Publications

February 2005 (Revised August 2008)
Case

Arcelik Home Appliances: International Expansion Strategy

The Turkish home appliances firm Arcelik is revisiting its growth strategy. Options for growth include continuing to promote currently owned brands in international markets, acquiring new brands, expanding OEM or private-label contracts, and/or diversifying into other... View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Diversification; Expansion; Consumer Products Industry; Turkey

April 2004
Case

Case Vignette: The Salesman Saga

By: G. Felda Hardymon, Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon

A venture capitalist faces a situation in which a struggling portfolio company has found a promising vice president of sales through a recruitment agency. The candidate would be an excellent fit for another one of the investor's companies--one that is doing much... View Details

Keywords: Salesforce Management; Corporate Governance; Venture Capital; Ethics; Recruitment

May 1996
Background Note

The GM's Operational Challenge: Managing Through People

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Ashish Nanda

Highlights and explores how a general manager adds value to the firm at the operational level by managing through people. Discusses how assumptions about human motivation influence the employment contract that the general manager implicitly enters into with the workers... View Details

Keywords: Employee Relationship Management; Selection and Staffing; Contracts; Managerial Roles; Operations; Problems and Challenges; Labor and Management Relations; Motivation and Incentives; Value

15 Sep 2020
Video

Competing in the Age of AI and Digital Transformation

February 2009 (Revised September 2011)
Case

Big Spaceship: Ready to Go Big?

By: Boris Groysberg and Michael Slind

Big Spaceship, a digital marketing agency, faced a rather big challenge: How to scale the distinctive culture that was essential to its competitive strategy? Renowned for the cutting-edge websites that it developed to market major Hollywood movies and leading consumer... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Management; Human Capital; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing; Organizational Culture; Organizational Design; Groups and Teams; Competitive Strategy; Value Creation

Teaching Interest

Global Strategy and Implementation

Professor Vijay Govindarajan

This course focuses on the challenges of developing and implementing strategies in global industries. The aim is to provide students with a conceptual and practical understanding of the strategic and organizational... View Details

December 2019
Case

Gary Vaynerchuk: #GaryVee

By: Laura Huang and Sarah Mehta

Fresh out of a public social media debacle, Gary Vaynerchuk needs to reconsider the approach he takes in leading his digital media agency, VaynerMedia. Founded in 2009 by Gary and his brother AJ, VaynerMedia has grown into an unconventional creative marketing agency.... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Leadership Style; Personal Characteristics; Business Growth and Maturation; Marketing; Social Media

November 2020
Article

When the Boss Comes to Town: The Effects of Headquarters' Visits on Facility-Level Misconduct

By: Jonas Heese and Gerardo Pérez Cavazos

We study the effects of headquarters’ visits on facility-level misconduct. We use the staggered introduction of airline routes to identify exogenous travel-time reductions between headquarters and facilities and test whether such reductions affect facility-level... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Misconduct; Visits By Management; Flight Routes; Control Systems; Compliance Programs; Performance Pressure; Business or Company Management; Management Systems; Governance Controls; Governance Compliance; Performance Expectations

SSRN

Find at Harvard

2015
Report

The Challenge of Shared Prosperity: Findings of Harvard Business School's 2015 Survey on U.S. Competitiveness

By: Jan Rivkin, Karen G. Mills and Michael E. Porter

In the 2015 survey on U.S. competitiveness, HBS alumni weigh in on the current state and future trajectory of U.S. competitiveness as well as the structural strengths and weaknesses of the U.S. business environment. In addition, alumni delve deeper into two aspects of... View Details

Keywords: Competitiveness; U.S. Competitiveness; Shared Prosperity; Wealth; Competition; United States

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March 2011
Article

What Do Dividends Tell Us About Earnings Quality

By: Douglas Skinner and Eugene F. Soltes

Over the past 30 years, there have been significant changes in the distribution of earnings (cross-sectional variation has increased, with increasing left skewness) as well as in corporate payout policy, with many fewer firms paying dividends and the emergence of stock... View Details

Keywords: Distribution; Business Earnings; Change; Policy; Stocks; Investment Return; Performance Consistency; Quality

Find at Harvard

Read Now

December 2006 (Revised October 2007)
Case

Monsanto: Realizing Biotech Value in Brazil

By: David E. Bell and Mary L. Shelman

In 2003, Monsanto's patented "Roundup Ready" technology was used illegally on 70-80% of the soybean area in southern Brazil. Under pressure from U.S. soybean growers, who were paying to license the technology, the firm implemented an innovative delivery-based... View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Patents; Lawfulness; Emerging Markets; Product Development; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Biotechnology Industry; Brazil

September 2017
Case

Sensing (and Monetizing) Happiness at Hitachi

By: Ethan Bernstein and Stephanie Marton

Inspired by research linking happiness and productivity, Hitachi had invested in developing new “people analytics” technologies to help companies increase employee happiness. Hitachi had begun manufacturing high-tech badges that quantify a wearer’s activity patterns.... View Details

Keywords: People Analytics; Japan; Sociometers; Wearables; Interpersonal Communication; Human Resources; Happiness; Technology Industry; Japan

October 2004 (Revised October 2013)
Case

In Search of Global Regulation

By: Geoffrey Jones, Mona Rahmani and Alexis Gendron

The history of the international regulation of global capitalism is surveyed, addressing the challenges facing firms confronting international, national, and regional regulation. Follows the history of global regulation after 1914, from the League of Nations'... View Details

Keywords: History; Multinational Firms and Management; International Relations; Laws and Statutes; Corporate Governance; Business and Government Relations

March 2022 (Revised April 2022)
Case

In Search of Global Regulation

By: Geoffrey Jones and Mona Rahmani

The history of the international regulation of global capitalism is surveyed, addressing the challenges facing firms confronting international, national, and regional regulation. Follows the history of global regulation after 1914, from the League of Nations;... View Details

Keywords: History; Multinational Firms and Management; International Relations; Laws and Statutes; Corporate Governance; Business and Government Relations

23 May 2000
Research & Ideas

Minding the Muse: The Impact of Downsizing on Corporate Creativity

pharmaceutical firms that rely on creativity," she says. "Today's fast-changing global markets place increased pressure on companies of every kind to continuously create new products, services, and competitive strategies if they... View Details

Keywords: by Peter K. Jacobs

Article

Why Am I Seeing This Ad? The Effect of Ad Transparency on Ad Effectiveness

By: Tami Kim, Kate Barasz and Leslie K. John

Given the increasingly specific ways marketers can target ads, many consumers and regulators are demanding ad transparency: disclosure of how consumers’ personal information was used to generate ads. We investigate how and why ad transparency impacts ad effectiveness.... View Details

Keywords: Digital Marketing; Customization and Personalization; Information; Trust; Performance Effectiveness