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- All HBS Web
(2,585)
- People (3)
- News (249)
- Research (2,021)
- Events (13)
- Multimedia (4)
- Faculty Publications (968)
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- September–October 2017
- Article
Why Do We Undervalue Competent Management?: Neither Great Leadership Nor Brilliant Strategy Matters Without Operational Excellence
By: Raffaella Sadun, Nicholas Bloom and John Van Reenen
A recurring message in business education is that you can’t compete on the basis of management processes because they’re easily copied. Operational effectiveness is table stakes in the competitive universe, it is often assumed, and thus cannot serve as a sustainable... View Details
Keywords: Management; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Management Practices and Processes; Performance Effectiveness
Sadun, Raffaella, Nicholas Bloom, and John Van Reenen. "Why Do We Undervalue Competent Management? Neither Great Leadership Nor Brilliant Strategy Matters Without Operational Excellence." Harvard Business Review 95, no. 5 (September–October 2017): 120–127. (Winner of 59th Annual HBR McKinsey Award.)
- April 2013 (Revised November 2013)
- Case
Microsoft in Korea
By: Jordan I. Siegel and Lynn Pyun
Microsoft Korea sees a potential opportunity to dramatically improve its subsidiary's performance by actively recruiting and promoting female senior managers in South Korea. The question is to what extent multinationals can gain competitive advantage by actively... View Details
Keywords: Global; International Business; Multinational Management; Human Resource Management; Labor Market; Global Human Resource Management; Microsoft; South Korea; Asia; East Asia; Human Resources; Strategy; Global Strategy; Computer Industry; South Korea; East Asia
Siegel, Jordan I., and Lynn Pyun. "Microsoft in Korea." Harvard Business School Case 713-522, April 2013. (Revised November 2013.)
- October 1988 (Revised November 2006)
- Background Note
Aspects of Sales Management: An Introduction
Discusses certain general issues that affect sales-management requirements in most companies: 1) the nature of the salesperson's "boundary role" in the organization, and 2) the relevance and limits of compensation policies as a key means of affecting the salesperson's... View Details
Keywords: Salesforce Management
Cespedes, Frank V. "Aspects of Sales Management: An Introduction." Harvard Business School Background Note 589-061, October 1988. (Revised November 2006.)
- June 2008
- Case
Mattel's Long Hot Summer
In the summer of 2007, Mattel performed three major recalls of toys, mostly due to lead paint and other manufacturing issues in China. This case examines specifically how those recalls were perceived by consumers, and responded to by Mattel, as well as what effect they... View Details
Keywords: Safety; Quality; Production; Price; Manufacturing Industry; Consumer Products Industry; China
Wei-Skillern, Jane, Sonia Marciano, and Barbara Passy. "Mattel's Long Hot Summer." Harvard Business School Case 308-129, June 2008.
- Article
What Do State-Owned Development Banks Do? Evidence from BNDES, 2002–09
By: Sergio G. Lazzarini, Aldo Musacchio, Rodrigo Bandeira-de-Mello and Rosilene Marcon
Defendants of state-owned development banks emphasize their role in reducing capital constraints and fostering productive investment; detractors point out that they may benefit politically connected capitalists or bail out inefficient firms. We study the effect of... View Details
Lazzarini, Sergio G., Aldo Musacchio, Rodrigo Bandeira-de-Mello, and Rosilene Marcon. "What Do State-Owned Development Banks Do? Evidence from BNDES, 2002–09." World Development 66 (February 2015): 237–253.
- 2014
- Working Paper
The Cost of Friendship
By: Paul A. Gompers, Vladimir Mukharlyamov and Yuhai Xuan
We investigate how personal characteristics affect people's desire to collaborate and whether this attraction enhances or detracts from performance in venture capital. We find that venture capitalists who share the same ethnic, educational, or career background are... View Details
Gompers, Paul A., Vladimir Mukharlyamov, and Yuhai Xuan. "The Cost of Friendship." Working Paper, 2014.
