Retirement - Publications - Faculty & Research

06 Nov 2008
Op-Ed

Selling Out The American Dream

zero. Consumer confidence has plummeted with the value of 401(k) plans and retirement nest eggs. Retail sales fell 1.2 percent in September, double the expected decline. Car sales are at a fifteen-year low. And credit card defaults look... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch

03 Jan 2023
What Do You Think?

How Would the Leadership Style of Girl Scouts' Frances Hesselbein Fare Today?

both could be very direct as well. Hesselbein, according to one account, once lectured a class of retiring CEOs that included Alan Mulally, who was out of a job at Boeing prior to becoming CEO of Ford, to stop “whining” about what they... View Details

Keywords: Re: James L. Heskett

05 Oct 2020
Book

Want to Be Happier? Make More Free Time

focus away from success equaling economic growth and toward other measures, including the way they value time for individuals. We need to acknowledge the real and significant costs associated with the cultural obsession with financial growth: rising health care costs,... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

18 Nov 2022
HBS Case

What Does It Take to Safeguard a Legacy in Asset Management?

Last year, the pioneering Black-owned global asset management firm Brown Capital Management found itself at a crossroads. The secret to its success had been a deliberately diverse hiring strategy, but with the looming retirement of its... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Financial Services

11 Oct 2006
What Do You Think?

How Do We Respond to the “Dependency Ratio” Dilemma?

"Short term, the solution is to require companies to fully fund and expense their current retirement contributions/obligations. Ouch!" Gerald Schultz agreed, saying, "I believe that in the end it comes down to 'pay as you... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

25 Jan 2010
Research & Ideas

A Macroeconomic View of the Current Economy

GDP, that is, total aggregate output, the market value of all final goods and services produced. In a sense, all that you (as a country) have is the total output that you produce in a year—your GDP. Sometimes people think if everyone owned lots of stocks and bonds, we... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

06 Oct 2003
Research & Ideas

The Problem with Hedge Funds

way in which the market is changing against the interest of most investors.281 In 2001 the California Public Employees Retirement System, America's largest pension fund, put $1 billion into hedge funds. It was a major stamp of approval.... View Details

Keywords: by D. Quinn Mills

02 May 2022
What Do You Think?

Can the Case Method Survive Another Hundred Years?

source of criticism from those preferring research based on large data bases of quantitative information and advanced analytic techniques. "It can be a living hell for some distinguished CEOs returning to the School thinking that they can begin the transition to View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Education

03 Oct 2007
Research & Ideas

Dealing with the ‘Irrational’ Negotiator

variety of possible constraints exist." Within a few weeks of her promotion, Leslie decided that she would rather quit her job than be treated this poorly. By doing so, she lost 2 years of compensation and also took a hit in her View Details

Keywords: by Deepak Malhotra & Max H. Bazerman

29 Nov 2017
Research & Ideas

How to Succeed in Business (According to a 15th Century Trade Merchant)

In what could be considered the first business how-to book, an Italian merchant from the 1400s advises leaders to be charitable, ethical, and treat people fairly; be modest; look for the right qualities in a wife; be selective in deals; and View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

10 Oct 2012
Research & Ideas

Taking Advantage of Life’s (Few and Far Between) Inflection Points

her future was uncertain now that her professional champion was departing. It was unclear whether her boss had retired of her own volition or had been forced out—or something in between. All Michelle knew was that on an otherwise... View Details

Keywords: Re: Howard H. Stevenson

January 2021 (Revised April 2022)
Case

Best Buy's Corie Barry: Confronting the COVID-19 Pandemic

By: William W. George and Amram Migdal

This case examines the leadership of Corie Barry, the new CEO of Best Buy, with a focus on actions the company took in 2020 to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic. The case includes a history of Best Buy’s strategy and leadership, including the transitions between the... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Change; Disruption; Volatility; Communication; Competency and Skills; Customers; Decision Making; Ethics; Fairness; Moral Sensibility; Values and Beliefs; Finance; Cash Flow; Financial Condition; Financial Liquidity; Goods and Commodities; Corporate Governance; Health Pandemics; Human Resources; Executive Compensation; Employees; Employee Relationship Management; Resignation and Termination; Retention; Selection and Staffing; Innovation and Invention; Jobs and Positions; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Job Design and Levels; Job Interviews; Job Offer; Labor; Employment; Human Capital; Working Conditions; Law; Leadership; Leadership Development; Leadership Style; Management; Business or Company Management; Crisis Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Practices and Processes; Management Style; Management Succession; Management Systems; Management Teams; Risk Management; Operations; Distribution; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Logistics; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Supply Chain; Organizations; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Outcome or Result; Personal Development and Career; Retirement; Work-Life Balance; Planning; Strategic Planning; Problems and Challenges; Relationships; Business and Community Relations; Labor and Management Relations; Risk and Uncertainty; Safety; Science; Strategy; Retail Industry; North and Central America; United States; Minnesota

Citation

Educators

Purchase

31 Jul 2017
HBS Case

It’s Hard to Fix the Family Business Without Offending the Family

1981. Opened in 1992, Pho Hoa has been run with few formal processes in place and no regular income statement reporting, forecasting, or budgeting. Thanh, wanting to take a well-deserved retirement after 25 years of hard work, has named... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Food & Beverage

22 Mar 2013
Research & Ideas

Pulling Campbell’s Out of the Soup

difference. Perhaps just as importantly, he knew his company subscribed to what he preached. "CEOs must lead from in front. And we have to behave our way to more credibility," said Conant, who retired from Campbell in 2011 and... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Food & Beverage

09 Sep 2015
Research & Ideas

Leadership Lessons of the Great Recession: Options for Economic Downturns

by instituting freezes on hiring and wage increases, limiting employee rewards and recognition programs, and reducing the company match to employee 401k retirement accounts. In light of the cost reductions imposed throughout Honeywell,... View Details

Keywords: by Sandra Sucher & Susan Winterberg; Aerospace; Electronics

10 Jul 2007
What Do You Think?

How Much of Leadership Is About Control, Delegation, or Theater?

force in which he permanently retired the badges of several members of his department who had committed a crime "so that no other member of this department will ever have to wear them." When asked about leadership challenges,... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

04 Apr 2012
Research & Ideas

When Founders Recruit Friends and Family as Investors

dare give up. Scott Cook, the founder-CEO of personal-finance software company Intuit, tried to avoid raising capital from friends and family. But 25 failed pitches to professional investors later, he gave in and borrowed from his parents' View Details

Keywords: by Noam Wasserman

23 Jun 2008
Research & Ideas

Innovative Ways to Encourage Personal Savings

Putting together the money for everything from a short-term emergency to retirement is hard enough, a challenge that low- and moderate-income families endure every day. Yet as HBS professor Peter Tufano describes, new and old products... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Financial Services

15 Jun 2007
Research & Ideas

Remembering Alfred Chandler

longer visited HBS with regularity as he was retired from a long life as a prolific academic and professor. I had the privilege of being present at a ceremony honoring Al Chandler after he donated his personal papers to Baker Library. It... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne