Publications

31 May 2004
Research & Ideas

How Team Leaders Show Support–or Not

in companies from a few different industries, in order to generalize our results as much as possible. Thus, we studied nine teams from two chemicals firms, nine teams from three high tech firms, and eight teams from two consumer products... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

10 Aug 2015
Research & Ideas

New Medical Devices Get To Patients Too Slowly

innovator. By contrast, previous research by Harvard's David Carpenter and others found that first movers in new chemical drug categories typically receives the fastest FDA approval, with every follow-on drug in the same category taking... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Health; Technology

03 Oct 2011
Research & Ideas

Transforming Manufacturing Waste into Profit

It's been said that "one man's trash is another man's treasure." HBS Assistant Professor Deishin Lee, however, has taken that old adage a step further in her recent working paper Turning Waste into By-Product by showing how it's possible for companies to turn... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Manufacturing

March 1978 (Revised February 1991)
Case

Caustic Soda in Japan (A)

By: Louis T. Wells Jr.

Keywords: Chemicals; Chemical Industry; Japan

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June 2008 (Revised May 2017)
Case

Cook Composites and Polymers Co.

By: Deishin Lee, Michael W. Toffel and Rachel Gordon

This case describes how a company improves resource efficiency and process quality in its manufacturing process by developing a waste by-product into a new product. The case describes how CCP cleans production equipment between batches using styrene, which becomes a... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Product Development; Business Processes; Performance Efficiency; Natural Environment; Wastes and Waste Processing; Pollutants; Environmental Sustainability; Chemical Industry; Manufacturing Industry

10 Sep 2001
Research & Ideas

Do You Have Change Fatigue?

Mintzberg argues that the best kind of leader doesn't try to effect much change. Rather, she functions like a queen bee, which "does nothing but make babies and exude a chemical that keeps everything together." It is the other... View Details

Keywords: by Nick Morgan

September–October 2020
Article

Social-Impact Efforts That Create Real Value

By: George Serafeim

Until the mid-2010s few investors paid attention to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data—information about companies’ carbon footprints, labor policies, board makeup, and so forth. Today the data is widely used by investors. How can organizations create... View Details

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Read Now

21 Nov 2015
HBS Case

HBS Cases: Stella McCartney Combines High Fashion with Environmental Values

chemicals and water that you use to produce the items, but also the waste. People throw away 90 percent of what they are going to buy in the next two years. So it’s just amazing. In the US and in the UK, people throw away about 30 kilos... View Details

Keywords: by Brian Kenny; Fashion

26 Jun 2017
Research & Ideas

How Cellophane Changed the Way We Shop for Food

cellophane accounted for 10 percent of DuPont’s sales and 25 percent of its profits. “Between 1925 and 1938, its return on investment averaged 36 percent, over twice that of chemically similar rayon,” says Hisano, citing the book Science... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Food & Beverage; Retail; Advertising

05 Jul 2006
Research & Ideas

The Accidental Innovator

Companies spend many hundreds of billions of dollars on R&D each year, but the microwave oven was conceived from a melted candy bar, saccharin from an accidental chemical spill, and the Daguerre photo process via a shattered... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert

January 2017
Case

Danaher Corporation, 2007–2017

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

On July 2, 2016, Danaher Corporation completed the spinoff of Fortive Corporation. The previous day, Danaher’s stock price had reached an all-time high. In 2015, Danaher had decided to split off its test and measurement, fuel and fleet management, and automation... View Details

May 2022
Case

Honeywell: Transforming a Century Old Industrial

By: William W. George, Michael Norris and John Masko

In late 2021, Darius Adamczyk, Chairman and CEO of Honeywell is considering the changes he has made to the company since he took over the top leadership position in 2017. The company he had inherited from his predecessor, David Cote, was seen by most as a... View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Transformation; Technological Innovation; Leading Change; Business Strategy; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Organization; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry; North Carolina; New Jersey

28 May 2020
Research & Ideas

Coronavirus Could Create a 'Bankruptcy Pandemic'

after Lehman Brothers’ collapse ushered in the Global Financial Crisis. Lyondell was the world’s third-largest diversified chemicals company, with $55 billion in annual revenues and operations in 25 countries. Hit by a one-two punch of... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Financial Services; Banking

14 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

Restarting Under Uncertainty: Managerial Experiences from Around the World

adjusted to completely new work and personal situations." Case 4: Commitment to employees’ mental well-being and fairness Chemical and materials companies are an essential part of their customers’ supply chains. Guaranteeing business... View Details

Keywords: by Raffaella Sadun, Andrea Bertoni, Alexia Delfino, Giovanni Fassio, and Mariapaola Testa

January 2020
Case

SK Group: Social Progress Credits

By: George Serafeim, Ethan Rouen and David Freiberg

SK Group was one of the largest companies South Korea. A family-run conglomerate consisting of around 120 subsidiaries and employing more than 100,000, SK was tightly knit into the fabric of Korean society. SK viewed their future success as contingent upon the strength... View Details

15 Jun 2007
Research & Ideas

Remembering Alfred Chandler

Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industries. In his lifetime, he produced a range of books, edited collections, and articles covering railways, management, global competition, anthracite coal, the career of Alfred P. Sloan, the nature of... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

September 2013 (Revised August 2015)
Background Note

Leadership and Teaming

By: Ethan Bernstein

Small differences in the leadership of teams can have large consequences for the success of their efforts. Many initiatives fail not because of a fatal error in judgment or insufficient ideas, knowledge, motivation, or capabilities to deliver a solution. They fail... View Details

July 2020
Case

Amanda and Kristen: Mented Cosmetics

By: Steven Rogers, Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Alterrell Mills

The co-founders (Black HBS alumnae) of an e-commerce beauty startup explore the unmet needs within the beauty industry. This case study examines the entrepreneurial opportunities that come from identifying an underserved market, specifically within the Black community... View Details