Publications

November 2019
Case

The Genesis Lab at Novartis

By: Amy C. Edmondson, Ranjay Gulati, Patrick J. Healy and Kerry Herman

Novartis' Genesis Labs program, launched in 2016 as part of Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research (NIBR), hosted pitch competitions where teams of NIBR scientists proposed ideas to explore that aimed to revolutionize drug discovery. The goal was to break down... View Details

Keywords: Drug Discovery; Health Care and Treatment; Research and Development; Innovation and Invention; Programs; Management

Web

Faculty & Researchers - Managing the Future of Work

Business Books, 2018. Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence , Harvard Business School case, 2018. With Emer Moloney. Transformation at ING (A): Agile , Transformation at ING (B): View Details

November 2022 (Revised June 2023)
Case

UGG Steps into the Metaverse

By: Shunyuan Zhang, Sharon Joseph, Sunil Gupta and Julia Kelley

In the fall of 2022, boot maker UGG and its parent company, Deckers, were working to position the brand in the nascent but fast growing metaverse. The metaverse, the online realm that individual users could navigate as digital avatars, was becoming more commercialized,... View Details

Keywords: Metaverse; Digital Marketing; Innovation and Invention; Marketing Channels; Marketing Strategy; Social Marketing; Internet and the Web; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States

February 2023 (Revised May 2023)
Case

Accelerating the Accelerator: Raja Al Mazrouei at DIFC Fintech Hive

By: Linda A. Hill, Emily Tedards and Lydia Begag

In January 2023, Raja Al Mazrouei became the Managing Director and Acting CEO of Etihad Credit Insurance (ECI) in Dubai, UAE. In her previous role as the Executive Vice President of the DIFC Fintech Hive, she successfully built and led an accelerator program for... View Details

September 2021 (Revised December 2023)
Case

On the Bubble: Startup Bootstrapping

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Tom Quinn and Annelena Lobb

Bubble was a software company in the low-code/no-code market, making tools that allowed users without traditional programming backgrounds or technical skills to build software. The case covers cofounder Joshua Haas’s engineering background, as he experienced a high... View Details

March 2024 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Hippo: Weathering the Storm of the Home Insurance Crisis

By: Lauren Cohen, Grace Headinger and Sophia Pan

Rick McCathron, CEO of Hippo, considered how the firm’s underwriting model could account for the effects of climate change. Along with providing smart home packages, targeting risk-friendly customers, and using data-driven pricing, the Insurtech used technologically... View Details

20 Nov 2019
Research & Ideas

It's No Joke: AI Beats Humans at Making You Laugh

We all enjoy sharing jokes with friends, hoping a witty one might elicit a smile—or maybe even a belly laugh. Here’s one for you: A lawyer opened the door of his BMW, when, suddenly, a car came along and hit the door, ripping it off... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

01 Mar 2010
News

John Crowley’s Extraordinary Measures

adversity, you may eventually overcome it. He also wants viewers to understand the promise of collaborations between scientists and business — and the importance of continued View Details

Keywords: Sarah Auerbach; Motion Picture and Sound Recording Industries; Motion Picture and Sound Recording Industries; Motion Picture and Sound Recording Industries; Motion Picture and Sound Recording Industries

April 2018
Case

Hawk Electronics, Inc.

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and John J. Lafkas

Hawk Electronics ("Hawk") presents the problems that a company can encounter when its divisions have distinct strategies, especially when one division has been favored at another's expense. It also highlights how such problems can reflect cognitive biases, which... View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Resource Allocation; Strategy; Innovation and Management

20 Dec 2011
First Look

First Look: December 20

stereotype-incongruent information. Implications for impression formation are discussed. Inducement Prizes and Innovation Authors:Liam Brunt, Josh Lerner, and Tom Nicholas... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

18 Jan 2022
Research & Ideas

How Eliminating Non-Competes Could Reshape Tech

Harvard Business School says. As part of a sweeping executive order aimed at promoting competition in the American economy, US President Joe Biden specifically called out non-compete agreements as hurtful to innovation View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Technology

February 2020
Case

Leading Change in Talent at L'Oréal

By: Lakshmi Ramarajan, Vincent Dessain and Emer Moloney

Jean-Claude Le Grand just stepped into a new role as Executive Vice-President for Human Resources at the global cosmetics company, L’Oréal. He is now responsible for the hiring, development, promotion, and retention of 83,000 employees worldwide. The highly successful... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Business Headquarters; Business Divisions; Business Organization; Change; Change Management; Transformation; Competency and Skills; Experience and Expertise; Talent and Talent Management; Demographics; Diversity; Gender; Nationality; Multinational Firms and Management; Human Resources; Employees; Recruitment; Retention; Selection and Staffing; Innovation and Management; Jobs and Positions; Employment; Human Capital; Leadership; Leadership Development; Leadership Style; Leading Change; Management Practices and Processes; Marketing; Brands and Branding; Product Marketing; Organizations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Personal Development and Career; Planning; Strategic Planning; Problems and Challenges; Networks; Social Psychology; Attitudes; Power and Influence; Social and Collaborative Networks; Business Strategy; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; France; Paris

21 Aug 2017
Lessons from the Classroom

Companies Love Big Data But Lack the Strategy To Use It Effectively

“Results show strong correlations between business performance metrics and analytics capabilities, and highlight a variety of tasks in which top performing companies use analytics ” Feng Zhu, who teaches... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

21 Feb 2005
Op-Ed

Is Business Management a Profession?

aspire to them, all true professions are, almost by definition, closed systems that tightly control and carefully restrict access to their ranks. Closure in professions need not, as some might fear in the case of management, stifle View Details

Keywords: by Rakesh Khurana, Nitin Nohria & Daniel Penrice

06 Sep 2022
Blog Post

To Go-Go: A Foodtech Startup Serves Up Scale in Latin America

are, and we’re constantly innovating with our menus and our brands.” What began as a shoestring operation in a single kitchen in Bogotá (“the kitchen was the office, it was the... View Details

01 Jan 2013
News

Roger W. Sant, MBA 1960

$1.1 million with the help of family and friends, which was enough to build a $275 million power plant in Houston, Texas, in 1983. That facility brought the company the recognition it needed, and by 1988,... View Details

Keywords: Susan Young

Blog

Leading Successful Digital Transformation

minimal due to lack of cohesion and strategic direction. Establishment of independent units: Senior managers often believe that it is hard to create disruptive innovations... View Details

February 2003 (Revised June 2003)
Case

Interface's Evergreen Services Agreement

In an attempt to reduce its ecological footprint, Interface Americas, a leading manufacturer of commercial carpet tile, has launched the Evergreen Services Agreement (ESA)--a lease agreement that provides would-be carpet purchasers with comprehensive floor-covering... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Product; Environmental Sustainability; Innovation and Invention; Leasing; Consumer Products Industry; Houston