Success - Publications - Faculty & Research

Better, Simpler Strategy: A Value-Based Guide to Exceptional Performance

Get to better, more effective strategy.

In nearly every business segment and corner of the world economy, the most successful companies dramatically outperform their rivals. What is their secret? In "Better, Simpler Strategy," Harvard... View Details

01 Feb 2001
News

Advisory Boards Help HBS Assess and Attain Its Goals

an important set of eyes and ears to our external constituency." Their ideas and perspectives "help us think about the direction the School should take in a very complex and ever-changing social and economic environment." Through these insights, HBS gains a better... View Details

Keywords: Elena N. Berg; boards; alumni; planning; leadership; advice; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

04 Feb 2010
What Do You Think?

What’s the Best Way to Make Careful Decisions?

that success requires some talent and some luck, while great success requires some talent and a lot of luck. The importance of this observation is that systems that involve significant amounts of luck, such... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

22 May 2017
Lessons from the Classroom

A Luxury Industry Veteran Teaches the Importance of Aesthetics to Budding Business Leaders

Business of Aesthetics to second-year MBA students and select applicants from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. The course looks at the role of aesthetics in strategy, organizational structure, succession planning, and investment... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Beauty & Cosmetics; Apparel & Accessories; Auto; Tourism

26 Oct 2015
Research & Ideas

What’s the Value of a Win in College Athletics?

basketball, culling a US Department of Education database for individual schools’ reported revenue by sport, which provided, through econometric modeling, a causal link between athletic success and revenue. A Multimillion-Dollar Industry... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Sports; Education

November 2016 (Revised February 2017)
Case

BrightStar Care: The Evolution of a Leadership Team

By: Boris Groysberg, Colleen Ammerman and John D. Vaughan

BrightStar Care was a rapidly growing franchise of home health care agencies. Founded by husband and wife team JD and Shelly Sun as a single agency near Chicago in 2002, BrightStar had opened nearly 300 franchises across the United States by 2016, generating over $300... View Details

Keywords: Health Care Services; Entrepreneurs; Board Of Directors; Boards Of Directors; Health Care Industry; Growth Strategy; Organizational Change; Brand Positioning; Entrepreneurial Organizations; Entrepreneurial Management; Franchising; Family-owned Business; Home Health Care; Managing Growth; Management Styles; Organizational Development; Talent Management; Women Executives; Women And Leadership; Business Startups; Family Business; Small Business; Talent and Talent Management; Governing and Advisory Boards; Health Care and Treatment; Human Capital; Leadership Development; Leadership Style; Business or Company Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Management Skills; Management Style; Management Succession; Management Systems; Management Teams; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Strategy

Citation

Educators

Purchase

23 Apr 2018
Research & Ideas

Sponsorship Programs Could Actually Widen the Gender Gap

that certain aspects may not work exactly as intended. It behooves organizations to be more thoughtful about how sponsorships are designed. For instance, a protégé’s success may be less about the mere vote of confidence than about the... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

04 Aug 2011
What Do You Think?

How Dangerous Is Common Sense to Managers?

valid, Watts argues, why wouldn't we be able to predict the success of a strategy, a new disruptive technology, a product, or an advertisement? The reasons he gives are that these phenomena are too complex, involving so many variables... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

31 Jul 2015
Blog Post

Transitioning From the Military to Business School

doing well. Because of this, in the midst of a schedule filled to the brim with cases and recruiting, I found it difficult to effectively balance my priorities. Midway through first semester I ended up sitting down to talk it through with one of my professors. She... View Details

12 Jan 2023
News

‘Debiasing’ Debt with Data

father built the venture into a successful business; but his plan to expand to neighboring states hit a major roadblock when local bankers rejected his loan application 13 times. As an adult, Ballard discussed with his father the deeper... View Details

Keywords: Ralph Ranalli

Web

HBS - The year in Review

community-wide event attended by faculty, staff, and students. At the event, then-Dean Nitin Nohria remarked, “Not only has he transcended many racial barriers in his own life, Jim Cash also has propelled generations of Black students, faculty, and staff, as well as... View Details

02 Jun 2021
Research & Ideas

A Rare Find in Health Care: A Simple Solution to Racial Inequity

success in putting a man on the moon. “Slavery was mentioned, as was the Civil War, but mostly as an unfortunate chapter in American history,” Chandra says. When he later came to the US, however, he saw the legacy of that ugly chapter... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Health

28 Feb 2023
Blog Post

Celebrating Socioeconomic Diversity and Inclusion at HBS (Part 1)

in the concrete. Chase Knowles, Class of 2023 I shouldn’t be here. Statistically at least. Temporary job to temporary job, layoff to layoff, somehow believing hard work will make you successful doesn’t usually pan out the way they teach... View Details

12 Jun 2018
Research & Ideas

In a Landscape of 'Me Too' Drug Development, What Spurs Radical Innovation?

creating, at great time and cost, a successful therapy, and then beating long odds to win FDA approval, the rewards can wane as quickly as a patent expires. And most drug candidates wash out long before even making it to market. That... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Health; Pharmaceutical

22 Feb 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Consumer Demand for Prize-Linked Savings: A Preliminary Analysis

Keywords: by Peter Tufano, Nick Maynard & Jan-Emmanuel De Neve; Financial Services

Article

Resilience vs. Vulnerability: Psychological Safety and Reporting of Near Misses with Varying Proximity to Harm in Radiation Oncology

By: Palak Kundu, Olivia Jung, Amy C. Edmondson, Nzhde Agazaryan, John Hegde, Michael Steinberg and Ann Raldow

Background
Psychological safety, a shared belief that interpersonal risk taking is safe, is an important determinant of incident reporting. However, how psychological safety affects near-miss reporting is unclear, as near misses contain contrasting cues that... View Details

Keywords: Psychological Safety; Near-miss Reporting; Health Care and Treatment; Safety

Citation

Read Now

May 2013 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Gap, Inc., 2012

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

Between 2000 and 2012, Gap, Inc. (Gap) ceded its world leadership position in specialty fashion retailing to Inditex of Spain and H&M of Sweden. These two companies, each less than a quarter of Gap's size in 2000, were now setting the pace in the global mass fashion... View Details