Publications

Article

When the Thought Doesn’t Count: The Dynamics of Unhelpful Help in Creative Organizations

By: Colin Fisher, Julianna Pillemer and Teresa Amabile

We’ve all been there. You ask a colleague for help with something, maybe a tricky research design or a difficult student. They agree to help, but their assistance misses its mark. You wonder what happened and, if you turn to existing research and theory, you don’t find... View Details

Keywords: Helping; Organizational Culture

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June 2024 (Revised December 2024)
Case

Lana Ghanem: Pushing the Boundaries of Health Care Through Venture Capital

By: Joshua D. Margolis and Ahmed Dahawy

Lana Ghanem, managing director of Hikma Ventures, the corporate venture arm of larger pharmaceutical group Hikma, is considering how to grow the venture arm as well as progress her own career. Over the past few years Hikma's executive team had been pressuring the... View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Investment; Corporate Governance; Health Care and Treatment; Leadership Development; Business or Company Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; Venture Capital; Personal Development and Career; Health Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Jordan

March 2021 (Revised October 2021)
Case

Aligning Mission and Margin at Southern Bancorp

By: Rebecca M. Henderson, Brian Trelstad and Eren Kuzucu

In October 2020, after spending almost a decade to turnaround Southern Bancorp, an Arkansan bank founded with the mission to provide financial services to rural, underserved communities, CEO Darrin Williams is wondering how Southern Bancorp should continue to grow.... View Details

Keywords: Racial Wealth Gap; Banks and Banking; Growth and Development; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Going Public; Investment Return; Social Issues; Wealth and Poverty; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States; Arkansas

December 16, 2019
Article

Why Your Startup Won't Last

By: Ranjay Gulati and Vasundhara Sawhney

Why do some startups that have crossed the threshold of “product-market fit” and have a viable business model still fail? This article begins by exploring the argument that most startups need more professionalization to thrive. Founders resist putting in place... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Organizational Structure; Growth and Development Strategy

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2018
Working Paper

Thanks for Nothing: Expressing Gratitude Invites Exploitation by Competitors

By: Jeremy Yip, Kelly Kiyeon Lee, Cindy Chan and Alison Wood Brooks

Previous research has revealed that expressing gratitude motivates prosocial behavior in cooperative relationships. However, expressing gratitude in competitive interactions may operate differently. Across five studies, we demonstrate that individuals interacting with... View Details

Keywords: Gratitude; Forgiveness; Negotiations; Emotion; Emotions; Behavior; Negotiation; Ethics

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April 2009 (Revised July 2010)
Case

Corporate Solutions at Jones Lang LaSalle (2001)

By: Ranjay Gulati and Lucia Menzer Marshall

Peter Barge, CEO of the newly created Corporate Solutions Group of Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), is executing a restructuring of the U.S. corporate real estate services division that will enable the company to offer its clients integrated solutions. Barge has created an... View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Restructuring; Customer Relationship Management; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Corporate Strategy; Integration

December 2009
Article

Hiding the Evidence of Valid Theories: How Coupled Search Processes Obscure Performance Differences Among Organizations

By: Nicolaj Siggelkow and Jan Rivkin

Theorists argue that an organization's high-level choices, such as its organizational design or the attributes of its top management team, should influence its performance, yet empirical researchers have struggled to detect such influence. The impact of high-level... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Management Teams; Organizational Design; Performance Effectiveness; Power and Influence; Balance and Stability

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November 2002 (Revised June 2003)
Case

Corning, Inc.: Technology Strategy in 2003

By: Rebecca Henderson

Corning, Inc. has a 150-year history of building a strategy around innovation. Founded as a glass manufacturer in 1851, the company quickly established itself as a maker of specialty glass products and over the next 100 years diversified into light bulbs, television,... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Strategy; Innovation Strategy; Situation or Environment; Research and Development; Consumer Products Industry; United States

December 2001 (Revised April 2003)
Case

Poland's A2 Motorway

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Michael Kane

Autostrada Wielkopolska S.A. (AWSA) is a consortium of 18 firms that won a concession to build and operate Poland's first private toll road. In June 2000, AWSA's chief financial officer, Wojciech Gebicki, is preparing for a meeting with the projects' lead bankers to... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Cost vs Benefits; Project Finance; Projects; Construction Industry; Transportation Industry; Poland

16 May 2018
HBS Seminar

Juan Carlos Suárez Serrato, Duke University, Economics

Strategic Brew: A Market Simulation

Strategic Brew simulates real life challenges facing the strategist. It allows users to experience and internalize the process of strategy formulation, execution, and communication in a simulated context and to see how these processes interplay with other... View Details

Eliminate Strategic Overload

As companies respond to intensifying competitive pressures and challenges, they ask more and more of their employees. But organizations often have very little to show for the efforts of their talented and engaged workers. By selecting fewer initiatives with... View Details

2019
Working Paper

Voting Trusts and Antitrust: Rethinking the Role of Shareholder Rights and Private Litigation in Public Regulation, 1880s to 1930s

By: Naomi R. Lamoreaux and Laura Phillips Sawyer

Scholars have long recognized that the states’ authority to charter corporations bolstered their antitrust powers in ways that were not available to the federal government. But they have also argued that the growth of large-scale enterprises operating in national and... View Details

Keywords: Voting Trusts; Antitrust; Business and Shareholder Relations; Lawsuits and Litigation; History; United States

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June 2013 (Revised January 2024)
Case

Governance and Sustainability at Nike (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine, Nien-hê Hsieh and Lara Adamsons

Two members of Nike's executive team must decide what sustainability targets to propose to Nike's CEO and to the corporate responsibility committee of Nike's board of directors. Set in 2012, the case traces the evolution of Nike's approach to environmental and social... View Details

Keywords: Nike; Hannah Jones; Mark Parker; Phil Knight; Philip Knight; Eric Sprunk; Jill Ker Conway; Phyllis Wise; Don Blair; Sustainable Business And Innovation; SB＆I; Flyknit; DyeCoo; Footwear; Athletic Footwear; Apparel; Athletic Apparel; Sustainability; Greenpeace; Detox Campaign; Dirty Laundry; Water; Water Use; Water Pollution; Water Resources; Corporate Responsibility Committee; Judgment; Board Of Directors; Board Committees; Environmental And Social Sustainability; Footwear Industry; Decision Choices and Conditions; Decisions; Ethics; Fairness; Globalized Firms and Management; Multinational Firms and Management; Globalized Markets and Industries; Governance; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Governance; Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Management; Innovation Leadership; Innovation Strategy; Goals and Objectives; Management Practices and Processes; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Performance; Alignment; Supply Chain; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Judgments; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Asia; China; United States; Oregon; Portland