Publications

Blog

Two-Year Action Plan Update: Q+A with Terrill Drake, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at Harvard Business School

identity. Jim's history of overcoming obstacles inspires us to power through the challenges that come with doing this work. We have a job to do, and we want to make sure we're carrying on the work that Jim... View Details

November 2008 (Revised November 2024)
Case

The Fall of Enron

By: Paul Healy and Krishna Palepu

The case traces the rise of Enron, covering the company's business innovations, personnel management, and risk management processes. It then examines the company's dramatic fall including the extension of its trading model into questionable new businesses, the... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Management Practices and Processes; Crime and Corruption; Financial Reporting; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards

24 May 2023
Blog Post

Innovating, Funding, and Scaling Climate Solutions at Harvard Business School: Day Three of Harvard Climate Action Week

This is a repost from HBS Newsroom, see the original post here. “Climate change, and the energy and materials transition, is one of the most complicated and View Details

21 Jan 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Going Through the Motions: An Empirical Test of Management Involvement in Process Improvement

Keywords: by Anita L. Tucker; Health

Dennis A. Yao

Dennis Yao is the Lawrence E. Fouraker Professor of Business Administration and Chair of the Doctoral Programs at Harvard Business School. He joined the faculty in 2004 after having been at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. From 1991-1994 he served as... View Details

Keywords: automotive; defense; federal government; high technology

01 Mar 2012
News

Capitalism’s New Agenda

benefits of growth increasingly will be enjoyed only by the top quintile, and mostly by the top 1 percent. The business leaders we spoke to were disturbed by the environmental challenges of climate change,... View Details

Keywords: Joseph L. Bower, Herman B. Leonard, and Lynn S. Paine; social activism; Occupy Wallstreet; Corporate Services; Finance

Article

What Really Motivates Workers

By: Teresa M. Amabile and Steve J. Kramer

This essay appears in "The HBR List: Breakthrough Ideas for 2010," which is compiled by this journal in collaboration with the World Economic Forum. The ten problems and the innovative solutions are discussed in each essay. This particular essay describes research... View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Innovation and Invention; Research; Performance Improvement; Managerial Roles; Motivation and Incentives; Creativity

Find at Harvard

15 Nov 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Algorithmic Foundations for Business Strategy

Keywords: by Mihnea Moldoveanu

13 May 2015
News

Small Wins Go a Long Way in Improving U.S. Rail Transportation

11 Jan 2022
News

School for Scaling Impact: Starting Harvard’s ALI ‘22

01 Nov 2021
What Do You Think?

How Long Does It Take to Improve an Organization’s Culture?

(iStockphoto/skynesher) Most CEOs recognize the power of organizational culture and the impact that it can have on the bottom line. They acknowledge the importance of shared values and behaviors that... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

April 2010 (Revised November 2011)
Case

Soren Chemical: Why Is the New Swimming Pool Product Sinking?

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Sunru Yong

Topics include distribution channels, pricing, and new product marketing. Jen Moritz, the marketing manager for Soren Chemical Co. is struggling with the poor sales performance of Coracle, a new clarifier for residential swimming pools. The performance is puzzling... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Mix; New Product Marketing; Pricing; Branding; Price; Marketing Strategy; Marketing Channels; Product Launch; Brands and Branding; Communication Strategy; Chemical Industry

March 2006 (Revised May 2009)
Case

Entrepreneurial Insights

By: Joseph L. Bower and Sonya Hout

Presents a matrix of 42 video clips of interviews with seven entrepreneurial managers answering the same six questions about their experiences building their companies. The individual entrepreneurs (Vittorio Merloni, Merloni Elettrodomestici; Alex d'Arbeloff, Teradyne,... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Leadership; Business or Company Management; Managerial Roles; Personal Characteristics

23 Jan 2013
Research & Ideas

Three-Dimensional Strategy: Winning the Multisided Platform

become an online reseller of used children's clothes, buying inventory from parents and reselling it to other parents. "The problem with the MSP model is that it is sometimes too slow View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

January 2018 (Revised October 2019)
Case

ZBJ: Building a Global Outsourcing Platform for Knowledge Workers (A)

By: Feng Zhu, Weiru Chen and Shirley Sun

ZBJ.com (ZBJ), an online platform that connects knowledge workers to small- and medium-sized enterprises, is China’s largest outsourcing platform. Founded by Mingyue Zhu in 2006, ZBJ had grown into a unicorn with 4,000 employees and a daily transaction volume of RMB15... View Details

Keywords: Outsourcing; Disintermediation; Digital Platforms; Information Technology; Problems and Challenges; Global Strategy; Information Technology Industry; China

March 2001 (Revised February 2005)
Case

Venture Capital Vignettes

By: G. Felda Hardymon

Presents three fictionalized but realistic situations in which a venture capitalist may find himself. One situation requires crisis intervention to quell a dispute between a vice president of sales and a CEO; another poses the problem of working out the composition of... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Crisis Management; Governing and Advisory Boards; Management Teams; Executive Compensation; Situation or Environment; Employee Relationship Management; Problems and Challenges; Financial Services Industry