- March 2023
- Background Note
A Primer on OKRs
By: Suraj Srinivasan and Li-Kuan (Jason) Ni
The OKR framework is a popular goal-setting and strategy execution tool that uses goal setting through “Objectives” and measuring performance using “Key Results” on a periodic basis to measure and drive performance. The OKR framework has been adopted and practiced at... View Details
Keywords: Business Organization; Talent and Talent Management; Framework; Corporate Governance; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Management Practices and Processes; Management Skills; Management Systems; Measurement and Metrics; Outcome or Result; Performance Effectiveness; Performance Evaluation; Performance Expectations; Performance Productivity; Performance Efficiency
Srinivasan, Suraj, and Li-Kuan (Jason) Ni. "A Primer on OKRs." Harvard Business School Background Note 123-081, March 2023.
- October 2016 (Revised February 2019)
- Module Note
Strategy Execution Module 5: Building a Profit Plan
By: Robert Simons
This module reading describes how to build a profit plan to reflect the strategy of a business in economic terms. After introducing the profit wheel, cash wheel, and ROE wheel, the module illustrates how to use a profit plan to assess the viability of different... View Details
Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Execution; Profit Planning; Cash Flow Analysis; Asset Utilization; Return On Equity; Business Planning; Testing Strategy; Analyzing Strategic Alternative; Strategy; Asset Management; Cash Flow; Investment Return; Management Systems; Profit
Simons, Robert. "Strategy Execution Module 5: Building a Profit Plan." Harvard Business School Module Note 117-105, October 2016. (Revised February 2019.)
- September 1996 (Revised December 1997)
- Case
Cytec Industries' Spin-Off (A): Sink or Swim?
In the wake of market pressure to restructure, American Cyanamid spun off its poorly performing Chemicals Unit into a new publicly traded corporation, Cytec Industries. In addition to weak operations, Cytec inherited the bulk of Cyanamid's environmental and... View Details
Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Management Practices and Processes; Restructuring; Performance Improvement; Chemical Industry; United States
Wruck, Karen, and Sherry P. Roper. "Cytec Industries' Spin-Off (A): Sink or Swim?" Harvard Business School Case 897-053, September 1996. (Revised December 1997.)
- Article
Four Ways to Build a Productive Sales Culture
By: Frank V. Cespedes and Steven Maughan
This article distinguishes sales efficiency (SE) initiatives (e.g., CRM, training, and KPI dashboards) from sales optimization (SO) decisions (e.g., aligning sales tasks with business strategy, customer selection, and deployment of sales resources across... View Details
- Article
Don't Let Power Corrupt You
By: Julie Battilana and Tiziana Casciaro
Although power is essential to taking charge and driving change, it makes leaders vulnerable to two traps that can not only erode their own effectiveness but also undermine their teams. Hubris—the excessive pride and self-confidence that can come with power—causes... View Details
Keywords: Humility; Empathy; Hubris; Leadership; Power and Influence; Moral Sensibility; Performance Effectiveness
Battilana, Julie, and Tiziana Casciaro. "Don't Let Power Corrupt You." Harvard Business Review 99, no. 5 (September–October 2021): 94–101.
- 2016
- Working Paper
Cohort Turnover and Operational Performance: The July Phenomenon in Teaching Hospitals
By: Hummy Song, Robert S. Huckman and Jason R. Barro
We consider the impact of cohort turnover—the planned simultaneous exit of a large number of experienced employees and a similarly sized entry of new workers—on operational performance in the context of teaching hospitals. Specifically, we examine the impact of the... View Details
Keywords: Health Care; Health Care Operations; Hospitals; Productivity; Empirical Operations; Service Delivery; Training; Performance Productivity; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry; United States
Song, Hummy, Robert S. Huckman, and Jason R. Barro. "Cohort Turnover and Operational Performance: The July Phenomenon in Teaching Hospitals." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 16-039, September 2015. (Revised September 2016. Finalist, 2015 POMS College of Healthcare Operations Management Best Paper Competition.)
