Publications

July 1996
Case

Craig Parks (A)

By: David A. Thomas and Lisa J. Chadderdon

Craig Parks is a 1992 HBS graduate who, without much deliberation, returns to work for his former employer, Taylor Burton on Wall Street. The choice proves to be a poor fit for Craig. The case documents his decision-making process, personal history, and the dilemma he... View Details

Keywords: Personal Development and Career; Decision Choices and Conditions; Problems and Challenges

March 2018 (Revised September 2018)
Case

Gene Lee Navigates the Darden Takeover

By: Joshua D. Margolis, H. Lawrence Culp, James Barnett and Aldo Sesia

Following a full takeover of Darden Restaurant’s Board of Directors, Darden COO Gene Lee is weighing an offer to become interim CEO. View Details

Keywords: Shareholder Activism; Investment Activism; Crisis Management; Personal Development and Career; Decision Choices and Conditions; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

January 1999
Case

Prague Post, The

By: Paul A. Gompers

Lisa Frankenberg, co-founder of the Prague Post, is faced with several business and professional decisions. The English-language paper she founded is under pressure from competition and a Czech Republic recession. She must decide how to return the paper to... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Decisions; Decision Choices and Conditions; Profit; Competition; Financial Crisis; Personal Development and Career; Publishing Industry; Czech Republic

October 2022 (Revised September 2023)
Teaching Note

Kwame Owusu-Kesse at Harlem Children's Zone

By: Jon M. Jachimowicz

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 422-020. View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Leadership; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Decisions; Nonprofit Organizations; Personal Development and Career; Growth and Development Strategy; Race; Social Issues; New York (city, NY)

30 Jun 2008
Research & Ideas

Rethinking Retirement Planning

factors can be adjusted until a more acceptable probability is reached. "These are real decisions for you, not how much mid-cap stock to buy," says Merton. "If you choose to save more, your paycheck will be smaller. You're... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Banking; Financial Services

16 Jan 2019
Research & Ideas

What Football Firings Teach Managers About Staying Relevant

pace due to the increased rate at which we now exchange information. That’s why it is more important than ever for managers to make increased efforts to stay relevant and protect against skill obsolescence. Might they learn something about the trajectories of their own... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg, Evan M.S. Hecht, and Abhijit Naik; Sports

February 2008 (Revised May 2008)
Case

Tad O'Malley: The Investment Conundrum

By: Felda Hardymon, Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon

Tad O'Malley has just started as an associate with Empire Investment Group. He must evaluate three investment opportunities facing the big leveraged buyout firm. All are global, but each pertains to different offices and each deal has different strengths and... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Decision Choices and Conditions; Private Equity; Investment; Strength and Weakness; Negotiation Deal; Personal Development and Career

Article

Present Bias Causes and Then Dissipates Auto-enrollment Savings Effects

By: John Beshears, James J. Choi, David Laibson and Peter Maxted

Present bias causes procrastination, which leads households to stick with auto-enrollment defaults. However, present bias also engenders overconsumption. Separation from each employer generates a rollover of 401(k) balances to an individual retirement account (IRA)... View Details

Keywords: Present Bias; Procrastination; Personal Finance; Decision Making; Social Psychology; Retirement

Read Now

09 Jan 2006
What Do You Think?

Should More Transparency Extend to Education for Management?

this fall. At Harvard Business School, 87 percent of the MBA student body, according to one poll, opposed the administration's decision to allow the voluntary disclosure of their grades by individual students, presumably to organizations... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Education

2012
Chapter

The Availability and Utilization of 401(k) Loans

By: John Beshears, James J. Choi, David Laibson and Brigitte C. Madrian

We document the loan provisions in 401(k) savings plans and how participants use 401(k) loans. Although only about 22% of savings plan participants who are allowed to borrow from their 401(k) have such a loan at any given point in time, almost half had used a 401(k)... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Personal Finance; Retirement; Financing and Loans; Microeconomics

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29 Apr 2002
Research & Ideas

Star Power! How to Win in Professional Services

organization, in which professionals who go down in the elevator one evening may not return the next morning. Together, these dynamics ensure that the CEO's role in the professional service firm's decision making is both constrained and... View Details

Keywords: by Jay W. Lorsch & Thomas J. Tierney

08 Jul 2015
What Do You Think?

Do Americans Work Too Much and Think About Work Too Little?

people spend less time at work by empowering them to take decisions without 2- or 3- levels up approvals ." Tema Frank said that "we need to move to a system where people are compensated based on results achieved rather than... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Financial Services

Article

Raiffa Transformed the Field of Negotiation—and Me

By: Max Bazerman

Howard Raiffa was a role model, friend, and inspiration. He transformed the field of negotiation, and he transformed my career. This brief article provides a recollection of how Howard revolutionized the field of negotiation and how those insights are now affecting... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Decision Making; Analysis; Game Theory; Personal Development and Career

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23 Jun 2014
Research & Ideas

In Venture Capital, Birds of a Feather Lose Money Together

investors seemed to lie in the decisions that followed the investment. In addition to granting cash, venture capitalists are heavily involved in hiring or firing the CEO of the portfolio company, choosing a board of directors, devising an... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Financial Services

September 1985
Background Note

Finding a Job with a Small Company

By: Howard H. Stevenson

Describes a process of self-evaluation for working in small companies, discusses small company issues, focuses on some basic search techniques, and ends with a little how-to section. The goal is to facilitate the process of securing a job in a small company and to show... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Higher Education; Recruitment; Work-Life Balance; Interests

September 2008 (Revised April 2009)
Supplement

Martha Goldberg Aronson: Challenges at Mid-Career (B)

By: William W. George

Martha Goldberg Aronson of Medtronic is trying to decide whether to accept the offer from Medtronic CEO Bill Hawkins to become senior vice president and chief talent officer. Aronson returned from an executive role in Europe just 18 months before as vice president,... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Job Design and Levels; Leadership; Managerial Roles; Work-Life Balance

December 2009 (Revised July 2013)
Case

Iris Running Crane: December 2009

By: Matthew Rhodes-Kropf, Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon

Iris Running Crane, an MBA candidate, must choose among three different job offers in private equity. One is with a top-tier megafund buyout operation; the second with a geographically focused mid-market fund; and the third with a one-time top-tier fund that is trying... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Private Equity; Compensation and Benefits; Job Offer; Personal Development and Career; Financial Services Industry