Publications

May 2014
Case

Goldman Sachs: Anchoring Standards After the Financial Crisis

By: Rajiv Lal and Lisa Mazzanti

Goldman Sachs, a longtime venerable financial institution headquartered in New York City, had a partnership culture that was known to value its clients. But when the financial crisis hit in 2008 and Goldman Sachs emerged relatively unscathed, its public image took a... View Details

Keywords: Brand Management; Public Image; Corporate Accountability; Reputation; Standards; Financial Crisis; Brands and Branding; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry

September 2024
Case

Faena: Magic in Mid-Miami Beach

By: Robin Greenwood, Denise Han, Dave Habeeb and Ruth Page

The link to this multimedia case should be provided to students in advance as preparation for classroom case discussion.

This multimedia case follows real estate developer Alan Faena as he expanded his luxury development business from Argentina to the... View Details

April 2011 (Revised July 2014)
Case

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd.: Driving Change Through Internal Communication

By: Boris Groysberg and Michael Slind

Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL), confronted in 2003 with an urgent need to change how it operated externally, adopted a highly innovative approach to communicating internally. This case, set in 2010, presents an overview of the new, more interactive model of employee... View Details

Keywords: Communication Strategy; Interpersonal Communication; Employee Relationship Management; Innovation and Management; Leading Change; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Corporate Strategy; India

19 Apr 2010
Research & Ideas

The History of Beauty

the momentum for homogenization was strong, it was striking that markets stayed differentiated by inherited cultural and social preferences. And globalization today is working in a far more complex fashion.... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Beauty & Cosmetics

14 Jun 2016
First Look

June 14, 2016

roles are uncertain, goals are shifting, expertise and organizational cultures are varied, and participants have clashing or even antagonistic perspectives. I have studied more than a dozen cross-industry innovation projects, among them... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

07 Dec 2021
Op-Ed

Want to Build Better Leaders? Focus on Mindset, Skills, Knowledge

Middle management used to be the place where careers stalled, but the COVID-19 pandemic has turned that notion on its head. In fact, mid-level leaders possess more agency now than at any other time in recent history. The tight job market... View Details

Keywords: by Hise Gibson and Shawnette Rochelle

31 Oct 2023
Research & Ideas

Beyond the 'Business Case' in DEI: 6 Steps Toward Meaningful Change

benefits it brings, but its efforts and programs may be short-lived or be the first things to get dropped amid competing priorities, conflicting incentives, or adversity. “They're focused so much on the surface-level benefits—just bringing people in and getting a View Details

Keywords: by Katherine Hutt Scott and Barbara DeLollis

12 Apr 2016
First Look

April 12, 2016

link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=50897 forthcoming Journal of Marketing Research Repairing the Damage: The Effect of Gender and Price Knowledge on Auto-Repair Price Quotes By: Busse, Meghan, Ayelet Israeli, and Florian... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Teaching Interest

Strategy Execution

By: Dennis Campbell

This course takes strategy as given and teaches what students need to know to execute and win in highly competitive markets. Using fundamental building blocks based on accountability systems and structures, this course is divided into seven modules:

1.... View Details

28 Apr 2009
First Look

First Look: April 28, 2009

against large upfront investment, uncertain market demand, and the complication that the product might face legal challenges. Purchase this case: http://hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=208072 Gucci Group in 2009... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

16 Apr 2001
Research & Ideas

Breaking the Code of Change

reorganized itself around a market by function matrix structure intended to focus on customers. Compensation systems were aligned with culture change objectives. A skill-based pay system was installed in all... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Beer & Nitin Nohria

13 Nov 2013
Research & Ideas

Should Men’s Products Fear a Woman’s Touch?

really goes away. Since the dawn of advertising, retailers have made a point of marketing separate lines of branded products for men and women in many categories, even in cases where their functions are essentially the same. It's a... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Consumer Products; Food & Beverage; Auto

30 Apr 2024
Book

When Managers Set Unrealistic Expectations, Employees Cut Ethical Corners

at Wells Fargo (2016), bribery at Odebrecht (2016), sexual harassment at Uber (2017), misuse of personal data at Facebook (2018), airliner safety at Boeing (2019), fraudulent financial reporting at Wirecard (2020), opioid marketing at... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

December 2018
Case

The Swedish Academy #MeToo Scandal and the Reputation of the Nobel Prize

By: Stephen A. Greyser and Mats Urde

This case focuses on the potential for “reputational contagion” to the Nobel Prize from a scandal affecting one of its independent network member entities, the Swedish Academy. The latter is responsible for selecting the Nobel Prize in Literature, by appointment of... View Details

Keywords: Nobel Prize; Swedish Academy; Scandal; Reputation; Brands and Branding; Crisis Management

2021
Working Paper

Consuming Contests: Outcome Uncertainty and Spectator Demand for Contest-based Entertainment

By: Patrick J. Ferguson and Karim R. Lakhani

Contests that are designed to be consumed for entertainment by non-contestants are a fixture of economic, cultural and political life. In this paper, we examine whether individuals prefer to consume contests that have more uncertain outcomes. We look to... View Details

Keywords: Contest Design; Information Preferences; Consumer Demand; Sports; Entertainment; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Demand and Consumers; Outcome or Result

SSRN

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21 Nov 2023
Op-Ed

The Beauty Industry: Products for a Healthy Glow or a Compact for Harm?

In my recently published book Deeply Responsible Business, I write about business leaders since the 19th century who have acted responsibly, often by putting the welfare of their communities above the idea of maximizing profits. I make a sharp distinction between... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones; Beauty & Cosmetics

27 Sep 2018
Research & Ideas

Religion in the Workplace: What Managers Need to Know

direction of CEO Michael Jeffries, the company held onto a hint of its hallmark safari style while putting a greater emphasis on casual clothes and ballooned to more than 1,000 stores worldwide, with revenues exceeding $3.5 billion by 2008. Central to View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Food & Beverage; Apparel & Accessories

September 2012 (Revised September 2015)
Case

Doing Business in Ghana

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Elena Corsi

An entrepreneur considered investing in tomato paste manufacturing in Ghana, an emerging economy, and pondered the opportunities and challenges of investing here. Ghana's economy had been growing over the last decade, reaching a peak of 14.4% growth rate in 2011. Now a... View Details

Keywords: Emergent Countries; Strategy; Opportunity Cost; Emerging Markets; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Ghana

April 2014
Supplement

Managing Change at Axis Bank (B)

By: Paul Healy and Rachna Tahilyani

Axis Bank is India's third largest private sector bank. In April 2009, Shikha Sharma, an outsider was appointed as its CEO. She took over from a person who had overseen ten years of rapid growth at the bank. The selection of an outsider as the new CEO surprised many... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Transformation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leadership Style; Leading Change; Valuation; Finance; Banks and Banking; Financial Services Industry; Banking Industry; India