Publications

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07 Jan 2016
Blog Post

Is HBS Too Big?

simulations and other non-case assignments. This also happened during social events, by career interests, and through seating assignments. Bonding occurs on so many levels and differently for each person,... View Details

May 2023 (Revised July 2023)
Case

Ferrari: Shifting to Carbon Neutrality

By: Raffaella Sadun, Elena Corsi and Leila Doumi

A sports car manufacturer commits to carbon neutrality and to electrifying a large part of its car fleet. View Details

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Leadership Style; Auto Industry; Italy

08 Nov 2011
First Look

First Look: Nov. 8

industry to measure to what extent waiting-time performance impacts different firms' market shares and price decisions. We report on a large-scale empirical industrial organization study in which the demand equations for fast-food... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

August 2018 (Revised June 2025)
Case

Facebook—Can Ethics Scale in the Digital Age?

By: George A. Riedel and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Since its founding in 2004, Facebook has built a phenomenally successful business at global scale to become the fifth most valuable public company in the world. The revelation of Cambridge Analytica events in March 2018, where 78 million users' information was leaked... View Details

Keywords: Facebook; Ethics; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Trust; Business Model; Corporate Accountability; Social Media

February 2022 (Revised January 2024)
Supplement

Winning Business at Russell Reynolds (C)

By: Ethan Bernstein and Cara Mazzucco

In an effort to make compensation drive collaboration, Russell Reynolds Associates’ (RRA) CEO Clarke Murphy sought to re-engineer the bonus system for his executive search consultants in 2016. As his HR analytics guru, Kelly Smith, points out, that risks upsetting—and... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Talent and Talent Management; Compensation and Benefits; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Performance Evaluation; Motivation and Incentives; Consulting Industry

Web

The New Role for Government & NGOs - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

The New Role for Government & NGOs Shared value fosters new relationships between companies, philanthropists, NGOs, and government in addressing social issues and achieving the most impact for the least... View Details

Web

Faculty and Research - Alumni

scholarship that ensures the School’s continued educational excellence and its impact on business and society. Watch more videos about faculty members' research activities The Insights we need to Educate Leaders Six faculty members... View Details

30 Jan 2018
First Look

January 30, 2018

evaluating energy policy. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=53813 Zig-Zagging Your Way to Transformative Impact By: Rangan, V. Kasturi, and Tricia Gregg Abstract—Achieving transformative View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

July 2021 (Revised August 2021)
Supplement

Airbnb Emerges from the Pandemic: Lessons for Stakeholder Governance (B)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Allison M. Ciechanover

As the COVID pandemic spread in early 2020, global travel ground to a halt. For Airbnb, the San Francisco-based platform for renting accommodations, the impact was both swift and severe as revenues plummeted more than 70% over the prior year. Responding to the sudden... View Details

Keywords: Business and Stakeholder Relations; Corporate Governance; Crisis Management; Leadership; Two-Sided Platforms; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Value Creation; Decision Making; Goals and Objectives; Travel Industry; Tourism Industry; Service Industry; United States

28 Jun 2021
Blog Post

7 Things HBS Taught Me the Last 2 Years

constraints, with the impact of that decision affecting everything from just their immediate team to billions of dollars of revenue globally. The beauty of the case method is that it breaks down the most complicated problems to small... View Details

28 Nov 2005
Research & Ideas

Unilever: Transformation and Tradition

as a result, but also avoiding disasters. The ice cream and other foods businesses were built patiently by the acquisition of one local firm after another, and their melding into the Unilever model. Following the National Starch acquisition, larger targets were... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones; Consumer Products

January 2012 (Revised September 2015)
Case

Tough Decisions at Marks and Spencer

By: George Serafeim

In 2007, under the leadership of CEO Stuart Rose, the iconic British retailer Marks and Spencer, with great fanfare, announced its "Plan A" initiative. Based on the five essential pillars of climate change, waste, sustainable materials, fair partnership, and health,... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Corporate Strategy; Retail Industry

2009
Working Paper

Where Is the Pharmacy to the World? International Regulatory Variation and Pharmaceutical Industry Location

By: Arthur Daemmrich

A consumer-oriented model for drug development and use has attracted attention in recent years as an alternative to the much-maligned approach of mass-marketing blockbuster drugs. In a parallel development, patients and disease-based organizations have assumed greater... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Health Disorders; Health Testing and Trials; Power and Influence; Competitive Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry; European Union; Germany; United States

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01 Jan 2013
News

Roger W. Sant, MBA 1960

their "least-cost energy" strategy, focusing on minimizing the cost and the environmental impact of energy services such as heat and light. "Cogeneration," a technique that simultaneously generates electricity and useful heat, was one of... View Details

Keywords: Susan Young

Web

Environmental Quality - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

HBS ISC Research Areas Research Areas Antitrust & Competition Policy CEO Leadership Environmental Quality Innovation & Innovative Capacity Philanthropy Social Progress Index Environmental Quality Environmental Quality In 1991, Michael... View Details

24 Feb 2021
Lessons from the Classroom

What History's Biggest Wars Teach Us About Leading in Peace

leadership, strategy, and negotiations in several conflicts, ranging from the ancient Peloponnesian Wars between Athens and Sparta, to World War I and World War II, to the Korean War and the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. While it may sound like a View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

23 Jun 2009
First Look

First Look: June 23

port their data between products securely and reliably. This paper reviews the rationale for these principles and examines their impact on competition in the cloud computing ("Internet-software") environment. Download the paper:... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

January 2003 (Revised September 2007)
Background Note

A Note on Racing to Acquire Customers

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann

Examines factors that motivate a firm's race to acquire customers in newly emerging markets and explores conditions under which racing strategies are likely to yield attractive returns. Provides a definition of racing behavior, introduces the notion of an optimal level... View Details

Keywords: Customers; Price Bubble; Network Effects; Emerging Markets; Market Entry and Exit; Behavior; Competition