Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(3,089)
- Faculty Publications (1,006)
- 2020
- Book
Fit to Compete: Why Honest Conversations About Your Company's Capabilities Are the Key to a Winning Strategy
By: Michael Beer
Is Silence Killing Your Strategy?
In his thirty years of working in corporations, Harvard Business School professor Michael Beer has witnessed firsthand how organizational silence derails strategic objectives. When employees can't speak truth to power, senior... View Details
In his thirty years of working in corporations, Harvard Business School professor Michael Beer has witnessed firsthand how organizational silence derails strategic objectives. When employees can't speak truth to power, senior... View Details
Keywords: Honesty; Communication; Organizational Culture; Trust; Strategy; Performance Effectiveness
- 2020
- Book
Think Outside the Building: How Advanced Leaders Can Change the World One Smart Innovation at a Time
Over a decade ago, renowned innovation expert Rosabeth Moss Kanter co-founded and then directed Harvard’s Advanced Leadership Initiative. Her breakthrough work with hundreds of successful professionals and executives, as well as aspiring young entrepreneurs, identifies... View Details
Keywords: Leaders; Advanced Leadership; Advanced Leadership Initiative; Community; Change Leadership; Innovation; Problem Solving; Cross-sector Collaboration; Institutional Change; Leadership; Change; Leading Change; Communication; Innovation Leadership; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business and Community Relations; Civil Society or Community
- Winter 2020
- Article
Unsubstantiated Allegations and Organizational Culture
By: Eugene F. Soltes
When organizations investigate allegations of misconduct, they routinely determine that some allegations are unsubstantiated. A variety of factors may contribute to the conclusion that an allegation does not warrant substantiation, including a lack of supporting... View Details
- January 2020
- Teaching Plan
Zhejiang Geely Holding Group: Acquisition of Volvo Cars and Volvo Cars: Acquisition by Geely
By: Willy Shih
This teachning plan is for the two cases 619-041 which describes Geely's acquisition of Volvo Cars, and 619-042 which describes Volvo Cars' acqusition by Geely. The case is designed to illustrate the different sides of an M&A transaction and the organizational culture... View Details
- December 2019 (Revised June 2025)
- Case
Mãe Terra and Unilever (A)
By: Lynn S. Paine, Ruth Costas and Priscilla Zogbi
The case concerns the sale of Mãe Terra, one of Brazil's leading brands for packaged organic foods, to the consumer goods giant Unilever in 2017. Working with Unilever management, Mãe Terra’s CEO Alexandre Borges must determine whether and how to keep Mãe Terra's B... View Details
Keywords: Mergers ＆ Acquisitions; Brand Management; Sustainability; Mergers and Acquisitions; Mission and Purpose; Social Enterprise; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Environmental Sustainability; Organizational Culture; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Brazil; Latin America
- December 2019
- Supplement
Mãe Terra and Unilever (B)
By: Lynn S. Paine, Ruth Costas and Mariana Cal
Unilever is making strides to integrate the operations of Mãe Terra—one of Brazil's leading brands for packaged organic foods—into its own structures, after acquiring the company in 2017. Mãe Terra’s CEO, Alexandre Borges, must decide whether to implement his original... View Details
Keywords: Brand Management; Sustainability; Mergers and Acquisitions; Mission and Purpose; Social Enterprise; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Environmental Sustainability; Organizational Culture; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Brazil; Latin America
- 2019
- Article
Overcoming Cultural Resistance to Open Source Innovation
By: John Winsor, Jin Hyun Paik, Michael Tushman and Karim R. Lakhani
Purpose: This article offers insight on how to effectively help incumbent organizations prepare for global business shifts to open source and digital business models.
