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  • All HBS Web  (54)
    • News  (16)
    • Research  (34)
  • Faculty Publications  (8)

Show Results For

  • All HBS Web  (54)
    • News  (16)
    • Research  (34)
  • Faculty Publications  (8)
Page 1 of 54 Results →
  • October 2018 (Revised March 2019)
  • Background Note

Note on Managing Workforce Reductions

By: Ethan Bernstein and Carin-Isabel Knoop
Each individual who enters an organization will, at some point, leave. And yet most future leaders spend significantly more effort learning about recruiting than departures, despite the sensitivity and challenges associated with the latter. This note is intended to... View Details
Keywords: Layoffs; Downsizing; Workforce; Workforce Reductions; Delayering; Human Resources; Employees; Resignation and Termination; Management; Organizations; Reputation
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Bernstein, Ethan, and Carin-Isabel Knoop. "Note on Managing Workforce Reductions." Harvard Business School Background Note 419-039, October 2018. (Revised March 2019.)
  • March 2023 (Revised June 2023)
  • Case

Layoffs in the Tech Industry: 2022–2023

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Marilyn Morgan Westner
This case examines the mass layoffs that swept through the tech industry (2022-2023) through the lens of four companies: Twitter, Stripe, Meta, and Google. How these companies implemented workforce change through mass layoffs raises critical questions applicable beyond... View Details
Keywords: Layoffs; Human Resource Management; Workforce Reductions; Ethics; Human Resources; Management; Values and Beliefs; Employee Relationship Management; Resignation and Termination; Compensation and Benefits; Technology Industry; United States; United Kingdom
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Sucher, Sandra J., and Marilyn Morgan Westner. "Layoffs in the Tech Industry: 2022–2023." Harvard Business School Case 323-095, March 2023. (Revised June 2023.)
  • 17 Dec 2015
  • News

Examining Global Workforce Management

As executives of an international company are considering workforce reductions in Europe and South America, they are providing layoff support to employees and working with communities to create incentives... View Details
  • March 2023 (Revised December 2023)
  • Background Note

Economic Analysis: The Hidden Costs of Layoffs and Managing Staff Reductions

By: Sandra J. Sucher, Marilyn Morgan Westner and Christopher Diak
Globally, over the past fifty years, more companies have used layoffs to cut costs during periods of decreased demand or economic downturns. But layoffs have far-reaching consequences, generate hidden costs, and harm the company in myriad ways. This note reviews ways... View Details
Keywords: Human Resource Management; Layoffs; Furloughs; Human Resources; Management Practices and Processes; Employee Relationship Management; Resignation and Termination; Compensation and Benefits; United States
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Sucher, Sandra J., Marilyn Morgan Westner, and Christopher Diak. "Economic Analysis: The Hidden Costs of Layoffs and Managing Staff Reductions." Harvard Business School Background Note 323-073, March 2023. (Revised December 2023.)
  • May–June 2018
  • Article

Layoffs That Don't Break Your Company: Better Approaches to Workforce Transition

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Shalene Gupta
Today layoffs have become companies’ default response to the challenges created by advances in technology and global competition. Yet research shows that job cuts rarely help senior leaders achieve their goals. Too often, they’re done for short-term gain, but the cost... View Details
Keywords: Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Employees; Transition; Strategic Planning
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Sucher, Sandra J., and Shalene Gupta. "Layoffs That Don't Break Your Company: Better Approaches to Workforce Transition." Harvard Business Review 96, no. 3 (May–June 2018): 122–129.
  • 22 Mar 2021
  • News

Layoffs That Don’t Break Your Company

  • November 1994
  • Case

Navistar International

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Jeremy Cott
As a consequence of laying off half its workforce in a massive downsizing program, the company--a large manufacturer of medium and heavy trucks--struggles with a huge ($2.6 billion) liability for retiree medical costs. Although the company has promised its retirees... View Details
Keywords: Negotiation Process; Wages; Labor Unions; Legal Liability; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Restructuring
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Gilson, Stuart C., and Jeremy Cott. "Navistar International." Harvard Business School Case 295-030, November 1994.
  • 2021
  • Working Paper

Financial Flexibility and Corporate Employment

By: Rebecca Lester, Ethan Rouen and Braden Williams
We study the role of financial flexibility on COVID-19 employment actions. Using daily data from March through May 2020 for 354 of the largest U.S. employers, we find that firms facing a negative demand shock were 28.8 percentage points more likely to reduce their... View Details
Keywords: Financial Flexibility; COVID-19; Pandemic; Employment; Health Pandemics; System Shocks; Finance
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Lester, Rebecca, Ethan Rouen, and Braden Williams. "Financial Flexibility and Corporate Employment." Harvard Business School Series in Accounting and Control, No. 21-119, April 2021.
  • January 2025
  • Article

