Publications

February 2023 (Revised June 2023)
Supplement

Graphic Packaging: Project Cowboy (B)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and E. Scott Mayfield

Analyzes the company’s decision on Project Cowboy following the events described in the A Case. View Details

Keywords: Capital Budgeting; Growth Management; Demand and Consumers; Duopoly and Oligopoly; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Expansion; Value Creation; Supply and Industry; Pulp and Paper Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States; North America

February 2023 (Revised February 2023)
Case

Graphic Packaging: Project Cowboy (A)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and E. Scott Mayfield

In July 2019, Graphic Packaging CEO Michael Doss was proposing a $600 million investment in a new machine to produce coated recycled board (CRB), a type of paper packaging used for consumer products (cups, cereal boxes, beverage boxes, etc.) that utilized recycled... View Details

Keywords: Capital Budgeting; Growth Management; Demand and Consumers; Duopoly and Oligopoly; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Expansion; Value Creation; Supply and Industry; Pulp and Paper Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States; North America

12 Jul 2020
Book

The Harvard Business School Faculty Summer Reader 2020

features racial violence and the quest for justice in the South. I also recommend Transaction Man: The Rise of the Deal and the Decline of the American Dream by Nicholas Lemann, which provides insight into how American capitalism got into... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

31 Jul 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, July 31, 2018

Goldman Sachs: Making an Imprint in Impact Investing Goldman Sachs acquired Imprint Capital Advisors, a small firm that specialized in advising clients on environmental/social/governance (ESG) and impact investments. The founders sold... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

2022
Working Paper

Communicating Corporate Culture in Labor Markets: Evidence from Job Postings

By: Joseph Pacelli, Tianshuo Shi and Yuan Zou

We examine how firms craft their job postings to convey information about their culture and whether doing so helps attract employees. We utilize state-of-the-art machine learning methods to develop a comprehensive dictionary of key corporate values across the near... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Culture Significance; Labor Markets; Disclosure; Organizational Culture; Recruitment; Talent and Talent Management

SSRN

October 2005 (Revised February 2008)
Case

Sales Force Integration at FedEx (A)

By: David B. Godes

Federal Express' (FedEx) recent acquisition of RPS--a ground delivery firm--gave the firm the potential to offer a single source for a client's delivery needs. However, to deliver on this potential, the firm needed to deliver the integrated solution through a single... View Details

Keywords: Horizontal Integration; Salesforce Management; Transportation; Compensation and Benefits; Transportation Industry

April 1974 (Revised June 1983)
Case

Robert F. Kennedy High School

By: John J. Gabarro

Presents the problem facing a newly appointed high school principal. Raises issues about interpersonal and group behavior including lack of open conflict resolution and the need to intervene in an interpersonal conflict. Also raises the issue of intergroup conflict... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Secondary Education; Employee Relationship Management; Organizational Structure; Behavior; Conflict Management; System

01 Jun 2020
What Do You Think?

Will Challenged Amazon Tweak Its Retail Model Post-Pandemic?

several of Amazon’s competitors out-thought Bezos & Co. to take advantage of an economic shock.” Nevertheless, there was no shortage of advice for a Company that may not need much. The advice fell into suggestions regarding supply chain View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Retail

February 2015 (Revised May 2015)
Supplement

Nokia's Bridge Program: Outcome and Results (B)

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Susan J. Winterberg

Nokia's leaders reflect on the Bridge program, lessons learned during its implementation, and the business benefits it brought to the company. Nokia's Bridge program resulted in 60% of employees knowing their next step the day they exited the firm. It also helped... View Details

Keywords: Layoffs; Plant Closure; Outplacement; Shared Value; Business or Company Management; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Restructuring; Employee Relationship Management; Telecommunications Industry

March 2019 (Revised June 2019)
Supplement

Gender and Free Speech at Google (C)

By: Nien-hê Hsieh and Sarah Mehta

This case reveals Google’s response to a list of employee demands aiming to combat sexual misconduct in the workplace. This case should accompany the (A) and (B) cases, “Gender and Free Speech at Google” (318-085) and (319-085). View Details

Keywords: Free Speech; Ethnicity; Gender; Race; Employees; Employee Relationship Management; Recruitment; Labor; Employment; Lawsuits and Litigation; Technology Industry; United States; California

20 Dec 2011
First Look

First Look: December 20

for firms to capture value in a modular system. This paper brings together the theory of modularity from the engineering and management literatures with the modern economic theory of property rights and relational contracts to address the... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

20 Jan 2003
Research & Ideas

Fixing Corporate Governance: A Roundtable Discussion at Harvard Business School

capital market. Analysts and money managers are mostly worried about quarterly performance. That filters all the way back to management, which feels pressure to deliver good numbers for the next quarter's... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons

August 1993
Case

You've Just Got to Fire Him (A)

A CEO has decided to fire his head of sales, but stumbles over the question of when and how? This case describes the background and the resolution that it had to be done in June of 1992 in a particular way. View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Resignation and Termination

Find at Harvard

April 2015 (Revised April 2015)
Case

Yale University Investments Office: February 2015

By: Josh Lerner

David Swensen and the Investments Office staff must decide whether to continue to allocate the bulk of the university's endowment to illiquid investments—hedge funds, private equity, real estate—given the impact of the recent market turmoil. The case explores the risks... View Details

Keywords: Asset Management; Resource Allocation; Investment; Venture Capital; Investment Funds; Property; Private Equity