Publications

January–February 2024
Article

Leaders Must React: A Framework for Responding to Unforeseen Events

By: Nitin Nohria

To be successful, CEOs must articulate a compelling vision, align people around it, and motivate them to execute it. But there’s one thing that can make or break them: how they respond in real time to unforeseen events.

On average, addressing unexpected... View Details

Keywords: Crisis Management; Management Skills; Leadership Style

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Past Issues - Alumni

with Heart How personal tragedy shaped the empathetic management style of Panera CEO Niren Chaudhary My Favorite Case Alumni reflect on the class discussions and case protagonists that indelibly shaped their lives and careers Complete... View Details

December 1994 (Revised October 2009)
Case

AES Honeycomb (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Sarah C. Mavrinac

Senior managers of the AES Corp., an independent power producer, must decide whether to drop the company's emphasis on corporate values and revamp organizational controls as advised by investment analysts and outside counsel. The company is recovering from an incident... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Energy Generation; Values and Beliefs; Corporate Governance; Governance Controls; Crisis Management; Organizational Structure; Environmental Sustainability; Energy Industry; United States

September 2018 (Revised November 2018)
Case

Careem: Base Camp or Mountain Peak? Designing an OS for Scaling

By: Shikhar Ghosh, Gamze Yucaoglu and Alpana Thapar

This case focuses on designing a fast growing organization. It is part of a two-case set that is taught together to cover the scaling journey.
Careem, a Dubai-based ride-hailing service aimed to ‘simplify and improve the lives of people, and build an awesome... View Details

Keywords: Scale; Values; Rights; Operating Systems; Business Startup; Transportation; Organizational Design; Entrepreneurship; Information Technology; Organizational Culture; Values and Beliefs; Decision Making; Managerial Roles; Dubai; United Arab Emirates; Middle East

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Social Enterprise - Faculty & Research

significant discretion. Corporate philanthropy is our setting to study how a differentiated structural element—the corporate foundation—constrains the influence of individual senior managers and directors on corporate strategy. Our... View Details

August 2020
Case

Zoom Video Communications: Eric Yuan's Leadership During COVID-19

By: Scott Duke Kominers, Christopher Stanton, Andy Wu and George Gonzalez

In the first half of 2020, worldwide lockdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic brought explosive growth to the Zoom Video Communications platform, as people replaced in-person work and social events with videoconferencing. Months into the pandemic, CEO Eric Yuan... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Communication Technology; Customer Value and Value Chain; Values and Beliefs; Technological Innovation; Leadership; Crisis Management; Organizational Culture; Working Conditions; Strategy; Information Technology; Applications and Software; Technology Adoption; Health Pandemics; Technology Industry; United States; California

14 Jan 2019
Op-Ed

These 4 CEOs Created a New Standard of Leadership

created sustained success. The Visionary: PepsiCo’s Indra Nooyi India-born Indra Nooyi immigrated to the United States in 1978 to study at Yale University. She joined PepsiCo in 1994 and rose rapidly through its ranks. When she was named CEO in 2006, Nooyi recognized... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George; Health; Banking; Food & Beverage; Consumer Products

Web

People - Behavioral Finance & Financial Stability

He teaches the MBA course, Managing the Financial Firm, as well as the Ph.D. course, Corporate Finance and Banking. Scharfstein has published on a broad range of topics in finance. Andrei Shleifer John L. Loeb Professor of Economics,... View Details

March 2011
Case

Terror at the Taj Bombay: Customer-Centric Leadership

By: Rohit Deshpande

On November 26, 2008, heavily armed terrorists launched a series of attacks throughout the western-Indian city of Mumbai (formerly Bombay). One of the locations attacked was the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower, which was occupied by the terrorists for over three days,... View Details

Keywords: Safety; Leadership; National Security; Service Delivery; Organizational Culture; Crisis Management; Customer Focus and Relationships; Brands and Branding; Accommodations Industry; Mumbai

August 2005 (Revised May 2006)
Case

Cherkizovsky Group, The (A) (Abridged)

By: Lynn S. Paine

Describes the transformation of a formerly state-owned meat processing plant in Russia into a privately owned and operated food processing conglomerate under Russia's economic reforms of the 1990s. Among the challenges the CEO, Igor Babaev, and his top management team... View Details

Keywords: History; Business Conglomerates; Privatization; Transformation; Management Teams; Sales; Brands and Branding; Business or Company Management; Marketing Strategy; Crisis Management; Food and Beverage Industry; Russia

Find at Harvard

30 Jan 2007
First Look

First Look: January 30, 2007

Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, Strategy and Business, and Business Horizons, in the past two decades. Topics covered include marketing and business strategy, managing product lines,... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Web

Increasing Value in Care Delivery - Health Care

Impact Increasing Value in Care Delivery Why an MD/MBA from HBS and HMS? Tobi Ogbechie Health Minute: Measure Costs Correctly for Better Patient Outcomes Health Minute: The Impact of Gender on Clinical Outcomes More “Care Delivery” stories Faculty Focus Solving the... View Details

31 Jan 2012
First Look

First Look: Jan. 31

investment professionals. Asset Allocation by Institutional Investors after the Recent Financial Crisis Authors:Robert C. Pozen, Betsy Palmer, and Natalie Shapiro Publication:In Growing Old: Paying for Retirement and Institutional Money... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne & Carmen Nobel

January 2017 (Revised January 2019)
Case

The Rise and Fall of Lehman Brothers

By: Stuart C. Gilson, Kristin Mugford and Sarah L. Abbott

With nearly $700 billion in assets, Lehman was the largest U.S. bankruptcy in history. In 2007, Lehman achieved record earnings of over $4 billion on revenues of $60 billion. By September 2008 the fourth largest investment bank in the world was bankrupt. How had a... View Details

26 Jan 2010
First Look

First Look: Jan. 26

the point that given the rarity of the strategic approaches to resource allocation, district leaders need more guidance and tools to help them make better decisions and manage the consequences, particularly when they are under enormous... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

May 2003
Case

Sun Hydraulics: Leading in Tough Times (A) (Abridged)

By: Linda A. Hill and Jennifer Suesse

Sun Hydraulics, 32-year-old global hydraulics engineering and manufacturing company headquartered in Sarasota, Florida; confronts tough choices due to the economic downturn in 2001. The company leadership debates how to maintain profitability and reduce labor costs... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Mission and Purpose; Financial Crisis; Crisis Management; Manufacturing Industry; Florida