Publications

September 1994 (Revised August 2011)
Supplement

ExtendSim® Simulation Exercises in Process Analysis (A2)

By: Roy D. Shapiro

Solutions and detailed discussion of exercises from the (A) case. Unadvertised per Case Records. View Details

Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques

August 1976 (Revised December 1986)
Background Note

Note on Process Observation

By: John J. Gabarro

Explains some of the dynamics of what actually happens in an effective or ineffective group. Also mentioned are a number of interventions which can be taken on by any group member to help change an ineffective group to one which operates more effectively. View Details

Keywords: Management Practices and Processes

12 Apr 2004
Research & Ideas

Waking Up a Sleeping Company

is conducted. Practicing solid values does not guarantee results unless a passionate commitment to performance standards is incorporated into the organization's norms. The question is, Do the organization's norms drive performance or do... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George

27 Aug 2013
First Look

First Look: August 27

favorable to authors who have garnered other attention in the press (as measured by number of media mentions outside of the review) and who have won book prizes. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=45339 August 2013 California View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

13 Apr 2020
Research & Ideas

Small Businesses Are Worse Off Than We Thought

Beyond How to Manage Coronavirus Layoffs with Compassion (Harvard Business Review) Organizational Responses to COVID-19 and Climate Change: A Conversation with Rebecca Henderson (Environmental Insights) COVID-19 Business Impact Center... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Financial Services

14 Apr 2003
Research & Ideas

Andy Grove on the Confident Leader

shares, I don't act like an owner, I need 20 million shares to get me over my motivational hurdle? When you have a company where practically all employees or professional employees or management employees... View Details

Keywords: by Walter Kiechel; Technology

July 2007 (Revised October 2007)
Case

Cintas y Lazos, Inc.

By: David F. Hawkins

A recent Cuban immigrant establishes a new notions store. The initial 3-month, GAAP-based income statement differs from one prepared by an economist friend. The store owner wants to know why one shows a profit and the other a loss. View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Financial Statements; Management Practices and Processes; Standards; Retail Industry; Florida

May 2006
Exercise

Improving Performance: Boat Building Exercise

By: Steven C. Wheelwright and Kerry Herman

Provides a framework for team problem solving and process improvement following concepts widely attributed to Toyota Motor Co. View Details

Keywords: Framework; Management Practices and Processes; Problems and Challenges; Groups and Teams

January 2022
Technical Note

Ethical Analysis: Well-Being and Rights

By: Nien-hê Hsieh and Christopher Diak

This note introduces students to two central concepts for ethical analysis: well-being and rights. It illustrates ways in which they figure in managerial decisions and challenges that arise, including how to frame trade-offs across individual well-being and... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Analysis; Rights; Well-being; Management Practices and Processes; Decision Making

August 1988 (Revised September 1988)
Case

Productivity and Performance Systems: A Comparative Analysis of Northern Telecom and United Parcel Service

Explores the issue of measuring and improving service quality and productivity by examining the radically different approaches of Northern Telecom and United Parcel Service. View Details

Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Performance Productivity; Performance Improvement; Performance Evaluation; Service Industry; United States

November 1994
Background Note

Why Bad Things Happen to Good Companies

By: Benson P. Shapiro, Adrian J. Slywotsky and Richard S. Tedlow

Describes the Darwinian internal and external processes that lead to poor performance from a previously well performing company. Demonstrates why any business design eventually fails and the role of organizational calcification and poor leadership in the failure. Also... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Design; Failure; Performance

02 Jan 2007
Research & Ideas

Most Popular Articles of 2006

In the six-year history of Harvard Business School's Working Knowledge, some types of articles have always been popular with our readers. Want to generate a lot of reader buzz? Then write about negotiation strategy, managing IT,... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

winter 1990
Article

The Impact of Family Dynamics on Structure and Process in Family Foundations

By: J. A. Davis, K. Gersick and I. Lansberg

Keywords: Family Ownership; Management Practices and Processes

23 Aug 2019
Sharpening Your Skills

Has the Corporate Mission Just Been Disrupted?

green business profitable is an even harder journey. For society's sake, entrepreneurs must be prepared to make that journey, says Geoffrey Jones. A Pragmatic Alternative for Creating a Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy Many companies preach and View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Green Technology

27 Feb 2006
Research & Ideas

Take Responsibility for Rising Stars

Practical solutions to these and other challenges don't magically appear in HR conference rooms; they come from the line managers. If line managers are held responsible for executing the talent development... View Details

Keywords: by Jeffrey M. Cohn, Rakesh Khurana & Laura Reeves

August 2016 (Revised March 2018)
Case

Videojet (A)

By: Raffaella Sadun, Bharat Anand and Eric Van den Steen

In 2005 Craig Purse, the CEO of Videojet, a company recently acquired by the conglomerate Danaher, is dealing with the unexpected failure of a new high-tech printer just launched in the market. The new product exemplified the first real instance in which the Videojet... View Details

Keywords: Managerial Processes; Conglomerates; Relational Contracts; Corporate Strategy; Business Conglomerates; Diversification; Management Practices and Processes; Strategy; Manufacturing Industry; United States

Summer 2014
Article

Delegation in Multi‐Establishment Firms: Adaptation vs. Coordination in I.T. Purchasing Authority

By: Kristina Steffenson McElheran

This paper conducts one of the first large-scale, establishment-level empirical studies of delegation within firms. Recent contributions to a rapidly growing theory literature have focused on the tradeoff between adaptation and coordination in determining... View Details

Keywords: Integration; Leadership; Management Practices and Processes; Information Technology; Organizational Structure; Adaptation