Publications

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April 1999
Article

Diversification Strategies of British Trading Companies: Harrisons & Crosfield c1900-c1980

By: G. Jones and Judith Wale

This article examines the diversification strategies and organisational competencies of Harrisons & Crosfield, a British-based multinational, between 1900 and 1980. There is an accumulating body of case study evidence on the historical evolution of British... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Diversification; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Competency and Skills; Great Britain

Program

Aligning Strategy and Sales

sales recruitment, development, compensation, and performance management systems support corporate strategy Coordinate sales activities across different sales groups and throughout the enterprise Establish a flexible approach that enables... View Details

17 Oct 2023
HBS Case

With Subscription Fatigue Setting In, Companies Need to Think Hard About Fees

offers subscription services for creators and virtual reality gamers. For consumers, subscriptions help spread out costly payments over time, allow people to choose flexible usage and product-feature options at different price levels, and... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald; Consumer Products; Information; Information Technology

March 2021 (Revised December 2021)
Case

Cedar Environmental: Innovation vs. Corruption in Lebanon?

By: Nien-hê Hsieh and Youssef Abdel Aal

The case follows Ziad Abi Chaker, founder and CEO of Cedar Environmental, as he weighs options for how to grow the company in the face of growing economic and political instability in Lebanon in 2019.

Founded after the Lebanese civil war, Cedar... View Details

Educators

12 Dec 2023
Book

HBS Faculty Books of 2023: Find Happiness, Fix Things, and Fail Well

Faculty-authored books that came out in 2023 hit many of the notes one would expect of the quiet quitter era: Finding new paths to happiness. Thriving after failure. Building a flexible and fulfilling life that prioritizes relationships... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

Article

Faithful and Customizable Explanations of Black Box Models

By: Himabindu Lakkaraju, Ece Kamar, Rich Caruana and Jure Leskovec

As predictive models increasingly assist human experts (e.g., doctors) in day-to-day decision making, it is crucial for experts to be able to explore and understand how such models behave in different feature subspaces in order to know if and when to trust them. To... View Details

Keywords: Interpretable Machine Learning; Black Box Models; Decision Making; Framework

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June 2020 (Revised August 2020)
Supplement

Vanguard Retail Operations (B)

By: Willy C. Shih and Antonio Moreno

The first two cases in this series are set in the financial services industry, and explore whether it is better for back-office workers to be generalists who provide the flexibility of being able to handle the complete range of transactions that the company faces or... View Details

Keywords: Pooling; Generalist Model; Specialist Model; Service Operations; Management; Financial Services Industry; United States

April 2002 (Revised September 2002)
Case

Transformation of Seattle Public Schools, 1995-2002

Investigates the reform of the Seattle Public Schools from 1995 to 2002. To initiate reform in 1995, the district hired John Stanford, an Army general, and Joseph Olchefske, an investment banker, as the district's superintendent and chief financial officer,... View Details

Keywords: Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leading Change; Organizational Structure; Education; Business Strategy; Public Administration Industry; Education Industry; Seattle

June 2020 (Revised May 2022)
Case

Vanguard Retail Operations (A)

By: Willy C. Shih and Antonio Moreno

The first two cases in this series are set in the financial services industry, and explore whether it is better for back-office workers to be generalists who provide the flexibility of being able to handle the complete range of transactions that the company faces or... View Details

Keywords: Pooling; Generalist Model; Specialist Model; Operations; Service Operations; Management; Job Design and Levels; Financial Services Industry; United States

Educators

29 Jul 2019
Research & Ideas

How Companies Benefit When Employees Work Remotely

Operations Management Unit at Harvard Business School, and fellow researchers compared the outcomes of flexible work arrangements at the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The team found that employees with liberal “work from... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

19 Mar 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Beyond Gender and Negotiation to Gendered Negotiations

Keywords: by Deborah Kolb & Kathleen L. McGinn

March 2020
Article

Explaining the Persistence of Gender Inequality: The Work-family Narrative as a Social Defense Against 24/7 Work Culture

By: Irene Padavic, Robin J. Ely and Erin M. Reid

It is widely accepted that the conflict between women’s family obligations and professional jobs’ long hours lies at the heart of their stalled advancement. Yet research suggests that this “work-family narrative” is incomplete: men also experience it and nevertheless... View Details

Keywords: 24/7 Work Culture; Hegemonic Narrative; Social Defense; Work-family Conflict; Systems-psychodynamic Theory; Work-Life Balance; Personal Development and Career; Gender; Equality and Inequality; Organizational Culture

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September 2013
Article

Great Leaders Who Make the Mix Work

By: Boris Groysberg and Katherine Connolly

Business leaders send a powerful message when they make a commitment to diversity that goes beyond rhetoric. But what motivates them to do so, and how do they actually create inclusive cultures? To find out, the authors interviewed 24 CEOs whose firms were known for... View Details

Keywords: Leadership Development; Working Conditions; Leading Change; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Culture; Diversity; Gender

January – February 2012
Article

When One Business Model Isn't Enough

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Jorge Tarzijan

Trying to operate two business models at once often causes strategic failure. Yet LAN Airlines, a Chilean carrier, runs three models successfully. Casadesus-Masanell, of Harvard Business School, and Tarziján, of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, explore how... View Details

Keywords: Integration; Failure; Business Model; Service Operations; Asset Management; Value; Complexity; Competency and Skills; Business Strategy; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Risk and Uncertainty; Customer Relationship Management; Air Transportation Industry

January – February 2011
Article

'Bricks and Clicks': The Impact of Product Returns on the Strategies of Multichannel Retailers

By: Elie Ofek, Zsolt Katona and Miklos Sarvary

The Internet has increased the flexibility of retailers, allowing them to operate an online arm in addition to their physical stores. The online channel offers potential benefits in selling to customer segments that value the convenience of online shopping, but it also... View Details

Keywords: Price; Profit; Marketing Channels; Consumer Behavior; Online Technology; Retail Industry

25 Apr 2012
Research & Ideas

The Importance of Teaming

effective teams. Teaming is teamwork on the fly. It involves coordinating and collaborating without the benefit of stable team structures, because many operations like hospitals, power plants, and military installations require a level of staffing View Details

Keywords: Re: Amy C. Edmondson

17 Oct 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Consequences of Voluntary and Mandatory Fair Value Accounting: Evidence Surrounding IFRS Adoption in the EU Real Estate Industry

Keywords: by Karl A. Muller III, Edward J. Riedl & Thorsten Sellhorn; Construction; Real Estate

Working Paper

Group Fairness in Dynamic Refugee Assignment

By: Daniel Freund, Thodoris Lykouris, Elisabeth Paulson, Bradley Sturt and Wentao Weng

Ensuring that refugees and asylum seekers thrive (e.g., find employment) in their host countries is a profound humanitarian goal, and a primary driver of employment is the geographic location within a host country to which the refugee or asylum seeker is... View Details

Keywords: Refugees; Geographic Location; Mathematical Methods; Employment; Fairness