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October 2022
Case

An Heir with No Spare: The Deitch Family Office

By: Lauren Cohen and Grace Headinger

Joe and Matt Deitch, father and son, knew it was time to start their own family office. Matthew had recently joined his father at the family’s three enterprises, and they both realized that their family’s needs had grown increasingly complex over the years. In search... View Details

Web

Frequently Asked Questions | HBS Online

finance ventures. This course also introduces participants to the idea that entrepreneurs run structured experiments to validate ideas and refine business strategy. Participants work through real-world challenges faced by entrepreneurs... View Details

06 Mar 2020
Book

A Great Teacher's Lessons for Leading

someone with whom they can have conversations about their skills as a manager. My worry is that the higher people go in management, the harder it is to get the truth. As people rise we are less willing to be as honest with them as we could be. It’s a commentary on us... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Education

October 2000 (Revised June 2017)
Case

Vyaderm Pharmaceuticals: The EVA Decision

By: Robert Simons and Indra A. Reinbergs

In 2016, the new CEO of Vyaderm Pharmaceuticals introduces an Economic Value Added (EVA) program to focus the company on long-term shareholder value. The EVA program consists of three elements: EVA centers (business units), EVA drivers (operational practices that... View Details

Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Employee Relationship Management; Economic Growth; Economic Systems; Management; Motivation and Incentives; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Performance Evaluation; Decision Choices and Conditions; Pharmaceutical Industry; Washington (state, US)

13 Apr 2021
Book

How Inclusive Managers Create Glass-Shattering Organizations

and co-author of the new book, Glass Half-Broken: Shattering the Barriers That Still Hold Women Back at Work. “They have lots of opportunity to change the structures themselves.” The authors of Glass Half-Broken weave academic research... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

29 Feb 2024
Blog Post

African American Student Union Spotlight on Social Enterprise

to positively impact the racial wealth gap through deploying capital to people, institutions, and communities who most need it, while advocating for structural change for those who won’t be heard. View Details

01 Dec 2015
Blog Post

What is the HBS FIELD Program?

academic and professional career, and learned an insane amount all by putting learning into action. What is FIELD 1? FIELD 1 takes place in your first semester at HBS and lasts about two months. It is a deep dive into what makes you tick and how to better communicate,... View Details

June 2014 (Revised October 2015)
Case

Molycorp: Financing the Production of Rare Earth Minerals (A)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and E. Scott Mayfield

Molycorp, the western hemisphere's only producer of rare earth minerals, was in the middle of a $1 billion capital expenditure project in its effort to become a vertically integrated supplier of rare earth minerals, oxides, and metals. Yet it had just reported lower... View Details

January 2018 (Revised April 2021)
Case

Capital Allocation at HCA

By: W. Carl Kester and Emily R. McComb

In early 2017, HCA Holdings, an investor-owned hospital management company, faced a strategically important capital allocation decision. After the exit of its private equity sponsors in 2016, HCA had to determine how best to allocate its substantial annual free cash... View Details

Keywords: Capital Allocation; Cash Distribution Policy; Dividends; Share Repurchases; Growth Strategy And Execution; Growth Investing; Capital Expenditures; Debt Management; Debt Reduction; Debt Policy; Hospital Management; Investor-owned Hospital Chains; Capital Budgeting; Capital Structure; Cash Flow; Corporate Finance; Decision Choices and Conditions; Health Industry; United States

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Governance Controls; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Governing and Advisory Boards; Executive Compensation; Lawsuits and Litigation; Crisis Management; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Design; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Crime and Corruption; Business Organization; Business Model; Ethics; Corporate Accountability; Governance Compliance; Policy; Compensation and Benefits; Resignation and Termination; Laws and Statutes; Legal Liability; Business or Company Management; Risk Management; Business Processes; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Failure; Agency Theory; Business and Shareholder Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Risk and Uncertainty; Salesforce Management; Public Opinion; Banking Industry; North and Central America

June 2017 (Revised September 2021)
Case

Sales Misconduct at Wells Fargo Community Bank

By: Suraj Srinivasan, Dennis W. Campbell, Susanna Gallani and Amram Migdal

Set in early 2017, this case examines widespread sales misconduct at Wells Fargo Community Bank. Wells Fargo's governance and controls are described in the lead up to the September 2016 announcement that Wells Fargo had settled with regulators for $185 million in... View Details

June 2012
Case

Buro Happold (Abridged)

By: Robert G. Eccles and Ryan Johnson

In 1996, Ted Happold, the founder of the engineering services firm Buro Happold, passed away, and Padraic Kelly became the firm's new managing director (MD). One of his first initiatives was "Aim for Growth," which was intended to help the firm grow beyond its current... View Details

Keywords: Learning And Development; Managing Growth; Organizational Design; Diversification; Client Management; Leadership Skills; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Leadership Development; Management Skills; Training; Programs; Customer Relationship Management

2024
Case

Christiana Figueres and the Paris Climate Negotiations (A)

By: James K. Sebenius, Laurence A. Green, Hannah Riley-Bowles, Lara SanPietro and Mina Subramanian

This three-part, stop action case study, structured for classroom discussion, centers on Harvard’s Program on Negotiation 2022 Great Negotiator, Christiana Figueres, and her efforts as Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change... View Details

Keywords: Climate Change; Negotiation; Environmental Regulation; International Relations; Leadership

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2024
Case

Christiana Figueres and the Paris Climate Negotiations (B)

By: James K. Sebenius, Laurence A. Green, Hannah Riley-Bowles, Lara SanPietro and Mina Subramanian

This three-part, stop action case study, structured for classroom discussion, centers on Harvard’s Program on Negotiation 2022 Great Negotiator, Christiana Figueres, and her efforts as Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change... View Details

Keywords: Climate Change; Negotiation; Environmental Regulation; International Relations; Leadership

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09 Dec 2002
Research & Ideas

Most Accountants Aren’t Crooks—Why Good Audits Go Bad

standards). But the corporate auditing arena is a particularly fertile ground for self-serving biases. Three structural aspects of accounting create substantial opportunities for bias to influence judgment. Ambiguity. Bias thrives... View Details

Keywords: by Max H. Bazerman, George Loewenstein & Don A. Moore; Accounting; Financial Services

August 1983 (Revised June 1986)
Case

Johnson & Johnson (A)

By: Francis Aguilar

Describes the Johnson & Johnson culture and the corporate systems, structures, and procedures which reflect and promote it. The principal teaching objectives are to gain an understanding of the impact a strong culture can have on strategic decisions and to consider how... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Management Systems; Organizational Structure; Business Growth and Maturation; Corporate Strategy; Growth Management; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry