Publications

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29 May 2001
Research & Ideas

Race Does Matter in Mentoring

reached the executive level at his organization. Why did he make it when so many other minorities plateaued in middle management? First, Williams had the good fortune to be hired by Nathan Barrett, a white manager who continually expanded... View Details

Keywords: by David A. Thomas

14 May 2008
Research & Ideas

Getting Down to the Business of Creativity

of this and other questions will no doubt generate further investigations regarding the role creativity plays in organizations and how managers can best cultivate View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail; Apparel & Accessories; Fashion; Entertainment & Recreation

06 Jul 2015
News

The Condensed Guide to Running Meetings

September 2024 (Revised March 2025)
Case

Epic: The Future of Health Information Technology

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Brian L. Walker

How should the founder and leadership team of a health IT company with more than 45 years of market leadership prepare for the future, while navigating founder transitions and industry changes? Founded by Judy Faulkner in the late 1970s, Epic pioneered electronic... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Private Ownership; Customer Focus and Relationships; Information Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competition; Health Industry; Electronics Industry; Information Technology Industry

15 Jul 2011
News

Bad News at News Corp.

Profile

Ahmed Eldemerdash

internship, what did Cimpress do well to set you up for a successful summer? Beyond the usual orientation about the company and the business, from day one my manager made sure that I got to know the View Details

Keywords: Technology

August 2019
Case

Preserving Trust at Care.com (A)

By: Krishna G. Palepu and Julia Kelley

Care.com was an online platform designed to match caregivers with individuals seeking care for themselves, others, and pets, through job postings, caregiver profiles, and directories of local day care centers. In March 2019, the Wall Street Journal had just published a... View Details

Keywords: Business Strategy; Corporate Governance; Digital Platforms; Market Design; Emerging Markets; Trust; Technology Industry; United States

08 Aug 2005
Research & Ideas

Decision Rights: Who Gives the Green Light?

"happens all too often," says Michael Jensen, professor emeritus at Harvard Business School and managing director of Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Monitor Group's organizational strategy practice.... View Details

Keywords: by Peter Jacobs

06 May 2019
Research & Ideas

Consumers Blame Business for Global Health Problems. Can Business Become the Solution?

Every public health crisis—whether it’s the availability of highly addictive opioids or junk food marketing to children—prompts consumers to question how far companies will go for profit. It’s not an unwarranted concern. After all, cigarette makers once used... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Health

April 16, 2019
Article

Research Confirms: When Receiving Bad News, We Shoot the Messenger

By: Leslie John, Hayley Blunden and Heidi Liu

Most jobs require us at some point to deliver bad news—whether it be a minor revelation such as a recruiter telling a prospective employee that there’s no wiggle room in salary, or something major, like when a manager must fire an employee. We dread such discussions... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Perception; Judgments

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John Deighton is The Harold M. Brierley Professor of Business Administration Emeritus at Harvard Business School. He is an authority on consumer behavior and marketing, with a focus on digital and direct marketing. He teaches in the area of Big Data in Marketing,... View Details

Keywords: advertising; banking; beverage; communications; computer; consumer products; credit card; e-commerce industry; financial services; grocery; hotels ＆ motels; information technology industry; marketing industry; music; pharmaceuticals; professional services

December 2017 (Revised December 2018)
Case

OCP Group

By: Kristin Fabbe, Forest Reinhardt, Natalie Kindred and Alpana Thapar

This case explores the strategy of OCP Group, the 95% state-owned Moroccan firm charged with managing the North African country’s vast reserves of phosphate. Phosphate was one of the most vital macronutrients for plant health, along with nitrogen and potassium, and... View Details

Keywords: OCP; OCP Group; Casablanca; Chemicals; Operations; Transformation; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Chemical Industry; Morocco

August 12, 2021
Article

The Endless Digital Workday

By: Arjun Narayan, Rohan Narayana Murty, Rajath B. Das and Scott Duke Kominers

The shift to remote work ended the traditional 9–5 workday: employees work in bursts, at night, between caregiving tasks, and whenever they can find time between the endless distractions of messages, calls, and emails. New research, however, shows that for many teams,... View Details

Keywords: Remote Work; Workday; Team Overlap; Groups and Teams; Employees; Performance Productivity; Management

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22 Apr 2002
Research & Ideas

Work, Family, Private Life: Why Not All Three?

How should men and women strike a balance between work and personal life in order to feel as happy and fulfilled as possible? In a packed auditorium, three speakers at the... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

June 1991 (Revised February 1999)
Case

Willow Creek Community Church (A)

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger

Describes the historic evolution and current positioning of a Christian church which focuses on the attraction of "unchurched" individuals. Describes the church's strategic service vision and its current growth and leadership problems. View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Strategic Planning; Social Enterprise; Marketing Strategy; Growth Management; Religion; Service Industry

October 2017 (Revised October 2020)
Case

Coaching Makena Lane

By: Ethan Bernstein and Om Lala

Makena Lane has a gift for producing results, even in the challenging retail context of the 2010s, but she also has a knack for “ruffling some feathers” in the process. Recruited to a Fortune 500 grocery and pharmacy retailer after climbing to Associate Principal in... View Details

November 1994
Background Note

Why Bad Things Happen to Good Companies

By: Benson P. Shapiro, Adrian J. Slywotsky and Richard S. Tedlow

Describes the Darwinian internal and external processes that lead to poor performance from a previously well performing company. Demonstrates why any business design eventually fails and the role of organizational calcification and poor leadership in the failure. Also... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Design; Failure; Performance