Publications

Find at Harvard

31 Oct 2023
HBS Case

Checking Your Ethics: Would You Speak Up in These 3 Sticky Situations?

Imagine you’re a consultant and you notice a few eyebrow-raising behaviors, such as a colleague who misuses a client’s meal stipend or an executive who screams inappropriately at his staff. Should you step in and speak up? For... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Consulting

30 Aug 2006
Op-Ed

The Compensation Game

Confronting greater media scrutiny and an ever-increasing number of shareholder resolutions focusing on executive pay, Corporate America continues to support current pay practices as a product of "the market." Not too long ago,... View Details

Keywords: by Lucian Bebchuk & Rakesh Khurana

March 2016 (Revised January 2023)
Teaching Note

Carla Ann Harris at Morgan Stanley

By: Lakshmi Ramarajan

This case follows Carla Ann Harris, an African-American executive on Wall Street, from her childhood to the eve of her 20th year at Morgan Stanley. In addition to her professional identity as an investment banker, Harris is also an accomplished gospel singer, an... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Identity; Personal Development and Career; Success; Values and Beliefs; Social Entrepreneurship; Financial Services Industry

October 2023 (Revised February 2024)
Case

Loris

By: Shunyuan Zhang, Das Narayandas, Stacy Straaberg and David Lane

In December 2022, Loris’s executive team considered their go-to-market strategy. Loris was an artificial intelligence (AI) software startup for the customer service industry with two products on the market: 1) Agent Assist which provided customer service agents (CSAs)... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Launch; Product Positioning; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Business Startups; AI and Machine Learning; Applications and Software; Marketing Strategy; Sales; Technology Industry; United States

Sep 12 2019
Testimonial

A Conversation with AMP Women on Applying

April 2019 (Revised June 2019)
Case

Ariadne Labs: Building Impactful Partnerships

By: Ariel D. Stern and Sarah Mehta

In September 2018, the executive team at Ariadne Labs (Ariadne), a Boston-based organization dedicated to improving health systems through the discovery and implementation of simple tools, faced a number of strategic decisions. Chief among them, the seven-year-old... View Details

Keywords: Health; Health Care and Treatment; Innovation and Invention; Social Enterprise; Nonprofit Organizations; Partners and Partnerships; Health Industry; Boston

February 2016
Case

Health Catalyst

By: Kevin Schulman and Suresh Balu

Dan Burton, Health Catalyst CEO (HBS Baker Scholar), and Tom Burton, Health Catalyst Senior Vice President of Product Development and cofounder, closed on a $41 million investment round. Their firm was one of the hottest companies in the health information technology... View Details

Keywords: Service Management; Strategy; Operations Management; Information Technology; Information Management; Entrepreneurship; Service Delivery; Competitive Strategy; Performance; Information Technology Industry; Health Industry

July 2008 (Revised October 2012)
Case

Affinity Plus (A)

By: Dennis Campbell and Peter Tufano

The executive team at Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union has pushed the concept of members first deeply throughout the organization, empowering employees to put member-owners' interests ahead of either the organization's interests or their own interests. As a result of... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Financial Institutions; Financing and Loans; Profit; Cooperative Ownership; Conflict of Interests; Strategy

October 2000 (Revised January 2002)
Case

Individual and the Corporation, The: Kathy Levinson and E*TRADE (A)

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr. and Susan Harmeling

Kathy Levinson, the president and COO of ETRADE and a lesbian mother of two children, must decide whether and how to participate in the "No on Knight" campaign. The campaign opposes California ballot proposition 22, which requires California to recognize only marriages... View Details

Keywords: Conflict of Interests; Leadership; Managerial Roles; Values and Beliefs; Decision Choices and Conditions; Gender; Diversity; Financial Services Industry

August 1991 (Revised March 1993)
Case

Champion International Corp.: Timber, Trade, and the Northern Spotted Owl

By: Forest L. Reinhardt

Champion's forest products division owns timberlands, sawmills, and plywood mills in the Pacific Northwest. The listing of the northern spotted owl as an endangered species, and restrictions on exports of logs from state-owned lands, have disrupted the stumpage, log... View Details

Keywords: Science-Based Business; Natural Environment; Product Marketing; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Government and Politics; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Strategy; Trade; Decisions; Management Teams; Forest Products Industry; North and Central America

June 1988 (Revised July 1989)
Case

John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co.: The Inflation Strategy Task Force (A)

1980 was a critical time for John Hancock with high inflation, high interest rates, increased competition, and the desertion of policy holders seeking new investment opportunities. A new lower level (of vice presidents) task force was set up by the executive committee... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Insurance; Inflation and Deflation; Insurance Industry; United States

02 Feb 2015
News

Rebranding Infosys

08 Sep 2014
News

Harvard Is Hosting a ‘Health Acceleration Challenge’

19 Aug 2019
News

Why “Tell Them Something They Don’t Know” Is Bad Advice in B2B Sales

22 Apr 2015
Video

HBS Fellowships: Diversity in the Field

Research Summary

Research on Small Groups

Professor George recently completed a three-year study of small groups, in conjunction with Douglas M. Baker and Jane L. Cavanaugh. The output of this research was published as part of his new book, True North Groups: A Powerful Path to Personal and Leadership... View Details

October 2009
Case

Don Soderquist: Negotiating the Wal-Mart-P&G Relationship (A)

By: James K. Sebenius and Ellen Knebel

This case describes the negotiations and strategic choices of Don Soderquist, who as Chief Operating Officer of Wal-Mart, helped to forge a major partnership with P&G in the 1980s and 1990s. The case chronicles the challenging barriers to success along with several of... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Style; Partners and Partnerships; Leadership; Value Creation; Problems and Challenges; Management Teams; Retail Industry

Comment

Nothing to See Here: Richard Tedlow Explains Why So Many CEOs Refuse to Confront the Truth

By: Richard S. Tedlow

The article presents an interview with business historian Richard Tedlow on the topic of why chief executive officers (CEOs) sometimes refuse to acknowledge data or information that indicate they need to shift their strategy. He notes that denial is a typical response... View Details

Keywords: Management

Find at Harvard

Read Now

May – June 2006
Article

Choose the Right Measures, Drive the Right Strategy

By: Dennis Campbell

Metrics overload is a common problem that can have serious consequences: Specifically, it can make it difficult for employees to see what actions they should take to execute strategic objectives. Having too many metrics dilutes the focus and invariably means many are... View Details

Keywords: Measurement and Metrics; Strategy; Employees; Customer Satisfaction