Publications

Video

A Tribute to Dean Emeritus John H. McArthur

01 Feb 2001
News

What Makes a Good Leader

Is it the ability to navigate in the choppy waters of change? Do leaders see the hidden opportunity in every setback? Is there really any such thing as a "born leader"? Five HBS faculty and some prominent... View Details

Keywords: Management

01 Dec 2017
News

A ‘One Harvard’ Perspective

leverage learning across the University and encourage Harvard students to think more broadly about their role as leaders in society.” Tunnell, who has worked at Hellman & Friedman for most of his career, is View Details

March 1998 (Revised June 1999)
Case

DigitalThink: Building a Sales Force

By: Michael J. Roberts, Joseph B. Lassiter III and Christina L. Darwall

A broad set of issues faces a young company in the Internet-based training business as it begins to sell its product to corporate customers. Issues include: profile of attractive candidates, compensation, definition of territory, definition of quotas, and role of... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Salesforce Management; Business Startups; Service Industry

08 May 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Corporate and Integrated Reporting: A Functional Perspective

Keywords: by Robert Eccles & George Serafeim

01 Jun 2012
News

A Better World, One Idea at a Time

A dozen budding social entrepreneurs pitched their ideas for innovative products and services during the annual Social Enterprise Conference in February, and four came away with top honors. The sold-out... View Details

Keywords: contests; awards; cosmetics; Crop Production; Agriculture; Chemical Manufacturing; Manufacturing; Nonstore Retailers; Retail Trade

05 Jun 2017
News

Women on Boards: A Course Becomes a Movement

Boris Groysberg addresses attendees of the HBS Executive Education program Women on Boards. (photo by Evgenia Eliseeva) Last year, Paula Davila Martinez (GMP 18, 2015) decided she wanted to have an impact beyond her corporate role as... View Details

Keywords: Margaret Kelley

February 2022 (Revised March 2022)
Case

National Electric Vehicles Sweden (NEVS): Materializing a Vision

By: Shane Greenstein and Elena Corsi

In 2021, the car manufacturer National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) faced the challenge of securing funding from its investor to launch an innovative mobility solution based on fleets of shared autonomous driving (AD) cars. The system was complex as it required the... View Details

Keywords: Autonomous Vehicles; Product Design; Sustainable Cities; Transportation Networks; Auto Industry; Sweden; Europe

01 Mar 2013
News

A Healthy Profit

recipients are offered health services in a variety of settings as a voluntary part of their interactions with the organization. Photos courtesy... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons; Educational Services; Educational Services; Educational Services

05 Oct 2021
Blog Post

First-Gen Voices: Eric Westphal on Tapping into the Global Alumni Network & Making a Difference Across Borders

alumni-founded e-commerce startup for his HBS internship. Yet what might seem like a direct entrepreneurial path was anything but. Westphal’s life and career have crossed country lines, cultures, and... View Details

January 2015 (Revised October 2015)
Case

Trouble at Tessei

By: Ethan Bernstein and Ryan W. Buell

In 2005, Teruo Yabe is asked to revive Tessei, the 669-person JR-East subsidiary responsible for cleaning its Shinkansen ("bullet") trains. Operational mistakes, customer complaints, safety issues, and employee turnover are at or near all-time highs, even as the... View Details

Keywords: Service Management; Employee Engagement; Employee Motivation; Leadership And Managing People; Quality Improvement; Efficiency; Japan; Operational Transparency; Employee Coordination; Transparency; Leadership; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Employees; Quality; Transportation Industry; Japan

October 2016 (Revised February 2019)
Case

PTC: A Transformation to IoT

By: Rajiv Lal and Sarah McAra

In the 2010s, PTC, a leading provider of software for discrete manufacturers, faced maturing markets and changing customer needs as smart, connected products took hold—the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT). PTC saw a first mover advantage in entering the IoT space... View Details

Keywords: Internet Of Things; IoT; Smart; Connected Products; Business Organization; Transformation; Customer Relationship Management; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Leading Change; Marketing; Product Development; Service Operations; Strategy; Competition; Technology Industry

September 2023 (Revised December 2023)
Case

Twiddy & Company: Trust in a Chaotic Environment

By: Sandra J. Sucher, Shalene Gupta and Tom Quinn

Twiddy & Company, known for Southern hospitality rooted in personal interactions, needed to adjust to contactless remote customer service as fear of the contagious virus prevented person-to-person contact. Local elected officials, in a bid to stop tourists from... View Details

Keywords: Trust; Health Pandemics; Organizational Culture; Disruption; Government Legislation; Transportation; Tourism Industry; North Carolina; United States

November 2012
Teaching Note

Brink's Company: Activists Push for a Spin-off (TN)

By: Suraj Srinivasan

The case this Teaching Note addresses studies the decision of the security services company Brink's Corporation to spin off its home security division from the rest of the company. The decision followed intense pressure on the company by three activist hedge funds that... View Details

Keywords: Activist Investors; Spin-off; Leveraged Recapitalization; Debt; Hedge Funds; Conglomerates; Valuation; Restructuring; Accounting; Business Strategy; Investment Activism; Service Industry

01 Sep 2013
News

A Hollywood Backstory

an abrupt halt: Ellen will not be involved in anything that even remotely suggests cruelty to animals. Similarly, a friend of mine who's an Oscar-nominated cinematographer will not even consider working on... View Details

Keywords: Armbruster, Michael; Broadcasting (except Internet); Information; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Arts, Entertainment

October 2023
Case

Kevin O'Leary: Building a Brand in Shark-infested Waters

By: Reza Satchu and Patrick Sanguineti

For more than fifteen years, successful Canadian entrepreneur and investor Kevin O’Leary had developed his brand into a global powerhouse. Since his first appearance on the Canadian television program Dragons’ Den in 2006 and his meteoric rise to stardom through the... View Details

Keywords: Personal Brand; Crisis; Brands and Branding; Entrepreneurship; Crisis Management; Social Media; Public Opinion; Power and Influence; Financial Services Industry

December 2007 (Revised July 2008)
Case

MINI USA: Finding a New Advertising Agency (A)

Selling an intangible like advertising services is a difficult task. The first step is to understand how brands buy these services. What are they looking for? What do they need to learn? How do they go about assessing things like creativity, trust, and loyalty? This... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Advertising; Sales; Advertising Industry

Spring 2016
Article

Net Neutrality: A Fast Lane to Understanding the Tradeoffs

By: Shane Greenstein, Martin Peitz and Tommaso Valletti

The last decade has seen a strident public debate about the principle of "net neutrality." The economic literature has focused on two definitions of net neutrality. The most basic definition of net neutrality is to prohibit payments from content providers to internet... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Policy