Publications

01 Oct 2001
Research & Ideas

How To Make Restructuring Work for Your Company

appropriately staged over a number of years. This situation could be said to characterize the mainframe computer industry during the 1980s, when business customers moved away from mainframes towards UNIX-based "open... View Details

Keywords: by Stuart C. Gilson

04 Apr 2023
Book

Two Centuries of Business Leaders Who Took a Stand on Social Issues

While shareholders still reign supreme at many companies, a widespread shift toward more responsible business practices is driving more leaders to take a stand on social and environmental issues today, says Harvard Business School Professor Geoffrey Jones. Jones... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Consumer Products; Fashion; Retail; Green Technology

August 2019
Case

Huawei and the U.S.-China Trade War

By: Elie Ofek and John Masko

In 2019, Chinese smartphone maker and telecommunications empire Huawei was preparing to launch its new flagship smartphone series, the Mate 30. After years of explosive growth, the previous 18 months had been a challenge for the company. In early 2018, Huawei’s planned... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Global Strategy; International Relations; National Security; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Information Infrastructure; Volatility; Adaptation; Telecommunications Industry; China; United States; European Union

06 Dec 2017
What Do You Think?

Is It Time To Break Up Amazon, Apple, Facebook, or Google?

1969, a move generally credited as enabling creation of a software industry in the US. More recently, the Sherman Act has been invoked most frequently to deny mergers, especially those of the “horizontal” variety, that unduly increase... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Technology; Web Services

January 2009 (Revised December 2017)
Case

Who Broke the Bank of England?

By: Niall Ferguson and Jonathan Schlefer

In the summer of 1992, hedge fund manager George Soros was contemplating the possibility that the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) would break down. Designed to pave the way for a full-scale European Monetary Union, the ERM was a system of fixed exchange rates... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Currency Exchange Rate; Investment; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Financial Services Industry; European Union

01 Mar 2011
First Look

First Look: March 1

internship by his employer in order to obtain data from industry competitors. Purchase this case:http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/611041-PDF-ENG European Union: The Road to Lisbon Gunnar Trumbull and Diane ChoiHarvard Business School... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September 2003 (Revised January 2004)
Case

Wal-Mart Stores in 2003

By: Pankaj Ghemawat, Stephen P. Bradley and Ken Mark

Examines Wal-Mart's development over three decades and provides financial and descriptive detail of its domestic operations. In 2003, Wal-Mart's Supercenter business has surpassed its domestic business as the largest generator of revenues. Its international operation... View Details

Keywords: Wages; Fairness; Corporate Strategy; Operations; Labor Unions; Problems and Challenges; Gender; Globalized Firms and Management; Competitive Advantage; Retail Industry; United States

09 Mar 2022
Research & Ideas

War in Ukraine: Soaring Gas Prices and the Return of Stagflation?

this era? Abdelal: I think it really depends on the industry and the exposure. I think a smart executive will spend considerable intellectual effort trying to first, make sense of these geopolitical risks and how they will unfold on the... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman; Energy

31 Aug 2021
Book

Feeling Powerless at Work? Time to Agitate, Innovate, and Orchestrate

of the same resource can increase a person’s power. Unions are one instance of this strategy; monopolies are another more extreme example—and can be problematic, the authors note. To weaken the power that others parties have on them,... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald

07 Oct 2008
First Look

First Look: October 7, 2008

published in top peer-reviewed management, psychology, sociology, and industrial relations journals from 1990 to 2005. Our findings illuminate a continuum of open systems to closed systems phenomenological assumptions revealed in this... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

06 Jul 2016
What Do You Think?

How Do We Pay for the Costs of Globalization?

like transportation, and develop an industry around it, with meaningful careers and a meaningful solution.” So in our small sample we have an answer to one of our questions: Should we encourage the redistribution of the benefits of... View Details

Keywords: by James L. Heskett; Manufacturing

14 May 2013
First Look

First Look: May 14

entertainment industry really works-and how to navigate today's high-stakes business world at large. Publisher's link: http://www.blockbusters-thebook.com/ 2006 Journal of Economic Perspectives The Investment Strategies of Sovereign... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

July 1990 (Revised October 1999)
Case

Nordstrom: Dissension in the Ranks? (A)

By: Robert L. Simons and Hilary Weston

In 1989, the performance measurement systems and compensation policies of Nordstrom Department Stores unexpectedly came under attack by employees, unions, and government regulators. The case describes the "sales-per-hour" monitoring and compensation system that many... View Details

Keywords: Performance Consistency; Performance Evaluation; Compensation and Benefits; Motivation and Incentives; Labor Unions; Salesforce Management; Retention; Growth and Development; Industrial Products Industry; Industrial Products Industry

28 Apr 2009
First Look

First Look: April 28, 2009

Industry Location and International Regulatory Variation Author:Arthur A. Daemmrich Publication:Chap. 16 in Ways of Regulating: Therapeutic Agents between Plants, Shops, and Consulting Rooms. Vol. 363, 271-290. Berlin, Germany: Max Planck... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

21 Sep 2021
Office Hours

Readers Ask: How Can I Gain Power and Influence?

vacancies job applicants have more choice and more bargaining power. But with less than 11 percent of American workers being unionized and given that in the vast majority of companies, workers have no representation on the board of... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

December 2023 (Revised August 2024)
Case

Monsters in the Machine? Tackling the Challenge of Responsible AI

By: Paul M. Healy and Debora L. Spar

In November of 2022, the small tech company OpenAI released ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence chatbot which quickly captured the public’s imagination—becoming the world’s fastest-growing consumer application within months of its release. Though observers from across... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; AI and Machine Learning; Ethics; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Technology Adoption; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Technology Industry; United States; European Union; China

March 2020 (Revised August 2020)
Case

Culture at Google

By: Nien-hê Hsieh, Amy Klopfenstein and Sarah Mehta

Beginning in 2017, technology (tech) company Google faced a series of employee-relations issues that threatened its unique culture of innovation and open communication. Issues included protests surrounding Google’s contracts with the U.S. government, restrictions of... View Details