Structural Balance - Publications - Faculty & Research

10 Jul 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, July 10, 2018

simultaneously manage the seemingly contradictory dualities of the job: integrating direct decision-making with indirect levers like strategy and culture, balancing internal and external constituencies, proactively pursuing an agenda... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

August 2015 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Amazon.com, 2021

By: John R. Wells, Benjamin Weinstock, Gabriel Ellsworth and Galen Danskin

In February 2021, Amazon announced 2020 operating profits of $22,899 million, up from $2,233 million in 2015, on sales of $386 billion, up from $107 billion five years earlier (see Exhibit 1). The shareholders expressed their satisfaction (see Exhibit 2), but not all... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Analysis; Retail; E-commerce; Amazon; Internet; Amazon.com; AmazonFresh; Jeff Bezos; Cloud Computing; Marketplaces; Streaming; E-reader Market; Digital Media; Mobile App; Online Retail; Shipping; Database; Tablet; Kindle; Kindle Fire; Smartphone; Delivery; Digital Platforms; Competition; Internet and the Web; Corporate Strategy; Digital Marketing; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Business Organization; For-Profit Firms; Film Entertainment; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Music Entertainment; Television Entertainment; Profit; Revenue; Global Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Taxation; Business History; Human Resources; Resignation and Termination; Books; Human Capital; Working Conditions; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Management Practices and Processes; Industry Growth; Industry Structures; Media; Distribution; Distribution Channels; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Infrastructure; Logistics; Product Development; Supply Chain; Supply Chain Management; Organizational Culture; Public Ownership; Work-Life Balance; Problems and Challenges; Labor and Management Relations; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Diversification; Expansion; Integration; Horizontal Integration; Vertical Integration; Information Infrastructure; Information Technology; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Price; Applications and Software; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Working Capital; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Value and Value Chain; Retail Industry; Advertising Industry; Distribution Industry; Electronics Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Information Technology Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; Music Industry; Publishing Industry; Shipping Industry; Technology Industry; Video Game Industry; Web Services Industry; United States; Washington (state, US); Seattle

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Leadership - Faculty & Research

people (zones of attention), between feedback and evaluation (zones of judgment), between decision rights and improvement rights (zones of slack), and for set periods of experimentation (zones of time). By balancing transparency and... View Details

09 Feb 2023
Blog Post

The Sixth Year of Short Intensive Programs (SIPs) at HBS

experiences of leading investors and entrepreneurs, including Erik Snyder of the Drawdown Fund, Scott Jacobs of Generate and Rodi Guidero of Breakthrough Energy. The final phase of the SIP focused on common challenges faced by climate start-ups, such as View Details

03 Mar 2015
First Look

First Look: March 3

by the financial sector, a possible housing bubble, and an approaching referendum on Scotland's independence. Moreover, many claimed the UK was at risk of secular stagnation, a slowdown in economic growth caused by a structural deficiency... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

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Business History - Faculty & Research

how to allocate the ZEISS Group’s resources to the different units including SMT, the new CEO of ZEISS SMT, Andreas Pecher, was to decide on how to best position ZEISS SMT for the future. How should they balance what was potentially best... View Details

15 Feb 2011
First Look

First Look: Feb. 15

at the firm level. Second, differences in ownership structure across countries, measured by the difference in sectoral vertical integration indices, are smaller in sectors with similar levels of protection. Finally, ownership View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

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Entrepreneurial Management Curriculum - Faculty & Research

Business Model . Designing organizational structures and processes that allocate responsibilities, promote cross-functional integration, recruit/develop/promote employees, acquire critical resources and financing, and budget/monitor... View Details

31 Mar 2009
First Look

First Look: March 31, 2009

Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/09-105.pdf Earnings Quality and Ownership Structure: The Role of Private Equity Sponsors Author:Sharon P. Katz Abstract This study explores how firms' ownership structures affect their... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

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Curriculum - Business & Environment

science and impact of net zero, and the need and ways to build a sustainable future. Students will explore the balance of maintaining basic development goals, such as improving infrastructure, reducing poverty, energy access, housing,... View Details

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Generative AI - Alumni

AI-generated materials to maintain ethical standards and authenticity. Striking a balance between leveraging technological advancements and upholding personal responsibility ensures that GenAI becomes an efficient and ethical tool in the... View Details

09 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

It’s Time to Reset Decision-Making in Your Organization

a hierarchy that flows from the most enduring element, the corporate mission, through values, vision, strategy, and, ultimately, the implementation and monitoring of that strategy via tools such as balanced scorecards and key performance... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Sarah Abbott

15 Jan 2013
First Look

First Look: January 15

Structure in Small-Scale Finance Authors:Carpena, Fenella, Shawn Cole, Jeremy Shapiro, and Bilal Zia Publication:The World Bank Economic Review Abstract Microfinance, the provision of small individual and business loans, has experienced... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

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Research - Behavioral Finance & Financial Stability

that credit growth dynamics and bank lending channels vary across these loan types using credit-registry data for Spain and Peru. The effects of monetary policy propagating through banks’ balance sheets are primarily driven by cash flow... View Details

09 Oct 2001
Research & Ideas

Driven: How Human Nature Shapes Organizations

personal lives, but they often need the help of well-managed social institutions to succeed. Leaders have several structural devices they can use to promote this balance. For example, they can balance... View Details

Keywords: by Paul Lawrence & Nitin Nohria

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About - Behavioral Finance & Financial Stability

market conditions? Should the Federal Reserve use its balance sheet to pursue a financial stability objective? What role does policy have in curbing investor sentiment? Extrapolation and Neglected Risks What are the sources of beliefs and... View Details

27 Jan 2009
First Look

First Look: January 27, 2009

models and policies are incomplete without taking into account the bargaining process and, in particular, the way in which this process interacts with underlying control structures in the household. Testing the Commitment Hypothesis in... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

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Alumnae Circles - Alumni

STRUCTURE Groups meet monthly, at a location of their choosing, to talk about their lives in an atmosphere of intimacy and trust. Meeting structure and topics of discussion vary greatly from group to group,... View Details

29 Mar 2022
Book

5 Qualities That Help Companies Thrive for Decades—Even Centuries

minute, and then builds up creating an asset on the balance sheet,” he says. 3. Companies innovate to have a positive impact on society Leaders who leave legacies head enterprises that make creating public good a priority. They innovate... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

2013
Working Paper

These Are the Good Old Days: Foreign Entry and the Mexican Banking System

By: Stephen Haber and Aldo Musacchio

In 1997, the Mexican government reversed long-standing policies and allowed foreign banks to purchase Mexico's largest commercial banks and relaxed restrictions on the founding of new, foreign-owned banks. The result has been a dramatic shift in the ownership structure... View Details

Keywords: Market Entry and Exit; Balance and Stability; Foreign Direct Investment; Banks and Banking; Society; Economics; Banking Industry; Mexico

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