Publications

March 2009 (Revised May 2009)
Background Note

Executing Strategy

By: J. Bruce Harreld

This is a note to introduce the principles for effectively implementing a new strategy. It emphasizes the interdependence of strategy and execution in developing and sustaining superior competitive performance. Primarily based on the notion that strategy should be a... View Details

Keywords: Alignment; Competitive Strategy; Management Teams

01 Jun 2013
News

Minding The Gap

Baltimore City Public Schools CEO Andrés Alonso for a prized spot on the team that represents the district at a weeklong summer institute run by Harvard's Public Education Leadership Project (PELP). Harcum's assessment of the... View Details

Keywords: Deborah Blagg; Blagg, Deborah; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Educational Support Services; Educational Services; Elementary and Secondary Schools; Educational Services

2016
Working Paper

CEO Personality and Firm Policies

By: Ian D. Gow, Steven N. Kaplan, David F. Larcker and Anastasia A. Zakolyukina

Based on two samples of high quality personality data for chief executive officers (CEOs), we use linguistic features extracted from conferences calls and statistical learning techniques to develop a measure of CEO personality in terms of the Big Five traits:... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Personal Characteristics; Management Teams

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Read Now

18 Oct 2016
News

China, artificial intelligence, and Jim Breyer

billions in return. “Mark epitomizes courage and intensity and isn’t afraid to be wrong,” Breyer said. “And he also made the decision in 2008 to hire Sheryl Sandberg (MBA 1995) . The combination of Mark and Sheryl is the single best team... View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Myers

February 2003 (Revised October 2003)
Case

Peter Jacobs at Versity.com

By: Leslie A. Perlow

Peter Jacobs is Versity.com's new professional CEO. This case provides a behind-the-scenes look at his thoughts and feelings about the company's evolution as he takes charge and tries to establish a new direction for the company. View Details

Keywords: Perspective; Growth and Development Strategy; Planning; Leadership; Management Teams

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12 Sep 2016
Research & Ideas

What Brands Can Do to Monitor Factory Conditions of Suppliers

critical to enable brands to manage this risk.” Toffel’s second study, Monitoring Global Supply Chains with Short and Georgetown University McDonough School of Business Professor (and former HBS doctoral student) Andrea R. Hugill, looks... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

01 Dec 1986
Conference Presentation

A Group Decision Support System for Idea Generation and Issue Analysis in Organization Planning

By: L. M. Applegate, B. R. Konsynski and J. F. Nunamaker

Keywords: Groups and Teams; Planning; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques

July 2005
Case

Leading Anadarko

By: Nitin Nohria, Krishna G. Palepu and David Lane

Describes the challenges facing Jim Hackett, the newly appointed CEO of Anadarko Petroleum, an independent oil and gas exploration company. In addition to strategic and organizational issues, Hackett must address concerns about proper disclosure of the company's oil... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Strategy; Organizations; Corporate Disclosure; Problems and Challenges; Mining Industry; Energy Industry

01 Dec 2007
News

Looking back; looking forward

with power in practice, a remarkable campus, and an alumni community more than 70,000 strong. Equally important, it’s a chance to help set the agenda for management education and research for the next century, and for tomorrow’s business... View Details

Keywords: Jay O. Light; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training

March 2000 (Revised February 2005)
Case

Thomas Weisel Partners (B): Year One

By: Thomas J. DeLong, Ashish Nanda and Scott D Landry

After its launch in February 1999, Thomas Weisel Partners experiences rapid growth in its first year. This case details the inaugural year's development and probes what steps the firm should take to continue the momentum. View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Financial Institutions; Management Teams; Growth Management; Financial Services Industry

April 1998 (Revised July 1999)
Case

Randy Komisar: Virtual CEO

Randy Komisar serves as "virtual CEO" to numerous hi-tech start-ups in Silicon Valley. Explores Randy's role, his perspective on general management, and a choice between two opportunities in which he is considering investing his time. View Details

Keywords: Technology; Business or Company Management; Leadership; Business Startups; Management Teams; Technology Industry; California

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February 1994 (Revised July 2007)
Case

Richard Jenkins

By: John J. Gabarro and Andrew P. Burtis

Written from the point of view of Richard Jenkins, the president of CelluComm. Presents his reflections on the series of events leading to the firing of one of CelluComm's general managers, Erik Peterson. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details

Keywords: Resignation and Termination; Management Teams; Rank and Position; Communications Industry

February 1997
Supplement

WPP--Integrating Icons (Video)

By: Joseph L. Bower and Sonja Ellingson Hout

Interviews with Martin Sorrell, Chairman of WPP Group plc, and also with the heads of several companies that are owned with WPP. Discusses corporate culture, strategies for the future, and how the various companies interact. View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Organizational Structure; Organizational Culture; Relationships; Communication; Strategy

2011
Case

How Fast and Flexible Do You Want Your Information, Really?

By: Thomas H. Davenport and Jim Snabe

Almost all executives want more and faster information, and almost all companies are racing to provide it. What many of them are overlooking is that the real aim should not be faster information but faster decision making, and those aren't the same things. Executives... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Information; Service Delivery; Decision Making; Crisis Management

08 Aug 2016
Lessons from the Classroom

Panic Management: Keep Your Eyes on the Road

place.” None of it helps clean up a workplace mess. ADVERSITY TOOLKIT Managers can soup up resilience in themselves as well as their teams by making a shift in how they size up a challenge. Rather than... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

November 1981
Case

Assessing Managerial Talent at AT&T (A)

By: Michael Beer

Provides background on the assessment center used by AT&T to assess managerial potential for upper middle management. Contains assessment reports for two candidates. Raises questions about manpower training and development. Students may be asked which of the candidates... View Details

Keywords: Managerial Roles; Performance Evaluation; Management Teams; Executive Education; Management Skills

04 May 2020
Research & Ideas

Predictions, Prophets, and Restarting Your Business

“Predictions are risky, especially about the future,” according to a popular expression. Still, business is inescapably about the future—that’s what managers’ decisions are about. In the current crisis, we have daily grand predictions about “new normals,” and View Details

Keywords: by Frank V. Cespedes

May 1994 (Revised May 1995)
Case

Laura Ashley (B): Defining a Strategy

By: Richard L. Nolan

A turnaround CEO engineers a business transformation and formulates short-term and long-term strategy after assessing the business situation. View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Management Teams; Business Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry