Publications

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Program

Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management

nonprofit management course is presented jointly with the HBS Social Enterprise Initiative. Key Benefits This program delivers the strategic perspectives, practical frameworks, and leadership skills you need to drive high View Details

May 2025
Background Note

Skills-First Talent Management: The Importance of Managers

By: Boris Groysberg, Nicole Zelazko, Tom Quinn, Robin Abrahams, Izzy Yeoh and Colleen Ammerman

This note supplements a 2025 series on skills-first talent management in organizations, comprising “Skills-First Talent Management: Hiring” (HBS No. 425-019), “Skills-First Talent Management: Onboarding, Development, and Performance Management” (HBS No. 425-020), and... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Experience and Expertise; Job Design and Levels; Employment; Human Capital; Management Practices and Processes; Employee Relationship Management; Retention; Personal Development and Career; United States

03 Dec 2014
What Do You Think?

Can the Brilliant Jerk Be Managed Effectively?

commitments, makes the numbers, but doesn't share the values." In 1992, Welch made the dramatic announcement at a companywide meeting that four out of the five managers being asked to leave the company had delivered good financial... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

Web

Accounting & Management - Doctoral

individual firms; rewarding and monitoring the performance of managers; formulating, executing and evaluating strategy by firm managers; understanding the profitability of suppliers, products, customers, distribution channels, and... View Details

09 Jun 2009
Research Event

Business Summit: Enterprise Risk Management

include: having top management lead risk management; creating a culture of risk management where it is part of all decisions; setting clear risk parameters and having them broadly adhered to; having the... View Details

Keywords: Re: Robert S. Kaplan

September 2011
Article

On Testing Business Models

By: D. Huelsbeck, K. Merchant and Tatiana Sandino

This study explored management decisions regarding formal empirical testing of business models. It documented a test of one company's business model under seemingly favorable conditions for such a test – a successful single product firm following a consistent strategy... View Details

Keywords: Performance Measurement; Non-financial Performance Measures; Business Models; Management Control; Decisions; Business Model; Performance Evaluation

SSRN

Summer 2021
Article

The Origin and Development of Firm Management

By: Michela Giorcelli

This paper examines the historical origin and diffusion of management practices. Despite their centrality in the modern world, the concepts of ‘management’ developed fairly recently. Only with the Industrial Revolution, due to the increased firm size, owners needed a... View Details

Keywords: Productivity; Kaizen; Management; Management Practices and Processes; History; Performance Productivity; Technology

Read Now

16 Jan 2019
News

New Research Reveals Caregiving for Elders Impacts Employee Performance

December 2009
Article

Hiding the Evidence of Valid Theories: How Coupled Search Processes Obscure Performance Differences Among Organizations

By: Nicolaj Siggelkow and Jan Rivkin

Theorists argue that an organization's high-level choices, such as its organizational design or the attributes of its top management team, should influence its performance, yet empirical researchers have struggled to detect such influence. The impact of high-level... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Management Teams; Organizational Design; Performance Effectiveness; Power and Influence; Balance and Stability

February 2008 (Revised November 2008)
Case

Global Talent Management at Novartis

By: Jordan Siegel

This case tackles the topic of global talent management. It can be used to analyze the performance measurement, incentive, and talent development system used at a major multinational company. This case can also be used to analyze the extent to which this system should... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Developing Countries and Economies; Multinational Firms and Management; Performance Evaluation; Motivation and Incentives; Adaptation

October 2011 (Revised January 2012)
Case

PepsiCo, Performance with Purpose, Achieving the Right Global Balance

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Rakesh Khurana, Rajiv Lal and Eric Baldwin

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Globalized Firms and Management; Strategic Planning; Food and Beverage Industry

23 Mar 2020
Working Paper Summaries

The Effects of Hierarchy on Learning and Performance in Business Experimentation

Keywords: by Sourobh Ghosh, Stefan H. Thomke, and Hazjier Pourkhalkhali

February 2011
Teaching Note

Year Up: A Social Entrepreneur Builds High Performance (TN)

By: Allen S. Grossman

Teaching Note for 308032. View Details

Keywords: Competency and Skills; Programs; Capital; Growth and Development Strategy; Social Entrepreneurship; United States

11 Jan 2022
News

Sales Management That Works with Frank Cespedes

Research Summary

Privatization, Regulatory Reform and Management Strategy

Alexander Dyck's research illustrates why privatization and deregulation often improve performance and factors that separate success from failure. A simplistic model of privatization and regulatory reform assumed that the shift from government to private sector... View Details

Article

Moving Forward from COVID-19: Organizational Dimensions of Effective Hospital Emergency Management

By: Mariam Krikorian Atkinson, Nicholas Cagliuso, John Hick, Sara Singer, Elizabeth Bambury, Tuna Cem Hayirli, Masha Kuznetsova and Paul Biddinger

Federal investment in emergency preparedness has increased notably since the 9/11 attacks, yet it is unclear if and how U.S. hospital readiness has changed in the 20 years since then. In particular, understanding effective aspects of hospital emergency management... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Hospital Preparedness/response; Urban/rural Hospitals; Emergency Management; National Strategy; Health Pandemics; Crisis Management; Performance Effectiveness; Governance; Policy; United States

July 2024
Case

Living up to Purpose and Performance at Parker Hannifin

By: Hubert Joly, Alicia Dadlani and Martha Hostetter

In 2019, Parker Hannifin, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of motion and control technologies, did something unusual for an industrial company: it created a purpose statement. Even though it already had a clear business strategy and longstanding culture of... View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Health Pandemics; Leadership; Business or Company Management; Organizational Culture; Business Strategy; Communication Strategy; Manufacturing Industry; Industrial Products Industry; Cleveland; Ohio; United States