaster every day,"... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Board Of Directors; Power And Influence; Entrepreneurship; Negotiation

January 2013
Article

The Fog of Negotiation: What Negotiators Can Learn from Military Doctrine

By: Michael A. Wheeler

On the surface, warfare and negotiation may seem to be polar opposites. The objective in war is to defeat the enemy. In negotiation, the goal is to find a solution that satisfies all the parties. Not surprisingly, little cross-learning and exchange has occurred across... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Leadership; War; Negotiation; Learning