Work Environment - Publications - Faculty & Research

02 May 2000
Research & Ideas

Leading Professional Service Firms

environment in which employees are constantly motivated and can effectively balance their commitment to the firm and to the client, as well as to themselves. EE: What are the factors that make professional service firms successful?... View Details

Keywords: Re: Jay W. Lorsch; Service; Consulting; Accounting

29 Jan 2015
Op-Ed

The Fall of Greece

tricks." Individuals raised in an environment of favoritism, nepotism, and cronyism are unlikely to let old habits go. I am afraid, though, that the new government will cause damage for one primary reason: it seeks to suppress any... View Details

Keywords: by George Serafeim

03 Jul 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, July 3, 2018

enabling new players to innovate without understanding how the technology building blocks they are using actually work inside. This suggests that there are new rules of competition, where firms should move beyond commoditized parts and... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

07 Jul 2003
Research & Ideas

The Organizational Model for Open Source

Programmers contribute to free software and open source projects for many reasons—some for the fun of it, some to improve their skills, others for a paycheck. Many people have wondered why these people give their work away. The truth is... View Details

Keywords: by Mallory Stark

22 Sep 2003
Research & Ideas

How Businesses Can Respond to AIDS

"large majority" of Coke's bottlers around the world—which add water, carbonization, and sweeteners, and take care of distribution—are independent bottlers. Bottlers are chosen because they work in local communities. Coke sees... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

16 Feb 2004
Research & Ideas

HBS Center Focuses on Europe

political leaders, educational institutions, and local alumni. In Europe, a group of executives and professionals, all HBS alumni, form the European Leadership Council (ELC), which provides advice on the work of the ERC. Cynthia... View Details

Keywords: by Cynthia Churchwell

28 Oct 2013
Research & Ideas

Responsible Leadership in an Unforgiving World

Struggle is an experience we instinctively avoid, looking for any way to minimize the hard work and pain involved in getting what we want. And yet—nearly every book we read and movie we watch involves someone struggling mightily to... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

21 Jul 2014
Research & Ideas

Is a Gap in Small-Business Credit Holding Back the American Economy?

(Editor's note: This first in a series of articles based on a Harvard Business School working paper by Karen Mills that analyzes the current state of availability of bank capital for small business.) Small businesses are core to America's... View Details

Keywords: by Karen Mills; Manufacturing

25 Jul 2011
Research & Ideas

How Disruptive Innovation is Remaking the University

That is no longer true, though, for any but a relative handful of institutions. Costs have risen to unprecedented heights, and new competitors are emerging. A disruptive technology, online learning, is at work in higher education,... View Details

Keywords: by Clayton M. Christensen & Henry J. Eyring; Education

22 Feb 2010
Research & Ideas

Manager Visibility No Guarantee of Fixing Problems

Observing and understanding the tasks and challenges that workers face every day is important. But managers who merely put in time "walking the floor" are not doing enough; in fact, it can make employees feel worse about their situation. In their View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Health

01 Jun 2009
Lessons from the Classroom

The Challenges of Investing in Science-Based Innovation

efficiency and boosting profit. Managers need to consider how to create an environment that attracts people capable of doing the sort of work that leads to scientific breakthroughs and that fosters their... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Banking; Auto; Pharmaceutical

08 May 2007
First Look

First Look: May 8, 2007

Working PapersStrategy-proofness versus Efficiency in Matching with Indifferences: Redesigning the NYC High School Match Authors:Atila Abdulkadiroglu, Parag A. Pathak, and Alvin E. Roth Abstract The design of the New York City (NYC)... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

02 Sep 2002
Research & Ideas

The Role of Government When All Else Fails

party to another, spreading it out over large groups, and (in some cases) simply reducing it outright. These policies, in turn, have profoundly shaped the environment in which business operates. Public risk management itself has obviously... View Details

Keywords: by Laura Linard

19 Jan 2010
Sharpening Your Skills

Sharpening Your Skills: Managing the Economic Crisis

Sharpening Your Skills dives into the HBS Working Knowledge archives to bring together articles on ways to improve your business skills. Questions To Be Answered: How do I lead in a crisis? What roles does the Board play? What are the... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

06 Dec 2013
Op-Ed

HBS Faculty Remember Nelson Mandela

environment often demands a team approach to problem solving. This requires a leader who, among other things, is comfortable sharing power and generous in doing so, is able to see extraordinary potential in ordinary people, and can make... View Details

Keywords: by Nitin Nohria, Linda Hill, Rosabeth Moss Kanter & Gautam Mukunda

15 Feb 2000
Lessons from the Classroom

Delivering Information Services: A 30-Year Perspective

transaction processes of business to supporting individual professionals within the organization. In the mid-1990s, we entered the Network Era manifest by the Internet. Today my colleagues and I are at work on a set of case studies that... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

20 Dec 2016
Research & Ideas

The 10 Most Popular 'Cold Call' Podcasts

the consumer. Professor Forest Reinhardt explains how a big, sophisticated company used small details, from trucking routes to the color of refrigerators, to put its commitment to the environment to work on... View Details

Keywords: Re: Multiple Faculty

05 Jul 2004
What Do You Think?

Work-Life: Is Productivity in the Balance?

conflicts between work and life more broadly defined. Joe Violette suggests that at least in the project-oriented environment in which he works, one should "Make your family a part of your View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

28 May 2007
Research & Ideas

How Property Ownership Changes Your World View

What happens when a person owns property? Aside from the well-established financial benefits of equity and potential access to credit, there is the equally strong pull of the American Dream and everything it suggests—the idea that through hard View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

04 Oct 2004
What Do You Think?

Does Speed Trump Intellectual Property?

observations of the practices of Japanese manufacturers, concluded that increased speed from product conception to market not only reduced cost but increased quality, variety, and productivity; reduced rework, waiting, and duplicated effort; improved the View Details