Publications

13 Mar 2018
First Look

March 13, 2018

specifically, the volume focuses on the economic institution of the business group and aims at understanding the factors behind its rise, growth, resilience, and/or fall; its behavioral and organizational characteristics; and its... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 2024
Case

Pernod Ricard: Uncorking Digital Transformation

By: Iavor Bojinov, Edward McFowland III, François Candelon, Nikolina Jonsson and Emer Moloney

This case study explores the opportunities and challenges of the digital transformation journey of French wine and spirits company Pernod Ricard. As part of the transformation, the company launched four key digital programs (KDPs) aimed at using data and artificial... View Details

Keywords: Business Organization; Business Divisions; Talent and Talent Management; Global Strategy; AI and Machine Learning; Analytics and Data Science; Digital Transformation; Digital Strategy; Advertising; Sales; Organizational Culture; Product Development; Decision Making; Technology Adoption; Alignment; Expansion; Food and Beverage Industry; France; Europe

February 2025
Case

Ingersoll Rand: Broadening Employee Ownership

By: Ethan Rouen and Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago

Set in 2024, this case examines how Ingersoll Rand—a global leader in air, liquid, and gas handling technologies—approached broadening employee ownership. The company granted restricted stock units (RSUs) to all employees on their one-year anniversary, reinforcing a... View Details

Keywords: Stock Shares; Employee Stock Ownership Plan; Retention; Employee Ownership; Mergers and Acquisitions; Organizational Culture; Expansion; Africa; Asia; Europe; Latin America; Middle East; North and Central America

12 Apr 2011
First Look

First Look: April 12

conducts one of the first large-scale, establishment-level empirical studies of delegation within firms. Recent contributions to a rapidly growing theory literature have focused on the tradeoff between adaptation and coordination in determining View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 2024
Case

Edizione

By: Cynthia A. Montgomery, Dante Roscini, Elena Corsi and Hugo Etchegoyhen

This case study examines the diversification and transformation of Edizione, the Benetton family's holding company originally established to reinvest dividends from the Benetton clothing brand. Edizione expanded significantly in the late 1990s and early 2000s,... View Details

04 May 2010
First Look

First Look: May 4

We propose that firms' corporate governance and firms' strategic business activities within an industry are interlinked. By conducting a simultaneous economic analysis of business strategy and corporate governance, scholars can better... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

16 Nov 2020
Research & Ideas

Transitions of Power Are Difficult. What Joe Biden and Other Incoming Leaders Need to Know.

have developed a perspective on strategies for the near-term and long-term. But first, before anything else, it’s important to stop the bleeding; that is, deal with crises and pain points. Whether the problems involve financial distress... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

16 Feb 2004
Research & Ideas

Marketing Wine to the World

Michael Roberto: My parents are Italian immigrants, and my family back in Tuscany and the Campania region of Italy continue to make their own wine. Therefore, I've always had an interest in the wine-making process. A few years ago, when teaching the View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls; Consumer Products; Entertainment & Recreation; Food & Beverage

2019
Working Paper

Self-Interest: The Economist's Straitjacket

By: Robert Simons

This paper examines contemporary economic theories that focus on the design and management of business organizations. In the first part of the paper, a taxonomy is presented that describes the different types of economists interested in this subject—market economists,... View Details

SSRN

Read Now

December 2009 (Revised October 2015)
Case

Diamond Foods

By: David E. Bell and Mary Louise Shelman

CEO Michael Mendes has transformed a grower-owned cooperative into a publicly traded top marketer of snack foods. Diamond's organization, culture, product development process, advertising and promotion strategy, and specifically its marketing department have been built... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Business Model; Customer Focus and Relationships; Leadership; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Cooperative Ownership; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Retail Industry; United States

22 Aug 2011
Research & Ideas

Getting to Eureka!: How Companies Can Promote Creativity

faculty across a wide spectrum of disciplines including business history, entrepreneurship, finance, and organizational behavior have made creativity and innovation primary subjects of focus. What is surprising is just how teachable they... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

01 Sep 2008
News

Building a Better MBA

already done to advance a global agenda in the MBA Program. Beginning in 1996, HBS has opened six research centers that today facilitate faculty research in Asia, Europe, Latin America, and Silicon Valley and provide the springboard for upwards of 130 cases a year.... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

01 May 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, May 1, 2018

in order to enjoy this legal protection of their valuable insights. A new threat, however, looms. The same legal system that has protected IP has been used to create an organizational form known as a "Patent Troll." Patent... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

27 Jan 2014
Research & Ideas

Family CEOs Spend Less Time at Work

Two years ago, the World Management Survey on organizational leadership reported that firms led by family CEOs (managers related to the family owning the business) are often managed badly, particularly those where a first-born son has... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

13 Jul 2020
News

The First Five Years: Meaghan Fitzgerald (MBA 2016)

role? “As some of my classmates can attest to, I often ping friends asking for a copy of a case I think would be relevant to a particular challenge at work. Most recently, I’ve been thinking about the classes I took related to strategy... View Details

22 Feb 2011
Research & Ideas

The Most Important Management Trends of the (Still Young) Twenty-First Century

strategy and organizational management. Products are being developed through open innovation, with input from people connected to each other and the company only through a common interest—and electronic... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

September 1993
Case

Manufacturing at ALZA: The Right Prescription? (A)

By: Dorothy A. Leonard

ALZA, a company specializing in drug delivery systems such as transdermal patches, considers manufacturing its own products. Until now, the company has conducted research and development on its patented system but has then licensed the technology to client-partner... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Technological Innovation; Innovation and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Problems and Challenges; Production; Research and Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Pharmaceutical Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry