Publications

24 Apr 2012
First Look

First Look: April 24

mitigate these frictions. Read the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/09-116.pdf Sustainable Cities: Oxymoron or the Shape of the Future? Authors:Robert G. Eccles, Annissa Alusi, Amy C. Edmondson, and Tiona Zuzul Publication:Chap. 18 in Infrastructure... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

February 2023 (Revised March 2025)
Case

Graphic Packaging: Project Cowboy (A)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and E. Scott Mayfield

In July 2019, Graphic Packaging CEO Michael Doss was proposing a $600 million investment in a new machine to produce coated recycled board (CRB), a type of paper packaging used for consumer products (cups, cereal boxes, beverage boxes, etc.) that utilized recycled... View Details

Keywords: Capital Budgeting; Growth Management; Demand and Consumers; Duopoly and Oligopoly; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Expansion; Value Creation; Supply and Industry; Pulp and Paper Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States; North America

December 2017
Case

International Institute of Tropical Agriculture

By: Jose B. Alvarez and Sarah Mehta

It is July 2017, and Dr. Nteranya Sanginga, the director general of the Nigeria-based International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), is making progress toward two of his primary strategic objectives for the nonprofit research Institute: 1) to scale the impact... View Details

Keywords: Scaling Technologies; Youth Unemployment; Innovation In Nonprofits; Agribusiness; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Cash Flow; Labor; Employment; Commercialization; Problems and Challenges; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Africa; Nigeria

March 2024 (Revised April 2024)
Case

Angel City Football Club: Scoring a New Model

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Jennifer Fonstad and Nicole Tempest Keller

In January 2024, Kara Nortman, Julie Uhrman, and Natalie Portman, the founders of Angel City Football Club (ACFC) were developing the club’s first three-year strategic plan. Founded in 2020, ACFC had a star-studded investor group, including Portman and celebrities such... View Details

Keywords: Sports; Entertainment; Entrepreneurship; Brands and Branding; Venture Capital; Business Model; Corporate Strategy; Digital Marketing; Sports Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States; California; Los Angeles

Article

National Trends in the Safety Performance of Electronic Health Record Systems From 2009 to 2018

By: David Classen, A Jay Holmgren, Zoe Co, Lisa Newmark, Diane Seger, Melissa Danforth and David Bates

Importance Despite the broad adoption of electronic health record (EHR) systems across the continuum of care, safety problems persist. Objective To measure the safety performance of operational EHRs in hospitals across the country during a 10-year period. Design,... View Details

Keywords: Electronic Health Record Systems; Health Care and Treatment; Information Technology; Performance; Safety; Measurement and Metrics; United States

January 2024 (Revised October 2024)
Case

DO & CO: Crafting Luxury in the Fast Lane (A)

By: Juan Alcácer, Esel Cekin, Michael Lee and Noah Roberson

In July 2023, Attila Dogudan, the chairman of DO & CO, a renowned international catering firm, found himself in a deep conversation with his two sons about a potential new venture: catering for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, a significant step beyond their 31-year history... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Health Pandemics; Opportunities; Corporate Strategy; Luxury; Food and Beverage Industry; Las Vegas

February 2022
Case

NFX Capital and Moov Technologies

By: Scott Duke Kominers and Nicole Tempest Keller

In July 2019, James Currier, a general partner at San Francisco-based NFX Ventures, was considering a seed stage investment of $1.5 million in Moov Technologies, a B2B marketplace for used industrial equipment. NFX was a venture capital firm focused on seed-stage... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Network Effects; Marketplace Matching; Digital Platforms; Market Design; Applications and Software; Semiconductor Industry; Financial Services Industry; San Francisco

23 Oct 2012
First Look

First Look: October 23

employing our method, one case study designs a point system that has the same form, uses the same criteria, and satisfies the same fairness constraints as the point system that was recently proposed by U.S. policymakers. In addition, the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Summer 2013
Article

A Tale of Two Stories: Sustainability and the Quarterly Earnings Call

By: Robert G. Eccles and George Serafeim

One of the challenges companies claim to face in making sustainability a core part of their strategy and operations is that the market does not care about sustainability, either in general or because the time frames in which it matters are too long. The response of... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Communication; Integrated Corporate Reporting; Investment; Environmental Sustainability

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April 2012
Article

How Many Direct Reports?

By: Gary L. Neilson and Julie Wulf

If senior executives are feeling ever more pressed for time, why would they add more to their plates? It might sound counterintuitive, but research by Booz & Company's Gary L. Neilson and me shows that over the past 20 years the CEO's average span of control, measured... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Governance Controls; Managerial Roles; Adaptation; Personal Development and Career; Cooperation; Management Teams

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December 2018 (Revised May 2021)
Background Note

Making UK Energy Smarter

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

This case describes the history of the United Kingdom's domestic energy industry and the country's efforts to create a more competitive, greener, and distributed power sector. On July 24, 2017, the United Kingdom government and the industry regulator, the Office of Gas... View Details

November 2010 (Revised January 2011)
Case

Computerized Provider Order Entry at Emory Healthcare

By: Richard G. Hamermesh, F. Warren McFarlan, Mark Keil, Andrew Katz, Michael Morgan and David LaBorde

The Computerized Provider Order Entry at Emory Healthcare case presents one hospital system's efforts to implement computerized provider order entry (CPOE) across all of its hospitals and the challenges they faced in doing so. Issues such as standardization of care,... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Information Management; Management Systems; Standards; Service Delivery; Business Processes; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Projects; Information Technology; Applications and Software; Health Industry

April 2004
Article

Do CEOs in Mergers Trade Power for Premium? Evidence from 'Mergers of Equals'

By: Julie Wulf

I analyze chief executive officer (CEO) incentives to negotiate shared control in the postmerger governance of the surviving firm. In order to do this, I study abnormal returns in a sample of "mergers of equals" (MOEs) transactions in which the two firms are... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Negotiation; Governance Controls; Power and Influence; Value Creation; Business and Shareholder Relations; Governing and Advisory Boards; Motivation and Incentives; Market Transactions

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Research Summary

Research overview

By: Julie Battilana

How can actors – be they individuals or organizations – diverge from deeply-seated norms and develop new ones, when their beliefs and actions are shaped by these very norms? This question lies at the heart of Professor Battilana’s research. To address it, she... View Details

Research Summary

Strategic Human Capital

My research focuses on the links between managerial background, job attributes, organizational/firm characteristics, and firm performance. Broadly speaking, I am interested in how a manager's skills, knowledge, connections, experiences, and other attributes... View Details

August 2019
Case

The Allstate Corporation, 2019

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

In July 2019, Allstate, the United States’ number-three property and casualty (P/C) insurer, released its second-quarter earnings, which reported first-half revenues of $22.1 billion, up 11.4% year-over-year. Shareholders cheered the top-line growth, but P/C premiums... View Details

Keywords: Insurance Companies; Strategic Analysis; Strategic Change; Insurance; Strategy; Strategic Planning; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Competitive Strategy; Insurance Industry; North America

2002
Case

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

By: Vijay Govindarajan and Julie Lang

Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart in 1962, had the vision for his store to sell low cost, branded products. By setting up its own distribution system and truck fleet, and evaluating retail stores as separate investment centers, Wal-Mart's control systems helped to build... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Advantage; Retail Industry; United States