Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(4,716)
- Faculty Publications (589)
- February 2015 (Revised April 2015)
- Case
The Board of Directors at Market Basket
By: Jay W. Lorsch and Emily McTague
The firing of Market Basket CEO Arthur T. Demoulas by his cousin, Arthur S. Demoulas, and directors affiliated with him set off employee protests throughout the grocery store chain. Industry specialists estimated that Market Basket was losing close to ten million... View Details
- February 2015 (Revised June 2016)
- Case
AltSchool: School Reimagined
By: John J-H Kim, Kyla Wilkes and Christine S. An
Max Ventilla and his team launches in 2013 AltSchool, a new network of tech-savvy independent K-8 "micro-schools." AltSchool is born out of Ventilla's frustration with the education options available for his young daughter. During his search, Ventilla comes to the... View Details
Keywords: Education Technology; School Models; Product Development; Entrepreneurship; Talent Development And Retention; Social Impact Investment; Information Technology; Business Model; Education; Business Startups; Customization and Personalization; Growth and Development Strategy; Education Industry; United States
- January 15, 2015
- Article
Surviving in a Family Business When You're Not Part of the Family
By: Josh Baron and Rob Lachenauer
Navigating office politics in a family-owned business can be challenging for non-family executives. Based on experience with various business families worldwide, this article offers strategies for success:
Play in your room: Non-family executives should... View Details
Play in your room: Non-family executives should... View Details
- December 2014 (Revised May 2016)
- Case
Dhamani Jewels: Becoming a Global Luxury Brand
By: Lynda Applegate and Lisa C. Mazzanti
Dhamani started as a loose gemstone dealer in 1969 in Jaipur, India. By the 2000s, it was headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and had expanded into diamonds and retail. The family business was now in its second generation of leadership and aimed to become a... View Details
- December 3, 2014
- Article
Family Businesses Need One Person to Conquer and Another One to Rule
By: Josh Baron and Rob Lachenauer
This article explores the different leadership styles needed in family businesses beyond the traditional "conqueror" archetype. While conquerors are growth-focused and hands-on, rulers are essential for managing complexity, focusing on governance, and addressing family... View Details
- December 2014
- Article
Rethink What You 'Know' about High-Achieving Women
By: Robin Ely, Pamela Stone and Colleen Ammerman
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the admission of women to Harvard Business School's MBA program, the authors, who have spent more than 20 years studying professional women, set out to learn what HBS graduates had to say about work and family and how their... View Details
- Article
Aztec Castles and the dP3 Quiver
By: Megan Leoni, Gregg Musiker, Seth Neel and Paxton Turner
Bipartite, periodic, planar graphs known as brane tilings can be associated to a large class of quivers. This paper will explore new algebraic properties of the well-studied del Pezzo 3 (dP3) quiver and geometric properties of its corresponding brane tiling. In... View Details
- September 2014 (Revised March 2022)
- Case
Samuel Colt: An American Gun Maker
By: Tom Nicholas and Casey Verkamp
Samuel Colt not only perfected and patented the technology for a gun that could fire multiple times without reloading, but he also developed and applied early principles of mass production more completely than anyone had done before. Until the nineteenth century,... View Details
- September 2014 (Revised February 2017)
- Case
Belk: Towards Exceptional Scheduling
By: Ethan Bernstein, Saravanan Kesavan, Bradley Staats and Luke Hassall
With 24,000 staff and over 300 stores, Belk Inc. sought to replace its entirely manual labor scheduling system with an automated software solution from Reflexis. Belk hoped the upgrade would simplify scheduling, reduce time employees spent in non-customer-facing roles,... View Details
Keywords: Retail; Scheduling; Local Autonomy; Automation; Metrics; Organizational Change; Human Resource Management; Process Improvement; Performance Measurement; Transparency; Southern United States; Retailing; Department Stores; System Outsourced Services; Employee Relationship Management; Selection and Staffing; Change Management; Governance Controls; Resource Allocation; Service Operations; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance Evaluation; Performance Improvement; Applications and Software; Family Business; Retail Industry; Technology Industry; United States
- August 2014
- Case
Opening the Valve: From Software to Hardware (A)
