Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(2,155)
- Faculty Publications (172)
- September 2023
- Technical Note
Note on Difficult Conversations in the Family Enterprise
The best time to have a difficult conversation is, ideally, as soon as possible. Engaging in challenging conversations early can produce beneficial results for several reasons, such as resolving issues, improving communication, preserving relationships, and increasing... View Details
- July 2023
- Article
Design and Analysis of Switchback Experiments
By: Iavor I Bojinov, David Simchi-Levi and Jinglong Zhao
In switchback experiments, a firm sequentially exposes an experimental unit to a random treatment, measures its response, and repeats the procedure for several periods to determine which treatment leads to the best outcome. Although practitioners have widely adopted... View Details
- May–June 2023
- Article
A New Approach to Building Your Personal Brand: How to Communicate Your Value
By: Jill Avery and Rachel Greenwald
For better or worse, in today’s world everyone is a brand. Whether you’re applying for a job, asking for a promotion, or writing a dating profile, your success will depend on getting others to recognize your value. So you need to get comfortable marketing... View Details
- March 2023
- Module Note
Client Interviewing and Data Collection
By: David G. Fubini and Patrick Sanguineti
A module note for the Mastering Consulting and Advisory Skills (MCAS) course, "Client Interviewing and Data Collection" introduces the essentials of client interviews and provides best practices for early career consultants and advisors. View Details
- March 2023
- Module Note
Communication as a Trusted Advisor
By: David G. Fubini and Patrick Sanguineti
A module note for the Mastering Consulting and Advisory Skills (MCAS) course, "Communication as a Trusted Advisor" provides best practices for communicating as an advisor across multiple contexts. View Details
Keywords: Communication
- 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
- 2023
- Working Paper
Summarizing the Mental Customer Journey
By: Julian De Freitas, Ahmet Uğuralp, Zeliha Uğuralp, Pechthida Kim and Tomer Ullman
How do consumers summarize and act on their experiences, as when deciding whether an interaction with a firm was satisfying and whether to buy from it? Previous work on the summary of continuous experiences has tended to focus on a handful of experience patterns and... View Details
- September 2022
- Technical Note
Addressing Social Determinants of Health in the American Landscape
By: Susanna Gallani and Jacob Riegler
Social determinants of health (SDOH) have gained significant attention in recent years. A growing body of research shows that a person’s health is influenced by a large number of non-genetic factors, most of which operate outside the realm of health care and are... View Details
- 2022
- Book
Purpose + Profit: How Business Can Lift Up the World
By: George Serafeim
The roadmap and best practices to reap the enormous value that can emerge when your business prioritizes social and environmental goals—such as climate change, diversity and inclusion, and sustainability—right alongside the pursuit of profit.
We not only... View Details
We not only... View Details
- July 8, 2022
- Article
How to Conduct a Great Performance Review
Dissatisfaction with performance appraisals is pervasive, but they remain an essential managerial responsibility. The purpose of performance reviews is two-fold: an accurate and actionable evaluation of performance, and then development of that person’s skills in line... View Details
- Article
Online Experimentation: Benefits, Operational and Methodological Challenges, and Scaling Guide
By: Iavor Bojinov and Somit Gupta
In the past decade, online controlled experimentation, or A/B testing, at scale has proved to be a significant driver of business innovation. The practice was first pioneered by the technology sector and, more recently, has been adopted by traditional companies... View Details
- June 2022 (Revised January 2023)
- Case
Buurtzorg
By: Ethan Bernstein, Tatiana Sandino, Joost Minnaar and Annelena Lobb
As co-founders of home nursing company Buurtzorg, Jos de Blok and Gonnie Kronenberg prized both self-management and organizational learning. Buurtzorg’s 10,000 nurses across 950 neighborhood nursing teams in the Netherlands were empowered to manage themselves, both in... View Details
Keywords: Healthcare; Best Practices; Best Practices Transfer; Flat Organization; Self-Managed Organizations; Self-Managed Teams; Organizational Learning; Knowledge Management; Learning; Management Practices and Processes; Human Resources; Communication; Organizational Structure; Organizational Design; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Groups and Teams; Networks; Health Industry; Netherlands; Europe
- Article
How to Get the Most Out of Peer Support Groups: A Guide to the Benefits and Best Practices
By: Boris Groysberg and Robert Russman Halperin
For years business leaders have turned to peer forums—groups of four to 10 people with similar interests who meet regularly for confidential conversations—to share their problems, find support and insights, and learn and grow. But because such forums are small and... View Details
- May 2022
- Article
Variance Analysis: New Insights from Health Care Applications
By: Robert S. Kaplan and Susanna Gallani
We use a health care application to illustrate how variance analysis can be used to benchmark costs across similar service delivery sites. Variances for personnel costs, typically the largest cost component in service organizations, are calculated for price, quantity,... View Details
- 2022
- Book
Corporate Explorer: How Corporations Beat Startups at the Innovation Game
By: Andrew Binns, Charles A. O'Reilly III and Michael Tushman
Innovation used to be seen as a game best left to entrepreneurs, but now a new breed of corporate managers is flipping this logic on its head. These Corporate Explorers have the insight, resilience, and discipline to overcome the obstacles and build new ventures from... View Details
- 2022
- Chapter
A Compass for Decision Making
By: Lynn S. Paine
Book Abstract: The second edition of Responsible Leadership offers orienting knowledge on how to lead in a world of contested values—a world where leadership work extends beyond leaders and direct reports to a whole range of stakeholders inside and outside an... View Details
- Article
Drive Innovation with Better Decision-Making
By: Linda A. Hill, Emily Tedards and Taran Swan
Despite their embrace of agile methods, many firms striving to innovate are struggling to produce breakthrough ideas. A key culprit, according to the authors, is an outdated, inefficient approach to decision-making. Today’s discovery-driven innovation processes involve... View Details
- Fall 2021
- Article
When to Go and How to Go? Founder and Leader Transitions in Private Equity Firms
By: Josh Lerner and Diana Noble
Leadership transition in private equity firms is an understudied field, despite the important, albeit controversial, role such firms play in developed economies. We analyzed 260 firms in an empirical study, supplemented by qualitative interviews with a small sample of... View Details
- 9 Jul 2021
- Interview
Matthew Barzun and Amy Edmondson
By: Amy C. Edmondson and Matthew Barzun
Writer Matthew Barzun speaks with Harvard Professor and author Amy Edmondson about Barzun's book, "The Power of Giving Away Power: How the Best Leaders Learn to Let Go". Matthew Barzun has served as U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom and Sweden. He served as... View Details
- April 2021
- Background Note
HEAD vs. LEAD: Disruptions Originating at the High- vs. Low-End of the Market
By: Elie Ofek, Olivier Toubia and Didier Toubia
Twenty five years after it was initially proposed, Clay Christensen’s theory of disruptive innovation continues to be a major reference for entrepreneurs, corporate innovators, and investors. However, the term “disruptive innovation” is often used in ways and contexts... View Details