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30 Sep 2008
First Look

First Look: September 30, 2008

management may motivate managers to operate with insufficient labor levels, which, in turn, degrades profitability. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/09-040.pdf Cases & Course... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

May–June 2021
Article

How to Close the Gender Gap

By: Colleen Ammerman and Boris Groysberg

Most companies say they’re committed to advancing women into leadership roles. What they may fail to recognize, though, is that systemic barriers are holding women back. As a result, women remain disadvantaged at every stage of their employment and underrepresented in... View Details

Keywords: Gender Discrimination; Employment; Gender; Prejudice and Bias; Talent and Talent Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation

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March 2018
Case

GiveDirectly

By: John Beshears, Joshua Schwartzstein, Tiffany Y. Chang and Brian J. Hall

How should nonprofits design compensation systems to attract and retain talent? GiveDirectly is a respected charitable organization with an unconventional approach. Instead of spending on traditional aid programs in areas such as health care and food access in... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofits; Charity; Effective Altruism; International Aid; Compensation; Goals; Bonuses; Incentives; GiveDirectly; Compensation and Benefits; Motivation and Incentives; Goals and Objectives; Recruitment; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving

January 2018 (Revised January 2019)
Case

ZappRx

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Olivia Hull

In October 2015, ZappRx founder Zoe Barry is deciding between two business models for her health technology start-up. Her product, a software application that aims to expedite the prescription fulfillment process for patients with rare diseases, has attracted interest... View Details

Keywords: Speciality Drugs; Hub Services; Pivot; Speciality Prescriptions; Health Care and Treatment; Customization and Personalization; Internet and the Web; Business Model; Decision Choices and Conditions; Pharmaceutical Industry; Massachusetts

March 2010 (Revised January 2011)
Case

Public Education in New Orleans: Pursuing Systemic Change through Entrepreneurship

By: Stacey M. Childress and James Weber

After Hurricane Katrina devastated the city in August 2005, the state had taken over 102 of the 118 public schools in New Orleans and shifted the management structure from a “single school system to a system of schools.” Entrepreneurs from the region and around the... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Governance; Natural Disasters; Education; Entrepreneurship; Education Industry; New Orleans

March 2019
Case

Investing in the Future: Corning Inc. and the Alternative School for Math and Science

By: Derek van Bever and Miho Kubagawa

In early 2017, Kim Frock (MBA 1987), founder and administrative head of school for the Alternative School for Math and Science (ASMS) in Corning, New York, is beginning to think through the issue of leadership succession at the school. Founded in close partnership with... View Details

Keywords: Middle School Education; Leadership; Management Succession; Partners and Partnerships; Business and Community Relations

September 1999 (Revised May 2003)
Case

Deloitte & Touche (B): Changing the Workplace

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Jane Roessner

Deloitte & Touche women's initiative changed the workplace culture at the firm, solved retention problems, and brought external benefits. Now a new CEO must decide how to take this a step further as competition for talent was even stronger, young people had different... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Organizational Culture; Accounting; Gender; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Loss; Change Management; Jobs and Positions; Resignation and Termination; Accounting Industry; United States

21 Nov 2011
Lessons from the Classroom

The New Challenge of Leading Financial Firms

banker who has spent months and months and months analyzing a particular deal between two companies can spend only a few minutes making a hiring decision for his team, when the firm is sometimes paying millions of dollars in guaranteed compensation," Groysberg... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Financial Services

05 Jul 2006
Working Paper Summaries

The Motion Picture Industry: Critical Issues in Practice, Current Research & New Research Directions

Keywords: by Jehoshua Eliashberg, Anita Elberse & Mark A. A. M. Leenders; Entertainment & Recreation; Motion Pictures & Video; Advertising