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System Implementations and Corporate Misconduct

By: Jonas Heese and Joseph Pacelli
This study examines whether enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementations are associated with reductions in corporate misconduct. Specifically, we study the relation between staggered facility-level rollouts of ERP systems and facility-level regulatory violations... View Details
Keywords: Accounting; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Governance Compliance
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Heese, Jonas, and Joseph Pacelli. "Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System Implementations and Corporate Misconduct." Accounting Review 100, no. 1 (January 2025): 291–315.
  • April 2015
  • Supplement

Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp: Redefining Success in the U.S. (B)

By: Gautam Mukunda, Thomas DeLong and Aldo Sesia
This (B) case describes the actions André Wyss, president of Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, took in early 2012 to transform the company's General Medicines group and build its specialty medications, marketing the selling capabilities in the face of falling... View Details
Keywords: LEAD; Leadership And Change Management; Talent Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leadership; Change Management; Talent and Talent Management; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States
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Mukunda, Gautam, Thomas DeLong, and Aldo Sesia. "Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp: Redefining Success in the U.S. (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 415-049, April 2015.
  • 25 Nov 2014
  • First Look

First Look: November 25

cuts in all parts of the business. They face choices in whether to employ layoffs or furloughs (unpaid leaves) for any needed workforce reductions, and whether to enact hiring freezes and other cost-saving changes to employee and... View Details
Keywords: Carmen Nobel
  • Web

Browse All Articles, Research, & Case Studies - HBS Working Knowledge

into what’s driving and limiting the practice of skills-based hiring. The discussion ranges from degree inflation and HR automation to workforce demographics, skills-based promotion and employee retention. Also, how technology can... View Details
  • 23 Jan 2024
  • Research & Ideas

How to Keep Employees Productive: Support Caregivers

understand why they’re not showing up?” says Fuller, who co-chairs the Project on the Workforce at Harvard. The good news: As more leaders move into the sandwich generation and care for aging parents while raising children, the more... View Details
Keywords: by Kara Baskin
  • 02 Jan 2024
  • Research & Ideas

10 Trends to Watch in 2024

The lightning-fast ascent of generative AI isn’t the only sea change on the horizon for businesses in the new year. The global economy is in flux as war, climate change, trade issues, and infrastructure problems demand attention. Many companies continue to struggle to... View Details
Keywords: by Rachel Layne
  • Web

Accelerating Solutions - Business & Environment

does society need to finance a decarbonized future? Investors weigh in. Highlights Video Full Panel Video Collaboration, Living Wages, Trade-focused Education to Drive a Climate Workforce Building a climate View Details
  • 14 Sep 2023
  • Research & Ideas

Working Moms Are Mostly Thriving Again. Can We Finally Achieve Gender Parity?

at work and at home: For a while, many mothers and fathers brought their jobs home because they had no choice. First, the good news: While much has been written about how the pandemic was enormously taxing on moms—and how they fled the View Details
Keywords: by Kara Baskin
  • 19 Dec 2023
  • Research & Ideas

15 Podcast Episodes That Grabbed Listeners in 2023

Inflation Reduction Act This bonus episode features the Harvard Law School Environmental and Energy Law Program’s CleanLaw podcast, where professors Jody Freeman (Harvard) and Greg Dotson (University of Oregon) talk about the US Inflation... View Details
Keywords: by Danielle Kost
  • 08 Mar 2021
  • In Practice

COVID Killed the Traditional Workplace. What Should Companies Do Now?

A year ago, COVID-19 forced many companies to send employees home—often with a laptop and a prayer. Now, with COVID cases subsiding and vaccinations rising, the prospect of returning to old office routines appears more possible. But will employees want to flock back to... View Details
Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman
  • Web

Faculty & Researchers - Managing the Future of Work

of the Harvard Project on the Workforce and a non-resident Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He studies issues related to employment and income polarization and the relationship between talent and economic... View Details
  • 10 Oct 2023
  • Blog Post

Policy Drivers for Environmental Justice: What Businesses Need to Know

along lines of race, class, and geography.”[2] Policy Summary The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022Contains about $40 billion in benefits for environmental justice.[3] Three main areas of effect (identified by Senate Democrats) [4]Reduce... View Details
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