Publications

November 1993 (Revised October 1995)
Case

Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products

Sunrise's CEO must decide whether to intervene in a decision by a division, Guardian Products, to introduce a new lightweight standard wheelchair. Guardian wants to introduce the wheelchair to complement its line of commodity crutches, walkers, and other patient aids.... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Competition; Corporate Strategy; Business Divisions; Organizational Culture; Decision Making; Product Marketing; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

10 Nov 2008
What Do You Think?

How Much Can You Ask of Your Customers?

encouraging, how and when we set overall rules for encouraging (volunteerism) and how we plan to assess, monitor, and manage need to (be) addressed." Alden Cushman added: "how information is collected, put into context, prioritized, and impacts business View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

18 Jun 2007
Op-Ed

Leveling the Executive Options Playing Field

treatment of corporate income appears to make the United States somewhat anomalous by international standards. By itself, this international experience is informative but hardly decisive as the United States... View Details

Keywords: by Mihir Desai

02 Aug 2006
Research & Ideas

Investor Protection: The Czech Experience

think hard about partner selection, deal structuring, and operational decisions when expropriation is a key risk. Second, it's an instructive example for economics and legal scholars who have begun to emphasize the role of institutions in... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Media & Broadcasting; Entertainment & Recreation

15 Sep 2023
News

Arthur C. Brooks and Oprah Winfrey in Conversation: Build the Life You Want

30 Apr 2001
Research & Ideas

Entering the Age of Alliances

in K-12 education, has brought to a collaboration with Hewlett Packard (HP) high credibility and access to key curriculum decision makers in the public education system. A leading designer, manufacturer, and service provider of products... View Details

Keywords: by James Austin

08 Oct 2014
Research & Ideas

Who Is the Chief Sustainability Officer?

opposite: He delegates decision rights and makes functions and business units accountable. "What companies are doing at this stage is refocusing their strategy from an inward perspective to an outward... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Manufacturing

15 Sep 2011
Research & Ideas

High Ambition Leadership

and physical assets, not creating social value." Higher-ambition leaders, as the authors call them, also make decisions about long-term relationships with all their stakeholders in mind. "Consider United... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

October 1988
Case

Agrico, Inc.: A Software Dilemma

By: F. Warren McFarlan

An information systems vice president has one hour to make an ethical decision: should a software program, left inadvertently on the company's computer, be copied and stored? Copying the program would protect clients' assets, but it seems to violate the vendor... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Ethics; Contracts; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Business and Shareholder Relations; Information Technology Industry

October 2003 (Revised April 2006)
Background Note

Moral Reasoning: A Practical Guide for Leaders

By: Sandra J. Sucher

We encounter moral or ethical challenges in our professional lives, in our close relationships, and as members of the broader communities that we are part of. This methodology demonstrates how moral reasoning works and how it can be integrated into a problem-solving... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Moral Sensibility; Management Systems; Problems and Challenges; Civil Society or Community

April 2001 (Revised July 2001)
Case

Verge Software (A)

By: Dorothy A. Leonard and Elizabeth Kind

Scott Rozic, CEO of start-up Verge Software, has just told his board that he is taking the company in a totally new direction, moving from enterprise knowledge management software to Internet direct marketing. This case covers the start-up of the business, and Rozic's... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Investment; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business or Company Management; Business Strategy; Technological Innovation; Applications and Software; Management Teams; Governing and Advisory Boards; Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Product Development; Information Technology Industry; United States

December 1961 (Revised January 1994)
Case

Plowman Poultry Farm

By: Samuel L. Hayes III

A poultry farmer wanted to expand production greatly and sought a large extension of his line of credit from his bank in addition to his existing loan on which he had not made payment. The Board of Directors must review a detailed account of events leading to this... View Details

Keywords: Governing and Advisory Boards; Animal-Based Agribusiness; Expansion; Decision Choices and Conditions; Financing and Loans; Commercial Banking; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

Find at Harvard

23 Apr 2007
Research & Ideas

Are Great Teams Less Productive?

as a process of cascading team learning activities—independently carried out but interdependent in their impact on company performance. Different types of teams or groups face different learning needs and challenges. A leadership team may face the need to View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert

2014
Working Paper

Don't Take 'No' for an Answer: An Experiment with Actual Organ Donor Registrations

By: Judd B. Kessler and Alvin E. Roth

Over 10,000 people in the U.S. die each year while waiting for an organ. Attempts to increase organ transplantation have focused on changing the registration question from an opt-in frame to an active choice frame. We analyze this change in California and show it... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Health Care and Treatment; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Health Industry

Read Now

August 1985
Case

Bob Malott and Product Liability Law Reform

Robert Malott, Chairman and CEO of FMC, must decide whether or not to continue his work on product liability law reform, an issue on which he has worked for almost 10 years. Malott must decide how extensive his own involvement should be and what arguments he can or... View Details

Keywords: Management; Decision Choices and Conditions; Personal Development and Career; Legal Liability