Publications

21 Oct 2014
First Look

First Look: October 21

sustainable change in particular-can be most effectively managed. The book begins by laying out the economic case for change, while subsequent chapters describe how leaders at firms such as Du Pont, IBM, and Cemex have transformed their... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

24 Sep 2014
Op-Ed

Take a Trim Tab Approach to Climate Change

attention, and thereby educate people to influence the tide of events. Prominent business leaders have a bully pulpit, if they want to take it, on the issue of climate change and environmental sustainability. Today's business View Details

Keywords: by Amy C. Edmondson; Energy; Utilities

23 Dec 2014
First Look

First Look: December 23

service programs provided by the government. The company had made significant progress, and Kai was a recognized leader in German business for his attention to and success in managing diversity, but he knew there was much more to do.... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

March 2025
Case

Sarojini Naidu: Courage of the Nightingale

By: Ranjay Gulati, Malini Sen and Anjali Raina

Indian poet and freedom fighter and mother of four, Sarojini (Chattopadhyay) Naidu, could not hold back. As the protestors marched ahead without retaliating against the police’s blows, she stepped forward to join them. A British officer approached Naidu and touched her... View Details

Keywords: Gender; Leadership; Personal Development and Career; Motivation and Incentives; Power and Influence; Government and Politics; India; Asia

April 2009 (Revised August 2010)
Case

Buro Happold

By: Robert G. Eccles and Kerry Herman

Padraic Kelly became Managing Director (MD) of the engineering services firm Buro Happold in 1996. One of his first initiatives was "Aim for Growth," which was intended to help the firm grow beyond its current size where it was constrained by a structure of having each... View Details

Keywords: Training; Entrepreneurship; Leadership Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Skills; Organizational Culture; Programs

September 2021 (Revised December 2021)
Case

Telepass: From Tolling to Mobility Platform (Abridged)

By: Chiara Farronato, Stefano Denicolai and Sarah Mehta

Telepass, until very recently the sole processor of electronic toll payments on Italy’s highways, has ambitions beyond tolling. Since the mid-2010s, the company has been expanding into adjacent services. In 2017, Telepass launched TelepassPay—a mobile payment... View Details

September 2021 (Revised December 2021)
Case

Telepass: From Tolling to Mobility Platform

By: Chiara Farronato, Stefano Denicolai and Sarah Mehta

Telepass, until very recently the sole processor of electronic toll payments on Italy’s highways, has ambitions beyond tolling. Since the mid-2010s, the company has been expanding into adjacent services. In 2017, Telepass launched TelepassPay—a mobile payment... View Details

07 Jun 2011
First Look

First Look: June 7

http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/11-120.pdf Who Is Governing Whom? Senior Managers, Governance and the Structure of Generosity in Large U.S. Firms Authors:Christopher Marquis and Matthew Lee Abstract We examine how organizational structure... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

18 Jul 2012
Research & Ideas

Penn State Lesson: Today’s Cover-Up was Yesterday’s Opportunity

The most damaging portion of former FBI Director Louis Freeh's comprehensive report on the Pennsylvania State pedophilia scandal is his conclusion that four senior university officials concealed football coach Jerry Sandusky's child abuse... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George; Education

07 Jul 2015
First Look

First Look: July 7, 2015

think through how CEO Kevin Sharer should handle a positive entry decision given the divided opinions across the senior management team. Purchase this case: https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/product/714424-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

A Perfect Fit: Aligning Organization & Strategy

professor Michael Beer says companies should do on a regular basis. "Business success is a function of fit between a host of key variables within an organization," he says. "Strategy, values, culture, employees, systems, organizational design, and the... View Details

Keywords: by Judith A. Ross

17 Apr 2013
Research Event

Conference Challenges Gender Conventions

A recent conference at Harvard Business School addressed the on-the-ground reality of women leaders 50 years after the first women were admitted to the School's two-year MBA Program. And the reality is that women View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish

02 Feb 2004
What Do You Think?

Leadership: A Matter of Sustaining or Eliminating Groupthink?

doers at the senior levels of management." Advice to leaders in formulating decisions was provided by Keith Pinto, who opined that "Encouraging mavericks, risk takers, and soul searching questions... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

June 2015
Case

Beacon Group of Hong Kong: Finding Light in the Shadow Education Industry

By: Christopher Marquis, Qi Li and Guy Leung

After more than 25 years of operation, Beacon Group had grown from having 3 small classrooms on the fourth floor of a commercial building, to a network of 21 centers across Hong Kong with over 60,000 students enrolled per year. The key long-term challenge for the... View Details

Keywords: Online Education; Education; Tutoring; Incentives; Hong Kong; Motivation and Incentives; Internet and the Web; Family Business; Education Industry; Hong Kong

27 Feb 2006
Research & Ideas

Corporate Values and Employee Cynicism

Positive values are a fixture on corporate mission statements these days. But when leaders fail to live up to the values they've articulated, it's a recipe for employee cynicism, according to Sandra Cha and Amy Edmondson. Cha, an... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

June 2012
Case

Buro Happold (Abridged)

By: Robert G. Eccles and Ryan Johnson

In 1996, Ted Happold, the founder of the engineering services firm Buro Happold, passed away, and Padraic Kelly became the firm's new managing director (MD). One of his first initiatives was "Aim for Growth," which was intended to help the firm grow beyond its current... View Details

Keywords: Learning And Development; Managing Growth; Organizational Design; Diversification; Client Management; Leadership Skills; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Leadership Development; Management Skills; Training; Programs; Customer Relationship Management

13 Oct 2015
Research & Ideas

Does Business Get Done the Same Way in Emerging and Developed Countries?

in the family affairs of its most senior executives, family or not. Akfen Holding, founded 50 years after Koç in Ankara, holds a variety of construction, engineering and other firms related to infrastructure development. It has about... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

January 2024 (Revised June 2024)
Case

Equal Justice Initiative: Mercy, Truth and Dignity

By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Gerald Chertavian and Brittany Logan

In 1989, the Equal Justice Initiative was established as a non-profit, public interest law firm by Harvard Law School graduate, Bryan Stevenson.

EJI provides legal assistance to condemned prisoners, people wrongly convicted or unfairly sentenced, children in... View Details

Keywords: Equality and Inequality; Nonprofit Organizations; Mission and Purpose; Growth and Development Strategy; Social Issues; Race