Publications

23 Apr 2007
Research & Ideas

Are Great Teams Less Productive?

Learning promotes performance—is there any argument? Without learning, organizations, teams, and managers are stuck in yesterday's world. In fact, says Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson, there are built-in tensions between... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert

10 Jan 2024
Research & Ideas

Technology and COVID Upended Tipping Norms. Will Consumers Keep Paying?

brought along by the pandemic have ushered in changes to the informal customs around who gets tips and how much, according to Jill Avery, senior lecturer of business administration and the Christensen Distinguished Management Educator at... View Details

Keywords: by Anna Lamb, Harvard Gazette

2020
Working Paper

No Line Left Behind: Assortative Matching Inside the Firm

By: Achyuta Adhvaryu, Vittorio Bassi, Anant Nyshadham and Jorge Tamayo

How do firms pair workers with managers, and which constraints affect the allocation of labor within the firm? We characterize the sorting pattern of managers to workers in a large readymade garment manufacturer in India and then explore potential drivers of the... View Details

Keywords: Assortative Matching; Productivity; Global Buyers; Readymade Garments; Management; Employees; Performance Productivity

Read Now

November 2002 (Revised May 2006)
Case

Forest Stewardship Council

By: James E. Austin and Ezequiel Reficco

In just a few years the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) made impressive progress toward its mission of promoting "environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable management of the world's forests." By 2001, 25.5 million hectares of forests in... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Corporate Governance; Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Competitive Strategy

2014
Teaching Note

Microfinance Services in Rural Areas--Farmers' Self-reliance Branch of CFPA Microfinance in Shangyi County (TN)

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Yang Siqun and Shen Meihua

Microfinance is introduced into China in the 1990s. It had gone through 3 phases since the beginning, namely the pilot phase when all Microfinance practices are sponsored by charity funds based on projects, the promotion phase when the government subsidized some... View Details

Keywords: Microfinance; Rural Entrepreneurship; Value Added; China; China

June 2020
Teaching Note

Catalant's Operating System for the Future of Work

By: Christopher Stanton, William R. Kerr, James Palano and Kendall Smith

This case touches on the topics of project-based work, agile methodology, and skill and talent management through Catalant's evolution as a company. Catalant’s journey to becoming a software platform and talent marketplace provides context for students to explore new... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Transformation; Business Startups

11 Jul 2023
Blog Post

Second Life: Reflections on Complementing Success with an Encore Career

In 2015, Steve Kloeblen retired and thought he was done with the corporate world. A graduate of HBS Executive Education’s General Management Program, Kloeblen had more than 30 years of experience with IBM, culminating with his transition... View Details

17 Jan 2012
First Look

First Look: January 17

apart; the less they share, the more likely they are to be best executed separately. Nevertheless, managing multiple models is a tall order. LAN has had to face greater complexity, broaden its organizational skills, increase the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 1998 (Revised November 1998)
Case

Novartis (A): Being a Global Leader

By: Srikant M. Datar and Carin-Isabel Knoop

For the Novartis leaders, the decision to "use stretch budgets again next year" highlights the tension between candor and empowerment and command-and-control, between the new and the old, between high performance and business as usual, between Ciba and Sandoz.... View Details

Keywords: Goals and Objectives; Leading Change; Organizational Culture; Performance; Budgets and Budgeting

26 Aug 2008
First Look

First Look: August 26, 2008

http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/ b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=708053 Work Is Good: Branding the Employ+Ability Mission Harvard Business School Case 809-028 Employ+Ability, a small company... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September 2013 (Revised June 2016)
Case

The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work

By: Francesca Gino, Bradley R. Staats, Brian J. Hall and Tiffany Y. Chang

Morning Star, a collection of affiliated companies, had grown steadily since 1970 when Chris Rufer, president and founder, started the business hauling tomatoes to processing plants in a truck. The company's main products continued to be tomato-based, including a... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Motivation and Incentives; Working Conditions; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Food; Management Practices and Processes; Compensation and Benefits; Manufacturing Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

22 Feb 2021
Book

Reaching Today's Omnichannel Customer Takes a New Sales Strategy

First, pricing and value are inherently intertwined. Yet, most companies use cost-plus pricing. That's dangerous in an information-rich world. Amazon, for instance, takes thousands of SKUs for consumer goods and distills this into... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

12 Sep 2022
Research & Ideas

When Experts Play It Too Safe: Innovation Lessons from a NASA Experiment

suggests new research based on an international competition to design a NASA robot. "When experts have a been-there-done-that mindset, potential breakthroughs may hit the discard pile before companies can evaluate them in full." Harvard... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Aerospace

01 Nov 1999
Research & Ideas

Companies, Cultures and the Transformation to the Transnational

structure, social history, and educational system, companies developed under a system of family management that emphasized personal relationships more than formal structures, and relied more on broad-gauged... View Details

Keywords: by Christopher A. Bartlett & Sumantra Ghoshal

February 1997 (Revised April 1997)
Case

Harrington Financial Group

By: Robert C. Merton and Alberto Moel

In early 1997, Harrington Bank, a small Indiana savings and loan (thrift) wondered what its next move should be. Harrington was acquired in 1988 by the principals of Smith Breeden Associates, a money-management and consulting firm specializing in the application of... View Details

Keywords: Banks and Banking; Mergers and Acquisitions; Price; Risk Management; Mortgages; Contracts; Asset Management; Investment; Financial Services Industry

January 2003 (Revised April 2003)
Case

Sun Hydraulics: Leading in Tough Times (A)

By: Linda A. Hill and Jennifer Suesse

Sun Hydraulics, 32-year-old global hydraulics engineering and manufacturing company headquartered in Sarasota, Florida, confronts tough choices due to the economic downturn in 2001. The company leadership debates how to maintain profitability and reduce labor costs... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Mission and Purpose; Financial Crisis; Crisis Management; Manufacturing Industry; Florida

June 2009
Case

Midland Energy Resources, Inc.: Cost of Capital

By: Timothy A. Luehrman and Joel L. Heilprin

The senior vice president of project finance for a global oil and gas company must determine the weighted average cost of capital for the company as a whole and each of its divisions as part of the annual capital budgeting process. The case uses comparable companies to... View Details

Keywords: Risk Assessment; Risk and Uncertainty; Risk Management; Cost of Capital; Cash Flow; Capital Structure; Valuation; Capital Budgeting; Energy Industry

April 2011 (Revised April 2015)
Case

Cipla 2011

By: Rohit Deshpande, Sandra J. Sucher and Laura Winig

Dr. Yusuf Hamied, head of the Indian pharma and generics manufacturing company Cipla, is weighing options for how to continue to support the global fight against HIV/AIDS while positioning his company for growth in a changing regulatory landscape. View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Leading Change; Leadership Style; Management Teams; Governance Compliance; Corporate Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry