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Publications
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(1,051)
- Faculty Publications (104)
- July 2019
- Teaching Note
AT&T, Retraining, and the Workforce of Tomorrow
By: William R. Kerr and Carl Kreitzberg
A Teaching Note for the "AT&T, Retraining, and the Workforce of Tomorrow" case study (HBS#820-017). The case describes how AT&T designed and implemented a program to retrain 100,000 of its workers. The case first reviews the technological forces that compelled AT&T to... View Details
Keywords: AT＆T; Workforce; Future Of Work; Telecommunications; Unions; Technological Change; Layoffs; MOOCS; Strategic Planning; Employees; Training; Labor; Learning; Labor Unions; Technology Adoption; Talent and Talent Management; Transformation; Telecommunications Industry; Communications Industry; United States
- 2019
- Working Paper
Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 13 Platform Systems vs. Step Processes—The Value of Options and the Power of Modularity
This is the first chapter in Part 3. Its purpose is to contrast the value structure of platform systems with step processes from a technological perspective. I first review the basic technical architecture of computers and argue that every computer is inherently a... View Details
- Article
Operational Efficiency and Effective Management in the Catheterization Laboratory
By: Grant W. Reed, Michael L. Tushman and Samir R. Kapadia
Operational efficiency is a core business principle in which organizations strive to deliver high-quality goods or services in a cost-effective manner. This concept has become increasingly relevant to cardiac catheterization laboratories, as insurers move away from... View Details
- August 2018 (Revised April 2019)
- Case
Fair Value Accounting at Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (A)
By: Jonas Heese, Suraj Srinivasan, Francois Brochet and Christine Johnson
In May 2018, Berkshire Hathaway announced an unprecedented loss of more than $1 billion for the first quarter of 2018. Warren Buffett blamed this loss on the new accounting rules for equity securities which he criticized. In the case ‘Fair Value Accounting at Berkshire... View Details
- July 2018
- Article
Personality Traits of Entrepreneurs: A Review of Recent Literature
By: Sari Pekkala Kerr, William R. Kerr and Tina Xu
We review the extensive literature since 2000 on the personality traits of entrepreneurs. We first consider baseline personality traits like the Big-5 model, self-efficacy and innovativeness, locus of control, and the need for achievement. We then consider risk... View Details
- June 2018
- Case
Verona Group
By: Robert L. Simons and Sarah Abbott
Are a salesperson's struggles her own fault or the result of a problematic job design? Anna George works as a salesperson at Verona Group, a company that designs and wholesales high-end women's apparel. She had spent nearly 20 years in sales with another fashion label... View Details
- May 2018
- Exercise
Data Visualization & Communication Exercise
By: Srikant M. Datar and Caitlin N. Bowler
This exercise uses the 1986 Challenger shuttle disaster to explore the relationship between data visualization, effective communication, and decision-making. Students review and analyze excerpts from the 13 charts engineers presented to NASA executives the night before... View Details
- March 2018
- Teaching Note
Project Titan at Northrop Grumman
By: C. Fritz Foley, Lauren G. Pickle, David Lane and F. Katelynn Boland
Teaching Note for HBS No. 215-001. In March of 2011, Northrop Grumman divested shipbuilding assets through the spin-off of Huntington Ingalls Industries. This case reviews many of the key questions faced by Northrop's CEO, CFO, and top management team during this... View Details
- September 2017
- Article
Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing to Estimate Cost of Care at Multidisciplinary Aerodigestive Centers
By: Robert S. Kaplan, Jordan A. Garcia, Bipin Mistry, Stephen Hardy, Mary Shannon Fracchia, Cheryl Hersh, Carissa Wentland, Joseph Vadakekalam and Christopher J. Hartnick
Time-driven activity-based costing was used to estimate the cost of care for patients with laryngeal cleft seen between 2008 and 2013 at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary Pediatric Aerodigestive Center. Retrospective chart review was performed to identify clinic... View Details
- 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
- August 22, 2017
- Article
Find the Right Metrics for Your Sales Team
By: Frank V. Cespedes and Robert Marsh
