Publications

April 2008
Case

A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products

By: Larry E. Greiner and Elizabeth Collins

Alex Sander is a new product manager whose drive and talents are attractive to management, but whose intolerant style has alienated employees. This tension is presented against the backdrop of a 360° performance review process. Sander works in the Toiletries Division... View Details

Keywords: Management Style; Conflict Management; Behavior; Management Practices and Processes; Talent and Talent Management; Mergers and Acquisitions; Problems and Challenges; Consumer Products Industry; United States; Europe

01 Mar 2013
News

Bringing It Back Home

Image by C.J. Burton Since the Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management (SPNM) program was launched at HBS 17 years ago, it has provided nonprofits with something they need but can rarely afford: executive training. SPNM, which is... View Details

Keywords: Constantine von Hoffman; SPNM; Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management; Roadtrip Nation; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management of Companies and Enterprises

Article

Overcoming the Outcome Bias: Making Intentions Matter

By: Ovul Sezer, Ting Zhang, Francesca Gino and Max Bazerman

People often make the well-documented mistake of paying too much attention to the outcomes of others’ actions while neglecting information about the original intentions leading to those outcomes. In five experiments, we examine interventions aimed at reducing this... View Details

Keywords: Outcome Bias; Intentions; Joint Evaluation; Judgment; Separate Evaluation; Goals and Objectives; Prejudice and Bias; Judgments; Performance Evaluation; Outcome or Result

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15 Nov 2007
Working Paper Summaries

The Dynamic Interplay of Inequality and Trust: An Experimental Study

Keywords: by Ben Greiner, Axel Ockenfels & Peter Werner

September 2014
Case

Landmark Facility Solutions

By: William Fruhan and Wei Wang

Landmark Facility Solutions presents a situation in which a medium-sized facility management company assesses whether to acquire a larger facility management company that is known for its high-quality services and technical expertise. The acquirer believes the... View Details

Keywords: Capital Structure; Valuation; Acquisition; Financial Strategy; Corporate Finance

24 Sep 2014
News

The business of being Beyoncé

September – October 2009
Article

Critical Decisions in Software Development: Updating the State of the Practice

By: Alan MacCormack, Michael A. Cusumano, Chris Kemerer and Bill Crandall

This article focuses on how to choose the "right" software development process, how to structure global software design chains, how to manage the interaction of project structure and software design, and how to balance innovation and efficiency in a software business. View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Product Development; Projects; Innovation and Management; Performance Efficiency; Information Technology Industry

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October 1984
Case

Citibank Indonesia

Describes a dilemma faced by Citibank's country manager for Indonesia. His superiors have asked him to raise his profit goal for 1984. But to produce increased profits he would either have to reduce the amount lent at below-market rates, particularly to prime customers... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Multinational Firms and Management; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry; Indonesia

22 Aug 2005
Research & Ideas

The Hard Work of Failure Analysis

Kaiser [Permanente's] Dr. [Kim] Adcock, it is not enough just to know that a particular physician is making more than the acceptable number of errors [in misread x-rays]. Unless deeper analysis of the nature of the radiologists' errors is conducted, it is View Details

Keywords: by Amy Edmondson & Mark D. Cannon

June 1999
Teaching Note

Markets for Technology and the Returns on Research TN

By: Clayton M. Christensen

The purpose of the readings and class discussion is to help students understand why it often is so difficult for companies that conduct research to capture its value in their commercial businesses. Often new technology leaks more easily to the market. Students can... View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Research; Commercialization; Technology Adoption; Value

Article

Fluid Tasks and Fluid Teams: The Impact of Diversity in Experience and Team Familiarity on Team Performance

By: Robert S. Huckman and Bradley R. Staats

In this paper, we consider how the structures of tasks and teams interact to affect team performance. We study the effects of diversity in experience on a team's ability to respond to task changes by separately examining interpersonal team diversity (i.e., differences... View Details

Keywords: Management; Groups and Teams; Performance; Problems and Challenges; Projects; Experience and Expertise; Change; Diversity; Information Technology Industry; India

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12 May 2020
Blog Post

Leaving a Career in Tech for Venture Capital and Entrepreneurship

thinking about the next step of my career. I’d learned a lot at Google while working on some of the biggest mobile apps and products in the world, getting exposure to thinking strategically, managing teams and having impact. However, I... View Details

October 2022 (Revised September 2023)
Supplement

SolarWinds Confronts SUNBURST (B)

By: Frank Nagle, George A. Riedel, William R. Kerr and David Lane

Supplements the (A) case, describing actions taken by SolarWinds as well as by regulatory agencies in the aftermath of the immediate crisis. The case also includes reflections by SolarWinds managers on the choices they made with respect to disclosure, media relations,... View Details

Keywords: Cyberattacks; Cybersecurity; Corporate Disclosure; Crisis Management; Customer Focus and Relationships; Legal Liability; Governance Compliance; Business and Government Relations; Information Technology Industry; United States

Ryan W. Buell is a Professor of Business Administration in the Technology and Operations Management Unit at Harvard Business School. He teaches View Details

Keywords: banking; e-commerce industry; fast food; financial services; high technology; hotels ＆ motels; insurance industry; restaurant; retailing; service industry; transportation

Article

Designing Social Networks: Joint Tasks and the Formation and Endurance of Network Ties

By: Sharique Hasan and Rembrand Koning

Can managers influence the formation of organizational networks? In this article, we evaluate the effect of joint tasks on the creation of network ties with data from a novel field experiment with 112 aspiring entrepreneurs. During the study, we randomized individuals... View Details

Keywords: Accelerators; Entrepreneur; Social Networks; Field Experiment; Entrepreneurship; Organizational Design; Networks; Social and Collaborative Networks; Social Media; Information Technology Industry; India

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Teaching Interest

Short Intensive Program (SIP): Agile at Scale: From OKR's and Agile to Execution Excellence

What do you want to get out of your remaining time at HBS, your career and life-plan to make an impact, starting from Day 1 post-HBS? By developing tools to drive your personal success and strategy at HBS, in this interactive immersion, we will dive into how the... View Details

March 2018 (Revised June 2018)
Case

Knowledge Sharing at REMA 1000 (A)

By: Tatiana Sandino and Olivia Hull

A year after Norwegian grocery chain REMA 1000 adopted Workplace, Facebook’s enterprise social network, Chief Human Resource Officer Tore Høylie is asked to evaluate its impact on company culture and communication. Almost 90% of the workforce is engaged with the... View Details

Keywords: Social Network; Enterprise Social Media; Facebook; Workplace; Social and Collaborative Networks; Communication Technology; Performance Improvement; Organizational Culture; Knowledge Sharing; Social Media; Retail Industry; Norway