Publications

SSRN

November 2003 (Revised May 2005)
Case

Beverly Stern: Retail Executive

By: H. Kent Bowen and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

Beverly Stern has been a successful operating manager in three prominent retail chains: GAP, Pottery Barn, and Williams-Sonoma. Stern's last job at a start-up did not meet her expectations, and she must now decide what to do next. She has an offer to start a new retail... View Details

Keywords: Personal Development and Career; Experience and Expertise; Personal Characteristics; Jobs and Positions; Decisions; Retail Industry

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David E. Bell is a Baker Foundation Professor at HBS. He has taught marketing many times in the MBA program including as course head.

During his career at HBS, David has taught a variety of other courses to both MBAs and executives, including risk... View Details

Keywords: agribusiness; agriculture; apparel; e-commerce industry; fashion; food; food processing; grocery; insurance industry; marketing industry; retailing

2010
Book

Buy-In: Saving Your Good Idea from Getting Shot Down

By: John P. Kotter and Lorne A. Whitehead

You've got a good idea. You know it could make a crucial difference for you, your organization, your community. You present it to the group but get confounding questions, inane comments, and verbal bullets in return. Before you know what's happened, your idea is dead,... View Details

Keywords: Communication Intention and Meaning; Cost vs Benefits; Problems and Challenges; Interests; Value

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October 2021 (Revised May 2023)
Case

Project Maji: Pricing Water in Sub-Saharan Africa

By: Elie Ofek, Marco Bertini, Dilyana Karadzhova Botha and Esel Çekin

In July 2021, Sunil Lalvani, founder and CEO of Project Maji, a non-profit social enterprise headquartered in Dubai that had already provided sustainable, clean water solutions to 80,000 people living in rural communities across Ghana and Kenya, was facing an important... View Details

Keywords: Water; Pricing; Nonprofit Organizations; Projects; Price; Decision Making; Social Enterprise; Growth and Development Strategy; Equity; Green Technology; Social and Collaborative Networks; Africa; Dubai

19 Feb 2007
Research & Ideas

Inexperienced Investors and Market Bubbles

"sticky"—funds that perform well attract considerable inflows, but funds that underperform receive only modest outflows. Thus, it's not clear that inexperienced managers were punished for the decisions they made during the... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Financial Services

26 Apr 2024
HBS Case

Deion Sanders' Prime Lessons for Leading a Team to Victory

game? Sanders sets high expectations, clearly lays out the plan, checks to make sure people are following through, and provides all the logistical support the team needs to succeed both on and off the field. “Deion reminds me of military... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman; Sports

14 May 2007
Research & Ideas

The Key to Managing Stars? Think Team

Stars are courted by headhunters all the time. When considering a career move, it is very important for stars to evaluate the level of support they are receiving from their colleagues in different parts of the organization. It may not... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

09 Aug 2024
Blog Post

Addressing Inequities in Education: Social Enterprise Summer Fellow Amal Tariq (MBA 2025)

organizations driving systemic changes in public education. City Fund partners with local leaders across the country to build innovative public school systems aimed at moving children out of poverty and into thriving adult lives. My role this summer involves 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

Keywords: Board Of Directors; Performance Evaluation; Governance; Leadership; Performance; Organizations; Human Resources; Decision Making; New Zealand

02 Aug 2006
Research & Ideas

Investor Protection: The Czech Experience

think hard about partner selection, deal structuring, and operational decisions when expropriation is a key risk. Second, it's an instructive example for economics and legal scholars who have begun to emphasize the role of institutions in... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Media & Broadcasting; Entertainment & Recreation

Program

Aligning Strategy and Sales

based on customer profitability Build and nurture the best sales talent and go-to-market approach for each product or segment Translate your corporate strategy into sales strategies, tasks, and processes Build a high-impact sales team and View Details

27 Jan 2015
First Look

First Look: January 27

management of public schools, demonstrates the challenges and opportunities related to private sector involvement in the delivery of a public good. Follows the organization from its start-up through its initial public offering and, eventually, through its View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

23 Apr 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Corporate Financial Policies in Misvalued Credit Markets

Keywords: by Jarrad Harford, Marc Martos-Vila & Matthew Rhodes-Kropf; Financial Services; Banking

June 2007 (Revised August 2007)
Case

Dressen (Abridged) (A)

By: Thomas R. Piper

John Lynch, CEO of the Dressen Division of Westinghouse, was elated by the proposed leveraged buyout by the private equity firm, Warburg Pincus Ventures. The buyout would rid the division of a 'bad' parent and place the division's destiny in its own hands. A recently... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Restructuring; Forecasting and Prediction; Private Equity; Bids and Bidding; Valuation

Program

PLD Module 5

company build and sustain a competitive advantage. You will emerge with the leadership skills and confidence to make high-level decisions that support your organization's financial needs, legal requirements,... View Details

Program

Designing and Executing Corporate Revitalization

Know when and how to take advantage of financial restructuring and private equity Overcome inertia and pivot the organization Create plans for addressing current and prospective obstacles Infuse the organization with a sense of purpose Leverage the company's culture to... View Details

25 Aug 2015
First Look

First Look Tuesday

decades about how and why people make the moral decisions they do. In this review, we explain how intuition, affect, physiology, and identity support and inform more deliberative reasoning process in the... View Details

20 Feb 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, February 20, 2018

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=50575 Trade Creditors' Information Advantage By: Ivashina, Victoria, and Benjamin Iverson Abstract—Using information on the sales of debt claims for 132 U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases, we show that large trade... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September 2020 (Revised December 2020)
Case

Hot Wheels at Mattel: Reinventing the Wheel

By: Elie Ofek, Andres Terech and Nicole Tempest Keller

In 2017, Chris Down, Global Brand General Manager for Hot Wheels, and his team from the Advanced Play Group within Mattel, Inc., were considering which innovation path to pursue in order to "future proof" the Hot Wheels franchise going forward. Hot Wheels was the... View Details

Keywords: Toys; Industry Evolution; Innovation Strategy; Product Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Technological Innovation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Decision Making; Digital Transformation