Publications

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29 Jul 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Firsthand Experience and the Subsequent Role of Reflected Knowledge in Cultivating Trust in Global Collaboration

Keywords: by Mark Mortensen & Tsedal Neeley

September 2024
Case

Aramco: Navigating the Energy Transition

By: Tarun Khanna and Gizem Cihan Dincsoy

In March 2024, Amin Nasser, president, and CEO of the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Aramco), had just delivered a speech about the future of energy at a global energy conference. The world was behind schedule in meeting long-term climate change goals. The global shift... View Details

Keywords: Energy Transmission; Oil ＆ Gas; Economic Diversification; International Business; Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Leadership; Transition; Non-Renewable Energy; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Energy Industry; Saudi Arabia

June 2016 (Revised May 2017)
Case

FANUC Corporation: Reassessing the Firm's Governance and Financial Policies

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Nobuo Sato and Akiko Kanno

In February 2015, Daniel Loeb (a U.S.–based activist investor) announced his firm had a large investment in FANUC Corporation, a leading producer of industrial robots and software for machine tools. Loeb was demanding that the Japanese firm change its financial and... View Details

Keywords: Hedge Funds; Economic Policy; Investments; Government Policy; Deregulation; Financial Management; Valuation; Investment Funds; Policy; Corporate Governance; Macroeconomics; Investment Activism; Change Management; Financial Strategy; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Japan; United States

28 Aug 2007
First Look

First Look: August 28, 2007

Peter Brooks, and Patrick Kalaher Abstract Many recent studies highlight the need to rethink the way we manage innovation. Traditional approaches, based on the assumption that the creation and pursuit of new ideas is best accomplished by... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

27 Aug 2008
Research & Ideas

Creating Leaders for Science-Based Businesses

business, similarly demands new kinds of management leadership, organizational forms, and institutional arrangements. Once again, HBS is in a position to prepare its students for the challenges and rewards... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons; Biotechnology; Health

05 Feb 2013
First Look

First Look: Feb. 5

response organizations to adopt very different leadership strategies if they are effectively to cope with the differential demands of these events. In this paper, we develop further ideas about leadership under crisis conditions,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 2022
Case

Rawbank's Illico Cash: Can 'Fast Money' Overcome Cash Dependency in the DRC?

By: Lauren Cohen and Grace Headinger

Thomas de Dreux-Brézé, the Head of Strategy and Project Management at Rawbank Congo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), was perplexed as he reviewed annual adoption rates for the bank’s launch of Illico Cash 2.0. As the bank’s mobile money app, Illico Cash... View Details

26 Oct 2021
Research & Ideas

What Companies Want Most in a CEO: A Good Listener

period. “The demand for social skills is increasing in every category of the economy,” says Sadun, the Charles Edward Wilson Professor of Business Administration in the Strategy Unit at HBS. “[But] it’s not about schmoozing.” Instead,... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald

May 2006 (Revised February 2012)
Case

General Electric's 20th Century CEOs (Abridged)

By: Nitin Nohria, Anthony J. Mayo and Mark Benson

General Electric thrived in every decade of the 20th century. Since its founding in 1892, GE has placed a high value on picking and training the best people. Staff members worked with other scientists in the company's research lab to design and manufacture new and... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Leadership Style; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Style

21 May 2020
Research & Ideas

Fighting the COVID Blues: Advice from Business Research

contributing negatively to my own curiosity and theirs,” she says. “Usually, the chaos or mess is not as big or loud as I envisioned it would get. And the joy that comes out of the little mess is significantly higher than the small amount of cleaning you have to do... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman and Danielle Kost

Web

Behavioral Finance & Financial Stability

result, there are meaningful externalities in the mutual fund industry due to cash management. A fund family may coordinate the liquidity management efforts of its funds in order to minimize volatility spillovers from fire sales. Related... View Details

05 May 2022
Research & Ideas

Why Companies Raise Their Prices: Because They Can

cost-cutting plan” to slash $3.6 billion in expenses by 2019. In 2021, well into the economic disruption caused by the pandemic, P&G management announced price increases for a range of products, from adult diapers and baby care... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

March 2006
Background Note

Customer-Introduced Variability in Service Operations

By: Frances X. Frei

Presents a typology of customer-introduced variability and offers guidance on how to manage each type. Central to the ideas developed is how to mitigate the effects of the apparent trade-off between reducing variability and diminishing the service experience or... View Details

Keywords: Customers; Six Sigma; Consumer Behavior; Service Operations; Performance Efficiency

January 2008 (Revised December 2011)
Case

Inner Mongolia Yili Group: China's Pioneering Dairy Brand

By: Regina M. Abrami, William C. Kirby, F. Warren McFarlan and Tracy Yuen Manty

Setting up the goal to become one of the top 20 enterprises in the world dairy industry by 2010, the Inner Mongolia Yili Group had ambitious plans. As one of China's biggest national dairy companies, its main challenge was competing as a local company against... View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Globalized Markets and Industries; Growth and Development Strategy; Brands and Branding; Competition; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; China

14 Feb 2022
Research & Ideas

Curiosity, Not Coding: 6 Skills Leaders Need in the Digital Age

executive we interviewed said: "Leaders must go from trying to have all the answers to being comfortable with being uncomfortable." 5. Be present The leaders we talked to acknowledged just how complex and demanding work has become for... View Details

Keywords: by Linda A. Hill, Ann Le Cam, Sunand Menon, and Emily Tedards; Technology

September 2014
Case

Google Inc. in 2014 (Abridged)

By: Benjamin Edelman and Thomas R. Eisenmann

Describes Google's history, business model, governance structure, corporate culture, and processes for managing innovation. Reviews Google's recent strategic initiatives and the threats they pose to Yahoo, Microsoft, and others. Asks what Google should do next. View Details

Keywords: Search Engines; Google; Online Advertising; Internet and the Web; Network Effects; Business Model; Competition; Information Technology Industry; Advertising Industry

November 1995 (Revised June 1997)
Case

Northern Telecom (A): AdVantage & DisadVantage

By: Robert J. Dolan and Sylvie Ryckebusch

Mike Ennis, general manager of Northern Telecom's Business Products Division, recommends a new solution for replacing Vantage, an unsuccessful product for Northern Telecom. The case documents in detail the voice of the customer. Students are required to discuss the... View Details

Keywords: Demand and Consumers; Product Launch; Management Teams; Product Development; Telecommunications Industry; Canada