Publications

2006
Working Paper

Corporate Governance and Networks: Bankers in the Corporate Networks of Brazil, Mexico, and the United States circa 1910

By: Aldo Musacchio

October 1987 (Revised March 1989)
Case

With expansion into other countries (Germany), new areas of service (air express), and new ventures (two small acquisitions), UPS had to decide how to adjust its human resource policies to businesses and people which were substantially different from its traditional... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Expansion; Organizational Culture; Human Resources; Service Industry; Germany; United States

07 Nov 2012
HBS Case

HBS Cases: Sir Alex Ferguson--Managing Manchester United

Anita Elberse, a Professor of Business Administration in the Marketing unit at Harvard Business School, studies high performers in creative industries—from basketball superstar LeBron James to pop diva Lady Gaga, from actor Tom Cruise to... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Sports; Entertainment & Recreation

October 2012
Teaching Note

Hill Country Snack Foods Co. (Brief Case)

By: W. Carl Kester and Craig Stephenson

Keywords: United States; Debt Management; Retail Trade; Risk Management; Food; Capital Structure; Borrowing and Debt; Financial Strategy; Retail Industry; United States

November 1998 (Revised July 1999)
Background Note

Business as Stakeholder in Public Education: A History of Business Efforts to Improve Public Schools in the United States

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter

Explores seven roles businesses and business leaders have played with respect to U.S. public education reform historically and today: "owners" helping set the agenda; "investors" donating funds; "customers" hiring graduates; "experts" contributing management know-how;... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Education; Performance Improvement; Business and Community Relations; United States

Find at Harvard

29 Nov 2012
News

What is the State of the U.S. Manufacturing Sector?

May 1991 (Revised December 1994)
Case

State of Connecticut Municipal Swap

By: Andre F. Perold

The state of Connecticut wants to raise $325 million of long-term fixed-rate debt. One alternative is to do this synthetically--issue long-term variable rate debt and enter into an interest rate swap. The case is a vehicle for analyzing various floating rate structures... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Interest Rates; Taxation; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Risk and Uncertainty; New England

2014
Case

Tommy Koh and the United States–Singapore Free Trade Agreement (B)

By: James K. Sebenius and Laurence A. Green

This case details the efforts of Singapore Ambassador-At-Large Tommy Koh to forge a free trade agreement between Singapore and the United States following both nations' support for the initiation of negotiations on a USSFTA. Examining the various barriers and fronts of... View Details

Keywords: Agreements and Arrangements; International Relations; Trade; United States; Singapore

1984
Book

Energy Policy in America Since 1945: A Study of Business-Government Relations

By: Richard Vietor

Follows the history of government intervention in U.S. energy markets from 1945 to the present and shows how shifting market conditions of surplus and shortage and above all, price have played a determining role in the political process and U.S. fuel policy... View Details

Keywords: Political Economy; United States; Postwar Policy; Energy; Energy Sources; Policy; United States

Editorial

United States: Where's the Strategy?

By: A. Zelleke and Justin Talbot Zorn

Keywords: Barack Obama; National Strategy; White House; Strategy; National Security; Government Administration; United States

2018
Working Paper

Information Provision and Innovation: Natural Experiment of Herbal Patent Prior Art Adoption at the United States and European Patent Offices

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury and Tarun Khanna

We exploit a natural experiment to study how codifying information about prior innovation affects subsequent innovation. A codified database of traditional Indian herbal formulations was adopted by the European Patent Office (EPO) and the U.S. Patent and Trademark... View Details

Keywords: Patents; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Ethnicity; Health Care and Treatment; Pharmaceutical Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; China; India

01 Sep 2015
News

State of the Unions

impact in the United States. Real middle-class wage growth requires collective bargaining. “In an era where I think an awful lot of people see wage stagnation as a major problem in the American economy,” he says, the negotiations continue... View Details

Keywords: Janelle Nanos; McDonald's; Walmart

02 May 2008
What Do You Think?

What is the Future of State Capitalism?

Summing Up In state capitalism, is the operative word "capitalism"? State capitalism is neither to be applauded nor feared, judging from the tone of responses to this month's column. That is,... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

Article

Positioning The Nation State

By: John A. Quelch and Katherine E. Jocz

Having a clear, differentiated positioning gives a country an advantage in attracting investment, business and tourism, and in building markets for its exports. Countries like Greece, Spain and Chile are successfully repositioning themselves using coordinated marketing... View Details

Keywords: Sovereign Finance; Country; Product Positioning; Global Strategy; Government and Politics

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May 2012
Case

BoldFlash: Cross-Functional Challenges in the Mobile Division

By: Michael Beer and Rachel Shelton

Roger Cahill has spent less than a year as head of the Mobile Division of BoldFlash, a flash memory component maker. On the corporate level, BoldFlash has adapted to an evolving and difficult marketplace, but the Mobile Division is struggling. The four groups within... View Details

Keywords: United States; Massachusetts; Morale; Human Resource Management; Technology; Leadership; Opportunities; Organizational Design; Conflict and Resolution; Product Development; Change Management; Information Infrastructure; Business Processes; Manufacturing Industry; Electronics Industry; Massachusetts

03 Feb 2016
Research & Ideas

The State of Customer Service Leadership

service sector? What role does it play in the US economy? Heskett: Leadership practices in the service sector deserve attention because this sector represents nearly 90 percent of employment and nearly 80 percent of gross domestic product in the View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner; Retail

December 2000 (Revised May 2001)
Supplement

State of South Carolina

By: Randolph B. Cohen

Spreadsheet to (9-201-061). Presents exhibits 1 and 2. Download only. View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Capital Markets; Investment Return; South Carolina

October 2022 (Revised January 2023)
Case

Century Bank: Closing Time?

By: Lauren Cohen, Grace Headinger and Bill Kwon

Barry Sloane, second-generation Chairman, President, and CEO of his family’s bank, Century Bank, weighed whether to sell to Eastern Bank. As a small regional bank, Century faced a number of challenging trends, such as digitization and market share decline in the coming... View Details

March 1988 (Revised September 1993)
Case

United Services Automobile Association (USAA)

Under the leadership of Robert F. McDermott, USAA has been transformed from a property and casualty insurance company with $200 million in assets in the late 1960s to a $11 billion financial services empire in 1988. The case illustrates the value of having a CEO drive... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Leadership; Information Technology; Financial Services Industry; Insurance Industry; United States