Publications

05 Jun 2014
Research & Ideas

Fixing the ‘I Hate Work’ Blues

everyone focused on mission through regular engagement with employees—much more so than CEOs in my generation. So if CEOs are focused on the mission, why aren't these messages getting through to employees? “Instead of managers who... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George

04 Jan 2016
News

Taking Time Out for a Challenge

After living in Sierra Leone from 2006 to 2010, where she worked as a founding board member of the Welbodi Partnership, which supports the country’s health system in delivering essential services to women and children, HBS doctoral... View Details

Keywords: ebola; Ambulatory Health Care Services; Ambulatory Health Care Services

22 Jul 2002
Research & Ideas

How Business Strategy Tamed the “Invisible Hand”

began to emerge, first in the United States and then in Europe: the vertically integrated, multidivisional (or "M-form") corporation that made large investments in manufacturing and marketing and in management hierarchies to... View Details

Keywords: by Pankaj Ghemawat

26 May 2021
News

Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace (with Frances Frei)

January 2002 (Revised March 2002)
Case

Virtualis Systems (Condensed)

By: Michael J. Roberts and Jay O. Light

Focuses on a graduating HBS MBA who has been working part-time with a Web-hosting firm in California. Discusses the question of which of several "business models" make the most sense for the company to pursue. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business Model; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; Cost vs Benefits; SWOT Analysis; Management Practices and Processes; Web Services Industry; California

Web

Online Transforming Customer Experiences Course | HBS Online

Engineering Manager at Quizlet Master a proven approach for delivering exceptional customer experiences, whether you’re building or advising service companies. "I'm applying things I learned from the courses... View Details

21 Nov 2016
Research & Ideas

It Matters That Your CEO Doesn't Know Much About Sales

senior executives specializing in everything except sales. “The number of executives reporting to the CEO in the average S&P 500 company has doubled in the last 20 years,” says Frank V. Cespedes, a senior lecturer in the Entrepreneurial View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

November 2015 (Revised August 2016)
Case

Unilever's New Global Strategy: Competing through Sustainability

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

In January 2009, when Paul Polman was appointed CEO of Unilever, he inherited a company in long-term decline at the beginning of a major global financial crisis. As the first outsider ever recruited to lead the company, Polman lost little time in challenging the... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Competitive Strategy; Environmental Sustainability; Consumer Products Industry

04 Apr 2022
News

Strengthening City Hall’s Foundations

In an opinion piece published by the Jerusalem Post on April 4, 2022, Michael Bloomberg (MBA 1966) announced a new management training program to support mayors in Israel. The Bloomberg-Sagol Center for City Leadership, created in... View Details

Keywords: Executive, Legislative, and Other General Government Support; Government

May 1996 (Revised November 2018)
Case

Ecolab, Inc.

By: Ashish Nanda

By 1993, Ecolab has established a dominant market position in the institutional cleaning industry. As the company’s principal competitor, Diversify, drives sales aggressively, Ecolab president Al Schuman faces a choice about how best to market Ecolab’s offerings.... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Employees; Retention; Marketing Strategy; Risk Management; Service Industry