Publications

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March 2007 (Revised October 2008)
Case

The Vancouver 2010 Olympics

By: Anita Elberse, Catherine Anthony and Joshua Callahan

It is February 2007, exactly three years before Vancouver hosts the 2010 Winter Olympics. Judy Rogers, City Manager for the City of Vancouver and a member of the Board of Directors for Vancouver's Organizing Committee (VANOC), is keen to ensure the Games will have a... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Markets and Industries; Social Marketing; Business and Government Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Conflict and Resolution; Sports; Public Administration Industry; Public Administration Industry; Vancouver

July 2003 (Revised January 2004)
Case

Swedish Lottery Bonds

Profiling nonsystematic risk for a bond investor, the case describes lottery bond issues by the Swedish National Debt Office (SNDO). Swedish lottery bonds are a specific type of financial fixed income instrument for Swedish retail investors. The distinctive feature of... View Details

Keywords: Bonds; Business and Government Relations; Public Administration Industry; Public Administration Industry; Sweden

November 2017
Case

The 'Wonder Drug' That Killed Babies

By: Joshua Lev Krieger, Tom Nicholas and Matthew Preble

In the early 1960s, a popular drug taken by patients worldwide for a range of maladies was found to cause severe birth defects and other health problems in babies born to mothers who had taken it during a certain stage of fetal development. As many as 10,000 children... View Details

Keywords: Regulation; Business and Government Relations; Business and Community Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Product Marketing; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business History; Health; Government Legislation; Corporate Accountability; Ethics; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Public Administration Industry; Public Administration Industry; United States; United Kingdom; Australia; Germany; Europe

May 2012
Supplement

Columbia's Final Mission (Abridged) (B)

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Kerry Herman

Keywords: Cognitive Biases; Teams; Organizational Learning; Ambiguous Threat; Risk and Uncertainty; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leadership; Corporate Disclosure; Groups and Teams; Decision Making; Organizational Culture; Public Administration Industry; Public Administration Industry

July 1986 (Revised May 1993)
Supplement

Mason Instrument, Inc.--1986 (B): Electronics Guidance System for the Cherokee Missile

Provides additional data concerning the bid. View Details

Keywords: Bids and Bidding; Public Administration Industry; Public Administration Industry; United States

January 1988
Supplement

Santa Clara County Transportation Agency (B)

Describes manager's decision from the (A) case and resulting court decisions, culminating in landmark 1987 Supreme Court ruling. View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Courts and Trials; Judgments; Public Administration Industry; Public Administration Industry

07 Sep 2021
News

Embracing Activism for Social Change

for the Detroit effort, which was an honor for me.” Enabling Career Exploration Each year, the HBS Leadership Fellows Program gives a select group of graduating MBAs the financial flexibility to explore careers in high-impact nonprofit or View Details

Keywords: Deborah Blagg

25 Mar 2021
News

Alumni Honor Nitin Nohria and Support His Legacy

Administration Marco Iansiti and Charles Edwin Wilson Professor of Business Administration and Dorothy and Michael Hintze Fellow Karim R. Lakhani). Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire—this recent book... View Details

26 Feb 2020
News

Phoenix Rising

the best possible solution to complicated public policy problems,” he says, weighing all the evidence against a gut feeling. Beyond his business acumen, it’s also possible that Mitsotakis inherited a bit of political instinct. The prime... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint

28 Aug 2014
Op-Ed

Government Can Do More to Unfreeze Small Business Credit

Act)-leveraged effective federal programs that already existed, while also taking action in some new areas. With the Recovery Act, the federal government significantly expanded its role as a guarantor of small business capital, particularly through the Small Business... View Details

Keywords: by Karen Mills; Banking

February 2016 (Revised July 2017)
Case

Leadership and Independence at the Federal Reserve

By: David Moss and Marc Campasano

“From the Great Depression, to the stagflation of the seventies, to the current economic crisis caused by the housing bubble, every economic downturn suffered by this country over the past century can be traced to Federal Reserve policy.” Ron Paul, a Republican from... View Details

Keywords: Government Legislation; Central Banking; Policy; Financial Crisis; Business and Government Relations; Public Administration Industry; Public Administration Industry; United States

18 Feb 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Urbanization with Chinese Characteristics? China’s Gamble for Modernization

Keywords: by Kristen Looney and Meg Rithmire; Public Administration; Public Administration

04 Feb 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Risk Preferences and Misconduct: Evidence from Politicians

Keywords: by Dylan Minor; Public Administration; Public Administration

31 Aug 2020
Research & Ideas

State and Local Governments Peer Into the Pandemic Abyss

local governments can be used to predict the number of public workers that governments laid off during the early months of COVID-19’s spread, with higher sales tax dependence leading to more layoffs. “State and local governments deriving... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

January 2019
Case

Data.gov (Abridged)

By: Karim R. Lakhani, Robert D. Austin and Yumi Yi

This case presents the logic and execution underlying the launch of Data.gov, an instantiation of President Obama's initiative for transparency and open government. The process used by Vivek Kundra, the federal CIO, and his team to rapidly develop the website and to... View Details

Keywords: Safety; Rights; Analytics and Data Science; Internet and the Web; Ethics; Cost vs Benefits; Innovation and Management; Information Management; Public Administration Industry; Public Administration Industry; United States

October 2013
Case

Mitch Daniels and the State of Indiana

By: Robert Steven Kaplan and Wendy K. Winer

Mitch Daniels, Governor of the State of Indiana, knew he had to make a difficult choice as he sat in his office in December 2010. Should he aggressively push the state legislature to pass comprehensive education reform—a major priority of his administration—or,... View Details

Keywords: Education Reform; Priorities; Leadership; Education; Government and Politics; Public Administration Industry; Public Administration Industry; Indiana

2013
Other Unpublished Work

NHS and Social Care Workforce: Meeting Our Needs Now and In the Future?

By: Candice Imison and Richard Bohmer

Keywords: Health Care; Work Force Management; Management; Employees; Health Care and Treatment; Public Administration Industry; Public Administration Industry

Read Now

August 2010 (Revised July 2012)
Case

Leaders Who Make a Difference: Joel Klein Brings Accountability to NYC DOE: Day 1

By: Joseph L. Bower and Sonja Ellingson Hout

Joel Klein took over the NYC Department of Education in 2002 and radically transformed the strategy and organization remarkably with improvements in performance. Day 1 of the two case series focuses on the steps taken by Klein over his eight year tenure. Supplementary... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leading Change; Corporate Strategy; Education; Performance Improvement; Public Administration Industry; Public Administration Industry