New Firms - Publications - Faculty & Research

November 2015 (Revised August 2016)
Case

Unilever's New Global Strategy: Competing through Sustainability

In January 2009, when Paul Polman was appointed CEO of Unilever, he inherited a company in long-term decline at the beginning of a major global financial crisis. As the first outsider ever recruited to lead the company, Polman lost little time in challenging the... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Competitive Strategy; Environmental Sustainability; Consumer Products Industry

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March 2011
Article

The New Path to the C-Suite

By: Boris Groysberg, L. Kevin Kelly and Bryan MacDonald

Job requirements at the top of corporations have changed. Companies have come to expect much more from their C-level executives, who need new and different skills to deal with today's business realities. Exactly what abilities do firms want in their leaders—now and in... View Details

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Leadership; Management Skills; Personal Development and Career

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20 Nov 2018
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New Research and Ideas, November 20, 2018

forthcoming Review of Financial Studies Private Equity and Financial Fragility During the Crisis By: Bernstein, Shai, Josh Lerner, and Filippo Mezzanotti Abstract—Do private equity firms contribute to financial fragility during economic... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

30 Apr 2020
Book

Fighting Climate Change Requires a New Capitalism

Rebecca Henderson spent her young adult years living two lives. At work, she preached the risks of resisting change to MBA students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, drawing on lessons she learned while watching factories close as a management consultant.... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Energy

2020
Working Paper

Should Firms Move Talent from the Geographic Periphery to Hubs? A Strategic Human Capital Perspective

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury, Victoria Sevcenko and Tarun Khanna

A longstanding literature holds that firms should hire and move talent from the geographic periphery to hubs as a means to create value from human capital. They do so, however, at the risk of losing the worker to rivals located in the same geographic hub,... View Details

Keywords: Geographic Location; Selection and Staffing; Employment; Residency; Technology Industry; India

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17 Jan 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: January 17

geographic friction influence FDI and present the key empirical studies and findings. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=52121 January–February 2017 Harvard Business Review Africa's New Generation of... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

22 May 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, May 22, 2018

forthcoming American Economic Review Innovation, Reallocation and Growth By: Acemoglu, Daron, Ufuk Akcigit, Harun Alp, Nicholas Bloom, and William R. Kerr Abstract—We build a model of firm-level innovation, productivity growth, and reallocation featuring endogenous... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

28 Oct 2010
Working Paper Summaries

The Distinct Effects of Information Technology and Communication Technology on Firm Organization

Keywords: by Nicholas Bloom, Luis Garicano, Raffaella Sadun & John Van Reenen; Technology

29 Jan 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, January 29, 2019

and Competitor Response: Evidence from Medical Device Firms By: Ball, George P., Jeffrey T. Macher, and Ariel Dora Stern Abstract— Innovation and new product development are the lifeblood of View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

01 Feb 2001
News

New Fitzhugh Professorship Celebrated

actively pursued his white classmates. His first job after graduation was as an independent salesman in his native Washington, D.C., working for several firms serving the black community. In Washington, Fitzhugh helped to establish the... View Details

Keywords: H. Naylor Fitzhugh (MBA '33); Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

15 Aug 2011
Research & Ideas

A New Model for Business: The Museum

along with companies like Apple, Facebook, and Progressive Insurance, is a leading example of firms that are thinking about customers in a new way—much like how a museum curator orchestrates the experience... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

14 Apr 2023
Blog Post

New MBA Course Asks Students: What’s More Important—Purpose or Profits?

Image: Professor Debora Spar in the classroom. Photo courtesy Natalie Keyssar. In a milestone for the School’s mission to educate leaders who make a difference in the world, all first year students last month completed a short new course... View Details

01 Mar 2004
News

New Horizons for Iraq

This month marks the first anniversary of the American-led invasion of Iraq. Within weeks of their initial military assault, U.S. and coalition troops triumphed over the Iraqi army and took on a new mission — rebuilding a country... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons; James E. Aisner; Julia Hanna; National Security and International Affairs; Government

November 2003 (Revised April 2004)
Background Note

Why Consumers Don't Buy: The Psychology of New Product Adoption

By: John T. Gourville

Looks at the consumer psychology of new product adoption. Identifies a key reason why consumers do not adopt innovations as quickly as developers think they should--an irrational resistance to behavioral change. Identifies strategies for firms to manage and overcome... View Details

Keywords: Product Launch; Consumer Behavior; Social Psychology

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This paper investigates how executive employment contracts influence corporate financial policies during the final year of the contract term, using a new, hand-collected data set of CEO employment agreements. On the one hand, the impending... View Details

17 Jan 2018
Research & Ideas

If the CEO’s High Salary Isn't Justified to Employees, Firm Performance May Suffer

onto, but at the same time, it’s not really fair, and it won’t capture what regulators are hoping to capture,” Rouen says. Once the new SEC disclosure rule comes into play, firms should brace for some worker... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

21 Feb 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: February 21

characterized by underdeveloped institutions and frequent environmental shifts. Yet they also contain many firms that have survived over generations. How are firms in weak institutional environments able to... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

04 Sep 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, September 4, 2018

return for selling data to utilities? Purchase this case:https://hbsp.harvard.edu/product/715455-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 719-411 Edward Jones: Implementing the Solutions Approach In 2017 Edward Jones, the largest brokerage View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

07 Nov 2017
First Look

New Research and Ideas: November 7, 2017

building and learning for a new firm in a nascent industry. Through a longitudinal study of a new firm in the nascent smart city industry, we... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

February 2021
Case

Board Director Dilemmas—New Year, New Timing

By: Suraj Srinivasan, David G. Fubini and Amram Migdal

This case focuses on a junior partner at a private equity (PE) firm who sits on the board of one of the firm’s portfolio companies. In the case, the board member asks the CEO to accelerate a cost-cutting initiative and looks to a seasoned industry veteran who is also a... View Details

Keywords: Board Directors; Governing and Advisory Boards; Strategy; Decision Making

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