By: Ethan Bernstein, Francesca Gino and Bradley Staats
Valve, one of the world's top video game software companies, has also become an iconic example of an organization with virtually no hierarchy. A 400-person organization, Valve's unique organizational form (described in detail in the case and accompanying employee... View Details
Keywords: Valve; Self-Managed Organizations; Organization Design; Strategy; Flat Organization; Video Games; Organization Alignment; Family Business; Steam; Steam Machine; Design; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Human Resources; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Technological Innovation; Leadership Style; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Groups and Teams; Alignment; Software; Hardware; Video Game Industry; Seattle
- August 2014 (Revised August 2015)
- Supplement
Opening the Valve: From Software to Hardware (B)
By: Ethan Bernstein, Francesca Gino and Bradley Staats
Valve, one of the world's top video game software companies, has also become an iconic example of an organization with virtually no hierarchy. A 400-person organization, Valve's unique organizational form (described in detail in the case and accompanying employee... View Details
Keywords: Valve; Self-Managed Organizations; Organization Design; Strategy; Flat Organization; Video Games; Organization Alignment; Family Business; Steam; Steam Machine; Design; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Human Resources; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Technological Innovation; Leadership Style; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Groups and Teams; Alignment; Software; Hardware; Video Game Industry; Seattle
- August 15, 2014
- Article
Can an Outside CEO Run a Family-Owned Business?
By: Josh Baron and Rob Lachenauer
This article explores the intricate dynamics that often characterize family-owned businesses, shedding light on key archetypes that play prominent roles within these organizations. Using a narrative approach, the article illustrates the challenges faced by leaders... View Details
- August 2014 (Revised November 2015)
- Case
Rick's Dilemma
By: Arthur I. Segel, Charles F. Wu, Siddharth Yog and Ben Eppler
In 2014, Rick is serving as a trustee for a large family trust whose principle asset is a plot of prime real estate in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The land is currently subject to a ground lease which pays $4.6 million annually, with resets every 20 years at 4.5%... View Details
- 2014
- Book
Consumer Lending in France and America: Credit and Welfare
By: Gunnar Trumbull
Why did America embrace consumer credit over the course of the twentieth century, when most other countries did not? How did American policy makers by the late twentieth century come to believe that more credit would make even poor families better off? This book traces... View Details
- July–August 2014
- Article
Obamacare Rules Pose Challenges for S Corp Owners
By: Josh Baron, Steve Salley and Judith L. Walsh
The article offers information financial impacts of tax by the U.S. Affordable Care Act (ACA) applied in January 2013 on family business shareholders and owners of S Corp. It discusses suggestions in tax planning to equalize tax burden including establishing family... View Details
- Article
Past, Present and Future Research on Multiple Identities: Toward an Intrapersonal Network Approach
Psychologists, sociologists, and philosophers have long recognized that people have multiple identities—based on attributes such as organizational membership, profession, gender, ethnicity, religion, nationality, and family role(s) and that these multiple identities... View Details
- June 16, 2014
- Article
Working With Your In-Laws Isn't Always a Terrible Idea
By: Josh Baron and Rob Lachenauer
This article delves into the complex dynamics involving in-laws within family-owned enterprises. In-laws often face a challenging dual role as they must conform to the same professional standards as non-family employees while concurrently grappling with perceptions of... View Details
- May 2, 2014
- Article
If You're Feeling Unappreciated, Give Someone Else Credit
By: Josh Baron and Rob Lachenauer
Conflict in a family business can escalate quickly, but it's crucial to avoid it whenever possible. The article emphasizes recognizing the signs of escalating conflict and taking steps to prevent it. When disagreements arise, people often resort to legal action, which... View Details
- April 2014
- Teaching Note
CP Group: Balancing the Needs of a Family Business with the Needs of a Family of Businesses
By: William C. Kirby and Erica M. Zendell
- April 2014
- Teaching Note
From Beijing Jeep to ASC Fine Wines: The Story of an American Family Business in China
By: William C. Kirby and Erica M. Zendell