Publications

05 Jul 2006
Working Paper Summaries

Promoting a Management Revolution in Public Education

Keywords: by Stacey M. Childress, Richard Elmore & Allen S. Grossman; Education

08 May 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Corporate and Integrated Reporting: A Functional Perspective

Keywords: by Robert Eccles & George Serafeim

2012
Working Paper

Expertise Dissensus: A Multi-level Model of Teams' Differing Perceptions about Member Expertise

By: Heidi K. Gardner and Lisa Kwan

Why are some teams more effective than others at using their members' expertise to achieve short-term performance and longer term developmental benefits? We propose that a critical factor is expertise dissensus-members' differing perceptions of each other's level of... View Details

Keywords: Groups and Teams; Failure; Experience and Expertise; Research; Performance Effectiveness; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Perception; Personal Development and Career

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September 1996 (Revised December 1997)
Case

Cytec Industries' Spin-Off (A): Sink or Swim?

In the wake of market pressure to restructure, American Cyanamid spun off its poorly performing Chemicals Unit into a new publicly traded corporation, Cytec Industries. In addition to weak operations, Cytec inherited the bulk of Cyanamid's environmental and... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Management Practices and Processes; Restructuring; Performance Improvement; Chemical Industry; United States

June 2007
Article

Which Levers Boost ROI?

By: Margeaux Cvar and John A. Quelch

The article refers to ROI, or return on investment, and focuses on a rational strategy for financial markets that uses outside industry comparisons. The first step is to identify parallel businesses that have similar characteristics such as growth, capital, and market... View Details

Keywords: Mathematical Methods; Financial Markets; Investment Return

2016
Working Paper

Cohort Turnover and Operational Performance: The July Phenomenon in Teaching Hospitals

By: Hummy Song, Robert S. Huckman and Jason R. Barro

We consider the impact of cohort turnover—the planned simultaneous exit of a large number of experienced employees and a similarly sized entry of new workers—on operational performance in the context of teaching hospitals. Specifically, we examine the impact of the... View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Health Care Operations; Hospitals; Productivity; Empirical Operations; Service Delivery; Training; Performance Productivity; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry; United States

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October 2016 (Revised February 2019)
Module Note

Strategy Execution Module 5: Building a Profit Plan

By: Robert Simons

This module reading describes how to build a profit plan to reflect the strategy of a business in economic terms. After introducing the profit wheel, cash wheel, and ROE wheel, the module illustrates how to use a profit plan to assess the viability of different... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Execution; Profit Planning; Cash Flow Analysis; Asset Utilization; Return On Equity; Business Planning; Testing Strategy; Analyzing Strategic Alternative; Strategy; Asset Management; Cash Flow; Investment Return; Management Systems; Profit

November–December 2024
Article

Loss of Peers and Individual Worker Performance: Evidence From H-1B Visa Denials

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury, Kirk Doran, Astrid Marinoni and Chungeun Yoon

We study how restrictive immigration policies that result in the unexpected loss of co-workers affect the performance of skilled migrants employed in organizations. Specifically, we examine the impact of the loss of team members on their co-workers’ performance in... View Details

Keywords: Immigration; Performance Productivity; Employees; Human Capital; Ethnicity; Groups and Teams

2022
Book

Deep Purpose: The Heart and Soul of High-Performance Companies

By: Ranjay Gulati

This book offers a compelling reassessment and defense of purpose as a management ethos, documenting the vast performance gains and social benefits that become possible when firms manage to get purpose right. Few business topics have aroused more skepticism in recent... View Details

Keywords: Purpose; Business And Society; Organizations; Mission and Purpose; Performance Effectiveness; Organizational Culture

01 Feb 2018
News

Ignore environmental, social and governance risks at your peril

June 2017
Case

AT&T Versus Verizon: A Financial Comparison

By: V.G. Narayanan and Joel L. Heilprin

This case asks students to prepare a report comparing the financial and operating performance of AT&T and Verizon. Taking the perspective of a communications industry analyst, they must also consider the differences between and implications of the companies' business... View Details

Keywords: Financial Statements; Operations; Analysis; Business Model; Accounting; Performance Effectiveness; Telecommunications Industry

18 Nov 2015
HBS Seminar

Martin Kanz, Economist, Development Economics Research Group, Finance and Private Sector Research, The World Bank

June 2008
Case

Mattel's Long Hot Summer

In the summer of 2007, Mattel performed three major recalls of toys, mostly due to lead paint and other manufacturing issues in China. This case examines specifically how those recalls were perceived by consumers, and responded to by Mattel, as well as what effect they... View Details

Keywords: Safety; Quality; Production; Price; Manufacturing Industry; Consumer Products Industry; China

23 Nov 2021
Book

What It Takes to Build an Organizational Culture That Wins

forthcoming book, Win from Within: Build Organizational Culture For Competitive Advantage, which is a how-to roadmap for improving an organization’s culture. Heskett, the UPS Foundation Professor Emeritus at Harvard Business School, argues that an View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

March 2020
Case

Braver Angels: A Grassroots Effort to Depolarize American Politics

By: Francesca Gino, Julia A. Minson and Jeff Huizinga

The founders of Braver Angels, an organization that uses family therapy principles to foster constructive dialogue between conservatives and liberals, consider how to improve its effectiveness and reach. View Details

Keywords: Political Polarization; Interpersonal Communication; Performance Effectiveness; Strategy; United States

February 2006 (Revised August 2006)
Case

Kevin McCarthy and Westlake Chemical Corporation (A)

Examines forecasting earnings/performance for a commodity chemical firm during a period of high uncertainty, highlighting the combined effects of input process (natural gas), industry capacity/utilization, and cyclicality. Assuming the role of Kevin McCarthy (the top... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Futures and Commodity Futures; Forecasting and Prediction; Chemicals; Chemical Industry

24 Feb 2016
Research & Ideas

Why It's Best to Take Tests Early in the Day

Here’s a tip for parents of school-aged children. If your kids must take a standardized test, it’s best to do so either first thing in the morning or right after recess. On average, students perform best on tests at the start of the... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Education

September 2014
Article

Pollution and Skin: From Epidemiological and Mechanistic Studies to Clinical Implications

By: Jean Krutmann, Wei Liu, Li Li, Xiaochuan Pan, Martha Crawford, Gabrielle Sore and Sophie Seite

In recent years, the health effects associated with air pollution have been intensively studied. Most studies focus on air pollution effects on the lung and the cardiovascular system. More recently, however, epidemiological and mechanistic studies suggest that air... View Details

Keywords: Pollutants; Health Disorders; Medical Specialties