Publications

October 2014
Teaching Note

MuMaté

By: Thomas Eisenmann

This teaching note is designed for use with "MuMaté: Funding Growth," "MuMaté (B-1): Confidential for Maxwell," "MuMaté (B-2): Confidential for Cantor," HBS Nos. 814-063, 813-149, 813-150, to help faculty deepen student comprehension of business issues and energize... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Growth Management; Negotiation; Expansion; Valuation; Entrepreneurship; Organizational Culture; Business Startups; Food and Beverage Industry

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

Spirit at Work: The Search for Deeper Meaning in the Workplace

times," he observes. Richard C. Whiteley (MBA '68), a management consultant and author who is writing a book titled "ReSpiriting Work," notes, "Another important factor is the aging of the American population. The baby... View Details

Keywords: by Marguerite Rigoglioso

October 1993 (Revised December 1998)
Supplement

Erik Peterson (D)

By: John J. Gabarro

Implicitly raises the question of what Peterson should do to extricate himself from his difficulties. Should he consider resignation, go directly to the company's president to seek relief, or clarify the situation within the company? A redisguised version of an earlier... View Details

Keywords: Employee Relationship Management; Resignation and Termination; Leadership

27 Feb 2006
Research & Ideas

Take Responsibility for Rising Stars

Many executives believe that leadership development is a job for the HR department. This may be the single biggest misconception they can have. As corporations have broken down work into manageable activities and then consolidated... View Details

Keywords: by Jeffrey M. Cohn, Rakesh Khurana & Laura Reeves

November 2020
Case

Truebird—An AlleyCorp Venture

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Shweta Bagai

In December 2018, Kevin Ryan and Wendy Tsu faced an important decision – to finalize the CEO candidate for Truebird, an innovative, automated coffee café concept. Like many of AlleyCorp and Ryan’s companies, Truebird started with the observation of an unmet need – an... View Details

Keywords: Startup; Hiring; Staffing; Recruiting; Business Startups; Finance; Leadership; Management Skills; Management Teams; Jobs and Positions; Job Interviews; Human Resources; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Technology Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

October 2015
Article

The Value of Bosses

By: Edward P. Lazear, Kathryn L. Shaw and Christopher Stanton

How and by how much do supervisors enhance worker productivity? Using a company-based data set on the productivity of technology-based services workers, supervisor effects are estimated and found to be large. Replacing a boss who is in the lower 10% of boss quality... View Details

Keywords: Supervisors; Management Skills; Employees; Performance Productivity

Find at Harvard

Read Now

Winter 2002
Article

Private Equity in Latin America: The Mexican Case

By: Roberto Charvel and Juan Carlos de Yeregui

This article describes the private equity industry in Mexico from the late 1990's to the begining of the 2000's as well as gives a potential perspective for its coming years. View Details

Keywords: Emerging Economies; Latin America; Mexico; Developing Countries and Economies; Private Sector; Asset Management; Capital Markets; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Financial Services Industry; Latin America

Find at Harvard

January 2001 (Revised August 2003)
Case

Diageo plc

A major U.K.-based multinational is reevaluating its leverage policy as it restructures its business. The treasury team models the tradeoffs between the benefits and costs of debt financing, using Monte Carlo simulation to estimate the savings from the interest tax... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Multinational Firms and Management; Capital Structure; Restructuring; United Kingdom

April/May 2006
Article

The Hidden Flaws of Top Executives: How to Find Them Before You Hire Them

By: James Waldroop and Timothy Butler

Keywords: Management; Selection and Staffing

18 Mar 2001
Research & Ideas

Want to Be an Entrepreneur? [Part I]

promising technology—and its first designs didn't work. She and her management colleagues were unknowns, and the product failures subtracted from their slight credibility. And at the time, she said, "the View Details

Keywords: by John S. Rosenberg

16 Nov 2020
Research & Ideas

Transitions of Power Are Difficult. What Joe Biden and Other Incoming Leaders Need to Know.

have developed a perspective on strategies for the near-term and long-term. But first, before anything else, it’s important to stop the bleeding; that is, deal with crises and pain points. Whether the problems involve financial distress or View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

January 16, 2023
Article

40 Ideas to Shake Up Your Hiring Process

By: Joseph Fuller, Nithya Vaduganathan, Allison Bailey and Manjari Raman

Many companies today are struggling to hire and retain talent, but more often than not the problem is self-inflicted: They’re simply not using a broad enough array of tools, sometimes because they don’t even know the tools exist. In this article, the authors list 40... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Retention; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing

Read Now

11 Dec 2018
Research & Ideas

Free Trade Needs Nurturing—and Other Lessons from History

explosion of trade and capital flows created a world that looked in many ways like ours. Yet even in the early 20th century, there remained tensions of increasing inequality and wage competition in a context of ruthless international... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Auto; Aerospace; Chemical; Consumer Products; Electronics; Energy; Industrial Products; Manufacturing; Shipping; Transportation

02 Dec 2002
What Do You Think?

How Will We Respond to the “Moment of Truth” in Option Plans?

Summing Up Are We Getting More Sensible About Management Incentives? Respondents to this month's column suggest ways of fixing or selectively using various methods of providing incentives to management. They join the chorus of voices... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

October 2007 (Revised February 2008)
Case

The Coca-Cola Company (A): The Rise and Fall of M. Douglas Ivester (Abridged)

By: Michael D. Watkins, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Cate Reavis

This is a shortened version of "The Coca-Cola Company (A): The Rise and Fall of M. Douglas Ivester," HBS case #9-800-355. It eliminates some background detail and the financial data and exhibits. As with the original case, it chronicles the appointment of Douglas... View Details

Keywords: Resignation and Termination; Selection and Staffing; Managerial Roles; Food and Beverage Industry

June 2023
Supplement

Social Media Background Screening at Fama Technologies (B)

By: Joseph Pacelli, Jillian Grennan and Alexis Lefort

Fama Technologies is an online screening company that uses AI to analyze job applicants' publicly available online content for signs of risk and culture fit. The case opens with Ben Mones, founder and CEO, looking to secure funding from venture firms. He is running... View Details

Keywords: Human Resources; Recruitment; Retention; Selection and Staffing; Organizational Culture; Talent and Talent Management; United States

November 2018 (Revised January 2019)
Supplement

The Weir Group: Reforming Executive Pay (B)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Federica Gabrieli

Supplement to the (A) case. The case describes the events that took place in the run-up to the 2018 Annual General Meeting, the voting outcome, key perspectives on success factors, and the challenges that The Weir Group faced in the near future. View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Human Resources; Management; Executive Compensation; Europe; United Kingdom; Scotland

January 2002
Case

Metromove.com Business Plan

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Sheila Marcelo

Enables analysis of a business plan in a volatile market. Also enables analysis of the decisions entrepreneurs must make as they start a new business, develop the concept, choose partners, and find funding. View Details

Keywords: Business Plan; Decisions; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Business or Company Management; Partners and Partnerships