Publications

March 2015
Supplement

Interview: Iz-Lynn Chan at Far East Organization

By: Linda A. Hill and Anthony Mayo

Contains excerpts from an interview with Iz-Lynn Chan, former assistant director of retail business group and service quality and vice president of Far East retail consultancy for Far East Organization, a private real estate developer group in Singapore. Chan discusses... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Retail Industry; Real Estate Industry; Singapore

26 Mar 2006
Research & Ideas

The Office of Strategy Management

experience is also vital, since the essence of good strategy execution is about "getting things done" and people who understand the relationship between strategy and operational reality will make enormous contributions to the... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

June 1992 (Revised September 1993)
Case

Serendipity Software

Two partners, Anne Salpryn and Tom Hilliard, successfully develop a creative software company. While Anne becomes more managerially oriented, Tom wants to remain a software project creator. The partnership becomes jeopardized as Tom's personal life begins to fall apart... View Details

Keywords: Partners and Partnerships; Entrepreneurship; Software; Leadership Style; Gender Characteristics; Conflict and Resolution; Information Technology Industry

August 15, 2014
Article

Can an Outside CEO Run a Family-Owned Business?

By: Josh Baron and Rob Lachenauer

This article explores the intricate dynamics that often characterize family-owned businesses, shedding light on key archetypes that play prominent roles within these organizations. Using a narrative approach, the article illustrates the challenges faced by leaders... View Details

Keywords: Family Ownership; Personal Characteristics; Family and Family Relationships; Management Practices and Processes

Register to Read

February 2001 (Revised October 2002)
Background Note

Entrepreneurial History: A Conceptual Overview

By: Nancy F. Koehn

Analyzes HBS cases on five entrepreneurs and the companies they built: Josiah Wedgwood, Henry Heinz, Marshall Field, Howard Schultz of Starbucks, and Michael Dell. These five cases and their accompanying teaching notes comprise a course module on entrepreneurial... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Demand and Consumers; Competition; Business History; Entrepreneurship; Customer Focus and Relationships; Business Strategy; Society

April 2009 (Revised July 2010)
Case

Corporate Solutions at Jones Lang LaSalle (2001)

By: Ranjay Gulati and Lucia Menzer Marshall

Peter Barge, CEO of the newly created Corporate Solutions Group of Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), is executing a restructuring of the U.S. corporate real estate services division that will enable the company to offer its clients integrated solutions. Barge has created an... View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Restructuring; Customer Relationship Management; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Corporate Strategy; Integration

February 2020
Case

Leading Change in Talent at L'Oréal

By: Lakshmi Ramarajan, Vincent Dessain and Emer Moloney

Jean-Claude Le Grand just stepped into a new role as Executive Vice-President for Human Resources at the global cosmetics company, L’Oréal. He is now responsible for the hiring, development, promotion, and retention of 83,000 employees worldwide. The highly successful... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Business Headquarters; Business Divisions; Business Organization; Change; Change Management; Transformation; Competency and Skills; Experience and Expertise; Talent and Talent Management; Demographics; Diversity; Gender; Nationality; Multinational Firms and Management; Human Resources; Employees; Recruitment; Retention; Selection and Staffing; Innovation and Management; Jobs and Positions; Employment; Human Capital; Leadership; Leadership Development; Leadership Style; Leading Change; Management Practices and Processes; Marketing; Brands and Branding; Product Marketing; Organizations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Personal Development and Career; Planning; Strategic Planning; Problems and Challenges; Networks; Social Psychology; Attitudes; Power and Influence; Social and Collaborative Networks; Business Strategy; Advertising Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Consumer Products Industry; France; Paris

06 Jun 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas: June 6, 2017

grocery and dry goods, such as canned foods and boxed breakfast cereals. It was not until after World War II that the majority of American grocers adopted self-service to meat and produce sections. Business historians have explored the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

03 May 2022
Research & Ideas

Desperate for Talent? Consider Advancing Your Own Employees First

Job openings in the United States continue to hover at record high levels, exacerbated by the Great Resignation and a sputtering emergence from the pandemic. Competition remains fierce among companies struggling to find qualified workers. Yet many employers,... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

June 1999 (Revised February 2013)
Case

The California Wine Cluster

By: Michael E. Porter and Gregory C Bond

Describes the California wine cluster, or the group of interconnected wineries, grape growers, suppliers, service providers, and wine-related institutions located in California. Also describes the wine cluster in France, Italy, Australia, and Chile, the four other... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Geographic Location; Industry Clusters; Business and Government Relations; Competition; Food and Beverage Industry; California

31 Oct 2011
Research & Ideas

The Most Powerful Workplace Motivator

tell you that the world of business is not so different. “It really was all about the recognition of and comparison with their peers, and many of them were willing to pay for it.” "This is why MBA programs send out lists of average... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

October 2019 (Revised January 2020)
Case

Fixing Facebook: Fake News, Privacy, and Platform Governance

By: David Yoffie and Daniel Fisher

Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook based on the idea that connecting people was a fundamentally good thing—and a way to turn a handsome profit. But from the beginning, Facebook received criticism both for how it handled user privacy and how it curated user-generated... View Details

Keywords: Platform; Governance; Privacy; Internet and the Web; Corporate Governance; Ethics; Business and Government Relations; Strategy; Digital Platforms; Web Services Industry

14 Aug 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, August 14, 2018

Norton Abstract—We identify and document a novel construct—pettiness, or intentional attentiveness to trivial details—and examine its (negative) implications in interpersonal relationships and social exchange. Seven studies show that... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

April 2008 (Revised May 2011)
Case

Leading Citigroup (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine, Aldo Sesia and Carin-Isabel Knoop

The (A) case describes a series of controversial events and alleged misdeeds that placed Citigroup in the public spotlight and launched investigations into the company's business practices by regulators in Japan and Europe in the fall of 2004. CEO Chuck Prince must... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Leadership; Organizational Culture; Business and Government Relations; Reputation; Japan; Europe

31 Jan 2007
HBS Case

When Good Teams Go Bad

What could better symbolize high-level business performance than an eight-oared crew team rowing in perfect unison, their boat powered by a selfless collaboration of strength, skill, and shared purpose? It's no wonder that advertisers... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons

04 Apr 2012
Research & Ideas

When Founders Recruit Friends and Family as Investors

his new book, The Founder's Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup, Harvard Business School Associate Professor Noam Wasserman tells readers how to anticipate, avoid, and, if necessary, recover from the... View Details

Keywords: by Noam Wasserman

19 Jul 2016
First Look

July 19, 2016

might be appropriate to redesign (“refactor”) a system, to reduce what has been called “architectural debt.” Unfortunately, we lack robust data by which to evaluate the relationship between architectural design choices and system... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

July 2016
Supplement

Mahindra Tool: Project Economics

By: Joseph B. Fuller and Christopher Payton

The case describes Mahindra Lifespace Developers’ (MLDL), a unit of Indian conglomerate Mahindra and Mahindra, foray into the affordable housing segment. MLDL sees a huge opportunity in selling apartments to the burgeoning population of urban workers, which is badly... View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Business Startups; Development Economics; Developing Countries and Economies; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Social Entrepreneurship; Housing; Emerging Markets; Business and Government Relations; Human Needs; Social Issues; Urban Development; Real Estate Industry; India