Publications

21 Nov 2006
First Look

First Look: November 21, 2006

social networking industry in 2003, but has been overtaken by MySpace and Facebook. The two options are: 1) offer new features to help members enhance their offline lives, such as arranging events with their friends; and 2) offer... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 2004 (Revised November 2004)
Case

Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model

By: Myra M. Hart, Victoria Winston and Kristin Lieb

Mavens & Moguls is a "virtual" marketing-consulting firm of approximately 40 professionals. Examines the processes by which its founder, Paige Arnof-Fenn, learns the business, builds a power network of industry experts and potential customers, and uses this expertise... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Values and Beliefs; Work-Life Balance; Organizational Structure; Organizational Culture; Operations; Networks; Business Model; Growth Management; Business Growth and Maturation; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Consulting Industry

September 2021 (Revised March 2024)
Case

Bühler: Mobilizing Industry around a Common Purpose

By: Ranjay Gulati, Franz Wohlgezogen and Malini Sen

Bühler Group, a Swiss multinational processing technology provider, started by selling machines for processing grains and later transitioned into selling food processing solutions. A family-owned business in the fifth generation, Bühler’s high-end milling, grinding,... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Customer Focus and Relationships; Machinery and Machining; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Innovation Leadership; Switzerland

April 1990 (Revised January 1993)
Case

Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Janet Montgomery

Ad Council wished to run an educational campaign aimed at preventing the spread of AIDS. They were challenged to find acceptable ways to address this very sensitive subject matter--ways that the media and the public would approve. One of the big challenges was to make... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Goals and Objectives; Social Marketing; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Success; Problems and Challenges; Social Issues; Health Industry

April 2012
Article

Teamwork on the Fly

By: Amy C. Edmondson

In a fast-paced and ever-changing business environment, traditional teams aren't always practical. Instead, companies increasingly employ teaming: gathering experts in temporary groups to solve problems they may be encountering for the first and only time. This... View Details

Keywords: Teaming; Cross-functional Integration; Organizational Learning; Groups and Teams; Experience and Expertise; Interpersonal Communication; Projects; Social and Collaborative Networks; Competency and Skills; Learning

Read Now

19 Apr 2016
First Look

April 19, 2016

forthcoming Journal of Marketing Research Does 'Liking' Lead to Loving? The Impact of Joining a Brand’s Social Network on Marketing Outcomes By: John, Leslie K., Oliver Emrich, Sunil Gupta, and Michael I. Norton Abstract—Does “liking” a... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

29 Nov 2010
HBS Case

United Breaks Guitars

moment can fade fairly quickly. Even so, an organization needs to be aware of how best to present itself in this new environment and respond to potential parodies of its brand. "It's a transparent world," he says. "This is... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

08 Aug 2023
Research & Ideas

Black Employees Not Only Earn Less, But Deal with Bad Bosses and Poor Conditions

that perpetuate the privileges of certain racial groups. “A lot of hiring comes through referrals, and people’s networks tend to be pretty racially segregated. So it’s possible that referrals will reinforce some of these disparities,”... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

27 Oct 2008
Lessons from the Classroom

Achieving Excellence in Nonprofits

suspect we will see these trends continue—additional emphasis on specifying goals and achievement, more creative networked forms of organization and activity, and more attention to working on systemic... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

March 2008 (Revised December 2008)
Case

KIPP 2007: Implementing a Smart Growth Strategy

By: Stacey M. Childress and Maura Lynn Marino

After opening 60 schools in 8 years through opportunistic growth, the national office of the KIPP schools network has designed a strategy dubbed "smart growth." Each KIPP school is a separately incorporated entity led by a principal who was selected and trained by the... View Details

Keywords: Education; Organizational Culture; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Education Industry; United States

Article

Imprinting: Toward A Multilevel Theory

By: Christopher Marquis and Andras Tilcsik

The concept of imprinting has attracted considerable interest in numerous fields—including organizational ecology, institutional theory, network analysis, and career research—and has been applied at several levels of analysis, from the industry to the individual. This... View Details

Keywords: History; Situation or Environment; Research; Organizations; Power and Influence

Find at Harvard

Read Now

2007
Working Paper

Innovation through Global Collaboration: A New Source of Competitive Advantage

By: Alan MacCormack, Theodore Forbath, Peter Brooks and Patrick Kalaher

Many recent studies highlight the need to rethink the way we manage innovation. Traditional approaches, based on the assumption that the creation and pursuit of new ideas is best accomplished by a centralized and collocated R&D team, are rapidly becoming outdated.... View Details

Keywords: Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Groups and Teams; Research and Development; Performance Improvement; Management Practices and Processes; Partners and Partnerships; Competency and Skills; Framework; Competitive Advantage; Global Strategy; Opportunities; Cost

Keywords: Information Technology; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Design; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Organizational Culture; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Performance Productivity; Problems and Challenges; Management Practices and Processes; Business Divisions; Information Management; Information Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; United States

Read Now

29 Jun 2007
First Look

First Look: June 29, 2007

organizations by internal problem broadcasting. Adoption of Information Technology Under Network Effects Authors:Deishin Lee and Haim Mendelson Periodical:Information Systems Research (forthcoming) Abstract... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

04 Nov 2008
First Look

First Look: November 4, 2008

organizations to climb the value chain and access higher-margin businesses with powerful incumbents. Purchase this case: http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/ b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=609024 PublicationsGender in Job... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

09 Sep 2008
First Look

First Look: September 9, 2008

that a leading affiliate network could have invoked an optimal payment delay to eliminate 71% of fraud without decreasing profit. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/08-072.pdf Secrets of the Academy: The Drivers of... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

21 Oct 2008
First Look

First Look: October 21, 2008

diversification into the technology intensive TFT-LCD flat panel display industry. Because the diversification is far away from its core competence in petrochemicals, it is an opportunity to examine how the firm was able to become a global leader in the relatively... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

February 1991 (Revised February 1992)
Case

Appex Corp.

By: Nitin Nohria

1990 Business Week named Appex Corp. the fastest growing high-technology company in the United States. Appex provided management information systems and intercarrier network services to cellular telephone companies. During its rapid growth, the company went through... View Details