Publications

07 Jan 2013
Lessons from the Classroom

Culture Changers: Managing High-Impact Entrepreneurs

Professor Mukti Khaire's challenge to management students is lofty, even by Harvard MBA standards. Don't just change the way people live, change the way they think. Change culture. In her new elective course, Creative High-Impact... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Beauty & Cosmetics; Food & Beverage; Entertainment & Recreation; Information; Publishing

August 2020
Article

Strategies for Managing the Privacy Landscape

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Andres Hervas-Drane

Firms use consumer personal information to improve their products and services. Personal information is open to misuse, however, and when exploited for undesired or unexpected purposes reduces consumer’s trust in the firm and their willingness to provide personal... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Privacy; Privacy Threats; Strategy Framework; Strategy Interactions; Customers; Information; Management; Strategy; Technology Industry

May 1997
Teaching Note

Product Development Process, Organization and Improvement, Instructor's Note

By: Marco Iansiti

Explores how development projects fit (or do not fit) within a firm's development strategy and its wider competitive goals. Module materials, and this note, focus on two broad approaches to process design (sequential and flexible) that were originally introduced in the... View Details

Keywords: Goals and Objectives; Management Practices and Processes; Product Development; Performance Improvement; Competition

18 Mar 2019
Research & Ideas

Stuck in Commuter Hell? You Can Still Be Productive

typically unstructured time and allows people to feel prepared for the day ahead. (It’s effective in the same way other rituals, like exercising before work, can help people transition between their home and job roles, the researchers say.) Business leaders can help... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

March 2003
Background Note

Managing a Customer Relationship Over Time

By: Das Narayandas

Describes the different ways in which vendors can sell a portfolio of products to industrial customers. View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Management; Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; Networks; Sales; Manufacturing Industry

April 1995 (Revised May 1995)
Case

Metsa-Serla: Environmental Labels in the European Forest Products Markets

By: Forest L. Reinhardt and Pat Markovich

Keywords: Labels; Environmental Sustainability; Forest Products Industry; Europe

April 1993 (Revised October 1995)
Case

American Barrick Resources Corporation: Managing Gold Price Risk

By: Peter Tufano

Managing the risk of changing prices of gold is central to the business strategy of American Barrick Resources Corp., one of North America's largest and most successful gold-mining firms. The case contrasts this firm's hedging policies with those of its rivals that do... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Business Strategy; Mining; Mining Industry; United States

April 2021
Background Note

HEAD vs. LEAD: Disruptions Originating at the High- vs. Low-End of the Market

By: Elie Ofek, Olivier Toubia and Didier Toubia

Twenty five years after it was initially proposed, Clay Christensen’s theory of disruptive innovation continues to be a major reference for entrepreneurs, corporate innovators, and investors. However, the term “disruptive innovation” is often used in ways and contexts... View Details

Keywords: Market Entry; New Product Management; Targeting; Disruptive Innovation; Market Entry and Exit; Entrepreneurship; Product; Management; Innovation Strategy; Technology

30 Apr 2024
Book

When Managers Set Unrealistic Expectations, Employees Cut Ethical Corners

organization, says Paine, a Baker Foundation Professor. In fact, the fault often lies with managers who set unrealistic deadlines, production targets, or other objectives that lead decent people to take... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

2022
Book

Productive Tensions: How Every Leader Can Tackle Innovation's Toughest Trade-Offs

By: Chris Bingham and Rory McDonald

Why is leading innovation in nascent business environments so distressingly hit-or-miss? More than 90% of high-potential ventures don’t reach their projected targets. Surveys show that 80% of executives consider innovation crucial to their growth strategy, but only 6%... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Innovation and Management; Organizational Culture; Leadership Style; Decision Making

Article

Do Private Equity Firms Have Better Management Practices?

By: Nicholas Bloom, Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen

Using an innovative survey measure of management practices on over 15,000 firms, we find private equity firms are better managed than government, family, and privately owned firms, and have similar management to publicly listed firms. This is true both in developed and... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Management Practices and Processes

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27 Jun 2016
Research & Ideas

These Management Practices, Like Certain Technologies, Boost Company Performance

firms in the bottom 25 percent. In fact, by comparing the management numbers to other factors, the researchers determined that worldwide, quality of management accounted for a whopping 30 percent of the... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

July 1997 (Revised December 1997)
Case

Allentown Materials Corporation: The Electronic Products Division (A)

By: Michael Beer

A division of Allentown Materials Corp. has financial and organizational problems. Conflict and lack of coordination exist between functional groups. Employees do not have a sense of direction, and morale is low. The cause of these problems is found in a change in... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Transformation; Employees; Working Conditions; Business or Company Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Electronics Industry

02 Apr 2009
Working Paper Summaries

The Flattening Firm and Product Market Competition: The Effect of Trade Liberalization

Keywords: by Maria Guadalupe & Julie M. Wulf

29 Aug 2018
What Do You Think?

What Should Harley-Davidson’s Management Do?

CasPhotography What Can the Harley-Davidson Case Teach Us About Managing in a Politicized Environment? The advice to Harley-Davidson’s management from respondents of this month’s column is to (1) ensure that... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Auto

2014
Working Paper

The New Empirical Economics of Management

By: Nicholas Bloom, Renata Lemos, Raffaella Sadun, Daniela Scur and John Van Reenen

Over the last decade the World Management Survey (WMS) has collected firm-level management practices data across multiple sectors and countries. We developed the survey to try to explain the large and persistent TFP differences across firms and countries. This review... View Details

Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Performance Productivity; Microeconomics

Article

Fly-by-Night Firms and the Market for Product Reviews

By: Gerald R. Faulhaber and Dennis A. Yao

This paper presents a model that permits third-party information provision in a market characterized by information asymmetries and reputation formation. The model is used to examine how the market for information provision affects prices and supply in the primary... View Details

Keywords: Markets; Reputation; SWOT Analysis; Mathematical Methods; Price Bubble; Inflation and Deflation; Duopoly and Oligopoly; Cost; Information; Quality; Price; Competitive Advantage; Information Industry

June 2023
Article

Regulatory Limits to Risk Management

By: Ishita Sen

Variable annuities, the largest liability of U.S. life insurers, are investment products containing long-dated minimum return guarantees. I show that guarantees with similar economic risks are treated differently by regulation and these differences impact insurers’... View Details

Keywords: Interest Rate Risk; Variable Annuities; Capital Regulation; Reinsurance; Derivatives; Risk Management; Interest Rates; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

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