Publications

October 2000 (Revised December 2002)
Background Note

Note on Customer Management

By: Das Narayandas

Describes a process for managing customers for profit. View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Customer Value and Value Chain; Value

May 2017 (Revised September 2018)
Case

Hilti Fleet Management (A): Turning a Successful Business Model on Its Head

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Oliver Gassmann and Roman Sauer

This case explores the introduction of fleet management in the construction industry by the premium power tools manufacturer Hilti in 2000. Following its customers’ needs, Hilti moved from selling power tools to leasing them as a service. The introduction of the new... View Details

Research Summary

Managing Marketspace Service Interfaces

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

Jeffrey F. Rayport is focusing on the strategic challenges that face businesses selling information-intensive products and services. A key strategic issue in such businesses is the dematerialization of information-intensive products and services as a consequence of... View Details

March 2018
Teaching Note

Project Titan at Northrop Grumman

By: C. Fritz Foley, Lauren G. Pickle, David Lane and F. Katelynn Boland

Teaching Note for HBS No. 215-001. In March of 2011, Northrop Grumman divested shipbuilding assets through the spin-off of Huntington Ingalls Industries. This case reviews many of the key questions faced by Northrop's CEO, CFO, and top management team during this... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Reorganization; Spin Off; Asset Sales; Managing Portfolios Of Businesses; Managing Change; Diversification; Change Management; Restructuring; Corporate Strategy; Financial Strategy; Manufacturing Industry

September – October 2011
Article

Manage the Culture Cycle

By: James L. Heskett

Organizational culture—the shared assumptions, values, and behaviors that determine "how we do things around here"—can be measured and shaped. In organizations with large numbers of customer-facing employees, it can account for up to half of the difference in operating... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Value; Behavior; Retention; Customer Focus and Relationships; Change Management; Learning; Innovation and Invention; Labor

October 2019 (Revised December 2019)
Case

BC Partners: Acuris

By: Victoria Ivashina and Terrence Shu

This case follows Nikos Stathopoulos, Managing Partner of BC Partners, as he and his team evaluate the potential sale of one of BC Partners’ portfolio companies, Acuris. Acuris was a global financial intelligence, news, and data company that had been acquired by BC... View Details

Keywords: Fund Management; Fund Raising; Leveraged Buyout; Buyout; Portfolio Management; Operations Improvement; Exit; Exit Strategy; Valuation Ratios; Finance; Private Equity; Leveraged Buyouts; Operations; Performance Improvement; Acquisition; Valuation

April 2008
Case

Campbell and Bailyn's Boston Office: Managing the Reorganization

By: Anne Donnellon and Dun Gifford Jr

Ken Winston, the regional sales manager at a securities brokerage firm, has reorganized his generalist salespeople into Key Account Teams (KAT) to increase sales of specialized, higher-margin fixed income products. Winston is also implementing a new corporate... View Details

15 Dec 2003
Research & Ideas

The New Global Business Manager

coordinating operations that were no longer independent of the center nor dependent on the center. The new relationship is one of coordinated interdependence. Q: What challenges do you foresee global View Details

Keywords: by Cynthia Churchwell

Article

The Relationship Between Workplace Stressors and Mortality and Health Costs in the United States

By: Joel Goh, Jeffrey Pfeffer and Stefanos A. Zenios

Even though epidemiological evidence links specific workplace stressors to health outcomes, the aggregate contribution of these factors to overall mortality and health spending in the United States is not known. In this paper, we build a model to estimate the excess... View Details

Keywords: Occupational Health; Health Costs; Mortality; Applied Optimization; Health

Find at Harvard

July 2021
Article

Big Data for Social Benefits: Innovation as a Mediator of the Relationship between Big Data and Corporate Social Performance

By: Goran Calic and Maryam Ghasemaghaei

Over the last decade, the use big data in firms has seen a rapid increase. Whilst scholars have begun to unpack the relationship between big data utilisation and financial performance, significant uncertainty exists about the ethical uses of this new asset. Whether... View Details

Keywords: Analytics and Data Science; AI and Machine Learning; Performance Improvement; Organizational Change and Adaptation

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April 2014
Article

Who Lives in the C-Suite? Organizational Structure and the Division of Labor in Top Management

By: Maria Guadalupe, Hongyi Li and Julie Wulf

Top management structures in large U.S. firms have changed significantly since the mid-1980s. While the size of the executive team—the group of managers reporting directly to the CEO—doubled during this period, this growth was driven primarily by an increase in... View Details

Keywords: Communication; Functions; Centralization; M-form; Hierarchy; Top Management Team; C-Suite; Activities; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Diversification; Managerial Roles; Organizational Design; Information Technology; Organizational Structure; Management Teams; United States

02 Nov 2016
HBS Seminar

Antoinette Schoar, MIT Sloan School of Management

June 2002
Background Note

Note on Customer Management

By: Das Narayandas

Lays out a framework for the management of customers using examples of forms in a variety of industries. View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Framework

July 1977 (Revised April 1995)
Background Note

Managing a Task Force

Describes several principles for improving the effectiveness of internal task forces. Suggests a number of guidelines for starting up a task force, conducting the first meeting, managing the group's activities, and completing the project. View Details

Keywords: Management; Groups and Teams

12 Apr 2015
News

Actively managed exchange traded funds are the NextShares big thing

October 2010
Case

CDG: Managing in China's Economic Transformation

By: Roy Y.J. Chua, Shaohui Chen and Lisa Kwan

China Data Group (CDG) is a leading business processes outsourcing company based in Beijing, China. Roc Yang, chairman of CDG, had to confront a dilemma when he discovered that one of his senior managers gave a gift to a potential client in an effort to win a large... View Details

Keywords: Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Management Practices and Processes; Emerging Markets; Negotiation Deal; Relationships; Networks; Societal Protocols; China

September 2008 (Revised June 2010)
Case

Hearts On Fire - Brand Development Manager

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Benson P. Shapiro

Hearts On Fire, a successful branded diamond producer, established the position of Brand Development Manager (BDM) to build the company's presence, sales, and relationships with its retail customers. After one year, the CEO, CFO and President must evaluate the impact... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Investment Return; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Business Processes; Salesforce Management; Business Strategy