Publications

October 2020 (Revised March 2022)
Case

Automercados Plaza's: Surviving Venezuela's Hyperinflation

By: Alberto Cavallo, Mariana Cal and Carla Larangeira

Under the rule of presidents Hugo Chávez and Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela experienced one of the worst economic and political meltdowns in modern history, culminating with a massive hyperinflation. Remarkably, during this dramatic times Automercados Plaza's had grown to... View Details

Keywords: Hyperinflation; Populism; Inflation and Deflation; Macroeconomics; Management; Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business and Government Relations; Retail Industry; South America; Venezuela

September 1995
Case

Apollo Hospitals of India (B)

The Indian Hospitals Corp. (IHC), a branch of Apollo Hospitals Group, is considering building a hospital and primary-care medical center in Colombo, the capital of Sri-Lanka, a small island off the southern coast of India. This case describes economic, social, and... View Details

Keywords: Expansion; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry; India

July 1, 2024
Article

Research: Speed Matters When Companies Respond to Social Issues

By: Alison Wood Brooks, Jimin Nam, Maya Balakrishnan and Julian De Freitas

Companies and their leaders face new pressures to make public statements about controversial and sometimes divisive social and political issues. New research shows that timing matters: consumers perceive a relationship between speed and authenticity, and discount... View Details

Keywords: Perception; Social Issues; Public Opinion; Communication Strategy

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Faculty & Advisors | MBA

immunotherapy strategy which ultimately guided Celgene into the rapidly developing field of immuno-oncology (IO). Kareem started his career at Vertex Pharmaceuticals in formulation development. Mark Robinson MBA ‘93, Harvard University;... View Details

Research Summary

Research Focus of Chris Gordon

Chris Gordon's main area of interest and expertise is the delivery of complex capital projects. These projects can take the form of government sponsored infrastructure projects such as highways and utilities, private real estate development such as commercial and... View Details

February 2025 (Revised April 2025)
Case

Institutional Neutrality, Restraint or Convenience?

By: Clayton S. Rose, Nicole Zelazko and Alexis Lefort

In the fall of 2023 and winter of 2024, college campuses across the U.S. experienced protests and encampments in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023 terrorist attack on Israel by the Islamist militant group Hamas, and Israel’s subsequent invasion of Gaza. These... View Details

Keywords: Distribution; Cost vs Benefits; Ethics; Governance; Leadership; Crisis Management; Risk Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Civil Society or Community; Social Issues; Adaptation; Disruption; Communication Strategy; Higher Education; United States

The Business of Platforms is an in-depth look at platform strategy and digital innovation. In this book, we explore how a small number of companies have come to exert extraordinary influence over every dimension of our personal, professional and political... View Details

29 May 2014
Research & Ideas

Research Symposium 2014

Speaking up at work; a manager's responsibility to capitalism; a strategy to fix the health care system. These were the presentation topics at the 2014 Faculty Research Symposium. At first blush, they may sound a bit disjointed. But a... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Accounting; Health

September 2007 (Revised August 2008)
Case

Suncor in the Oil Sands Industry

By: Forest L. Reinhardt and Nazli Uludere

Describes the economics, technology, and politics of the oil sands industry, focusing on one of the industry's leading firms. Oil sands deposits in Alberta represent a potentially vast reserve of hydrocarbons, but the extraction, refining, and transportation challenges... View Details

Keywords: Economics; Non-Renewable Energy; Government and Politics; Supply and Industry; Natural Environment; Competitive Strategy; Environmental Sustainability; Energy Industry; Alberta

August 1991 (Revised March 1993)
Case

Champion International Corp.: Timber, Trade, and the Northern Spotted Owl

By: Forest L. Reinhardt

Champion's forest products division owns timberlands, sawmills, and plywood mills in the Pacific Northwest. The listing of the northern spotted owl as an endangered species, and restrictions on exports of logs from state-owned lands, have disrupted the stumpage, log... View Details

Keywords: Science-Based Business; Natural Environment; Product Marketing; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Government and Politics; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Strategy; Trade; Decisions; Management Teams; Forest Products Industry; North and Central America

09 Apr 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, April 9, 2019

critiques of our work with empirical data and conceptual arguments. We agree with Wilson and Stolarz-Fantino that researchers seeking to understand a policy’s influence on consumers should test predictions about which strategies firms... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

May 2021 (Revised November 2024)
Case

Colombia: An Economic Premium to Peace?

By: Richard Vietor

Colombia, once the fastest growing country in Latin America, continues to struggle with productivity. Both labor productivity and total factor productivity have been low for the past decade, despite economic growth of 4.7% annually. Many factors contribute, which... View Details

2009
Working Paper

Assess, Don't Assume, Part I: Etiquette and National Culture in Negotiation

By: James K. Sebenius

When facing a cross-border negotiation, the standard preparatory assessments -- of the parties, their interests, their no-deal options, opportunities for and barriers to creating and claiming value, the most promising sequence and process design, etc. -- should be... View Details

Keywords: Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Negotiation Process; Societal Protocols; Competitive Advantage; Cooperation

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December 2012 (Revised April 2013)
Case

Olam: On a New Course

By: David E. Bell, Forest Reinhardt and Mary Shelman

From modest beginnings as a cashew trader in Nigeria, Olam, founded by Indian nationals in 1989, has grown into a leading global agricultural trading company, with annual revenues of $14 billion. The company recently has begun investing in farms and in the production... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Leadership; Customer Value and Value Chain; Corporate Strategy; Organizational Culture; Environmental Sustainability; Expansion; Competitive Advantage; Agribusiness; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Nigeria

29 Feb 2016
HBS Case

Bigbelly's Big Bet on the Digital Trash Can

advertising. “Government is a giant customer. They buy a lot of stuff” Harvard Business School professor Mitchell Weiss explores this strategy pivot in a new case on Bigbelly, co-written with case researcher Christine Snively, that looks... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Energy

21 May 2020
Research & Ideas

Fighting the COVID Blues: Advice from Business Research

We asked Harvard Business School experts who study well-being to share strategies for coping with this unsettling period to prevent the coronavirus blues from taking a huge toll, both personally and professionally. “You're not going to be... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman and Danielle Kost

18 Feb 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Urbanization with Chinese Characteristics? China’s Gamble for Modernization

Keywords: by Kristen Looney and Meg Rithmire; Public Administration; Real Estate

2018
Book

Kissinger the Negotiator: Lessons from Dealmaking at the Highest Level

By: James K. Sebenius, R. Nicholas Burns and Robert H. Mnookin (with a forward by Henry A. Kissinger)

As professors and practitioners with careers devoted to negotiation, we are often asked “Who are the world’s best negotiators? What makes them effective?” Inevitably Henry Kissinger’s name comes up as an elite, if controversial, negotiator from whom we can learn a... View Details

Keywords: History; Negotiation Process; Negotiation Tactics; Personal Development and Career; Negotiation Style; United States

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