Publications

February 2018 (Revised May 2018)
Case

Haier: Incubating Entrepreneurs in a Chinese Giant

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Nancy Hua Dai

CEO Zhang Ruimin must plan how to accelerate the growth of self-managed microenterprises. Platforms were Haier’s business platforms operating in five major sectors: white goods transformation, investment and incubation, financial holdings, real estate, and cultural... View Details

Keywords: China; Microenterprise; Appliances; Platform; Change; Innovation; Opportunities; Entrepreneurship; Digital Platforms; Transformation; Innovation and Invention; Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; China

2024
Working Paper

Private Regulation, Institutional Entrepreneurship and Climate Change: A Business History Perspective

By: Ann-Kristin Bergquist and Geoffrey Jones

Private regulatory systems, including voluntary efforts by firms to restrain their own behavior are the primary form of global climate change governance. However, when environmental challenges first rose up on the scientific and political agendas during the 1970s, the... View Details

Keywords: Certification; Climate Change; Environmental Regulation; Business History; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy

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03 Oct 2022
Research & Ideas

Why a Failed Startup Might Be Good for Your Career After All

While some of those new businesses are bound to fail, as is typical, perhaps the findings provide some welcome encouragement: Entrepreneurs not only land on their feet after a failure, but actually move further up the career ladder. The... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

February 2015
Case

BlackRock: Diversity as a Driver for Success

By: Boris Groysberg and Katherine Connolly

In July 2014, the Global Executive Committee (GEC) for BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, held a two-day offsite to discuss the state of talent within the firm. A year prior, in 2013, Chairman and CEO Laurence (Larry) Fink had asked Global Head of HR Jeff... View Details

Keywords: Women And Leadership; Diversity; General Management; Leadership; Change Management; Human Capital; Leading Change; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Culture; Financial Services Industry; United States

November 2018 (Revised June 2019)
Case

ofo

By: Mitchell Weiss

Dai Wei and his co-founders grew Beijing-based ofo from a school-based startup to a bike-share behemoth in a matter of months, topped an all-out market-share battle fueled with almost $1 billion in venture capital, provided 2 billion bicycle rides, soaked up the... View Details

Web

Research Services - Faculty & Research

Research Services 1ms Harvard Business School (HBS) provides unparalleled faculty support to facilitate the creation of enduring knowledge that shapes both business practice and pedagogy. HBS is distinct in that it funds almost all its... View Details

09 Dec 2002
Research & Ideas

Unilever—A Case Study

Organization Unilever was an organizational curiosity in that, since 1929, it has been headed by two separate British and Dutch companies—Unilever Ltd. (PLC after 1981), and Unilever N.V.—with different sets of shareholders but identical boards of directors. An... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones; Consumer Products; Entertainment & Recreation; Food & Beverage; Manufacturing; Retail

31 Jan 2022
Research & Ideas

Where Can Digital Transformation Take You? Insights from 1,700 Leaders

customers can browse reviews and prices with ease, digitally mature companies aim to provide a unique, often more customized, end-to-end customer experience. “Understand your customer” has long been a business mantra, but even roundtable... View Details

Keywords: by Linda A. Hill, Ann Le Cam, Sunand Menon, and Emily Tedards

January 2002 (Revised January 2003)
Case

Finova Group, Inc. (A), The

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Perry Fagan

Finova Group, a $14 billion commercial finance company, filed for Chapter 11 in early March 2001, in what was one of the largest U.S. bankruptcy filings of all time and the largest corporate bond default since the Great Depression. While in Chapter 11, Finova became... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Business Startups; Borrowing and Debt; Equity; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Debt Securities; Price; Crisis Management; Bids and Bidding; Partners and Partnerships; Strategy; Valuation; Financial Services Industry; United States

Web

Leadership Fellows | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

Details for Students (login required) Details for Organizations Overview Launched in 2001, the Leadership Fellows program has placed 305 Fellows with 104 organizations, with a focus on two key objectives: Providing social-sector... View Details

Web

Health Care Initiative - Health Care

works to deliver engaging courses, programming, and content for students, alumni, executives, and recruiters. Advisory Board This active group of senior health care professionals from across the globe provides insight on the health care... View Details

28 Jan 2020
Working Paper Summaries

Does Apple Anchor a Shopping Mall? The Effect of the Technology Stores on the Formation of Market Structure

Keywords: by Doug J. Chung, Kyoungwon Seo, and Reo Song; Retail; Real Estate

February 1988 (Revised November 1994)
Background Note

Note on Fundamental Parity Conditions

By: W. Carl Kester and Richard P. Melnick

Provides a simple framework for analyzing expected exchange rate movements. Basic parity and equilibrium conditions are presented including purchasing power parity, forward parity, interest rate parity, the domestic Fisher effect, and the international Fisher effect... View Details

Keywords: Currency Exchange Rate; Situation or Environment

December 2020
Supplement

Tokio Marine Group (B)

By: David J. Collis, Nobuo Sato and Akiko Kanno

Updates the Tokio Marine (A) case by providing information on the organisation structure adopted by the Japanese insurance firm as it moved to integrate its global operations, along with changes in HR policies that sought to balance traditional Japanese practices with... View Details

Keywords: Organisational Design; Organization Structure; Culture; Global Strategy; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Organizational Culture; Values and Beliefs; Human Resources; Insurance Industry; Japan

2001
Case

Analog Devices (A)

By: Vijay Govindarajan

Analog Devices, a leading semiconductor manufacturer, designed performance measurement systems that provided far more than just a financial view. As their system evolved, it incorporated more measures designed to reflect growth, rather than just operational efficiency.... View Details

Keywords: Balanced Scorecard; Performance Efficiency; Performance Evaluation; Semiconductor Industry

November 1996 (Revised March 2001)
Background Note

National Income Accounting

Introduces the concept of national income accounting. This note: 1) defines GDP and provides examples; 2) discusses the differences between GDP and GNP; 3) presents both the expenditure and income decompositions of GDP; and 4) defines the relationships among net... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Macroeconomics

2003
Book

Business History Around the World

By: Franco Amatori and Geoffrey Jones

This book offers the first in-depth international survey of current research and debates in business history. It provides wide-ranging surveys of the literature in the United States, Europe, Latin America, Japan and the Chinese-speaking world, and examines... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Debates; Business History; Body of Literature; Surveys; Business and Government Relations; Research; China; Japan; Europe; Latin America; United States

Find at Harvard

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