Publications

May 2012 (Revised November 2015)
Case

The National Geographic Society (A) (Abridged)

By: David A. Garvin and Annelena Lobb

In January 2010, John Fahey, president, CEO, and chairman of the board of trustees' executive committee of the Washington, D.C.–based National Geographic Society (NGS), must decide how best to organize the 121-year old mission-driven organization for a world of... View Details

Keywords: General Management; Change Management; Media And Publishing; Digital Convergence; Strategy Development; Business Models; Information Publishing; Online Technology; Business Model; Organizational Structure; Business Strategy; Publishing Industry

June 2020
Background Note

Customer Management Dynamics and Cohort Analysis

By: Elie Ofek, Barak Libai and Eitan Muller

The digital revolution has allowed companies to amass considerable amounts of data on their customers. Using this information to generate actionable insights is fast becoming a critical skill that firms must master if they wish to effectively compete and win in today’s... View Details

Keywords: Cohort Analysis; Customers; Analytics and Data Science; Segmentation; Analysis; Customer Value and Value Chain

12 Mar 2012
Research & Ideas

Crowded at the Top: The Rise of the Functional Manager

businesses.” In 2008, companies averaged 2.9 general managers, compared to 1.6 in 1986, according to data from several surveys. The average number of functional managers reporting directly to the CEO... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

16 Aug 2010
Lessons from the Classroom

HBS Introduces Marketing Analysis Tools for Managers

Analysis": Managers frequently need to estimate the size of their markets, both for existing products, so that sales forecasts can be developed, and for new products, so that market opportunities can be assessed. This tookit enables... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert

13 Aug 2014
Lessons from the Classroom

Managing the Family Business: Entrepreneurs Needed for Long-Run Success

generations of the family are supposed to take care of and grow the founder's creation; they are not expected to be entrepreneurs themselves. Even attempting to reinvent the family company can be seen as disloyal by the family. This... View Details

Keywords: by Michael J. Roberts

2011
Other Unpublished Work

Functional Centralization and the Division of Labor in Management

By: Julie Wulf, Maria Guadalupe and Hongyi Li

This paper shows that the trend towards flatter hierarchies in large US firms since the mid-80's has been accompanied by increased centralization of activities at the top of the organization. In particular, the number of functional managers (e.g., Chief Financial... View Details

Keywords: Executive Compensation; Management Teams; Organizational Structure; Business Strategy; Diversification; Information Technology; United States

August 1995
Background Note

Managing in an Information Age: IT Challenges and Opportunities

By: Lynda M. Applegate

The co-evolution of technology, work, and the workforce over the past 30 years has dramatically influenced our concept of organizations and the industries within which they compete. No longer simply a tool to support "back-office" transactions, IT has become a... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Information Management; Restructuring; Technological Innovation; Corporate Strategy; Organizational Design; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Information Technology Industry

11 Apr 2012
Research & Ideas

The High Risks of Short-Term Management

Companies that manage for short-term gain rather than long-term growth have been blamed for everything from popularizing celebrity CEOs to causing a significant chunk of the current financial crisis. Now new research findings suggest that... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Financial Services

14 May 2007
Research & Ideas

The Key to Managing Stars? Think Team

cultivate stars. But if there are only a few stars, these individuals will tend to have a tougher time sustaining top performance. Q: What else are you working on? A: We also examine the portability of performance in a different labor market: star View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

05 Jul 2023
What Do You Think?

How Are Middle Managers Falling Down Most Often on Employee Inclusion?

(iStockphoto/AzmanL) Search “inclusion” on Amazon and the majority of book entries that come up are for children. Is that an indicator of the current state of management art on the subject? Fortunately, there is a growing body of research... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

October 2022
Article

How Leaders with Divergent Visions Generate Novel Strategy: Navigating the Paradox of Preservation and Modernization in Swiss Watchmaking

By: Ryan Raffaelli, Rich DeJordy and Rory M. McDonald

How do leaders with divergent visions for their organization come together to create a novel strategy? This paper employs paradox as a lens to investigate how leader-dyads can integrate opposing strategies to produce a new, generative approach. Drawing on a qualitative... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Paradoxes; Senior Leaders; Organizational Reinvention; Leadership; Technological Innovation; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Change; Manufacturing Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Switzerland

Read Now

10 Sep 2007
Research & Ideas

High Note: Managing the Medici String Quartet

Why would a business school professor want to write a case study about a string quartet? The answer was easy for Robert Austin, a scholar with research expertise in the management of innovation. While attending an academic workshop near... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Music

Article

The Decreasing Value of Our Research to Management Education

By: Jone L. Pearce and Laura Huang

For centuries we have expected the best teachers also to be scholars. The practice of scholarship should do more than make scholars more humble teachers; scholarship is expected to be more than an activity done for its own sake. Here we present evidence that our... View Details

Research Summary

Managing the Advantages and Tradeoffs of Collaborative Structures

By: Ethan S. Bernstein

To solve complex problems, organizations must both collect facts and use them to solve problems. In one study, my coauthors and I show that increased connectivity—measured as network... View Details

Keywords: Networks; Human Behavior; Performance; Virtual Work; Hybrid Work; Office Space; Workplace Design; Communication; Social and Collaborative Networks; Behavior; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Leadership; Management

October 2017
Case

LeBron James: Building a Hollywood Empire

By: Anita Elberse

It is June 2016. Superstar basketball player LeBron James and his childhood friend and business partner Maverick Carter are celebrating James’ third NBA championship. The duo will soon have to decide on a strategy for their media businesses—their film and television... View Details

January 2013
Case

Luotang Power: Variances Explained

By: Robert Simons and Craig Chapman

The general manager of Luotang Power, a coal-fired power plant located in central China, reviews annual results before a meeting with the board of directors. He thought the company performed well during the year and both plant availability and fuel economy had improved... View Details

Keywords: China; Financial Statements; Management Accounting; Variance Analysis; Environmental Regulations; Incentives; Electric Power Generation; Contracts; Valuation; Energy Generation; Accounting; Performance Evaluation; Energy Industry; China

January 2025
Case

Real Madrid Club de Fútbol

By: Anita Elberse, Juan Pasquín and Íñigo Pasquín

On June 1, 2024, Spanish soccer club Real Madrid captures its fifteenth Champions League title—more than double the tally of the nearest competitor. Under Florentino Pérez’s leadership, the club has now won six of the last eleven UEFA Champions League titles, and has... View Details

Keywords: Sports; Soccer; Football; Entertainment; Media; Talent Management; Superstars; Marketing; Strategy; General Management