Publications

08 Jul 2008
First Look

First Look: July 8, 2008

approaches include the use of risk exposure and the Sharpe and Information Ratios. Applies the approaches to a variety of mutual funds to demonstrate the effect of using... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

September 2009 (Revised December 2009)
Supplement

Genzyme Center (B)

By: Michael W. Toffel and Aldo Sesia

Genzyme Corporation is in the midst of planning its new corporate headquarters, which incorporates many innovative green building features. After learning that the building as planned would likely earn a LEED Silver rating, an intermediate score in the LEED green... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Standards; Cost vs Benefits; Biotechnology Industry; Construction Industry; Real Estate Industry; Green Technology Industry

29 Jun 2010
First Look

First Look: June 29

differences in ownership structure across countries, measured by the difference in sectoral vertical integration indexes, are smaller in sectors with similar levels of protection. Finally, ownership... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

21 Oct 2008
First Look

First Look: October 21, 2008

School Exercise 509-022 This exercise is meant to assess students' level of confidence around everyday business and general knowledge questions, for the purpose of identifying... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

March 2008
Case

Ujjivan: A Microfinance Institution at a Crossroads (A)

By: V.G. Narayanan and Pamela Freed

Samit Ghosh, the CEO and founder of Ujjivan, a major microfinance provider in Bangalore, wants to grow his business rapidly and become financially sustainable, but he's struggling with staff fraud, high costs, and how to stay true to Ujjivan's mission of poverty... View Details

Keywords: Financial Institutions; Microfinance; Ethics; Mission and Purpose; Growth and Development Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Bangalore

August 2024
Case

Ashesi University: The Journey from Vision to Reality

By: Ranjay Gulati and Caroline de Lacvivier

In 1997, Patrick Awuah had a dream: to bring liberal arts education to Ghana. Amid the country’s declining economy and pervasive corruption problems, Awuah saw education as an opportunity to reverse its fortunes by investing in the next generation of African leaders.... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Higher Education; Entrepreneurship; Leadership Development; Growth Management; Mission and Purpose; Private Ownership; Education Industry; Ghana

February 1987 (Revised February 2000)
Case

Polysar Limited

By: Robert L. Simons

Canada's largest chemical company produces and markets butyl rubber in two divisions, each treated as a profit center. The new plant in the North American Division operates below capacity resulting in a significant volume variance and an operating loss. The European... View Details

Keywords: Loss; Profit; Financial Management; Volume; Performance Capacity; Financial Statements; For-Profit Firms; Market Participation; Chemical Industry; Rubber Industry; Canada

05 Mar 2008
What Do You Think?

Where Will Management Innovation Take Us?

people to think, innovate, and take measured risk outside the core activities of the business; there is more freedom and self-management and less management as we know it; there is more community and less... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

09 May 2017
First Look

New Research and Ideas, May 9

sovereign default induced by legal rulings in the case of Republic of Argentina v. NML Capital. We find that a 10% increase in the probability of default causes a 6% decline in... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

12 Jul 2016
First Look

July 12, 2016

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=50693 Towards a Prescriptive Theory of Dynamic Capabilities: Connecting Strategic Choice, Learning, and Competition By: Pisano, Gary P. Abstract—The field of... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2019
Technical Note

Control or Flexibility? Structured Empowerment Offers Both—Lessons from Retail & Service Chains (Abridged)

By: Tatiana Sandino

This note explains how several retail and service organizations use a practice described here as “structured empowerment” to balance control and flexibility as they grow. I define structured empowerment as a practice that grants employees both (a) the power to make... View Details

Keywords: Service Operations; Standards; Employees; Service Delivery; Decision Making; Power and Influence; Retail Industry; Service Industry

27 Nov 2006
Research & Ideas

Manly Men, Oil Platforms, and Breaking Stereotypes

can cascade into large accidents. Moreover, practices that conflate competence with toughness lead workers to ignore precautionary measures and take unnecessary risks. Thus, the costs of men's masculine... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Energy; Utilities

20 Aug 2014
Research & Ideas

Dragging Patent Trolls Into the Light

a significant number of non-practicing entities acquire patents for the sole purpose of coercing companies, mostly technology firms, into paying licensing or settlement fees... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Legal Services

01 Mar 2011
News

The Rankings Game

impact unfolds over a career and cannot be measured by getting recent graduates’ impressions of their educational experience, asking recruiters to assess recent hires, or View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; rankings; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

Profile

Jeremy Andrus

customers will be too. We’ve recently brought our product development process in-house, so instead of sourcing products in Asia, we can take a concept from a blank sheet of paper through to finished... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Consumer Products; Entertainment / Media

August 2024
Case

Pioneering Pain Management: CWC Alliance Combats the Opioid Epidemic

By: Susanna Gallani, Karen L. Sedatole and Sarah Mehta

Set in March 2024, this case is about CWC Alliance (CWC), a nonprofit working to prevent opioid addiction in the U.S. Founder Cammie Wolf Rice launched CWC in 2018 after her son, Christopher Wolf, died of a heroin overdose. Wolf’s dependence on opioids stemmed from a... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Innovation and Invention; Jobs and Positions; Nonprofit Organizations; Expansion; Growth and Development Strategy; Service Delivery; Mission and Purpose; Health Industry; United States; Georgia (state, US); Atlanta

28 Sep 2009
Research & Ideas

Improving Accountability at the World Bank

Inspection Panel for purposes of evaluation and redress. Taken as a whole, however, these successes have been decidedly limited. In particular, persistent problems in the timing, scope, content, and quality... View Details

Keywords: by Alnoor Ebrahim

June 2018
Case

Verona Group

By: Robert L. Simons and Sarah Abbott

Are a salesperson's struggles her own fault or the result of a problematic job design? Anna George works as a salesperson at Verona Group, a company that designs and wholesales high-end women's apparel. She had spent nearly 20 years in sales with another fashion label... View Details

Keywords: Jobs and Positions; Design; Analysis; Performance; Measurement and Metrics; Salesforce Management; Organizational Design

January 2025
Case

Transforming Talent at Teach For Taiwan

By: Juan Alcácer and Chi Kuan

The Teach For Taiwan (TFT) case follows founder Anting Liu as she considers how to scale the nonprofit’s talent strategy after a decade of impact in rural education. TFT recruits high-potential young professionals into a 2-year teaching fellowship, aiming to address... View Details

Keywords: Teaching; Talent and Talent Management; Leadership Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Mission and Purpose; Nonprofit Organizations; Education Industry; Taiwan