Publications

2010
Working Paper

Does Product Market Competition Lead Firms To Decentralize?

By: Nicholas Bloom, Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen

There is a widespread sense that over the last two decades firms have been decentralizing decisions to employees further down the managerial hierarchy. Economists have developed a range of theories to account for delegation, but there is less empirical evidence,... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Employees; Managerial Roles; Organizational Structure; Competitive Strategy; Asia; Europe; North America

Read Now

14 Nov 2011
Research & Ideas

Creating a Global Business Code

The turn of the 21st century has been laden with high-profile corporate scandals, prompting widespread concern about the standards of conduct followed by big business. Intrigued by the complexity of managing corporate behavior in a global... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

October 3, 2023
Article

10 Pitfalls That Destroy Organizational Trust

By: Frances X. Frei and Anne Morriss

In their new book, Move Fast and Fix Things, Frances Frei and Anne Morriss outline five strategies to help leaders tackle their hardest problems and quickly make change. Their second strategy is to build — or rebuild — trust with your stakeholders. This means... View Details

Keywords: Trust; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business or Company Management

Register to Read

Web

Latin America - Global

greatly increased the volume of in-depth research and course materials that focus on business management issues specific to Latin American companies. This has also enabled HBS to strengthen its relationships with important companies and... View Details

Web

Health Care Initiative - Health Care

Health Care Initiative Supporting a dynamic community MBA Experience MBA students focus on health care through industry-related courses, extracurricular activities, and recruiting opportunities. Faculty & Research Faculty collaborate to generate new knowledge and... View Details

May 2003 (Revised October 2003)
Case

BEA Systems, Inc.: Constant Reinvention to Cope with Market Waves

Developed in 1995 as a specialist software vendor, BEA Systems, Inc. had already transformed itself twice from a transaction processing product company to a server application provider. By July 2002, it had become the fastest company in history to reach $1 billion in... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Digital Platforms; Business Growth and Maturation; Management Practices and Processes; Applications and Software; Entrepreneurship; Organizational Culture; Web Services Industry; Information Technology Industry

Find at Harvard

Program

Ascending the Peak: Finding the Leader Within—Virtual

Summary Today's organizations need men and women who can lead with courage and conviction through challenging times and toward worthy, positive change. Each session of this live online program will explore the tools, behaviors, insights,... View Details

04 Oct 2010
Research & Ideas

Introverts: The Best Leaders for Proactive Employees

listen to or act upon them. An introverted leader, on the other hand, is more likely to listen to and process the ideas of an eager team. But if an introverted leader is managing a bunch of passive followers, then a staff meeting may... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

2000
Book

Competitive Environmental Strategy: A Guide to the Changing Business Landscape

By: Andrew J. Hoffman

Environmental concerns can greatly affect business success, regardless of whether a business person or corporation shares those concerns. Today's corporate managers must understand the power of environmental issues, and shift their mindset from one focused on... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Environmental Management; Social Issues; Organizational Change and Adaptation

Find at Harvard

October 2002 (Revised February 2003)
Case

Administrative Data Project (A)

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Donald E. Heller

Encourages analysis of the implementation of a large technical infrastructure and process transformation project within a university setting. Enables an instructor to teach change management, leadership, and technical project management skills. View Details

Keywords: Teaching; Change Management; Management Practices and Processes; Transformation; Learning; Competency and Skills; Leadership Development; Non-Governmental Organizations; Education Industry

June 10, 2025
Article

Research: When Help Isn’t Helpful

By: Colin M. Fisher, Julianna Pillemer and Teresa M. Amabile

Asking for and receiving help at work can boost employees’ creativity, help them learn new skills, and strengthen their interpersonal ties. Yet a years-long study at a global design consultancy found that even in organizations with strong helping cultures, a... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Employees; Talent and Talent Management

Web

Connect with Clubs - Recruiting

Yoon ryoon@mba2026.hbs.edu General Management & Operations Club Co-Presidents Thomas Cerier tcerier@mba2026.hbs.edu Kaitlyn Haase khaase@mba2026.hbs.edu Karalyn Baird kbaird@mba2026.hbs.edu Mikel Acha macha@mba2026.hbs.edu Club Email... View Details

August 1994
Case

Southwest Airlines: 1993 (Abridged Update)

By: James L. Heskett

Southwest Airlines management is faced with increasing competition. It must decide which of several route extensions provide the appropriate competitive response while preserving the internal culture that has made the airline so successful. View Details

Keywords: Air Transportation; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Management Teams; Organizational Culture; Air Transportation Industry

06 Jul 2016
News

Verizon’s Pursuit of Yahoo Puts the Spotlight on a Rising Star

13 May 2015
News

Activists losing mojo?

November 2016
Article

Corporate Sustainability: First Evidence on Materiality

By: Mozaffar Khan, George Serafeim and Aaron Yoon

Using newly available materiality classifications of sustainability topics, we develop a novel dataset by hand-mapping sustainability investments classified as material for each industry into firm-specific sustainability ratings. This allows us to present new evidence... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Investments; Corporate Social Responsibility; Accounting; Corporate Reporting; Regulation; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Integrated Corporate Reporting; Investment; Corporate Governance

09 May 2014
Working Paper Summaries

‘My Bad!’ How Internal Attribution and Ambiguity of Responsibility Affect Learning from Failure

Keywords: by Christopher G. Myers, Bradley R. Staats & Francesca Gino

September 1960 (Revised August 1995)
Case

Slade Co., The

Describes a conflict between the values and norms of a segment of an internal social system and those of management and the wider culture. View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Conflict and Resolution