Design/methodology/approach: Discussion related to observation, experience and case studies... View Details
Design/methodology/approach: Discussion related to observation, experience and case studies... View Details
- Article
Toward a Corporate Culture of Health: Results of a National Survey
By: Michael Anne Kyle, Lumumba Seegars, John M. Benson, Robert J. Blendon, Robert S. Huckman and Sara J. Singer
Context: The private sector has a large potential role in advancing health and well-being, but attention to corporate practices around health tends to focus on a narrow range of issues and on large businesses. Systematically describing private sector engagement in... View Details
- 2019
- Working Paper
From Know-It-Alls to Learn-It-Alls: Executive Development in the Era of Self-Refining Algorithms, Collaborative Filtering and Wearable Computing
By: Mihnea Moldoveanu and Das Narayandas
We examine the future of executive education on a technological and cultural landscape that is imminent but different to the one we are accustomed to. We show how the contextualization, socialization and personalization of learning—avowed but distal goals of current... View Details
- November 2019
- Case
The Boss Has the Wrong Idea: Confidential Role Material for Julia Smith
By: Katherine Coffman, Kathleen McGinn, Judith A. Clair and Katherine Chen
“The Boss Has the Wrong Idea” is a two-person conversation exercise in which an MBA student seeks advice from a mentor in her field about how to handle an incident of workplace sexual harassment. The case consists of two confidential role materials: a role for the... View Details
- November 2019
- Case
The Boss Has the Wrong Idea: Confidential Role Material for Lee Clancy
By: Katherine Coffman, Kathleen McGinn, Judith A. Clair and Katherine Chen
“The Boss Has the Wrong Idea” is a two-person conversation exercise in which an MBA student seeks advice from a mentor in her field about how to handle an incident of workplace sexual harassment. The case consists of two confidential role materials: a role for the... View Details
- October 2019 (Revised February 2020)
- Case
Brightview Senior Living
By: Lynda M. Applegate and James Weber
Marilynn Duker, CEO, was exploring how to grow the company while maintaining the culture that made it a leader in the field of senior housing. Brightview constructed and operated senior living apartment communities that offered independent living, assisted living, and... View Details
- October 2019
- Case
GRIT Fitness
By: Lynda M. Applegate and Olivia Hull
In December 2018, GRIT Fitness was a growing chain of boutique fitness studios offering a variety of workout classes, including weightlifting, high intensity interval training, and cardio dance. With 400 members and three Dallas studios, CEO Brittani Rettig believed... View Details
Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Mission and Purpose; Corporate Strategy; Customer Focus and Relationships; Forecasting and Prediction; Business Plan; Trends; Experience and Expertise; Talent and Talent Management; Training; Health; Selection and Staffing; Leadership Style; Leadership Development; Management Style; Management Teams; Brands and Branding; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Motivation and Incentives; Sports; Competition; Diversification; Expansion; Value Creation; Health Industry; Sports Industry; Texas
- October 2019 (Revised February 2020)
- Case
Thermax—Changing of the Guard
By: Christina R. Wing and Inakshi Sobti
Thermax is an engineering company in India that provides integrated solutions in energy, environment, and chemicals. The Aga family along with family trusts owns 62% of the company. Post a restructuring exercise in 2000, Thermax transforms itself from a small family... View Details
- October 2019
- Case
Engaging the Nationwide Workforce
By: Ethan S. Bernstein, Jessica Gover and Sarah Mehta
Nationwide is “on your side,” but did employees feel that way? CAO Gale King and CEO Steve Rasmussen, starting in 2008, invested heavily in a human capital strategy centered around “engagement” at the Ohio-based Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company. Set in 2014, this... View Details
Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Change; Change Management; Transformation; Insurance; Human Resources; Employees; Employee Relationship Management; Retention; Selection and Staffing; Employment; Human Capital; Leadership; Leadership Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Social Psychology; Financial Services Industry; Insurance Industry; United States; Ohio
- 2019
- Working Paper
Birds of a Feather ... Enforce Social Norms? Interactions Among Culture, Norms, and Strategy
By: Hongyi Li and Eric J. Van den Steen
This paper analyzes how shared beliefs and preferences (or values) cause the emergence of social norms; why people may enforce norms that go against their own beliefs and preferences/values; and how this may cause a disconnect to develop between the... View Details
- October 2019
- Case
Street Symphony: Making Human Connections Through Music
By: Rohit Deshpandé
To Vijay Gupta, music was sacred. A highly accomplished and renowned violinist with The Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gupta believed the act of making and performing music was a deeply spiritual practice — one that had the power to heal audiences and musicians... View Details
- September 2019
- Exercise
Difficult Conversations (A)
By: Shikhar Ghosh and Shweta Bagai
The exercises can be used as a follow-up to the Yesware (A) case (#816-039), or in conjunction with any case that involves replacing a founding team member (and/or providing feedback to a top executive). This is a role-playing exercise, and has been carried out in the... View Details
- September 2019
- Exercise
Difficult Conversations (B)
By: Shikhar Ghosh and Shweta Bagai
The exercises can be used as a follow-up to the Yesware (A) case (#816-039), or in conjunction with any case that involves replacing a founding team member (and/or providing feedback to a top executive). This is a role-playing exercise, and has been carried out in the... View Details
- September 2019 (Revised December 2022)
- Case
Cooking Down a Storm: Changing Culture at Pasta Serafina (A)
By: Susanna Gallani, Francesca Gino and Raffaella Sadun
Plant management at Pasta Serafina, a pasta producer in the south of Italy, is struggling to contain employee absenteeism. While the misbehavior is concentrated in a minority of the workers, its effects impact not only the plant’s performance, but also the climate and... View Details