Publications

May 1994
Case

Laura Ashley (D)

By: Richard L. Nolan

Describes the resignation of the CEO hired three years earlier to transform the company. View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Resignation and Termination; Management Succession; Performance Evaluation

January 2009 (Revised June 2010)
Case

Cisco Business Councils (2007): Unifying a Functional Enterprise with an Internal Governance System

By: Ranjay Gulati

In response to the 2001 market downturn, Cisco Systems implemented a major restructuring that transformed the company from a decentralized to centralized organization. While recognizing that a centralized, functional structure was necessary to avoid product and... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Customer Focus and Relationships; Governing and Advisory Boards; Resource Allocation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Corporate Strategy; Technology Industry

10 Sep 2014
Research & Ideas

Become a Value Creator

argues that managers who adopt a value-creating mindset hold the key to becoming truly successful leaders. "Business is a team sport. It's soccer, not golf. Nobody plays by themselves and wins in business," Hall said during a... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

24 Dec 2013
First Look

First Look: December 24

Working Papers Managing the Family Firm: Evidence from CEOs at Work By: Bandiera, Oriana, Andrea Prat, and Raffaella Sadun Abstract—CEOs affect the performance of the firms they manage, and family CEOs... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

21 Jan 2015
Lessons from the Classroom

Managing the Family Business: Market Basket’s Lessons About Buyouts

unity in the family and ownership group are fundamental to long-term success for the family business. And while we can try to maintain accord in other ways, long-lived family companies, like Riedel in Austria (11 generations), DeKuyper in... View Details

Keywords: Retail

05 Apr 2021
What Do You Think?

Why Can’t More Leaders Teach?

regularly invites CEOs and other practitioners to complement our full-time, tenure-track faculty in teaching MBA classes. The executives are typically well-recognized for their successful careers. As faculty... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

24 Mar 2015
First Look

First Look: March 24

flowers, juice, and ice cream, was at a strategic crossroads in 2014. CEO Alvaro Muñoz had to choose the best way to achieve profit goals and provide his company with a sustainable competitive advantage. The company had already developed... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

23 Jun 2009
Research Event

Business Summit: Global Environment-Transformed Organization

& Decker Co.Boon-Hwee Koh, Chairman, DBS BankChet Huber, President, OnStarSrivatsa Krishna, Indian Administrative Service, Government of India CEO & Executive Director, Dubai World Group, South AsiaBetsy Morgan, The Huffington... View Details

March 2008 (Revised October 2009)
Case

Crossing Borders: MTC's Journey through Africa

By: Tarun Khanna and Ayesha Khan

This is the story of MTC, a Kuwaiti telecom company that has grown from a sleepy, state monopoly to become one of the fastest growing telecom companies in the world, with the largest regional footprint across the Middle East and Africa. The CEO of the company, Dr. Saad... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Global Strategy; Globalized Firms and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Emerging Markets; Telecommunications Industry; Africa; Kuwait

08 Mar 2011
First Look

First Look: March 8

the prospect of joining auctions to mitigate participation costs, and we characterize when such joins do and do not increase welfare. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/10-055.pdf What Do CEOs Do? Authors:Oriana Bandiera,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

17 Sep 2024
Research & Ideas

Advice for the New CEO: Talk to Your Employees Early and Often

CEOs have never had so many ways to communicate with their employees. But despite the availability of Slack, internal newsletters, and virtual town hall meetings, organizations can still go quiet. One of the most common culprits: Major... View Details

Keywords: by Ami Albernaz

March 2021 (Revised December 2021)
Case

Cedar Environmental: Innovation vs. Corruption in Lebanon?

By: Nien-hê Hsieh and Youssef Abdel Aal

The case follows Ziad Abi Chaker, founder and CEO of Cedar Environmental, as he weighs options for how to grow the company in the face of growing economic and political instability in Lebanon in 2019.

Founded after the Lebanese civil war, Cedar... View Details

06 Feb 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas: February 6, 2018

CEO Communication By: Choudhury, Prithwiraj, Dan Wang, Natalie A. Carlson, and Tarun Khanna Abstract—We shed light on oral business history data, widely available and yet underutilized, as a relevant and useful resource for strategy and... View Details

September 2010
Case

Aaron's: Household Goods for the U.S. Base of the Pyramid

By: Michael Chu and Charles Augustus Smithgall IV

With $2.5 billion system-wide revenues, Aaron's, a major rent-to-own supplier to the U.S. base of the pyramid, continues to grow in the recession, but CEO R.C. Loudermilk, Jr. wonders how long the company can sustain the fast growth rate of its past. Founded in 1955,... View Details

Keywords: Fairness; For-Profit Firms; Renting or Rental; Financial Crisis; Demand and Consumers; Social Enterprise; Income; Goods and Commodities; Competitive Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; United States

January 2009 (Revised July 2009)
Case

Targanta Therapeutics: Hitting a Moving Target

By: Arthur A. Daemmrich

This case explores regulatory, product testing, and business strategy at Targanta Therapeutics, a biotech company preparing its first new drug application to the FDA. In October 2007, Mark Leuchtenberger, president and CEO of Targanta—which has just held a successful... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Entrepreneurship; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Health Testing and Trials; Product Development; Business and Government Relations; Business Strategy; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

March 2006 (Revised October 2007)
Case

The Parisian Revival

By: Rajiv Lal and Carin-Isabel Knoop

In mid-2005, George Jones had two jobs: head of Saks Inc.'s 41-store Parisian department store chain as well as president and CEO of the Saks Department Store Group (SDSG), an umbrella for seven chains with a total of 182 stores across the United States. In 2003 Jones... View Details

Keywords: Profit; Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance Improvement; Sales; Retail Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

June 2005 (Revised May 2006)
Case

Alex Montana at ESH Manufacturing Co.

By: Thomas J. DeLong and Michael Kernish

Alex Montana sat at his desk pondering the career decision before him. Alex was director of the North American division of ESH Manufacturing, a $4.6 billion, Cleveland-based company with operations on three continents. ESH's CEO had just offered Montana a promotion to... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Decision Choices and Conditions; Personal Development and Career; Work-Life Balance; Manufacturing Industry; Cleveland

November 2008 (Revised January 2010)
Case

Stone Finch, Inc.: Young Division, Old Division

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Elizabeth Collins

CEO Jim Billings wants to attract energetic, entrepreneurial talent to Stone Finch, Inc., which comprises an older division that fabricates products like piping and tanks for water and wastewater processing plants, and a much newer division that develops biochemical... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Behavior; Human Resource Management; Motivation; Business Growth; Motivation and Incentives; Leadership; Business Subsidiaries; Innovation Strategy; Resource Allocation; Organizational Structure; Organizational Culture; Retention; Operations; Recruitment; Integration; Business Growth and Maturation; Mergers and Acquisitions; Growth and Development Strategy; Manufacturing Industry