Publications

Program

Strategic Marketing for Driving Growth

more business growth. This program is eligible for the Digital Transformation Certificate. Learn More Key Benefits Effective marketing strategy development and implementation is a crucial piece of the puzzle for View Details

07 Jul 2008
Research & Ideas

Innovation Corrupted: How Managers Can Avoid Another Enron

discipline throughout business organizations With respect to strengthening board governance, I argue that a potentially powerful remedy for the governance breakdown that afflicted Enron as a public company... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Energy; Utilities

24 Oct 2023
HBS Case

From P.T. Barnum to Mary Kay: Lessons From 5 Leaders Who Changed the World

believed you could praise people to success.” Bill Wilson: Eliminate ego Bill Wilson isn’t a household name in business circles—and that’s intentional. The founder of Alcoholics Anonymous was adamant that successful View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

April 2009 (Revised May 2009)
Case

Oprah Winfrey

By: Nancy F. Koehn, Erica Helms, Katherine Miller and Rachel Wilcox

The case explores the entrepreneurial journey of Oprah Winfrey, examining how she built an audience for one of the most successful television shows in history; how she created the company, Harpo Productions, that produces that show as well as other media offerings; how... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Entrepreneurship; Leadership; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Personal Development and Career; Strategy; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United States

2019
Working Paper

Who Should Select New Employees, Headquarters or the Unit Manager? Consequences of Centralizing Hiring at a Retail Chain

By: Carolyn Deller and Tatiana Sandino

We examine how changing the allocation of hiring decision rights in a multiunit organization affects employee-firm match quality, contingent on a unit’s circumstances. Our research site, a US retail chain, switched from a decentralized hiring model (hiring by business... View Details

Keywords: Control; Selection; Decentralization; Company Values; Retail Chains; Decision Making; Economics; Geography; Employees; Selection and Staffing; Organizational Design; Situation or Environment; Retail Industry

SSRN

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December 1986 (Revised August 1988)
Case

LifeSpan Inc.: Abbott Northwestern Hospital

Raises the powerful issues of measuring marketing performance in a not-for-profit services setting. Also raises several interesting ethical issues. LifeSpan Inc., a Minneapolis based not-for-profit organization is the parent holding company of three hospitals and... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Ethics; Marketing Communications; Health Care and Treatment; Service Industry; Health Industry; Minneapolis

Web

About the Program - Summer Venture in Management

Harvard Business School Summer Venture in Management About the Program About the Program Curious to know what a “day in the life” of an MBA student is like? Experience it first-hand at the Summer Venture in Management Program! SVMP is an... View Details

2021
Book

The Heart of Business—Leadership Principles for the Next Era of Capitalism

By: Hubert Joly and Caroline Lambert

A remarkable turnaround by a leader with a remarkable philosophy: Find your noble purpose. Put people at the center. Unleash human magic.
"It was fall in Minnesota. It was getting cold and we were supposed to die." This is how Hubert Joly describes the early,... View Details

Keywords: Capitalism; Leadership; Mission and Purpose; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Leading Change

02 May 2000
Research & Ideas

Leading Professional Service Firms

separates professional service firms from other businesses is that the employees are their most important assets. Yet professionals in any field — independent-minded, creative individuals—can be difficult to manage. In LPSF, we use an old... View Details

Keywords: Re: Jay W. Lorsch; Service; Consulting; Accounting

Program

Leadership for Senior Executives

improve your competitive position in the marketplace. Details Build your contextual intelligence Analyze how the environmental context influences how your organization operates and competes Sharpen your contextual intelligence on a micro... View Details

22 Jul 2002
Research & Ideas

Is Performance-Based Pricing the Right Price for You?

services that simultaneously provide greater customer value and higher supplier profitability. We constantly strive to move elements of the relationship from the zero-sum conflict side to the win-win cooperation side to achieve business... View Details

Keywords: by Benson Shapiro; Manufacturing

Steven C. Wheelwright

Steve Wheelwright is the Edsel Bryant Ford Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus at Harvard Business School.

Following his retirement from HBS in 2006, he served with former Dean Kim B. Clark at BYU-Idaho and then from 2007-2015 he served as... View Details

09 Nov 2023
HBS Case

What Will It Take to Confront the Invisible Mental Health Crisis in Business?

health research fund after his son experienced a psychotic break. In the following interview, Cohen, the L.E. Simmons Professor of Business Administration at HBS, discusses why it’s important for View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin; Health

19 Aug 2002
Research & Ideas

Here Comes Internet2—Time to Shed Dot Vertigo

fallacious," Nolan charged. In a lively discussion with about fifty HBS alumni held during reunion weekend this summer, Nolan, who spent a year's sabbatical concentrating on Internet2, described the current state and potential of the beast. Though its View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

2011
Working Paper

The Importance of Work Context in Organizational Learning from Error

By: Lucy H. MacPhail and Amy C. Edmondson

This paper examines the implications of work context for learning from errors in organizations. Prior research has shown that attitudes and behaviors related to error vary between groups within organizations but has not investigated or theorized the ways in which... View Details

Keywords: Judgments; Learning; Business Processes; Organizational Culture; Failure; Performance Improvement; Opportunities; Complexity

April 2005 (Revised June 2005)
Compilation

Boeing 787: The Dreamliner

By: Richard L. Nolan and Suresh Kotha

Boeing dominated the commercial airline manufacturing business since bringing out the first commercial airline jet airliner. But in 2005, it delivered fewer new planes than its fast-moving competitor, Airbus. Boeing responded by transforming its manufacturing business... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Risk Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Air Transportation Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States

April 2018
Teaching Note

InsideSales.com (A) and (B)

By: Frank Cespedes

Teaching Note for HBS Nos. 817-018 and 817-042. InsideSales.com (ISC) has been successful selling its software to small- and medium-sized businesses (SMB). But for various reasons, the founders see “the next stage of growth” as building a scalable sales and service... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Design; Customer Relationship Management; Growth Management; Marketing Strategy; Salesforce Management; Talent and Talent Management; Technology Industry

October 1981 (Revised April 1984)
Case

H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (A)

Relates the April 1979 discovery of improper income transferal practices used at the H.J. Heinz Co. Background data on the company is presented, along with a detailed description of the organizational practices, the management incentive system, and the corporate... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Business Processes; Compensation and Benefits; Manufacturing Industry; Consumer Products Industry