Publications
Publications
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- Faculty Publications (778)
- January 2015 (Revised October 2015)
- Case
Trouble at Tessei
By: Ethan Bernstein and Ryan W. Buell
In 2005, Teruo Yabe is asked to revive Tessei, the 669-person JR-East subsidiary responsible for cleaning its Shinkansen ("bullet") trains. Operational mistakes, customer complaints, safety issues, and employee turnover are at or near all-time highs, even as the... View Details
Keywords: Service Management; Employee Engagement; Employee Motivation; Leadership And Managing People; Quality Improvement; Efficiency; Japan; Operational Transparency; Employee Coordination; Transparency; Leadership; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Employees; Quality; Transportation Industry; Japan
- January–February 2015
- Article
Heroic Villains: Are Foreign Investors Problems or Solutions in the Ebola Crisis?
By: Debora L. Spar
For months, the news out of West Africa has been unrelentingly grim. As of early December, the devastating Ebola epidemic had infected a reported 17,942 people and killed 6,388, according to the World Health Organization (WHO); the actual toll, which would also account... View Details
- Article
How Smart, Connected Products Are Transforming Competition
By: Michael E. Porter and James E. Heppelmann
Information technology is revolutionizing products. Once composed solely of mechanical and electrical parts, products have become complex systems that combine hardware, sensors, data storage, microprocessors, software, and connectivity in myriad ways. These "smart,... View Details
- October 2014
- Background Note
Leader-as-Architect: Alignment
Part of a leader's job is to equip the organization to transform inputs into outputs by defining organizational strategy, shaping organizational identity, and then managing four organizational components—formal organizational structure, culture, people, and critical... View Details
- 2015
- Working Paper
Bottlenecks, Modules and Dynamic Architectural Capabilities
How do firms create and capture value in large technical systems? In this paper, I argue that the points of both value creation and value capture are the system's bottlenecks. Bottlenecks arise first as important technical problems to be solved. Once the problem is... View Details
- October 2014 (Revised January 2015)
- Background Note
Advanced Leadership in Public Education: Tools for Tackling Change from Outside the Building In
By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Pamela Yatsko
If you want to create change in public education but are not a school principal or other traditional public education leader, what do you need to do? This long, integrated background note examines the inspiring models and stories of individuals who are improving... View Details
- October 2014 (Revised February 2017)
- Case
Europe, Russia, and the Age of Gas Revolution
By: Rawi Abdelal, Leonardo Maugeri and Sogomon Tarontsi
The 2014 Ukraine crisis once again exposed the mutually limiting knot—a web of commercial relationships and oil and gas pipelines—that historically tied the European Union and Russia closely. In this crisis, a familiar conundrum preoccupied minds in the corridors of... View Details
- October 2014 (Revised June 2016)
- Case
NuScale Power—the Future of Small Modular Reactors
By: Richard Vietor
NuScale Power, an entrepreneurial venture in Portland, Oregon, has designed the leading modular nuclear reactor in the United States. This Reactor will be the safest and simplest ever built. Started in 2007 as an entrepreneurial venture, the company is now two years... View Details
- September 2014 (Revised January 2015)
- Module Note
Building Effective Working Relationships
This note introduces a framework for deliberately building effective interpersonal relationships. First, we will define the necessary attributes of these relationships. Next, we will discuss common barriers to effectiveness. Lastly, we will provide tools to build and... View Details
- September 2014 (Revised September 2015)
- Exercise
Project Planning
By: Willy Shih, Pian Shu and Jill Avery
This exercise introduces the basic tools of project management: the project timeline, the task list, and the Gantt chart. It is an exercise for the FIELD 2 course. View Details
- August 2014 (Revised May 2016)
- Case
Husk Power
By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and Sid Misra
In late 2013, Husk Power Systems found itself falling further and further behind plan. The founding CEO had decided to resign. His co-founder is faced with the decision of quitting his corporate job in the US to head to India and help form a new management team. Husk... View Details
Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Business Model; Business Startups; Energy Generation; Renewable Energy; Social Entrepreneurship; Foreign Direct Investment; International Finance; Globalized Markets and Industries; Crime and Corruption; Employee Relationship Management; Independent Innovation and Invention; Employment; Leadership Style; Leading Change; Management Practices and Processes; Management Style; Management Succession; Management Skills; Emerging Markets; Social Psychology; Culture; Business Strategy; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Africa; India; United States
- July 2014 (Revised December 2016)
- Case
EcoMotors International
By: John D. Macomber and Hermes Alvarez
Eco-Motors, funded in part by Khosla Ventures, has to decide how to go to market with a new technology for internal combustion engines for automotive and industrial use. The OPOC engine has opposed pistons and is a two-stroke engine, as compared to a more traditional... View Details
- July 2014 (Revised May 2015)
- Case
Making Room for the Baby Boom: Senior Living
By: Charles F. Wu, Joseph Beyer and Arthur I. Segel
Tom Alperin's National Development has purchased a building site in affluent Wellesley, MA, and is in the process of deciding whether to build apartments, a combination of independent living and assisted living units for seniors, or perhaps even higher acuity... View Details
- June–July 2014
- Article
Language as a Lightning Rod: Power Contests, Emotion Regulation, and Subgroup Dynamics in Global Teams
By: Pamela J. Hinds, Tsedal Neeley and Catherine Durnell Cramton
Through an ethnographic study comprised of interviews with and observations of 96 globally distributed members in six software development teams, we propose a model that captures how asymmetries in language fluency contribute to an us vs. them dynamic so common in... View Details
- 2014
- Chapter
Promoting Corporate Sustainability through Integrated Reporting: The Role of Investment Fiduciaries and the Responsibilities of the Corporate Board
By: Robert G. Eccles, J. Herron and George Serafeim
This book is a comprehensive reference work exploring recent changes and future trends in the principles that govern institutional investors and fiduciaries. A wide range of contributors offer new perspectives on dynamics that drive the current emphasis on short-term... View Details
- July–August 2014
- Article
Unlock the Mysteries of Your Customer Relationships
By: Jill Avery, Susan Fournier and John Wittenbraker
Consumers have always had relationships with brands, but sophisticated tools for analyzing customer data are finally allowing marketing organizations to personalize and manage those relationships. With this new power comes a new challenge: people now expect companies... View Details
- June 2014 (Revised July 2014)
- Background Note
An Overview of Project Finance and Infrastructure Finance—2014 Update
By: Benjamin C. Esty, Carla Chavich and Aldo Sesia
Provides an introduction to the fields of project finance and infrastructure finance, and gives a statistical overview of project-financed investments over the years from 2009 to 2013. Examples of project-financed investments include the Kashagan oil field development... View Details
- May 2014 (Revised November 2014)
- Supplement
Houston We Have A Solution: NASA and Open Innovation (B)
By: Michael Tushman, Hila Lifshitz-Assaf and Kerry Herman
Jeff Davis, director of Space Life Sciences Directorate at NASA, has been working for several years to raise awareness amongst scientists and researchers in his organizations of the benefits of open innovation as a successful and efficient way to collaborate on... View Details
- 2014
- Book
Accelerate: Building Strategic Agility for a Faster-Moving World
By: John P. Kotter
Based on the award-winning article in Harvard Business Review, from global leadership expert John Kotter. It's a familiar scene in organizations today: a new competitive threat or a big opportunity emerges. You quickly create a strategic initiative in response and... View Details
- March 2014 (Revised May 2016)
- Technical Note
Angel Investments in Europe and Recent Developments in Crowdfunding
By: Lynda Applegate, Vincent Dessain, Emilie Billaud and Daniela Beyersdorfer
This technical note provides information on the evolution and current state of angel investing in Europe. The note first describes the role and types of angel investors, focusing on their investment preferences and practices. It then details the new trends in the... View Details