May 2013 (Revised October 2014)
Case

Novartis: Leading a Global Enterprise

By: William W. George, Krishna G. Palepu and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Novartis, the world's leading healthcare company, was formed in 1996 out of a merger of two very different, mid-tier Switzerland-based pharma companies. The case traces the company's evolution over the past 17 years, as it transformed into a truly global enterprise... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Talent and Talent Management; Organizational Structure; Organizational Culture; Success; Globalized Markets and Industries; Management Teams; Change Management; Business History; Mergers and Acquisitions; Global Strategy; Health Care and Treatment; Pharmaceutical Industry; Health Industry; Switzerland

04 Apr 2023
What Do You Think?

How Does Remote Work Affect Innovation?

here”? Would the result have been the same? We can at least hypothesize several notions based on early research regarding remote work. Many talented people love it. Some of the reasons they love it, such as the ability to gain more... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

May 2014
Case

Building a High Performance Culture at IDFC

By: V.G. Narayanan and Vidhya Muthuram

IDFC was set up in 1997 to direct private finance to infrastructure projects in India. Over the years, it expanded its capabilities to become a 'complete solutions provider' offering financing solutions including debt and equity, investment banking, brokerage and asset... View Details

02 May 2000
Research & Ideas

Leading Professional Service Firms

The HBS Executive Education course Leading Professional Service Firms (LPSF) is an intensive, one-week program that focuses on management issues unique to these firms. It provides a forum for participants from around the world to apply... View Details

Keywords: Re: Jay W. Lorsch; Service; Consulting; Accounting

March 2004 (Revised February 2005)
Case

Emerging Business Opportunities at IBM (A)

By: David A. Garvin and Lynne Levesque

By June 2003, IBM had made significant progress in changing the way it managed new, emerging businesses. Describes the development of a separate management program at IBM designed to identify, fund, and shepherd new businesses through growth. Traces the history of the... View Details

Keywords: History; Business or Company Management; Talent and Talent Management; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Corporate Strategy

12 Aug 2019
Research & Ideas

How Scale Changes a Manager's Responsibilities

bottom line is that there are people on your team who will grow beautifully as the business grows, and there are those who just don’t do well in a mature environment. Some tips on how to manage this effectively: DNA. I’ve seen too many... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Austin

July–August 2013
Article

Six Ways to Sink a Growth Initiative

By: Donald L. Laurie and J. Bruce Harreld

The conventional wisdom about how best to pursue growth—launch a slew of initiatives in high-potential areas; appoint some promising young managers to lead them; locate them safely away from the established businesses—is a recipe for failure, according to the authors.... View Details

Keywords: Failure; Growth and Development Strategy

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September 2013
Case

United Rentals (A)

By: Jay W. Lorsch, Kathleen Durante and Emily McTague

In December 1997 United Rentals (URI) went public on the NYSE. Ten years later, during the peak of the economic meltdown, the company's performance was in decline. United Rentals had experienced its share of problems in the prior years and was still struggling to... View Details

Keywords: Board Of Directors; Board Dynamics; Accounting Fraud; Governance; Board Committees; Merger; Corporate Governance; Construction Industry; United States

24 Jul 2007
First Look

First Look: July 24, 2007

and waste" mentality to a "product and product" mentality, and thereby actively manage the quantities of both products to maximize profit. We find that it is almost never profit-maximizing for the firm to continue... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

August 2020
Supplement

Mary Guerrero and the Advancement of Latinx Talent: Developing an Employee Resource Group at a Top Tier Bank (B)

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Amy Hernandez Turcios

Mary Guerrero decided to pursue the challenging road and kicked off Hispanic/Latinx Advancement and Career Engagement (HACE) at her Bulge Bracket Bank (BBB). For Mary, her larger purpose was to advance Latinx talent in the U.S. because she believed it was important for... View Details

Keywords: Latin America; Career; Engagement; Bank; Inclusion; Scale; Latinx; Talent and Talent Management; Diversity; Ethnicity; Leadership; Personal Development and Career; Leadership Development; Banks and Banking