Publications
Publications
Show Results For
- All HBS Web
(6,311)
- Faculty Publications (1,410)
- May 2012
- Case
Columbia's Final Mission (Abridged) (A)
By: Amy C. Edmondson and Kerry Herman
This case documents decision-making processes, organizational culture, and other contributors to NASA's failed Columbia mission in 2003. Addresses the question of how organizations should deal with "ambiguous threats" - weak signals of potential crisis - and explores... View Details
- May 2012 (Revised August 2014)
- Case
McKesson
By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Natalie Kindred
McKesson, a large, diversified drug distribution and health care IT company, is considering development of new business offerings to help private practice physicians remain independent. The company, with $122 billion in 2010 revenues, just made its first foray into... View Details
- May 2012
- Case
Westlake Lanes: How Can This Business Be Saved?
By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Alisa Zalosh
Shelby Givens, a new MBA, is the general manager of Westlake Lanes, a near-bankrupt bowling alley that her grandfather founded decades earlier. Givens has been given one year to turn a profit; if the goal is not met Westlake will close. During the first few days on the... View Details
- 2012
- Working Paper
'Power from Sunshine': A Business History of Solar Energy
By: Geoffrey Jones and Loubna Bouamane
This working paper provides a longitudinal perspective on the business history of solar energy between the nineteenth century and the present day. It covers early attempts to develop solar energy, the use of passive solar in architecture before World War 2, and the... View Details
- April 2012 (Revised February 2017)
- Case
Dovernet
By: Robert Simons and Natalie Kindred
This case illustrates the implications of using stringent performance measurement systems to create performance pressure, motivate employee achievement, and sharpen a firm's competitiveness. It opens by describing the downsides of the ruthlessly competitive culture at... View Details
- April 2012
- Article
Beyond Individual Creativity: The Superadditive Benefits of Multicultural Experience for Collective Creativity in Culturally Diverse Teams
By: Carmit Tadmor, Patricia Satterstrom, Sujin Jang and Jeffrey Polzer
Although recent research has consistently demonstrated the benefits of multicultural experience for individual-level creativity, its potential advantages for collective creativity in culturally diverse teams have yet to be explored. We predicted that multicultural... View Details
- Article
Exclusivity, Contingent Control Rights, and the Design of Internet Portal Alliances
By: Josh Lerner and Dan Elfenbein
We explore the relationship between exclusivity and state-contingent control rights using a sample of over 100 Internet portal alliance contracts. We find that stronger exclusivity arrangements are associated with more frequent usage of contingent control rights. For... View Details
- 2012
- Working Paper
How Short-Termism Invites Corruption—And What to Do About It
Researchers and business leaders have long decried short-termism: the excessive focus of executives of publicly traded companies-along with fund managers and other investors-on short-term results. The central concern is that short-termism discourages long-term... View Details
- 2012
- Chapter
Problem Solving and Search in Networks
By: David Lazer and Ethan Bernstein
This chapter examines the role that networks play in facilitating or inhibiting search for solutions to problems at both the individual and collective levels. At the individual level, search in networks enables individuals to transport themselves to a very different... View Details
- Apr 2012
- Conference Presentation
Unleashing the Marketing Potential of Your Organization
By: Ranjay Gulati
- 2012
- Working Paper
Why Every Company Needs a CSR Strategy and How to Build It
By: Kash Rangan, Lisa Chase and Sohel Karim
The authors argue for a strategic and pragmatic, rather than ideological, approach to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) that contrasts sharply with the prevailing Shared Value framework offered by Porter and Kramer (HBR; Jan.-Feb. 2011). We assert that, despite... View Details
- March 2012 (Revised September 2012)
- Case
INRIX
By: Lynda M. Applegate and Ryan Johnson
Since its founding in 2004, INRIX, a leading global provider of traffic information and driver services, had received four rounds of financing from leading venture capital (VC) firms and by 2012 had been cash flow positive for the past six quarters. Its founder, Bryan... View Details
- March 2012 (Revised December 2012)
- Case
Foro Energy (A)
By: Joseph B. Lassiter III, William A. Sahlman and James McQuade
Foro Energy developed proprietary and patent-pending fiber-laser technologies that could disrupt existing processes and services for the exploration and production of oil and natural gas. These breakthrough laser technologies were protected by a strong intellectual... View Details
- March 2012
- Article
China's Growing IT Services and Software Industry: Challenges and Implications
By: F. Warren McFarlan, Ning Jia and Justin Wong
The Chinese management software and IT services industry has grown dramatically over the past two decades and today is about the size of the Indian industry a decade ago. The objective of this article is to help CIOs in firms outside of China better understand the... View Details
- March 2012
- Article
Choosing the United States
By: Michael E. Porter and Jan W. Rivkin
The U.S. is not winning its appropriate share of location decisions, even those involving the high-value-adding activities that the country has long been able to attract. In part, this is because U.S. policy makers are not addressing weaknesses in the national business... View Details
- 2012
- Chapter
Schumpeterian Competition and Diseconomies of Scope: Illustrations from the Histories of Microsoft and IBM
By: Timothy F. Bresnahan, Shane Greenstein and Rebecca M. Henderson
We address a longstanding question about the causes of creative destruction. Dominant incumbent firms, long successful in an existing technology, are often much less successful in new technological eras. This is puzzling, since a cursory analysis would suggest that... View Details
- February 2012 (Revised August 2014)
- Supplement
Poles Apart on PZU (B)
By: Francesca Gino, Vincent Dessain, Karol Misztal and Michael Khayyat
In September 2008, the Polish State Treasury and the Dutch insurer Eureko were wondering if they were ready for reaching an amicable solution on PZU. If so, for how much and under what conditions should they settle so that they, as well as PZU, are satisfied? If not,... View Details
- February 2012 (Revised July 2012)
- Background Note
The Promise of Impact Investing
By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Sarah Appleby and Laura Moon
This note outlines the segments of a potential $500 billion social investment market; sectors such as housing, microfinance, health and education. The note sketches the roles of the various players and summarizes their investment perspectives. View Details
Keywords: Investment
- February 2012
- Case
Henkel: Building a Winning Culture
By: Robert Simons and Natalie Kindred
This case illustrates a CEO-led organizational transformation driven by stretch goals, performance measurement, and accountability. When Kasper Rorsted became CEO of Henkel, a Germany-based producer of personal care, laundry, and adhesives products, in 2008, he was... View Details
- January 2012 (Revised August 2020)
- Case
The Swatch Group
By: Rohit Deshpandé, Karol Misztal and Daniela Beyersdorfer
In March 2011, Nicolas Hayek, the CEO of the leading Swiss watch manufacturer Swatch Group, reflected on the positioning of Omega, its revived flagship brand. Which marketing strategy would best allow it to confront its main competitor Rolex? And how would potential... View Details