Publications

June 24, 2016
Other Article

Why Brexit Is a Big Deal

By: John A. Quelch

The consequences of yesterday's vote by the British people to leave the European Union will be far-reaching, but there is no reason for global markets to panic.
Brexit is a vote against the European Union. Once heralded as the engine of a one-for-all and... View Details

Read Now

December 2018 (Revised June 2019)
Case

Wolfgang Puck: Setting the Table for the Future

By: Boris Groysberg and Matthew G. Preble

Chef Wolfgang Puck oversees a disparate business empire that includes fine dining restaurants, a catering business, and various licensed products that run from cookware, to soup, to fast-casual restaurants. His businesses activities are divided among three separate... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Growth and Development; Management Systems; Business Processes; Leadership; Transition; Food and Beverage Industry; Consumer Products Industry

19 Oct 2010
First Look

First Look: October 19, 2010

Authors:Scott Snook, Herminia Ibarra, and Laura Ramo Publication:Chap. 22 in Handbook of Leadership Theory and Practice, edited by Nitin Nohria and Rakesh Khurana Abstract Despite the wealth of managerial and scholarly attention paid to... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

17 Jan 2017
Research & Ideas

Can China Maintain Its Economic Power?

leadership of Deng Xiaoping, there was an energy that you could feel—the possibility of stability and maybe a different face toward the outside world. But there was also the reality that it was a country that had only begun to emerge from... View Details

Keywords: by Deborah Blagg

24 Sep 2014
Op-Ed

Stop Thinking of Climate Change as a Religious or Political Issue

or computers—wisely. We don't currently have anything resembling property rights for the ability of the atmosphere to absorb our carbon dioxide. But we should. If we priced that resource we would use it more sensibly. We've been through View Details

Keywords: by Forest Reinhardt; Energy; Utilities

09 Jan 2007
First Look

First Look: January 9, 2007

people—particularly star performers—making major career transitions to management. As firms have become leaner and more dynamic, new managers have described a transition that gets more difficult all the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

11 Sep 2007
First Look

First Look: September 11, 2007

underlies future lock-in. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/07-038.pdf Cases & Course MaterialsAbraham Lincoln and the Civil War Harvard Business School Compilation 805-115 Analyzes Abraham Lincoln's leadership... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

11 Sep 2006
Research & Ideas

Negotiating When the Rules Suddenly Change

success of the American F-86 to two factors. First, the F-86 had hydraulic controls that allowed it to transition between activities—climbing, banking, and accelerating—more rapidly than the MiG-15. Second, the F-86 had a bubble canopy... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Wheeler; Sports

05 Feb 2015
Research & Ideas

How New BofA Executives Learn its ’Deep Smarts’

Transfer: Tools for Managing Your Company's Deep Smarts Dorothy Leonard, Walter Swap, and Gavin Barton Bank of America has recognized the need to ensure that leaders get off to a fast start as well as the need to reduce the high rate of failure among newly hired or... View Details

Keywords: Re: Dorothy A. Leonard; Banking

02 Feb 2004
Research & Ideas

Where Does Apple Go From Here?

different product life cycles. Making the transition has been extremely hard. What made the iPod transition easier is that the iPod began as a PC peripheral, even though it's ultimately a consumer... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

11 Jun 2007
Lessons from the Classroom

Teaching the Next Generation of Energy Executives

You may think that being an energy executive—especially a manager in a leading oil company—might be the easiest job around. Just flip the production switch, and watch gas prices head toward $4 a gallon. But students enrolled in Harvard Business School professor Forest... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Energy; Utilities

20 Jan 2017
Research & Ideas

Here’s How Businessman Trump Is Likely to Approach the Presidency

leadership style to “drain the swamp” of the Washington bureaucracy and deliver results for the American people. The United States is not a company, of course, and its citizens are not employees, but voters still were drawn to his... View Details

Keywords: by Christina Pazzanese

December 2007
Background Note

Tools and Tactics for Transformation: Three "Whats" and Three "Hows"

By: James K. Sebenius and Stephen Friedman

Important transformation at Goldman Sachs, where one of the authors was Chairman, required analysis, political leadership, and management in order to fundamentally shift the strategy, people, and culture on a sustainable basis. After describing the actions needed to... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Tactics; Business Strategy; Organizational Culture; Transition; Strategic Planning; Core Relationships; Multinational Firms and Management; Leadership Style; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Private Equity

24 Sep 2014
Op-Ed

Tackling Climate Change Will Cost Less Than We Think

business model, and the transition from a world in which throwing CO2 up the chimney was free to one in which throwing away CO2 is a costly activity. This won't be easy, but it will be easier than we expect. Between 1942 and 1944, for... View Details

Keywords: by Rebecca Henderson; Energy; Utilities

18 Apr 2023
Research & Ideas

What Happens When Banks Ditch Coal: The Impact Is 'More Than Anyone Thought'

think differently and ask new questions,” said Vallée, the Torstein Hagen Associate Professor of Business Administration. He has been focusing recently on finance’s possible role in accelerating the transition to a low-carbon economy. No... View Details

Keywords: by Barbara DeLollis; Financial Services; Mining

March 2017
Case

Swagbucks

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport and Matthew G. Preble

In early 2016, Chuck Davis, chairman and CEO of Prodege LLC, parent company of the brand promotion business Swagbucks, and Josef Gorowitz, Prodege’s founder and president, must decide whether to acquire MyPoints, a competitor to Swagbucks, after the company’s... View Details

17 Jan 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: January 17

90 days to work with your accountant and attorney on confirmatory due diligence. Transition into leadership. After the sale closes, your priorities should be building relationships (with employees, customers, and suppliers) and setting up... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2018
Supplement

Scaling Swagbucks (B)

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport and Matthew G. Preble

“Swagbucks (B),” HBS No. 817123, picks up in mid-2014 following the events described in “Swagbucks (A),” HBS No 817122. Davis and Gorowitz were successful in their efforts to position the company for scale without negatively affecting the company’s foundational... View Details

Keywords: Loyalty Management; Scaling; Scale; Entrepreneurship; Human Resources; Employees; Employee Relationship Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Design; Leading Change; Growth Management; Religion; Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Transition; Leadership; Web Services Industry; Technology Industry