balance - Publications - Faculty & Research

09 Sep 2015
Research & Ideas

Leadership Lessons of the Great Recession: Options for Economic Downturns

now have to survive on ten percent less for a while. That’s a hardship. I think it’s more manageable than being suddenly out of a job, but it’s all in the eye of the beholder.” FINDING THE RIGHT BALANCE For Honeywell, furloughs were the... View Details

Keywords: by Sandra Sucher & Susan Winterberg; Aerospace; Electronics

Portrait Project

Ratnika Prasad

life to balancing public mandates with the realities of environmental conservation. For me, climate change was a reality we lived with, experienced in wildly fluctuating rains that flooded my house, turbulent storms that eroded roads, and... View Details

12 Dec 2011
HBS Case

HBS Cases: Clocky, the Runaway Alarm Clock

any entrepreneur looking to build a business around an unconventional product that elicits multiple reactions: How do you balance fun and function in order to avoid the danger of your product becoming a flash-in-the-pan fad? Clocky... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Consumer Products

18 Nov 2002
Research & Ideas

Where Morals and Profits Meet: The Corporate Value Shift

period we are in today, had witnessed a dramatic loss of confidence in business and American institutions more generally. In 1968, 70 percent of the public thought business tried to strike a fair balance between profits and the public... View Details

Keywords: by Carla Tishler

25 Oct 2022
Research & Ideas

Is Baseball Ready to Compete for the Next Generation of Fans?

character of the game. If a batter is good enough, he will find a way to hit around a shift. It’s up to each batter to earn his own hits. That idea is basically inflating batting averages artificially. Separately, the more balanced... View Details

Keywords: by Christina Pazzanese, Harvard Gazette; Media & Broadcasting; Sports

01 Oct 1997
News

L.E. Simmons

offer them sounds almost like something his own father might have recommended: "Pick your partners carefully, be patient, and realize that your reputation, not your balance sheet, is your most important asset." View Details

Keywords: Deborah E. Blagg

03 Dec 2014
What Do You Think?

Can the Brilliant Jerk Be Managed Effectively?

boss make a difference? Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman have written about "how to manage around a weakness" not by changing people but by balancing "the strengths and weaknesses of each individual." What have been... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

01 Oct 2014
What Do You Think?

Is Too Much Focus a Problem?

magical process. It is knowing that we do not know everything that might be important. It is that insight that leads to the wisdom to look away from the subject of focus and see what there is to be seen. Marvelous discoveries are made in that way." Is this what it... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

February 1994
Case

Kathryn McNeil (A)

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr.

Charles Foley, vice president of the computer retailing firm Sayer MicroWorld, must decide whether or not to fire his employee, Kathryn McNeil, a 37-year-old product manager who has been unable to work as many hours as her colleagues due to her status as a single... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Values and Beliefs; Employees; Work-Life Balance; Resignation and Termination; Mergers and Acquisitions; Retail Industry

Citation

Educators

Purchase

October 2009 (Revised April 2010)
Case

Societe Generale (A): The Jerome Kerviel Affair

By: Francois Brochet

This case illustrates the tension/balance that firms with complex and risky business models must consider in designing their internal controls. It describes the environment in which a derivatives trader engaged in massive directional positions on major European stocks... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Problems and Challenges; Complexity; Cost Management; Balance and Stability; Business Model; Design; Stocks; Crisis Management; Financial Markets; Consulting Industry; Europe

Citation

Educators

Purchase

13 Mar 2023
Blog Post

Career Journey: Karan Khimji, Co-Founder of 44.01

is oil and gas, and I grew up next to an oil refinery. Witnessing the environmental damage and the contrast between our beautiful nature and our main industry firsthand got me interested in how we can build a balance with nature. After... View Details

28 Apr 2003
Research & Ideas

Supply Chain Risk: Deal With It

says, "which we view as a triangle" representing cutting working capital, reducing transaction costs, and providing world-class customer service. Balancing these competing priorities means that it's impossible to eliminate risk... View Details

Keywords: by David Stauffer

16 Aug 2022
Op-Ed

Now Is the Time for Entrepreneurs to Play Offense

may be 20-40 percent lower than you had hoped, but you can still raise plenty of money to buttress your balance sheet and execute more vigorously on steps 1-5 of the “play offense” playbook outlined above. In talking to my best founders... View Details

Keywords: by Jeffrey Bussgang

17 Jun 2017
Research & Ideas

Amazon, Whole Foods Deal a Big Win for Consumers

Source: 400tmax Editor's Note. Online retailing behemoth Amazon announced June 16 that it would acquire upscale grocery chain Whole Foods Market in a deal valued at more than $13 billion. Though the company has dabbled with the idea of a brick-and-mortar footprint in... View Details

Keywords: by Jose Alvarez and Len Schlesinger; Retail

20 Sep 2022
Research & Ideas

How Partisan Politics Play Out in American Boardrooms

more balance While predominantly red and blue executive teams may be an unavoidable consequence of the current social and political climate, companies may be able to do something to bridge the divide. First, says Kempf, they need to be... View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds

18 Aug 2016
Blog Post

Relocating to Boston with Your Partner

how much more you go if you have a buddy to see there. 7) Find a balance that works for you The HBS social calendar can be overwhelming at times, especially for partners who are busy with demanding day jobs—as a result, you may have to... View Details

31 Jul 2015
Blog Post

Transitioning From the Military to Business School

doing well. Because of this, in the midst of a schedule filled to the brim with cases and recruiting, I found it difficult to effectively balance my priorities. Midway through first semester I ended up sitting down to talk it through with... View Details

12 Jan 2023
News

‘Debiasing’ Debt with Data

Seke Ballard (MBA 2010) says he owes the inspiration for BetaBank, his small business-focused digital-banking venture, to his father—and not just as a person, but also as an archetype for every minority entrepreneur who has struggled to find capital in a banking system... View Details

Keywords: Ralph Ranalli

Research Summary

Management Control Systems in Multiunit Companies

By: Tatiana Sandino

Professor Sandino conducts research on early-stage multiunit companies that introduce management control systems to help maintain operations, as well as company culture, as they grow, but also to enable adaptation to the different markets that they serve. Building... View Details

Profile

Brandon Tieu

leadership, equipping us to lead with authenticity and adaptability. If you could give one piece of advice to prospective students, what would it be? I believe one's mental framework should be a balance between pragmatism and removing... View Details

Publications