Publications

04 Nov 2015
What Do You Think?

Why Does Gender Diversity Improve Financial Performance?

Does Gender Diversity in Management Enhance Performance? Why? A variety of explanations for the positive correlation between gender diversity and better business performance found in a recent McKinsey study were advanced in responses to... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

22 May 2017
Lessons from the Classroom

A Luxury Industry Veteran Teaches the Importance of Aesthetics to Budding Business Leaders

Business of Aesthetics to second-year MBA students and select applicants from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. The course looks at the role of aesthetics in strategy, organizational structure, succession... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Beauty & Cosmetics; Apparel & Accessories; Auto; Tourism

Web

Courses by Faculty Unit - Course Catalog

Changing the World: Life Choices of Influential Leaders (also listed under Accounting & Management) Robert Simons Fall 2025 Q1Q2 3.0 Corporate Governance and Boards of Directors (also listed under View Details

Web

HBS - The year in Review

2021 Annual Report From The Dean Financials PDF Downloads Archive The Year in Review The 2020–21 fiscal year was one of innovation and adaptation. While the pandemic disrupted lives and activities around the... View Details

15 Oct 2012
Research & Ideas

Why Business IT Innovation is so Difficult

"When you talk to people on the front lines, they know this is complicated and hard," she says. Communication Breakdown Investing in technology change without organizational... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish

05 May 2011
What Do You Think?

How Ethical Can We Be?

how they act in ways that are inconsistent with their more reasoned ethical preferences? What can organizations do to increase the likelihood of employees acting ethically? And, what can society do to change the institutions that guide... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

Profile

Tom Adeyemi

section mates sharing their personal experiences during a Leadership and Organizational Behavior (LEAD) case on a senior executive who was debating whether to reveal her sexual orientation at work. The... View Details

March 2021
Case

The U.S. Home Improvement Sector in 2020

By: José Alvarez and David Lane

Provides an overview of the U.S. home improvement sector in 2020, reviewing sources of growth in the decade ending in 2020, with special attention to the impact of COVID-19 on market leaders Home Depot and Lowe’s and the spike in online revenues for both. Also noted... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Trends; Leading Change; Operations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance; Technology; Construction Industry; United States

March 1986 (Revised May 1989)
Case

Wright Line, Inc. (B)

After working unsuccessfully for three years with the new sales and distribution channels organization, Wright Line's managers assess their experience and restructure their marketing organization. View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Marketing

02 Aug 2020
What Do You Think?

Is the 'Experimentation Organization' Becoming the Competitive Gold Standard?

the relentless quest for adaptation and improvement in the so-called technology sectors seems to fuel the need for experimentation, the nature of experimentation in other sectors, including the high... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Technology

March 2020
Case

Minneapolis Star Tribune

By: Joseph L. Bower, Elizabeth Hansen and Michael Norris

In the summer of 2019, Mike Klingensmith, CEO of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Twin Cities metro region’s largest newspaper, reviewed subscription trends and plans for future experimentation. The newspaper industry across the U.S. had suffered a steep decline for... View Details

Keywords: Financial Performance; Industry Evolution; Business Earnings; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategic Planning; Journalism and News Industry; Minnesota

Web

Judges - Alumni

Co-founder of RubiconMD. Originally from Spain, he’s passionate about leveraging technology to drive change in healthcare and improve patient lives. Prior to RubiconMD, Carlos led a division at Telefonica,... View Details

September 1992 (Revised July 1993)
Case

Frito-Lay, Inc.: A Strategic Transition (D)

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Melinda Conrad and Charles S. Osborn

Provides a thorough overview of the company's 1990 and 1991 reorganizations and the resulting demand for information technology in lower levels of the organization. Closes with a discussion of Frito-Lay's most recent information technology projects, Explorer and... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Negotiation Deal; Problems and Challenges; Organizational Design; Projects; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

27 Oct 2015
News

Sweet Success

flotation, or DAF,” he explains. “We inject microbubbles into the bottom of sap tanks. Any yeast, bacteria, or non-water-soluble particles adhere to the bubbles and float to the top to be skimmed off. Just the good stuff remains.” DAF had... View Details

Keywords: Deborah Blagg

Winter 2022
Article

Courageous Leadership: Paul Polman’s Insights for the Next Generation of Business Managers

By: John Pontillo, Celia Bravard and Andrew J. Hoffman

In 2021, John Pontillo, Celia Bravard, and Andrew Hoffman conducted a series of interviews with Paul Polman, former CEO of Unilever. They discussed how business managers and leaders can build a new model of capitalism that serves the needs of society. Here’s what they... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Social Issues

Read Now

May 1994 (Revised May 1995)
Case

Laura Ashley (B): Defining a Strategy

By: Richard L. Nolan

A turnaround CEO engineers a business transformation and formulates short-term and long-term strategy after assessing the business situation. View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Management Teams; Business Strategy; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry

September 1999 (Revised May 2003)
Case

Deloitte & Touche (A): A Hole in the Pipeline

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Jane Roessner

Deloitte & Touche was losing talented women, and CEO Mike Cook wanted to stop the loss, especially as the accounting and consulting fields became more competitive. The firm commissioned an analysis of the situation; now it had to consider the results and develop a plan... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Organizational Culture; Accounting; Gender; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Loss; Change Management; Jobs and Positions; Resignation and Termination; Accounting Industry; United States