Family Planning - Publications - Faculty & Research

04 Jun 2012
Research & Ideas

The Business of Life

"discovery-driven planning," created by Ian MacMillan, a professor at the Wharton School, and Rita McGrath, a professor at Columbia. In the interest of simplicity, How Will You Measure Your Life? distills the tool to a single question: "What assumptions must prove true... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

02 Aug 2017
What Do You Think?

Summing Up: Why Can’t Organizations Engage Their Employees?

According to Gallup, those who are engaged are: More than twice as likely to remain on the job as those characterized as disengaged, and more likely to refer friends and family members for employment. These factors lead to lower costs of... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

29 Nov 2017
Research & Ideas

How to Succeed in Business (According to a 15th Century Trade Merchant)

Zanato, and Vera Ribaudo. A reluctant merchant Born into a family of cloth and wool traders, Cotrugli was a reluctant merchant, pulled from his studies at the University of Bologna to join a profession that he considered lacking in... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

11 Oct 2006
What Do You Think?

How Do We Respond to the “Dependency Ratio” Dilemma?

for all to work forever" to Deepak Alse's, "Do not retire employees; treat them as part of an extended family where their services may be required." The timeliness of the issue was emphasized by information from Richard... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

18 Mar 2019
Research & Ideas

Stuck in Commuter Hell? You Can Still Be Productive

Employees should think about work on the way to work by mentally mapping out a plan for their day. By using the travel time as an opportunity to get into the work mindset, employees are giving themselves a chance to make an easier mental... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

09 Jan 2006
Research & Ideas

When Benchmarks Don’t Work

in strategic job families to the business unit strategy?1 Of course not. One corporation in a Hackett database might report that it spends 0.2 percent of revenue on employee competency development, whereas your company spends 1.0 percent... View Details

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan; Service

12 May 2020
Research & Ideas

It’s Time To Relaunch Your Remote Team

respective roles and how they have been contributing to team goals. Team members should be candid about how the work-from-home format has affected their productivity. Some may need assistance getting familiar with mediating tools. Some may be juggling View Details

Keywords: by Tsedal Neeley

30 Jun 2021
In Practice

The Harvard Business School Faculty Summer Reader 2021

Barack Obama narrating A Promised Land. There truly is no other way to absorb this massive tale of his life, family, marriage, and political journey. I'm five hours into the 29-hour tale and plan to listen to Michelle's version of the... View Details

Keywords: by Kathryn Haviland

29 Jan 2021
Op-Ed

How Influencers, Celebrities, and FOMO Can Win Over Vaccine Skeptics

“shots-in-arms” problem. In the United States, polls suggest that about 40 percent of adults prefer to not take the vaccine. In France, Russia, South Africa, Japan, Italy, Spain, and Germany, between a third and half of adults do not plan... View Details

Keywords: by Rohit Deshpandé, Ofer Mintz, and Imran S. Currim

21 Apr 2021
Research & Ideas

The Pandemic Conversations That Leaders Need to Have Now

transition back to “normal” (whatever that means). Although we are still living in COVID-19’s grip, companies are starting to devise plans to bring their workforces back to the office in the coming weeks and months. In recent... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg, Robin Abrahams, and Katherine Connolly Baden

07 Nov 2012
HBS Case

HBS Cases: Sir Alex Ferguson--Managing Manchester United

like? A: Yes, that's true. It is one of the sacrifices I make in the name of research! But in all seriousness, my coauthor Tom Dye (HBS MBA 2012) and I felt it was important to take our time and do this right. I first met Sir Alex last fall during one of his trips to... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Sports; Entertainment & Recreation

14 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

Restarting Under Uncertainty: Managerial Experiences from Around the World

found valuable information from other sources. Firms with business partners or suppliers in China, for example, tried to distill the noisy signals emerging from these areas as quickly as possible to plan for safety in their plants. This... View Details

Keywords: by Raffaella Sadun, Andrea Bertoni, Alexia Delfino, Giovanni Fassio, and Mariapaola Testa

10 Sep 2020
Research & Ideas

The COVID Two-Step for Leaders: Protect and Pivot

conditions and the paramount importance of doing the right thing—some leadership teams have committed themselves to two guiding principles: act now to protect and run the business today, and plan now to retool the business for the... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Katherine Connolly Baden

09 Mar 2015
Research & Ideas

Why Entrepreneurs Should Go Work for Government

startups. And when the 2013 Boston Marathon was attacked, Weiss helped establish the One Fund within 24 hours to serve as a central pool for donations to victims. "The One Fund ended up channeling $60 million to survivors and to the View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

23 Jun 2008
Research & Ideas

Innovative Ways to Encourage Personal Savings

Putting together the money for everything from a short-term emergency to retirement is hard enough, a challenge that low- and moderate-income families endure every day. Yet as HBS professor Peter Tufano describes, new and old products... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Financial Services

16 Aug 2004
Research & Ideas

Luxury Isn’t What It Used to Be

classic," says Matthew McEvoy (HBS MBA '89), strategic planning director at Burberry. Founded in 1856, the creator of the iconic trench coat has outfitted movie stars, outdoor sportsmen, the British military, and the Royal Family. In... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Consumer Products

19 Sep 2016
Research & Ideas

Why Isn't Business Research More Relevant to Business Practitioners?

humans are often irrational—and the fact that the logic of real-world decisions therefore sometimes flies in the face of established economic theory. “Most of my research projects are motivated by puzzles or strange patterns of behavior I see in the real world,” says... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Education

March 2000 (Revised May 2000)
Case

U.S. Gas Transportation, Inc.

By: John A. Davis, Myra M. Hart and Sharon Peyus

Presents a career dilemma for a husband/wife owner-manager team. Nanci and Len Mackenzie have received an offer for their highly successful entrepreneurial business, U.S. Gas Transportation, Inc. The Mackenzies are concerned about what the sale might do to their... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Family Ownership; Family Business; Personal Development and Career; Organizational Culture; Employees; Business Exit or Shutdown; Planning; Transportation Industry

Citation

Find at Harvard

February 2005 (Revised June 2006)
Case

JCDecaux

By: John R. Wells and Vincent Dessain

Describes how JCDecaux, the second largest global outdoor advertising company, became the world leader in street furniture advertising in a fast consolidating business environment. Also explains why, in the late 1990s, JCDecaux diversified its activities into... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Global Strategy; Leadership Style; Family Ownership; Strategic Planning; Competitive Strategy; Diversification; Advertising Industry