This article reports the results of a survey of key performance indicators (KPIs) used by more than 800 sales groups across industries. The most common KPIs are closed deals and salesperson performance against quota, which, on average, firms measure monthly. But a... View Details
- 2017
- Supplement
Uncommon Schools (B): Seeking Excellence at Scale through Standardized Practice
By: John J-H Kim and Sarah McAra
The (B) case provides an update to the (A) case by illustrating how charter school management organization Uncommon Schools responded to the disparity in its students’ 2013 standardized test results. In 2015, CEO Brett Peiser and his management team decided to align... View Details
Keywords: Charter Schools; Nonprofit Organizations; Strategy; Teaching; Talent And Talent Management; Innovation; Education; Early Childhood Education; Middle School Education; Organizational Structure; Performance Consistency; Growth and Development Strategy; Innovation and Invention; Education Industry
- November 2016 (Revised December 2016)
- Module Note
Strategy Execution Module 7: Designing Asset Allocation Systems
By: Robert Simons
This module reading provides tools and analyses for acquiring and allocating resources. The module begins by reviewing the importance of setting strategic boundaries as a basis for asset acquisitions. Next, a distinction is made between new assets acquired to meet... View Details
- September 2016
- Supplement
ZenRecruit: Sales Coaching and Performance Reviews
By: Mark N. Roberge
Amara Kaggwa leads the small but rapidly expanding sales team at ZenRecruit, a recruiting software application used by small businesses. Armed with six months of sales performance metrics, Kaggwa is preparing for her monthly performance conversations with two... View Details
- September 2016 (Revised February 2017)
- Case
ZenRecruit: Sales Coaching and Performance Reviews
By: Mark Roberge
Amara Kaggwa leads the small but rapidly expanding sales team at ZenRecruit, a recruiting software application used by small businesses. Armed with six months of sales performance metrics, Kaggwa is preparing for her monthly performance conversations with two... View Details
- October 2015
- Case
Transpower New Zealand: Evaluating Board Performance
By: Boris Groysberg, Paul M. Healy and Sarah L. Abbott
Mark Verbiest, Chairman of Transpower New Zealand, initiated a performance review of Transpower's board of directors. The review, which took four months to complete, provided board members with individualized feedback on their performance, as well as information on how... View Details
- January 2015 (Revised September 2017)
- Case
Project Titan at Northrop Grumman
By: C. Fritz Foley and Kevin Sharer
In March of 2011, Northrop Grumman divested shipbuilding assets through the spin-off of Huntington Ingalls Industries. This case reviews many of the key questions faced by Northrop's CEO, CFO, and top management team during this process, including questions concerning... View Details
- 2014
- Book
Managerial Accounting: Making Decisions and Motivating Performance
By: Srikant M. Datar and Madhav Rajan
Managerial Accounting: Making Decisions and Motivating Performance enables future managers and business owners to attain the core skills they need to become integral members of their company’s decision-making teams. This new program from established authors... View Details
- September 2014 (Revised March 2017)
- Case
Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief: What Can We Learn from Commercial Supply Chains?
By: Willy Shih and Margaret Pierson
Organizing speedy and efficient supply operations for unpredictable major natural disasters was a continuing challenge for the U.S. military, and the 2010 earthquake in Haiti was both unique in its operational scope and political complexity. As he reviewed the... View Details
- August 2014
- Case
Opening the Valve: From Software to Hardware (A)
By: Ethan Bernstein, Francesca Gino and Bradley Staats
Valve, one of the world's top video game software companies, has also become an iconic example of an organization with virtually no hierarchy. A 400-person organization, Valve's unique organizational form (described in detail in the case and accompanying employee... View Details
Keywords: Valve; Self-Managed Organizations; Organization Design; Strategy; Flat Organization; Video Games; Organization Alignment; Family Business; Steam; Steam Machine; Design; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Human Resources; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Technological Innovation; Leadership Style; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Groups and Teams; Alignment; Software; Hardware; Video Game Industry; Seattle