Publications

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

Find at Harvard

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

01 Sep 2023
News

Made in Italy

Medici palace in the heart of the city that has been transformed into private residences and a private residence club operated by the Four Seasons. Segel wrote a case about the undertaking, which was a brand-new type of real estate... View Details

Keywords: April White

August 2021 (Revised October 2024)
Case

Allbirds: Decarbonizing Fashion

By: Michael W. Toffel, Kenneth P. Pucker and Eren Kuzucu

The Allbirds: Decarbonizing Fashion (A) case introduces Allbirds as a footwear startup not only focused on simple design, comfort, and sustainable natural materials but on decarbonizing the wider fashion industry. Background material highlights the growing... View Details

Keywords: Decarbonization; Climate Impact; Environmental Strategy; Innovation; Product Design; Supply Chain Management; Innovation Strategy; Innovation and Management; Product Development; Climate Change; Environmental Management; Environmental Sustainability; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Fashion Industry; United States; California

16 Jun 2023
News

On the Move: Adam Laitsas (MBA 2016)

Our “On the Move” series highlights HBS alumni who are taking on new roles and responsibilities. Here we speak with Adam Laitsas (MBA 2016), who was announced as EVP of International Strategy & Business Operations for the Professional... View Details

Keywords: marketing; career changes; mixed martial arts; sports; MENA; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Arts, Entertainment

28 Jun 2016
First Look

June 28, 2016

supports our model’s underlying mechanisms. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=49868 Cohort Turnover and Operational Performance: The July Phenomenon in Teaching Hospitals By: Song, Hummy, Robert S.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Web

Business Finance Course Online | HBS Online

fundamental differences between accounting and finance, and examine the use of cash as a measurement of value creation. Highlights What Is Cash Our First Measure of Cash Cash Conversion Cycle Hon Hai Sharp Show Hide Details Concepts What Is Cash? From Income to... View Details

25 Oct 2020
Research & Ideas

The Dark Side of Fintech Borrowing

up overspending or overstretching yourself, and then more likely to be in default which will cut you out of the credit market altogether.” [div class=infogram-embed data-id=_/Y3u7wC1M665X87bLBRAh][/div] Fintech companies, many of which have View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Financial Services; Banking

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

20 Dec 2023
News

New School

In the early days of the pandemic in 2020, Curriculum Associates, a Massachusetts-based company that creates research-based print and online instructional and assessment tools, made the decision to make its products free to teachers and students who suddenly found... View Details

April 2021 (Revised June 2021)
Case

IBM: Design Thinking

By: Srikant M. Datar, Amram Migdal and Paul Hamilton

This case describes the 2012-2020 effort at IBM to implement design thinking throughout the company and hire thousands of designers to serve on every product team alongside technical engineers and developers and product managers. IBM’s design transformation is told... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Business Divisions; Business Units; Business Organization; Change; Change Management; Transformation; Competency and Skills; Talent and Talent Management; Design; Human Resources; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Innovation and Invention; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Jobs and Positions; Job Design and Levels; Leading Change; Management; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Management Practices and Processes; Operations; Product; Product Design; Product Development; Organizations; Business Processes; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Strategy; Adaptation; Adoption; Technological Innovation; Information Infrastructure; Information Technology; Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; United States

01 Jun 2023
News

Buy Big, Sell Small

If you live in a rural village or small city in India and run low on toothpaste, rice, or cooking oil, you’ll likely visit your local kirana, the equivalent of a US neighborhood variety store and a mainstay of the country’s $932 billion retail economy. The shops are... View Details

Keywords: Deborah Blagg; retail; supply chain management; entrepreneurship; leadership; innovation; Miscellaneous Store Retailers; Retail Trade

Web

Courses - Private Capital Project

covers various private equity aspects beyond transactions, with students completing projects in collaboration with firms or portfolio companies, resulting in presentations to investment committees. Participants gain exposure to the View Details

07 Mar 2022
Research & Ideas

Effective Leaders Share the Spotlight with Their Teams

inclusive CEO increased a company’s average three-day return by 0.8 percent. This is likely because these managers retain staff, which may result in increased operating efficiency and innovation, Zou says, and markets seem to quickly... View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds

November 2017
Teaching Note

Reinventing Best Buy

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

Teaching Note for HBS No. 716-455. On March 1, 2017, Best Buy Company, Inc., North America’s largest retailer of consumer electronics and appliances, announced a third year of comparable-store sales increases and a 20.8% increase in domestic comparable online sales.... View Details

Keywords: Best Buy; Hubert Joly; Renew Blue; Showrooming; Webrooming; E-commerce; E-Commerce Strategy; Online Retail; Multichannel Retailing; Omnichannel; Marketplaces; Turnaround; Consumer Electronics; Consumer Electronics Accessories; Appliances; Stores-within-stores; Store Experience; Store Size; Store Pickup; Store Management; Delivery; Delivery Models; Amazon; Amazon.com; Pricing Strategy; Business Subsidiaries; Business Units; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Entertainment; Film Entertainment; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Music Entertainment; Television Entertainment; Theater Entertainment; Price; Profit; Revenue; Geographic Scope; Multinational Firms and Management; Business History; Cost; Selection and Staffing; Reports; Technological Innovation; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Human Capital; Leading Change; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Teams; Brands and Branding; Product Marketing; Consumer Behavior; Demand and Consumers; Media; Distribution; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Distribution Channels; Infrastructure; Product; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Public Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Programs; Groups and Teams; Sales; Salesforce Management; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Technology; Hardware; Information Technology; Internet; Mobile Technology; Online Technology; Search Technology; Software; Web; Web Sites; Wireless Technology; Resource Allocation; Computer Industry; Electronics Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Information Technology Industry; Retail Industry; Service Industry; Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Video Game Industry; United States; Minnesota; Minneapolis; Saint Paul; St. Paul