Publications

08 Jul 2021
Blog Post

Catching the Entrepreneurship Bug at HBS

ultimate team player and not at all as the type of person who would strike out on their own. I love getting dropped into new situations and diverse teams to solve new problems and this interest in team dynamics, View Details

April 2008
Case

A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products

By: Larry E. Greiner and Elizabeth Collins

Alex Sander is a new product manager whose drive and talents are attractive to management, but whose intolerant style has alienated employees. This tension is presented against the backdrop of a 360° performance review process. Sander works in the Toiletries Division... View Details

Keywords: Management Style; Conflict Management; Behavior; Management Practices and Processes; Talent and Talent Management; Mergers and Acquisitions; Problems and Challenges; Consumer Products Industry; United States; Europe

29 Sep 2017
Working Paper Summaries

International Business and Emerging Markets: A Long-Run Perspective

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones

08 Oct 2021
Research & Ideas

How Newspaper Closures Open the Door to Corporate Crime

Professor Jonas Heese. When local newspapers shutter, some businesses evidently treat the lack of press coverage as permission to act badly and end up committing more illegal violations, including pollution, workplace safety infractions,... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

25 Apr 2019
Research & Ideas

Incubators Take Notice: Your Entrepreneurs Are Networking with the Wrong People

another potential peril of referral-based hiring. Beyond ending up with a homogenous workforce, managers who hire candidates who already know other employees might have to work harder to get these candidates to collaborate with people... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

17 Apr 2006
Research & Ideas

Resisting the Seductions of Success

accomplishments. But when she tries to get him to talk about his life and what makes him happy, all she gets are clichés—that he likes to make her happy and still finds her the "cutest creature in the world."4 Lee View Details

Keywords: by Joseph L. Badaracco Jr.; Entertainment & Recreation; Information; Publishing

04 Jul 2016
Research & Ideas

Is Your Org Chart Stuck in a Rut? Try a Scientific Experiment

organizations that really ends up with no trend line” “For decades, we’ve been in this cycle where an organization hires a consulting firm to help design and execute a restructuring, and then, as soon as they’re done, they start that... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

08 Apr 2008
First Look

First Look: April 8, 2008

was an essential ingredient in the success of the transformation. The case ends with a review of changes in financial performance, employee attitudes and customer satisfaction. The case describes the important role that the human... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

May 1996
Background Note

The GM's Operational Challenge: Managing Through People

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Ashish Nanda

Highlights and explores how a general manager adds value to the firm at the operational level by managing through people. Discusses how assumptions about human motivation influence the employment contract that the general manager implicitly enters into with the workers... View Details

Keywords: Employee Relationship Management; Selection and Staffing; Contracts; Managerial Roles; Operations; Problems and Challenges; Labor and Management Relations; Motivation and Incentives; Value

November 2019
Case

Celebrity Fashions Limited (A)

By: V.G. Narayanan, Tanvi Deshpande and Shreya Ramachandran

In May 2017 in Chennai, India, the chairman of Celebrity Fashions doubted whether the company could last until the end of the year. Venkatesh Rajagopal had found that the company, a readymade garment manufacturing and exporter he founded in 1989, was having a hard time... View Details

Keywords: Turnarounds; Operations; Management; Financial Condition; Problems and Challenges; Communication; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Transformation; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Manufacturing Industry

April 1996 (Revised December 1998)
Case

Australia in the 1990s: Lucky or Broke?

By: George C. Lodge

In 1996, Australia had a new prime minister, John Howard, ending 13 years of Labor Party rule. This case allows an analysis of the challenges that the new government faces and invites thought about the choices that the government has in meeting those challenges. Large... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Government and Politics; Markets; Problems and Challenges; Australia

Find at Harvard

18 Nov 2008
First Look

First Look: November 18, 2008

reported accounting problems in early 2007. The resulting liquidity crisis forced the company to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. According to the Bankruptcy Examiner assigned to investigate New Century, the company's troubles... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

29 Jun 2015
HBS Case

Consumer-centered Health Care Depends on Accessible Medical Records

trusted by consumers," Quelch says. "Can a health insurer counter out of the mold and break the standard prejudice against trusting insurers to develop a closer relationship with the end consumer?" Device companies: Device... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Health; Technology

27 Jul 2015
Research & Ideas

The ‘Promotion’ That Makes You Feel Bad

the strategy shifted, and they happened to be on the favored side of that strategy” Harvard Business School Associate Professor Tsedal Neeley and her research colleagues call this "unearned status gain," which can cause problems for those... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland

February 2005 (Revised March 2005)
Case

The Trustees of Reservations

By: Michael Chu

The executive director and chairman of the board of The Trustees of Reservations, one of the nation's oldest land conservation institutions, undertake a major governance restructuring. Reviews the forces leading to the change, the process by which its undertaken, and... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Governance Controls; Performance Effectiveness; Problems and Challenges; Social Enterprise

Find at Harvard

08 Oct 2008
Research & Ideas

Book Excerpt: A Sense of Urgency

The problem with using crises to reduce complacency and create urgency is that the tactic is a potential diamond sitting on a rock surrounded by quicksand and very nasty beasts. Any naiveté about the downside risks can cause disaster. Big... View Details

Keywords: by John P. Kotter

14 Oct 2002
Research & Ideas

The Widening Rift Between Corporations and Society

"Rediscovering the End Consumer, Over and Over Again" we show how most "new" business concepts are simply self-referring. They do not move beyond the rules of a certain way of doing capitalism, and therefore they... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

March 2002 (Revised January 2010)
Case

BP and the Consolidation of the Oil Industry, 1998-2002

By: Forest L. Reinhardt, Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and David J Hanson

Examines the economics of the oil and gas industry with a focus on 1998 through 2001. Discusses the rationale behind using a growth in scale as a means to increase profitability and to gain competitive advantage. Also examines the classic strategic implications of... View Details

Keywords: Non-Renewable Energy; Growth and Development Strategy; Industry Structures; Competitive Advantage; Consolidation; Horizontal Integration; Vertical Integration; Energy Industry