- 2019
- Article
Sustaining Open Innovation Through a 'Center of Excellence'
By: Elizabeth E. Richard, Jeffrey R. Davis, Jin Hyun Paik and Karim R. Lakhani
This paper presents NASA’s experience using a Center of Excellence (CoE) to scale and sustain an open innovation program as an effective problem-solving tool and includes strategic management recommendations for other organizations based on lessons... View Details
Keywords: Crowdsourcing; Culture Change; Open Innovation; Center Of Excellence; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Organizational Culture; Change Management
Richard, Elizabeth E., Jeffrey R. Davis, Jin Hyun Paik, and Karim R. Lakhani. "Sustaining Open Innovation Through a 'Center of Excellence'." Strategy & Leadership 47, no. 3 (2019): 19–26.
- July 2022
- Article
The Passionate Pygmalion Effect: Passionate Employees Attain Better Outcomes in Part Because of More Preferential Treatment by Others
By: Ke Wang, Erica R. Bailey and Jon M. Jachimowicz
Employees are increasingly exhorted to “pursue their passion” at work. Inherent in this call is the belief that passion will produce higher performance because it promotes intrapersonal processes that propel employees forward. Here, we suggest that the pervasiveness of... View Details
Keywords: Passion; Self-fufilling Prophecy; Lay Beliefs; Interpersonal Processes; Employees; Performance; Attitudes; Organizational Culture; Social Psychology
Wang, Ke, Erica R. Bailey, and Jon M. Jachimowicz. "The Passionate Pygmalion Effect: Passionate Employees Attain Better Outcomes in Part Because of More Preferential Treatment by Others." Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 101 (July 2022).
- 13 Sep 2011
- First Look
First Look: September 13
2011 Abstract The contribution of culture to organizational performance is both substantial and quantifiable. This book presents the results of field research that demonstrates how an effective culture can... View Details
Keywords: Sean Silverthorne
- 23 Nov 2021
- Book
What It Takes to Build an Organizational Culture That Wins
forthcoming book, Win from Within: Build Organizational Culture For Competitive Advantage, which is a how-to roadmap for improving an organization’s culture. Heskett, the UPS Foundation Professor Emeritus at Harvard Business School, argues that an View Details
Keywords: by Avery Forman
- 2013
- Working Paper
Applying Random Coefficient Models to Strategy Research: Testing for Firm Heterogeneity, Predicting Firm-Specific Coefficients, and Estimating Strategy Trade-Offs
By: Juan Alcacer, Wilbur Chung, Ashton Hawk and Goncalo Pacheco-de-Almeida
Although Strategy research aims to understand how firm actions have differential effects on performance, most empirical research estimates the average effects of these actions across firms. This paper promotes Random Coefficients Models (RCMs) as an ideal empirical... View Details
Alcacer, Juan, Wilbur Chung, Ashton Hawk, and Goncalo Pacheco-de-Almeida. "Applying Random Coefficient Models to Strategy Research: Testing for Firm Heterogeneity, Predicting Firm-Specific Coefficients, and Estimating Strategy Trade-Offs." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 14-022, September 2013.
- Teaching Interest
MBA Required Curriculum Leadership and Organizational Behavior (LEAD)
By: Rakesh Khurana
This course focuses on how managers become effective leaders by addressing the human side of enterprise.
The first modules examine teams, individuals, and networks in the context of:
- The determinants of group... View Details
- 04 Nov 2013
- Research & Ideas
The Real Cost of Bribery
analyze the negative effects of bribery on corporate performance. The results of his study, detailed in the paper Firm Competitiveness and Detection of Bribery, surprised him. As it turns out, the biggest problem with corporate corruption... View Details
Keywords: by Carmen Nobel
- 2016
- Working Paper
The Microstructure of Work: How Unexpected Breaks Let You Rest, but Not Lose Focus
By: Pradeep Pendem, Paul Green, Bradley R. Staats and Francesca Gino
How best to structure the work day is an important operational question for organizations. A key structural consideration is the effective use of breaks from work. Breaks serve the critical purpose of allowing employees to recharge, but in the short term, translate to... View Details
Keywords: Breaks; Productivity; Attention; Workload; Harvesting; Working Conditions; Behavior; Performance Productivity; Organizations
Pendem, Pradeep, Paul Green, Bradley R. Staats, and Francesca Gino. "The Microstructure of Work: How Unexpected Breaks Let You Rest, but Not Lose Focus." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 17-058, December 2016.