Publications

12 May 2021
Book

The Hard Truth About Being a CEO

Because they’re so busy and often surrounded by people, it feels as if they’re engaged and involved. Similarly, CEOs receive a stream of communication from a variety of sources, so they may not realize that they’re filtering out... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

Web

Entrepreneurship - Faculty & Research

the contradictory effects of social value and entrepreneurial narratives, showing that these narratives can instead be successfully combined in the presence of signals of venture quality and community embeddedness. We show that there is... View Details

Research Summary

Overview

By: Natalia Rigol

My research focuses primarily on how to design, target, and deliver financial products to the poor, and, in particular, how financial inclusion can improve the socio-economic position of women. My projects have analyzed how the design and delivery of microfinance... View Details

2023
Working Paper

How Wicked Problems Drive Business Performance: A Review of the Academic Literature

By: Caroline Adelson, Charlotte Kuller, Cate Tompkins, Ellora Sarkar, Samantha Price and Marco Iansiti

Recent years have seen a rise in the number of businesses engaged in the pursuit of “purposeful” activities – that is, activities that engage with the broader community in ways that expand beyond the pursuit of shareholder value. Many of these activities involve... View Details

Keywords: Wicked Problems; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Social Issues; Performance

June 2019 (Revised July 2019)
Case

Building a Meritocracy at Alghanim Industries

By: Paul M. Healy, Susanna Gallani and Esel Çekin

Building on his father’s legacy, Omar Alghanim (MBA 2002) had been working on strengthening a performance-driven culture based on meritocracy in the family business, Alghanim Industries. The task had been particularly challenging because of traditional Middle East... View Details

Keywords: Meritocracy; Social Norms; Family Business; Organizational Culture; Performance; Diversity; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Middle East; Kuwait

Educators

Purchase

Article

Enfranchisement of Service Workers

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger and James Heskett

Enfranchisement is achieved through an integration of empowerment with methods of pay for performance. Evidence from Ito Yokado Group in Japan and Nordstrom in the US demonstrates the positive effects of enfranchisement. Successful efforts to enfranchise employees: 1.... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Franchise Ownership; Employees; Compensation and Benefits; Service Industry; Japan; United States

2008
Article

Linking Crisis Management and Leadership Competencies: The Role of Human Resources Development

The problem and the solution. Most executives are aware of the negative consequences associated with an organizational crisis and focus on communications and public relations as a reactive strategy. However, many neglect the other leadership responsibilities... View Details

Keywords: Leadership Development; Crisis Management; Human Resources; Experience and Expertise

April 2006 (Revised March 2007)
Case

Drexel Burnham Lambert (A): "The Smartest People on Wall Street Can be Had"

By: Boris Groysberg, Anahita Hashemi and Brendan Reed

In February 1990, Drexel Burnham Lambert declared bankruptcy amid a slew of scandals. Equities chief Arthur Kirsch hoped to keep his high-performing 600-person team intact. Could he find a company that would take on such a massive group hire? Competitors were already... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Decision Choices and Conditions; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Selection and Staffing; Leadership; Negotiation; Groups and Teams; Power and Influence; Society

Web

About the Project - Managing the Future of Work

outdated workforce development models and human resource practices. Instead, they will need to embrace new ideas, create new institutions, and forge new alliances with external stakeholders—in ways that build competitive advantage for the firm and strengthen the View Details

September 2018
Article

Rumors and Refugees: How Government-Created Information Vacuums Undermine Effective Crisis Management

By: Melissa Carlson, Laura Jakli and Katerina Linos

Although more than 800,000 displaced people arrived in Greece by sea in 2015, fewer than 5 percent applied for asylum in this first country of arrival. Instead, they either traveled northward informally or remained in Greece in legal limbo. The resultant chaotic... View Details

Keywords: Refugees; Governance Compliance; Knowledge Dissemination; Policy; Crisis Management; Communication; Greece

Web

Online Business Courses & Certifications | HBS Online

as balance sheets and income statements. 8 weeks, 6–8 hrs/week Enroll by June 12 $1,850 Certificate Leading with Finance Professor Mihir Desai Build an intuitive understanding of financial principles to better communicate with key... View Details

Research Summary

The Origins, Current State, and Future of Capitalism

By: Sophus A. Reinert

Starting with the dawn of market capitalism in Renaissance Italy, Professor Reinert works at the intersection of economic ideas, policies, and practices in history, particularly as seen through the lens of national strategies in international competition. He seeks to... View Details

2024
Working Paper

Bootstrap Diagnostics for Irregular Estimators

By: Isaiah Andrews and Jesse M. Shapiro

Empirical researchers frequently rely on normal approximations in order to summarize and communicate uncertainty about their findings to their scientific audience. When such approximations are unreliable, they can lead the audience to make misguided decisions. We... View Details

Keywords: Mathematical Methods; Decision Choices and Conditions

Register to Read

Article

Syrian Refugees in Turkey and the Politics of Post Conflict Reconciliation

By: Kristin Fabbe and Tolga Sınmazdemir

Finding suitable settlements to civil wars, then proceeding to reconcile and reintegrate civilian communities to realize such settlements and avoid future conflict, poses many seemingly insurmountable challenges. The Syrian conflict is a case in point. Not only has a... View Details

Keywords: Syrian Refugees; Conflict; Postconflict Reconciliation; Refugees; War; Conflict and Resolution; Attitudes; Syria; Turkey

October 2010 (Revised July 2013)
Case

ActionAid International: Globalizing Governance, Localizing Accountability

By: Alnoor Ebrahim and Rachel Gordon

As a global NGO working in 45 countries, ActionAid International aims to eradicate poverty by addressing its underlying causes such as injustice and inequality. This case follows a series of radical transformations implemented by the organization's CEO, Ramesh Singh—a... View Details

Keywords: Local Range; Globalized Firms and Management; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Governance; Leading Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Nonprofit Organizations; Power and Influence; Johannesburg; London

Educators

Purchase

June 2010
Article

Leadership Competencies for Implementing Planned Organizational Change

By: Julie Battilana, Mattia Gilmartin, Anne-Claire Pache, Metin Sengul and Jeffrey A. Alexander

This paper bridges the leadership and organizational change literatures by exploring the relationship between managers' leadership competencies (namely, their effectiveness at person-oriented and task-oriented behaviors) and the likelihood that they will emphasize the... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Competency and Skills; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Planning; Relationships; Business Processes; Projects; Theory; Change; Behavior; Health Industry; United Kingdom