Publications

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

Porter’s Perspective: Competing in the Global Economy

Competitive advantage. Corporate strategy. The competitive advantage of nations. All over the world these terms quickly bring to mind the groundbreaking work of HBS professor Michael Porter, whose two decades of research on these and related topics have resulted in... View Details

Keywords: Re: Michael E. Porter

March 2015 (Revised January 2020)
Case

Behavioural Insights Team (A)

By: Michael Luca and Patrick Rooney

The Behavioural Insights Team case introduces students to the concept of choice architecture and the value of experimental methods (sometimes called A/B testing) within organizational contexts. The exercise provides an opportunity for students to apply these principles... View Details

Keywords: Behavioral Economics; Experiments; Choice Architecture; Public Entrepreneurship; Decision Choices and Conditions; Consumer Behavior; Taxation; Economics; Public Administration Industry; United Kingdom

17 Apr 2019
Cold Call Podcast

Would You Live in a Smart City Where Government Controls Privacy?

23 Aug 2006
Op-Ed

The Real Wal-Mart Effect

This opinion piece, first published in the New York Times in August 2005, has been updated by Pankaj Ghemawat for HBS Working Knowledge.Mighty Wal-Mart's headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, must feel less like a hotbed of retailing and more like a war room. There is... View Details

Keywords: by Pankaj Ghemawat & Ken A. Mark; Retail

March 2004
Background Note

An Introduction to Work-Life Balance

An overview of issues relating to and factors affecting the concept of balance between work and personal life including the history of work-life balance and employer/employee perspectives. View Details

Keywords: Work-Life Balance

2007
Book

A Concise Guide to Macroeconomics: What Managers, Executives, and Students Need to Know

By: David A. Moss

Now more than ever before, executives and managers need to understand their larger economic context. In The Concise Guide to Macroeconomics, David Moss leverages his many years of teaching experience at Harvard Business School to lay out important macroeconomic... View Details

Keywords: Macroeconomics; Money; Investment; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques

Find at Harvard

November 2005 (Revised July 2006)
Background Note

Understanding Economic Value Added

By: Mihir A. Desai, Fabrizio Ferri and Steve Treadwell

Explores the concept of economic value added (EVA) and its practical applications as a management control system for performance measurement and incentive compensation. Explains how EVA is measured and explores some of the adjustments to financial statements that are... View Details

Keywords: Value

November 1990 (Revised May 2004)
Case

Mile High Cycles

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

Introduces the concept of cost variances. Looking at a bicycle manufacturer with one product and three departments, the case presents budgeted and actual data for material, labor, and overhead. View Details

Keywords: Cost; Business Divisions; Accounting; Bicycle Industry

November 1987
Background Note

The Magic Matrix: Products and Accounts

By: Benson P. Shapiro

Describes an interfunctional approach to product mix management and account selection. The approach uses a matrix of products and accounts. Also describes the concepts and implementation of the approach. View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; Customers

Article

The Social Purpose of Corporations

By: Nien-he Hsieh, Marco Meyer, David Rodin and Jens van ‘t Klooster

To think about the purpose of corporations is to think about what corporations are for. In this article, we argue that the concept of a purpose has an important role in thinking about the moral evaluation of corporations. We make three contributions. First, we... View Details

Keywords: Social Purpose; Corporate Purpose; The Corporation; Market Failures; Measurement Of Purpose; Organizations; Mission and Purpose; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Ethics

Read Now

04 May 2016
News

Every Company Is a Health Company

15 Aug 2016
Video

FIELD Global Immersions

20 Apr 2011
Research & Ideas

Blind Spots: We’re Not as Ethical as We Think

Think back to recent events when people making unethical decisions grabbed the headlines. How did auditors approve the books of Enron and Lehman Brothers? How did feeder funds sell Bernard Madoff's invesments? We would never act as they did, we think. We operate under... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

09 Apr 2007
Research & Ideas

Industry Self-Regulation: What’s Working (and What’s Not)?

"Self-regulation" increasingly rings like a mantra in business. Just think of topics in the news over the past couple of months, such as the Italian fashion industry's move toward self-regulation to discourage the hiring of dangerously thin models. Or the Group of 7... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

04 Jun 2012
News

What is 'Creating Shared Value'?

17 Mar 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Conceptual Foundations of the Balanced Scorecard

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan

07 Mar 2013
News

The Harvard Professor Who Wants to Transform Capitalism

January 2000
Case

greatEntertaining.com

By: Myra M. Hart and Nicole Tempest

GreatEntertaining.com is the result of years of planning, testing, and adapting the concept before committing to launch the business. Focus, value creation, and productive partnerships are key issues. View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Strategic Planning; Partners and Partnerships; Adaptation; Value Creation; Web Services Industry