Publications

2016
Working Paper

Algorithmic Foundations for Business Strategy

By: Mihnea Moldoveanu

I introduce algorithmic and meta-algorithmic models for the study of strategic problem solving, aimed at illuminating the processes and procedures by which strategic managers and firms deal with complex problems. These models allow us to explore the relationship... View Details

Keywords: Mathematical Methods; Business Strategy

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March 2011 (Revised December 2012)
Case

Demand Media

By: John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld

Google search had helped Demand Media grow to be a $1.9 billion online publisher. Then, social media and smartphone apps began to change the way people navigated the Internet. How should Demand Media respond? The business ran on a radically new model in which a stable... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Information Publishing; Consumer Behavior; Customization and Personalization; Internet and the Web; Publishing Industry

March 2023
Case

Best Buy: Renew Blue (A)

By: Sunil Gupta, Dave Habeeb and Amram Migdal

Preabstract: The A Video Case should be assigned to students in advance of class. The B case is intended to be used in class by educators and the C case can be assigned to students during or after class. The product is designed as a low-prep case for students, with... View Details

Keywords: Job Offer; Management Succession; Personal Development and Career; Business or Company Management; Leadership; Selection and Staffing; Retail Industry

September–October 2017
Article

Why Do We Undervalue Competent Management?: Neither Great Leadership Nor Brilliant Strategy Matters Without Operational Excellence

By: Raffaella Sadun, Nicholas Bloom and John Van Reenen

A recurring message in business education is that you can’t compete on the basis of management processes because they’re easily copied. Operational effectiveness is table stakes in the competitive universe, it is often assumed, and thus cannot serve as a sustainable... View Details

Keywords: Management; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Management Practices and Processes; Performance Effectiveness

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Blog

Making the Decision to Attend: Our Participants Share Their Stories

Applying to an HBS Executive Education program can be an important step in your development as a leader—a step you don't want to take lightly. When you are trying to decide whether to attend a program, keep in mind that you can draw on... View Details

August 1998
Case

Record Masters

By: William A. Sahlman, Michael J. Roberts and Laurence E. Katz

Kent Dauten, a former general partner at the Chicago private equity firm of Madison Dearborn Partners, has engaged in a search to personally sponsor a buyout in which he can play an active management role. He has received a selling memorandum for Record Masters, a... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Leveraged Buyouts; Valuation; Negotiation Deal; Investment

June 2025
Supplement

Transforming a Titan (B)

By: George Serafeim and Lena Duchene

After a global search the board appoints Marcel Cobuz—ex-LafargeHolcim executive with deep innovation experience—as TITAN’s first non-family CEO. Cobuz co-creates a four-pillar roadmap: sharpen the core cement portfolio, accelerate low-carbon products and aggregates,... View Details

Keywords: AI; Artificial Intelligence; CEO Succession; CEO Role; Family Business

Career Coach

Cheryl Rousseau

While a Senior Vice President for global consulting firm Lee Hecht Harrison (LHH), Cheryl was invited to join their International Center for Executive Options (ICEO) practice where she is a Confidential... View Details

Keywords: Consulting; Investment Banking; Financial Services (All); Investment Management; Financial Services (All); Private Equity; Financial Services (All); Health Care; Retail

11 Nov 2019
News

"How Bridgewater Tackled One of Asset Management’s Toughest Hiring Problems"

January 2024
Supplement

Winning Business at Russell Reynolds

By: Ethan Bernstein and Cara Mazzucco

In an effort to make compensation drive collaboration, Russell Reynolds Associates’ (RRA) CEO Clarke Murphy sought to re-engineer the bonus system for his executive search consultants in 2016. As his HR analytics guru, Kelly Smith, points out, that risks upsetting—and... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Talent and Talent Management; Compensation and Benefits; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Performance Evaluation; Motivation and Incentives; Consulting Industry

28 Oct 2014
News

There’s No Excuse for Avoiding Strategy

December 2017
Supplement

CEO Succession at Cisco: Video Supplement

By: Boris Groysberg and J. Yo-Jud Cheng

Excerpts of videotaped class visits and an interview with former Cisco CEO John Chambers about Cisco’s CEO succession planning process. Topics include Chambers’ reflections on the process; the roles of the incumbent CEO, board of directors, executive search, and the... View Details

Keywords: CEO Succession; CEO Turnover; Top Management Teams; Board Of Directors; Organizational Change; Strategic Human Resource Management; Strategy; High Technology; Management Succession; Managerial Roles; Corporate Governance; Organizational Culture; Change

22 Apr 2015
HBS Seminar

Riitta Katila, Stanford School of Engineering

February 2022 (Revised January 2024)
Supplement

Winning Business at Russell Reynolds (C)

By: Ethan Bernstein and Cara Mazzucco

In an effort to make compensation drive collaboration, Russell Reynolds Associates’ (RRA) CEO Clarke Murphy sought to re-engineer the bonus system for his executive search consultants in 2016. As his HR analytics guru, Kelly Smith, points out, that risks upsetting—and... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Talent and Talent Management; Compensation and Benefits; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Performance Evaluation; Motivation and Incentives; Consulting Industry

16 Jan 2012
Research & Ideas

Private Meetings of Public Companies Thwart Disclosure Rules

the firm's identity in their paper. "The firm was kind enough to give us access to very detailed records about which executives met with which investors," Soltes says. “If a handful of people meet with... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Financial Services

14 Feb 2022
Research & Ideas

Curiosity, Not Coding: 6 Skills Leaders Need in the Digital Age

so much changing around them, leaders must be explorers. One roundtable executive defines exploration as "curiosity in action." An explorer searches with an ambition in mind: What questions must they answer... View Details

Keywords: by Linda A. Hill, Ann Le Cam, Sunand Menon, and Emily Tedards; Technology

2013
Book

Blockbusters: Hit-making, Risk-taking, and the Big Business of Entertainment

By: Anita Elberse

What's behind the phenomenal success of entertainment businesses such as Warner Bros., Marvel Enterprises, and the NFL—along with such stars as Jay-Z, Lady Gaga, and LeBron James? Which strategies give leaders in film, television, music, publishing, and sports an edge... View Details

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