Publications

14 Jul 2003
Research & Ideas

Understaffed and Overworked: What Now?

assist you when you need help later. DeLong urges executives to create support networks of "truth speakers." Within your organization, you should seek out two or three people "who will tell you the things you don't want to hear and who will give a View Details

Keywords: by Paul Michelman

06 May 2021
HBS Case

How Four Women Made Miami More Equitable for Startups

1990s to build an entrepreneurial ecosystem that could harness its business-minded immigrant population. Strategic investment had given rise to creative events and spaces, like the international Art Basel fair in Miami, new performing... View Details

Keywords: by Carolyn DiPaolo

20 Dec 2010
Research & Ideas

Panama Canal: Troubled History, Astounding Turnaround

head counsel of the French company as their foreign minister. (He was not Panamanian and in fact lived in New York.) The lawyer drafted a treaty that gave Panama a far lower share of the canal revenues than the United States could have received in a View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Transportation

28 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

Racism and Digital Design: How Online Platforms Can Thwart Discrimination

proactive about investigating and tackling the problem. For example, Uber created a cross-functional Fairness Working Group made up of economists, data scientists, lawyers, and product managers to explore discrimination issues. Measure... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Travel; Entertainment & Recreation; Service

03 Mar 2003
Research & Ideas

Top Ten Legal Mistakes Made by Entrepreneurs

risk of forfeiture, then the IRS doesn't view the purchase as being closed until that risk goes away. When the stock vests, that risk evaporates, so the IRS considers the deal closed. The IRS then calculates the difference between the price paid at the outset and the... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

March 2020 (Revised August 2020)
Case

Culture at Google

By: Nien-hê Hsieh, Amy Klopfenstein and Sarah Mehta

Beginning in 2017, technology (tech) company Google faced a series of employee-relations issues that threatened its unique culture of innovation and open communication. Issues included protests surrounding Google’s contracts with the U.S. government, restrictions of... View Details

July 2021 (Revised October 2021)
Case

Trouble at Basecamp: Managing Politics, Polarization, and Conflict in the Workplace (A)

By: Nour Kteily, Deepak Malhotra and David Lane

As founders of the software company Basecamp, Jason Fried and David H. Hansson were used to being the subjects of social media attention. Both maintained active and dedicated Twitter followings for their unique perspectives on management and life. But on April 26,... View Details

11 May 2016
Research & Ideas

Fix This! Why is it so Painful to Buy a New Car?

determined was a price fair to both sides. A few miles down the road, another dealer agreed to the price almost immediately. Buying a car is for many consumers an expensive, painful ordeal. Source: Mara Susanna Marci For his own recent... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Auto

25 Jun 2007
Research & Ideas

HBS Cases: Beauty Entrepreneur Madam Walker

Bundles, one of Walker's descendants who authored the biography On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker, told MBA students at Harvard that her great-great-grandmother wanted to help women look and feel better. Campaigning For View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Beauty & Cosmetics

01 Sep 2021
What Do You Think?

Can We Train for Trust?

maintaining an open mind on the subject. As he put it, “Was the old way making your company great? We actually do have a fair bit of data on in-person management and most of it isn’t great.” According to Javier Vales, management from... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

March 2023 (Revised April 2023)
Case

Independent Governance of Meta’s Social Spaces: The Oversight Board

By: Jesse M. Shapiro, Natalia Rigol, Benjamin N. Roth and William R. Kerr

Julie Owono is a member of the Oversight Board, an outside entity with the authority to make binding decisions on tricky moderation questions for Meta's companies. She considers the Board's impact, and its future. View Details

Keywords: Business and Government Relations; Social Media; Fairness; Governing and Advisory Boards; Technology Industry; Communications Industry

20 Jan 2022
Op-Ed

3 Steps to Help Companies Rebuild Trust During the Pandemic

should put together action plans at two levels: team and individual. First, at the team level, managers should ensure that each new policy also has a mechanism for receiving feedback and can be adjusted so policies are fair and... View Details

Keywords: by Sandra J. Sucher and Shalene Gupta

23 May 2012
Research & Ideas

Five Ways to Make Your Company More Innovative

developed an innovation fair in which every unit could show off its most promising new concepts. I was privileged to judge the first one with the then CEO, where we gave an award to the legal department for its ethics program, featuring a... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons, Julia Hanna & Roger Thompson

January 2021 (Revised April 2022)
Case

Best Buy's Corie Barry: Confronting the COVID-19 Pandemic

By: William W. George and Amram Migdal

This case examines the leadership of Corie Barry, the new CEO of Best Buy, with a focus on actions the company took in 2020 to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic. The case includes a history of Best Buy’s strategy and leadership, including the transitions between the... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Change; Disruption; Volatility; Communication; Competency and Skills; Customers; Decision Making; Ethics; Fairness; Moral Sensibility; Values and Beliefs; Finance; Cash Flow; Financial Condition; Financial Liquidity; Goods and Commodities; Corporate Governance; Health Pandemics; Human Resources; Executive Compensation; Employees; Employee Relationship Management; Resignation and Termination; Retention; Selection and Staffing; Innovation and Invention; Jobs and Positions; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Job Design and Levels; Job Interviews; Job Offer; Labor; Employment; Human Capital; Working Conditions; Law; Leadership; Leadership Development; Leadership Style; Management; Business or Company Management; Crisis Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Practices and Processes; Management Style; Management Succession; Management Systems; Management Teams; Risk Management; Operations; Distribution; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Logistics; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Supply Chain; Organizations; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Outcome or Result; Personal Development and Career; Retirement; Work-Life Balance; Planning; Strategic Planning; Problems and Challenges; Relationships; Business and Community Relations; Labor and Management Relations; Risk and Uncertainty; Safety; Science; Strategy; Retail Industry; North and Central America; United States; Minnesota

January 2021 (Revised March 2021)
Case

Serum Institute of India (SII): Racing to Save Lives During a Pandemic

By: Rohit Deshpandé, Anjali Raina and Rachna Chawla

The CEO of Serum Institute of India (SII), a $12.8 billion Indian Family business is faced with a risky choice between principles and profit. SII is the largest manufacturer of vaccines in the world and Adar Poonawalla, the CEO and son of the founder has to decide how... View Details

Keywords: Business Ethics; Healthcare; COVID-19; Vaccines; Family Business; Ethics; Health Care and Treatment; Health Pandemics; Leadership; Corporate Accountability; Fairness; Growth and Development Strategy; Health Industry; India; South Asia

01 Jun 2007
What Do You Think?

How Should Pay Be Linked to Performance?

can make enormous performance-based incentives in the odd years and none in the even years (ironically, when the large performance-based pay is reported to the public), thus netting a substantial performance bonus while producing little long-term benefits for owners?... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

April 2019 (Revised December 2021)
Case

Sears: The Demise of an American Icon

By: Kristin Mugford and Sarah L. Abbott

In 2019, ESL Investments’ $5.2 billion offer to purchase Sears Holdings out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, was accepted, despite opposition from the company's unsecured creditors and other parties. ESL, which was led by Eddie Lampert, had acquired a stake in Sears following... View Details

Keywords: Bankruptcy; Reorganization; Bonds; Restructuring; Business Divisions; Transformation; Fairness; Borrowing and Debt; Credit; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Corporate Governance; Motivation and Incentives; Retail Industry; United States