Publications

January 2008
Article

Innovation Killers: How Financial Tools Destroy Your Capacity to Do New Things

By: Clayton M. Christensen, Stephen P. Kaufman and Willy C. Shih

Most companies aren't half as innovative as their senior executives want them to be (or as their marketing claims suggest they are). What's stifling innovation? There are plenty of usual suspects, but the authors finger three financial tools as key accomplices.... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Innovation and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Business and Shareholder Relations; Prejudice and Bias; Value Creation

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30 Jun 2015
First Look

First Look: June 30, 2015

leaders focus on the few things that produce results and experiences for the right customers; (3) the best service operating strategies don't require tradeoffs, so leaders foster "both/and" thinking in designing winning... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

October 2023 (Revised April 2024)
Case

ghSMART & Co: Building and Scaling a Time Smart Firm

By: Ashley Whillans and Sara Coronel Rodriguez

"For ghSMART, freedom is the first principle from which all good things flow”—Geoff Smart, Chairman and Founder, ghSMART. ghSMART was a leadership advisory firm that was grounded in the principle of freedom. Talented Consultants and Partners could work remotely from... View Details

Keywords: Time; Consulting Firms; Time Management; Talent and Talent Management; Employee Relationship Management; Innovation Strategy; Knowledge Sharing; Organizational Culture; Going Public; Partners and Partnerships; Expansion; Reputation

15 Jan 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, January 15, 2019

reducing tax revenues. Unable or unwilling to raise tax rates, cities cut public spending, especially in education, to meet a tighter budget constraint. While the fall in tax revenues was partly offset by higher debt, this strategy may,... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

01 Nov 2016
First Look

First Look - November 1, 2016

with key players from the frontlines of digital change, The Content Trap aims to reorient strategy and offers lessons for businesses, entrepreneurs, and individuals trying to figure out what to do next. Companies that flourish in a... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

18 Feb 2009
First Look

First Look: February 18, 2009

actually increase overall social welfare. We also consider the environmental impact of BPS and derive competitive conditions under which BPS reduces and increases emissions. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/07-098.pdf ... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

May 2020 (Revised July 2020)
Case

MassChallenge

By: Rembrand Koning, Andy Wu, Nataliya Langburd Wright and Tarun Khanna

The case explores the strategic decision of global non-profit startup accelerator MassChallenge on whether to pursue a for-profit spinoff, discussing: (1) the costs and benefits of this decision, (2) how best to manage the risks of the decision, and (3) alternative... View Details

Keywords: Accelerators; Nonprofit Organizations; Business Startups; Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Cost vs Benefits; Risk Management; Decision Making; Strategy

July 2009
Teaching Note

The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis (TN)

By: Robert Steven Kaplan, Christopher Marquis and Ben Creo

Teaching Note for [408003]. View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Research; Health Care and Treatment; Medical Specialties; Financing and Loans; Leadership; Strategy; Problems and Challenges; Health Testing and Trials; Miami

June 2007 (Revised March 2010)
Case

Managing Orthopaedics at Rittenhouse Medical Center

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer, Robert S. Huckman, James Weber and Kevin J. Bozic

Considers the issues associated with running multiple business models–a private practice and an academic faculty practice--within the confines of the orthopaedics department of a single medical center. Students assume the role of Neela Wilson, Executive Director of... View Details

Keywords: Business Units; Business Model; Health Care and Treatment; Service Operations; Conflict Management; Competition; Health Industry

January 2007
Article

Acquisitions and Firm Growth: Creating Unilever's Ice Cream and Tea Business

By: G. Jones and Peter Miskell

This article provides a longitudinal case study of the use of acquisitions by the Anglo-Dutch multinational Unilever to build the world's largest ice cream and tea businesses. The study supports recent resource-based theory which argues that complementary rather than... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Integration; Value; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Business and Shareholder Relations; Interests; Business Ventures; Employees; Food and Beverage Industry

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23 Mar 2021
Book

Succeeding in the New Work-from-Anywhere World

could you send an email? Rather than select in an ad-hoc way, we need to choose the tool that facilitates work. Blanding: You also talk about strategies for working with global teams. What are your top tips for collaborating across... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

16 Dec 2011
Research & Ideas

Reintroducing Intellectual Ambition to the Study of Business History

history to the future improvement of business management, HBS on Thursday announced the creation of the Business History Initiative, a multidisciplinary research and teaching effort that will take its place alongside five other Initiatives: View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones & Walter Friedman

17 Dec 2013
First Look

First Look: December 17

most challenging aspects of systems integration. August 2013 Journal of Experimental Social Psychology Group Membership Alters the Threshold for Mind Perception: The Role of Social Identity, Collective... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

February 2009 (Revised November 2016)
Exercise

Congo River Basin Project: Role for Dr. Beni

By: Kathleen L. McGinn, Anne Starks Acosta, Deborah M. Kolb and Cailin B. Hammer

The director of a research coalition and the founder/coordinator of an NGO consortium meet to discuss the possibility of jointly drafting a proposal for an integrated research and development project in the Congo River basin. Approved projects will receive an annual... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Negotiation Process; Projects; Research and Development; Non-Governmental Organizations; Cooperation; Congo Basin

March 2003 (Revised August 2005)
Case

National Parks Conservation Association

By: Forest L. Reinhardt and Briana Huntsberger

The National Parks Conservation Association seeks to help the U.S. National Park Service increase its efficiency by incorporating principles of business management so that American national parks will be better managed. Its efforts raise fundamental questions about the... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Business or Company Management; Corporate Governance; Government and Politics; Natural Environment; Cooperation; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Tourism Industry; Public Administration Industry; United States

December 1997 (Revised May 1998)
Case

CUC and HFS: Corporate Identity for a "Merger of Equals"

By: Stephen A. Greyser and Robert J. Crawford

In the wake of a major $20 billion market capitalization "merger of equals," two large consumer service firms must determine a new name for the new entity. Neither CUC nor HFS is well known among consumers. The CUC Services (e.g., shopping, travel, credit card... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Capital; Brands and Branding; Identity; Customization and Personalization; Value; Service Industry

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30 Jun 2008
Research & Ideas

Rethinking Retirement Planning

Many of us are sailing toward retirement with the hope that Social Security, personal savings, and money saved in an employer's 401(k) or 403(b) plan will add up to the magic sum required to enjoy our remaining years in reasonable style.... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Banking; Financial Services

2010
Working Paper

Beyond Agency Theory: The Hidden and Heretofore Inaccessible Power of Integrity (PDF file of Keynote Slides)

By: Michael C. Jensen and Werner Erhard

There is far too much concern today about the conflicts of interest between people; for example, conflicts of interest between agents and owners—historically a favorite topic of Jensen—and not enough attention paid to the damage caused by an individual's conflict of... View Details

Keywords: Moral Sensibility; Lawfulness; Production; Organizations; Performance Improvement; Agency Theory; Conflict of Interests; Trust; Competitive Advantage; Value Creation