Publications

October 2000
Background Note

Sustaining Value

By: Robert J. Dolan

Describes the challenges a firm faces in building and sustaining a value proposition over time. Describes major ways in which the marketing environment changes over time and the methods a firm can use to protect its market position. View Details

Keywords: Price; Marketing Strategy; Competition; Situation or Environment

November 1985 (Revised March 1987)
Case

DEC--Confidential Instructions

Confidential information for students assigned the role of the Division of Environment Conservation. See Riverside and DEC--General Information. View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Environmental Sustainability; Pulp and Paper Industry

September 2011
Article

What Drives Innovation?

By: Tom Nicholas

The idea that innovation drives economic growth is incontrovertible, but the factors that, in turn, drive innovation are not fully understood. This paper surveys the recent literature, focusing on three main drivers: intellectual property rights institutions, the... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Economic Growth

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January 2002 (Revised March 2006)
Background Note

Democracy

By: Rawi E. Abdelal

Surveys scholarship on democracy and democratization. Describes the relationship between democracy and the environment of business, including capitalist economic institutions, economic growth, economic reform, and international relations. View Details

Keywords: Economic Systems; Situation or Environment; Business and Government Relations; Economic Growth; International Relations; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

April 2012
Background Note

Note: Net Cash, Share Repurchases and EPS Growth

By: William E. Fruhan Jr.

How companies with large net cash positions can enhance earnings/share through share repurchase in an environment of low interest rates. View Details

Keywords: Stock Shares; Corporate Finance

2013
Working Paper

Networks as Covers: Evidence from an On-Line Social Network

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski

This paper proposes that networks give actors a cover by giving them the excuse of sociability to engage in normatively prohibited market behaviors. I apply this hypothesis to actors in long-term exclusive relationships who are surreptitiously seeking new relationships... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Behavior; Ethics; Relationships; Social and Collaborative Networks

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2012
Chapter

Sustainable Cities: Oxymoron or the Shape of the Future?

By: Robert G. Eccles, Annissa Alusi, Amy C. Edmondson and Tiona Zuzul

Two trends are likely to define the 21st century: threats to the sustainability of the natural environment and dramatic increases in urbanization. This paper reviews the goals, business models, and partnerships involved in eight early "ecocity" projects to begin to... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; City; Urban Development; Infrastructure; Housing; Urban Scope; Business Ventures; Business Model; Green Technology Industry

24 Sep 2019
Working Paper Summaries

The Impact of Regulation on Strategic Positioning: Self-Regulation in the RTE Cereal Industry

Keywords: by Young Hou and Dennis Yao; Food & Beverage

January 1980 (Revised October 1993)
Case

Renn Zaphiropoulos

By: John P. Kotter

Focuses on the management style of Renn Zaphiropoulos in the context of a rapidly changing business environment within Xerox Corporation. To be contrasted with the case, Fred Henderson and the videotape, A Day with Fred Henderson (9-881-502), which are appropriate for... View Details

Keywords: Situation or Environment; Management Style; Consumer Products Industry; Electronics Industry

Research Summary

Intangible Assets

Professor Kimbrough's work examines the information environment surrounding and the economic characteristics of intangible assets. Insight in these areas has implications for how intangible assets should be accounted for, disclosed and managed. View Details

December 2001 (Revised February 2008)
Case

Borealis

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Bjorn N. Jorgensen

When Borealis, a European producer of plastics, used a traditional, time-consuming budgeting process, the budget was quickly out of date in a competitive environment characterized by continually changing input and output prices and dynamic market conditions. This case... View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Budgets and Budgeting; Forecasting and Prediction; Investment; Governance Controls; Balanced Scorecard; Management Systems; Manufacturing Industry; Europe

June 2016
Case

Augustine Heard & Co.: Building a Family Business in the China Trade (A)

By: William C. Kirby, Joycelyn W. Eby and John S. Ji

Augustine Heard Sr. founded Augustine Heard & Company, a commission house focused on trade between China and the United States, in 1840. He welcomed his four nephews into the family business as it expanded in the increasingly complex economic and political environment... View Details

Keywords: Exports; China; Commissions; Family Business; Family and Family Relationships; China; Boston

18 Sep 2000
Research & Ideas

Getting It Done: Improving Nonprofit Performance

environment distracts nonprofit management, shifting focus away from organizational performance," Grossman writes. "Far from being a benign influence, philanthropic capital markets have an insidious effect on making and keeping high... View Details

Keywords: by James E. Aisner

January 2011 (Revised April 2023)
Course Overview Note

The Coming of Managerial Capitalism: Overview

By: Tom Nicholas

This is a course overview note for The Coming of Managerial Capitalism. CMC is chronologically organized. It starts in the late eighteenth century when America gained independence, spans the remarkable rise to industrial maturity during the nineteenth and twentieth... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Business or Company Management; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Welfare; War; Transformation; Information Technology; Finance; Situation or Environment; Decision Making; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; United States

December 1989
Background Note

Note on How Organizations Can be Structured

By: D. Q. Mills

Describes four basic organizational forms--hierarchy, division, matrix, and cluster. Diagrams of each are included. Their strengths and weaknesses under different business environment conditions are detailed. There is a table comparing the forms on several key... View Details

Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Culture; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure

April 2010 (Revised January 2013)
Case

Southwest Airlines: In a Different World

By: James L. Heskett and W. Earl Sasser Jr.

This is the fourth in a 35-year series of HBS cases on an organization that has changed the rules of the game globally for an entire industry by offering both differentiated and low-price service. The focus of the case is on whether Southwest Airlines should buy gates... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Organizational Culture; Competitive Strategy; Air Transportation Industry; New York (city, NY)

2020
Working Paper

Immigration Policy Levers for U.S. Innovation and Startups

By: William R. Kerr and Sari Pekkala Kerr

Immigrants account for about a quarter of U.S. invention and entrepreneurship despite a policy environment that is not well suited for these purposes. This chapter reviews the U.S. immigration policy environment that governs how skilled migrants move to America for... View Details

Keywords: Invention; Innovation; Startups; High-tech; Immigration; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Business Startups; Venture Capital; United States

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August 2017 (Revised February 2023)
Case

Managing Diversity and Inclusion at Yelp

By: Michael Luca, Joshua Schwartzstein and Gauri Subramani

This case explores the industry-wide lack of employee diversity in the technology sector and Yelp’s decision to take a leadership position in identifying strategies to increase diversity. The goal of the case is to provide an opportunity for students to develop a... View Details

Keywords: Diversity; Employees; Leading Change; Strategy; Organizational Culture; Technology Industry

November 2013
Article

The Ergonomics of Dishonesty: The Effect of Incidental Posture on Stealing, Cheating, and Traffic Violations

By: Andy J. Yap, Abbie S. Wazlawek, Brian J. Lucas, Amy J.C. Cuddy and Dana R. Carney

Can the structure of our everyday environment lead us to behave dishonestly? Four studies found that expansive postures incidentally imposed by our ordinary living environment lead to increases in dishonest behavior. The first three experiments found that individuals... View Details

Keywords: Dishonesty; Embodiment; Human Factors; Nonverbal Behavior; Power; Design; Behavior; Crime and Corruption; Situation or Environment; Power and Influence