Publications

March–April 2024
Article

Case Study: Navigating Labor Unrest

By: Jorge Tamayo

Paulo Ferreira, the president of Luna Brazil, has an ambitious plan to turn around the dismal performance of the plant he oversees in Campinas. The wrinkle is, he needs the buy-in of the powerful local union, which is still smarting from a 10-year-old labor conflict... View Details

Keywords: Strategy And Execution; Layoffs; Manufacturing; Labor and Management Relations; Labor Unions; Negotiation Tactics; Conflict and Resolution; Performance Improvement; Corporate Strategy; Manufacturing Industry; Brazil

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19 Sep 2012
Research & Ideas

Book Excerpt: “The Architecture of Innovation”

The key to managing innovation starts, and probably ends, with incentives. In his new book, The Architecture of Innovation: The Economics of Creative Organizations, Harvard Business School Professor Josh Lerner puts it this way: "After too many board meetings in... View Details

Keywords: by Josh Lerner; Financial Services

21 May 2007
Research & Ideas

Fixing the Marketing-CEO Disconnect

Similarly, Kinko's was measuring on-time performance for copying large batch jobs for their corporate accounts. Their staff was thus engaged in back office activities to generate these copies. However in... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

June 2001 (Revised August 2003)
Case

Home Depot, Inc. in the New Millennium

By: Krishna G. Palepu and Jeremy Cott

After nearly two decades of spectacular performance, Home Depot reported a disappointing performance in the year 2000. The company began expanding its business scope as a result of saturating its growth in the core business. This case explores whether the disappointing... View Details

Keywords: Growth Management; Expansion; Valuation; Performance; Business Strategy; Corporate Finance; Retail Industry

12 Mar 2018
Op-Ed

Op-Ed: Why BlackRock CEO Larry Fink Is Not a Socialist

companies must serve a social purpose. “Society is demanding that companies, both public and private, serve a social purpose,” Fink wrote. “To prosper over time, every company must not only deliver financial performance but also show how... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George; Banking

September 2016
Case

Partners Group: Ain't No Mountain High Enough

By: Nori Gerardo Lietz and Ricardo Andrade

Partners Group (PG), a Swiss-based PE manager, initiated a series of strategic shifts and evolved from a predominately fund-of-funds manager into a large, multi-asset class PE firm focused on direct investments. PG was the first PE firm to go public in 2006. A number... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Management Practices and Processes; Entrepreneurship

April 2004 (Revised September 2007)
Case

Accounting Fraud at WorldCom

By: Robert S. Kaplan and David Kiron

The principal players in WorldCom's accounting fraud included CFO Scott Sullivan, the General Accounting and Internal Audit departments, external auditor Arthur Andersen, and the board of directors. The case provides sufficient detail to allow for a full discussion of... View Details

Keywords: Governance Controls; Governing and Advisory Boards; Crime and Corruption; Ethics; Financial Reporting; Organizational Culture; Corporate Governance; Accounting Audits

October 1993 (Revised September 1996)
Case

BANC ONE - 1993

By: Hugo Uyterhoeven and Myra M. Hart

From a small local bank, Banc One has grown to one of the largest and most profitable banks in the United States under the leadership of its CEO, John B. McCoy. It has an impressive track record of improving the performance of its acquisitions while retaining the... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Acquisition; Organizational Culture; Policy; Adaptation; Business Growth and Maturation; Strategy; Performance Improvement; Industry Structures; Banking Industry; United States

2018
Working Paper

When to Take the Leap: The Antecedents and Consequences of Leapfrog CEOs

By: J. Yo-Jud Cheng

Much of the prior research on CEO successions focuses on differences between CEOs appointed from within the firm and those appointed from outside; however, this dichotomy neglects significant heterogeneity in CEOs’ career trajectories. In this study, I examine the... View Details

Keywords: Management Succession; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Innovation and Management

February 2016
Supplement

Alibaba Goes Public (B)

By: Krishna Palepu, Suraj Srinivasan, Charles C. Y. Wang and David Lane

Update on Alibaba Group's share price performance and related events in the year following its September 2014 IPO. View Details

Keywords: Dual-class Share Structure; Alibaba; IPOs; VIE; Initial Public Offering; Corporate Governance; Performance; Stock Shares; United States

07 Jul 2008
Research & Ideas

Innovation Corrupted: How Managers Can Avoid Another Enron

companies. This remedy is best observed in formerly public companies that—aided by professional buyout firms—have been taken private and armed with active directors who pursue commonsense governance practices that have stood the test of time. In arguing for the... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Energy; Utilities

Research Summary

Overview

By: Rohit Deshpande

Customer Centricity Rohit Deshpandé's research program focuses on Customer-Centricity. A stream of projects examines the interaction between corporate and national culture as they influence the development and implementation of global marketing strategies in high... View Details

2019
White Paper

Impact-Weighted Financial Accounts: The Missing Piece for an Impact Economy

By: George Serafeim, T. Robert Zochowski and Jennifer Downing

Reimagining capitalism is an imperative. We need to create a more inclusive and sustainable form of capitalism that works for every person and the planet. Massive environmental damage, growing income and wealth disparity, stress, and depression within developed... View Details

Keywords: Impact-Weighted Accounts; IWAI; Background; Economic Systems; Economy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Measurement and Metrics; Financial Statements

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26 Jul 2010
Research & Ideas

Yes, You Can Raise Prices in a Downturn

especially in B2B companies. Q: What do you mean by "performance pricing," and how does it benefit a company? Ben Shapiro: Collectively, we have worked with hundreds of companies on integrating pricing, strategy, and organizational processes—the focus of... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail; Consumer Products

07 Oct 2002
Research & Ideas

What Leaders Need to Do To Restore Investor Confidence

At the beginning of the year, corporate skullduggery seemed limited to one or two egregious examples. A couple of bad apples won't spoil the whole bunch, we said to ourselves. But in the past several months, rottenness may have achieved a... View Details

Keywords: by Harvard Management Update

25 Oct 2011
Research & Ideas

Chasing Stars: Why the Mighty Red Sox Struck Out

performance decline when they move from one team to another; they operate fairly independently. (In the corporate world, the somewhat autonomous position of the chief financial officer is analogous to that... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Sports; Banking

Research Summary

Overview

Professor Sherman's research has long focused on financial reporting, performance measurement/management, and financial literacy issues facing corporate management and Boards of Directors in global businesses. He also actively studies methods to improve productivity in... View Details

Teaching Interest

Executive Education: Finance for Senior Executives

By: Malcolm P. Baker

Finance for Senior Executives provides the frameworks to strategically use financial resources and position your company for future success. By examining corporate finance from both internal and external perspectives, this HBS Executive Education View Details

2010
Working Paper

Multinational Strategies and Developing Countries in Historical Perspective

By: Geoffrey Jones

This working paper offers a longitudinal and descriptive analysis of the strategies of multinationals from developed countries in developing countries. The central argument is that strategies were shaped by the trade-off between opportunity and risk. Three broad... View Details

Keywords: History; Competition; Multinational Firms and Management; Corporate Strategy; Developing Countries and Economies; Business and Government Relations