Publications

November 2019 (Revised April 2021)
Case

United Technologies: Are the Parts Worth More Than the Whole?

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher

After spending more than 50 years creating a diversified industrial conglomerate that Fortune magazine described as “arguably the most profitable conglomerate in America” in 2014, UTC’s CEO Greg Hayes was under pressure from activist investors (Dan Loeb and Bill... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Business Conglomerates; Financial Management; Corporate Governance; Organizational Structure; Investment Funds; Value Creation; Aerospace Industry; Electronics Industry; Industrial Products Industry; United States

16 Sep 2020
Blog Post

Turning a Moment into a Movement: How the Anti-Racism Fund Co-Founders are Fighting Racism and Encouraging Other Companies to Do Their Part

thinking about diversity as a burden,” said Kevin. “Diversity maximizes a company’s ability to be successful and the demographics of our country are changing rapidly. Organizations that are slow to get with the times View Details

Keywords: All Industries

April 2011
Article

Strategies for Learning from Failure

By: Amy C. Edmondson

Many executives believe that all failure is bad (although it usually provides lessons)--and that learning from it is pretty straightforward. The author, a professor at Harvard Business School, thinks both beliefs are misguided. In organizational life, she says, some... View Details

Keywords: Learning; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Leadership; Business Processes; Organizational Culture; Failure; Opportunities

19 Sep 2016
Research & Ideas

Why Isn't Business Research More Relevant to Business Practitioners?

often a disconnect between practitioners and academics,” he says. Source: CMO Council Neale-May illustrates a pervasive paradox in academia: Research conducted at business schools often offers no obvious View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Education

February 2015 (Revised April 2016)
Supplement

Quincy Apparel (B)

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Lisa C. Mazzanti

The (B) case provides post-mortem analysis from Quincy's cofounders on why their startup failed and what they could have done differently. Explanations for failure focus on Quincy's ambitious value proposition and resulting operational challenges; cofounder conflict;... View Details

Keywords: Retail; Online Retail; Women's Apparel; Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Failure; Business Startups; E-commerce; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry

Yifei Wu is a doctoral student in the Strategy Unit at Harvard Business School with primary research interests in innovation, entrepreneurship and digitization in emerging markets. She works with impact-driven technology ventures to understand challenges and... View Details

January 1994 (Revised March 1995)
Case

NovaCare, Inc.: Living the Vision

By: Lynn S. Paine

NovaCare's CEO is considering how further to institutionalize the company's espoused values and beliefs. One challenge is integrating two newly acquired businesses; another is better aligning the values of the company's managers with those of its front-line... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Health Care and Treatment; Labor and Management Relations; Management Teams; Values and Beliefs; Mergers and Acquisitions; Mission and Purpose; Health Industry

19 Sep 2016
News

Why Isn't Business Research More Relevant to Business Practitioners?

Summer 2020
Article

Want to Make Better Decisions? Start Experimenting

By: Michael Luca and Max Bazerman

Four lessons for using randomized controlled experiments to create value for your company and customers View Details

Keywords: Randomized Controlled Experiments; Value Creation; Decision Making

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May 2011
Article

The Wise Leader

By: Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi

In an era of increasing discontinuity, wise leadership has nearly vanished. Many leaders find it difficult to reinvent their corporations rapidly enough to cope with new technologies, demographic shifts, and consumption trends. They can't develop truly global... View Details

Keywords: Communication Intention and Meaning; Interpersonal Communication; Experience and Expertise; Values and Beliefs; Knowledge Sharing; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Leadership; Leadership Development; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Personal Characteristics; Power and Influence

15 Jul 2014
First Look

First Look: July 15

Working Papers Decision Making Under Information Asymmetry: Experimental Evidence on Belief Refinements By: Schmidt, William, and Ryan W. Buell Abstract—We examine how people make decisions when the View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

February 2024 (Revised May 2024)
Case

Lina Khan at the FTC: Redefining Antitrust in the Age of Big Tech

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr. and Susan Pinckney

In 2023 and 2024, the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justice sued Google, Amazon, and Apple claiming antitrust violations. These lawsuits marked a shift in U.S. antitrust enforcement away from the Chicago School and towards the New Brandeis school of... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Government Administration; Lawsuits and Litigation; Monopoly; Technology Industry; United States; European Union; China; India

21 Apr 2023
News

Harvard Business School Honors Five Graduates with 2023 Alumni Achievement Award

June 2023 (Revised January 2024)
Case

Siemens AG: A Private Equity Approach within an Industrial Corporation?

By: David J. Collis and Haisley Wert

In July 2022, Horst Kayser, Chairman of Siemens AG Portfolio Companies (POC), was reflecting on the advice he could offer Roland Busch, Chief Executive Officer of the parent company Siemens AG, about whether and how to operate a private equity-like approach inside the... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Management; Value Creation; Private Equity; Corporate Strategy

February 2011 (Revised December 2012)
Case

Porsche: The Cayenne Launch

By: John Deighton, Jill Avery and Jeffrey Fear

Can an online discussion forum supply insight into the evolution of brand meaning? In 2003 Porsche launched a sport utility vehicle, dividing Porsche purists from newcomers to the brand. Vocal members of online and offline Porsche communities ridiculed the Cayenne SUV... View Details

Keywords: Knowledge Sharing; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Risk Management; Brands and Branding; Product Launch; Product Positioning; Social and Collaborative Networks; Auto Industry

Article

Research: People Use Less Energy When They Think Their Neighbors Care About the Environment

By: Jon M. Jachimowicz, Oliver P. Hauser, Julie O'Brien, Erin Sherman and Adam D. Galinsky

A significant reduction in energy consumption is needed to help meet critical temperature thresholds. New research points to a way to help consumers work toward this goal – one that doesn’t rest on changing people’s personal beliefs about climate change. Rather, it... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Energy; Energy Conservation; Motivation and Incentives

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05 Jul 2021
What Do You Think?

Do Companies Really Need Chief Experience Officers to Know Their Customers?

School Press, 2003), p. 74. Katie Deighton, “Some Chief Experience Officers Want to Make Their Jobs Disappear,” The Wall Street Journal, June 23, 2021. James L. Heskett, W. Earl Sasser, Jr., and Leonard A. Schlesinger, The View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

July 1982 (Revised December 1984)
Case

Esmark, Inc. (A)

By: William E. Fruhan Jr.

Involves the management of a firm with a market value of a going concern that is less than its breakup value. How does management maximize value for shareholders in this environment? View Details

Keywords: Finance; Markets; Business and Shareholder Relations; Value; Food and Beverage Industry