Publications

December 1998 (Revised May 1999)
Exercise

Negotiating Peace Accords in Bellicoso for the Head of the Opposition Political Party (OPP): General Instructions and Confidential Information

Bellicoso is a multi-party conflict resolution simulation based loosely on the bitter civil war in El Salvador. It is designed to explore issues in: 1) the management of interactions between external negotiations between sides and internal negotiations within them, 2)... View Details

Keywords: War; Negotiation Tactics; Negotiation Participants; Government and Politics; Conflict and Resolution; El Salvador

December 1998 (Revised May 1999)
Exercise

Negotiating Peace Accords in Bellicoso for the Director of the National Landowners Association (NLU): General Instructions and Confidential Information

Bellicoso is a multi-party conflict resolution simulation based loosely on the bitter civil war in El Salvador. It is designed to explore issues in: 1) the management of interactions between external negotiations between sides and internal negotiations within them, 2)... View Details

Keywords: War; Negotiation Tactics; Negotiation Participants; Government and Politics; Conflict and Resolution; El Salvador

February 1996 (Revised June 1996)
Teaching Note

General Mills Board and Strategic Planning and Lukens Inc., The: The Melters' Committee (A) & (B) TN

By: Jay W. Lorsch, Cynthia A. Montgomery and Lisa J. Chadderdon

Teaching Note for (9-491-117), (9-493-070), and (9-493-071). View Details

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Governing and Advisory Boards; Joint Ventures; Sales; Strategy; Managerial Roles; Steel Industry

2011
Other Unpublished Work

Military Ties, New Ventures, and Political Risk Management in Emerging Economies

By: Shon R. Hiatt and Wesley Sine

New ventures in emerging economies face a number of challenges such as political instability, corruption, and uncertain property rights that can severely hinder their ability to grow and survive, yet little is known about how startups can mitigate such risk. Using data... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Business Startups; Government and Politics; Developing Countries and Economies; Latin America

06 Dec 2004
What Do You Think?

Why Do Managers Fail to Act on Their Predictions?

Summing Up Respondents to the December column produced such a lengthy list of reasons why managers fail to act on their predictions that it is a wonder that organizations are ever able to respond with the foresight needed to avert... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

01 Feb 2022
What Do You Think?

Is Concierge Management an Answer to the “Big Quit”?

contributing to the so-called Great Resignation (or “Big Quit”) that has gained publicity recently. Quitting in the United States is a major business expense. Applying generally accepted rules of thumb for the annual cost of quitting to... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

04 May 2009
Working Paper Summaries

An Ounce of Prevention: The Power of Public Risk Management in Stabilizing the Financial System

Keywords: by David A. Moss; Banking; Financial Services

2021
Article

Internment as a Business Challenge: Political Risk Management and German Multinationals in Colonial India (1914–1947)

By: Christina Lubinski, Valeria Giacomin and Klara Schnitzer

Internment in so-called “enemy countries” was a frequent occurrence in the 20th century and created significant obstacles for multinational enterprises (MNEs). This article focuses on German MNEs in India and shows how they addressed the formidable challenge of the... View Details

Keywords: Internment; Political Risk; International Business; Multinational Firms and Management; Employees; War; History; Outcome or Result; India; Germany

21 Jan 2015
Lessons from the Classroom

Managing the Family Business: Market Basket’s Lessons About Buyouts

2014, when George's branch obtained control and fired the CEO—who happened to be a cousin, Arthur T. Demoulas. Management was outraged, and the employees walked out in support of their CEO. The company lost tens of millions of dollars as... View Details

Keywords: Retail

February 2017 (Revised May 2018)
Case

The Flint, Michigan Sit-Down Strike

By: Tom Nicholas, Christopher T. Stanton and Matthew Preble

For roughly six weeks between late December 1936 and February 1937, a major strike at several critical General Motors (GM) plants in Flint, Michigan, essentially halted the corporation’s U.S. production and resulted in significant gains for the nascent United... View Details

Educators

Research Summary

Good cop, Bad Cop: Complementarities between Debt and Equity in Disciplining Management

Joint work with Alexander Gümbel, Saïd Business School and Lincoln College Oxford

In this paper we examine how the quantity of information generated about firm... View Details

03 Jun 2002
What Do You Think?

Are We Entering an Era of European Management Leadership?

the U.S. Third, to paraphrase Hutton, divert money that would otherwise be paid for management mega-salaries and mega-incentives to investments in technology. Of course, tax laws generally discourage the... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

November 2018 (Revised July 2023)
Case

The Weir Group: Reforming Executive Pay (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Federica Gabrieli

In February 2018, the Remuneration Committee together with the full Board of Directors of the Scotland-based engineering company The Weir Group had to decide whether to seek a shareholder vote at the upcoming Annual General Meeting in April on a proposal to reform the... View Details

Educators

October 2014
Article

Good Cop, Bad Cop: Complementarities Between Debt and Equity in Disciplining Management

By: Alexander Guembel and Lucy White

In this paper we examine how the quantity of information generated about firm prospects can be improved by splitting a firm's cash flow into a "safe" claim (debt) and a "risky" claim (equity). The former, being relatively insensitive to upside risk, provides a... View Details

Keywords: Information; Borrowing and Debt; Equity; Corporate Finance

February 2009 (Revised August 2021)
Supplement

Jieliang Phone Home! (B)

By: Willy Shih, Ethan Bernstein and Nina Bilimoria

At Precision Electro-Tek's mobile phone manufacturing facility in southern China, thousands of operators—bright and capable young men and (mostly) women like Jieliang Hao—are motivated to improve line productivity through small innovations for faster assembly and have... View Details

Keywords: Managing People; Motivation and Incentives; Behavior; Production; Innovation and Invention; Performance Productivity; Groups and Teams; Management Practices and Processes; Compensation and Benefits; Labor; Surveys; Decisions; Manufacturing Industry; China

August 2001 (Revised March 2003)
Background Note

Comments on the Second Toyota Paradox: With appendix on modularity for managing complex-systems design

Two groups of people start out with the same task, equipped with the same resources and the same initial conditions. One, however, consistently beats the other. What are the differences between what the two groups are doing, and what can we adopt from the better... View Details

Keywords: Management; Product Design; Auto Industry; Japan

February 2017
Case

GE Digital

By: Rajiv Lal and Scott Johnson

Known for manufacturing industrial equipment, GE has decided to invest in software and analytics capabilities to become a digital industrial company. They have also created a software platform that they hope will power the Industrial Internet. GE executives forecasted... View Details

Keywords: GE; General Electric; Manufacturing; Industrial Internet; Wind Power; Digital Manufacturing; Renewable Energy; Energy; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Applications and Software; Growth and Development Strategy; Transformation; Green Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Manufacturing Industry; North America

Educators