Operational Control - Publications - Faculty & Research

March 2024 (Revised June 2024)
Case

Governing OpenAI (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine, Suraj Srinivasan and Will Hurwitz

In late November 2023, OpenAI’s new board of directors took stock of the situation. The company, which sought to develop artificial general intelligence (AGI)—computer systems with capabilities exceeding human abilities—was looking to regain its footing after a chaotic... View Details

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12 Feb 2018
Research & Ideas

Customers at the Back of the Line Are Anxious—Can You Keep Them from Leaving?

the UPS Foundation Associate Professor of Service Management in the Technology and Operations Management Unit. “When we are feeling bad, one way we cope is by comparing ourselves to people who are worse off than we are.” Perhaps nowhere... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Retail; Service

02 Jan 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, January 3, 2018

December 4, 2017 Harvard Business Review How a Fast-Growing Startup Built Its Sales Team for Long-Term Success By: Cespedes, Frank V., and David Mattson Abstract—It’s common for leaders of sales teams to focus almost exclusively on short-term tactics and current View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

23 Jan 2007
First Look

First Look: January 23, 2007

1981, its managers faced a major turning point when they made a decision to operate without giving in to the petty corruption rife in the Indian economy. Within just a few years, that decision had truly defined the company. Over the next... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Web

Human Behavior & Decision-Making - Faculty & Research

The seeming randomness by which spontaneous thoughts arise might give people good reason to dismiss them as meaningless. We suggest that it is precisely the lack of control over and access to the processes by which they arise that leads... View Details

Web

Skydeck - Alumni

Recipients of the 2024 Alumni Achievement Award reflect on how family and where they grew up formed them—personally and professionally Mission Control Space entrepreneur Peter Platzer (MBA 2002) on the process of finding your purpose In... View Details

January 2019 (Revised June 2019)
Technical Note

U.S. Commercial Health Insurance Industry

By: Susanna Gallani, Mary Witkowski and Harry B. Wolberg

This note describes the role of commercial payers in the U.S. healthcare industry. We begin with a review of the historical evolution of commercial payers and their role in the market, from the beginning to the Affordable Care Act and beyond. Every wave of reforms in... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Insurance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Health Industry; Insurance Industry; United States

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29 Jun 2007
First Look

First Look: June 29, 2007

development as a means of raising the lives of previously disadvantaged South Africans. By 1999, the company listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, making 36-year-old Surve the youngest CEO of a listed diversified conglomerate. From its inception, Sekunjalo only... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

January 2013 (Revised February 2013)
Case

EverTrue: Mobile Technology Development (A)

By: William R. Kerr and Alexis Brownell

Brent Grinna is evaluating different options for the technology development of his start-up's iPhone app, including hiring local programmers, finding a CTO, or outsourcing. He only has a little over two months before he presents his alumni networking app to Brown... View Details

Keywords: Start-up; Mobile App; oDesk; Outsourcing; CTO; Minimum Viable Product; App Development; Business Startups; Decisions; Entrepreneurship; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Intellectual Property; Product Development; Globalization; Technology Industry; Massachusetts; Boston; India

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June 2020 (Revised October 2020)
Case

What Went Wrong with Boeing's 737 Max?

By: William W. George and Amram Migdal

This case describes the development of the Boeing 737 Max airplane model and the events leading up to two tragic plane crashes, in which a total of 346 people died: the crash of Lion Air flight 610 on October 29, 2018, in Indonesia, and the crash of Ethiopian Airlines... View Details

Keywords: Communication; Communication Intention and Meaning; Communication Strategy; Forms of Communication; Announcements; Decision Making; Decision Choices and Conditions; Judgments; Ethics; Moral Sensibility; Values and Beliefs; Globalization; Global Strategy; Governance; Corporate Accountability; Governance Controls; Human Resources; Resignation and Termination; Leadership; Leadership Style; Management; Business or Company Management; Crisis Management; Management Practices and Processes; Management Skills; Management Style; Management Systems; Risk Management; Time Management; Markets; Demand and Consumers; Digital Platforms; Supply and Industry; Duopoly and Oligopoly; Industry Structures; Operations; Product Development; Organizations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Outcome or Result; Failure; Success; Planning; Strategic Planning; Problems and Challenges; Relationships; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Risk and Uncertainty; Safety; Strategy; Transportation; Air Transportation; Aerospace Industry; Air Transportation Industry; Africa; Ethiopia; Asia; Indonesia; North and Central America; United States; Seattle; Chicago

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Topics - HBS Working Knowledge

Industries (8) Goals and Objectives (18) Going Public (36) Goods and Commodities (7) Governance Compliance (4) Governance Controls (76) Governance (268) Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms (72) Governing and Advisory Boards (20)... View Details

22 Nov 2023
News

So You Want to Join a Startup

first and give them control over governance and decision making over major decisions in the company. That confers advantages on investors that really come into play primarily when the company is not doing that well, right? From an... View Details

16 Apr 2001
Research & Ideas

Strategy and the Internet

competitive advantage—by operating at a lower cost, by commanding a premium price, or by doing both. Cost and price advantages can be achieved in two ways. One is operational effectiveness—doing the same... View Details

Keywords: by Michael E. Porter

January 2009
Article

Turbulent Firms, Turbulent Wages?

By: Diego A. Comin, Erica L. Groshen and Bess Rabin

Has greater turbulence among firms fueled rising wage instability in the U.S.? Gottschalk and Moffitt [1994] find that rising earnings instability was responsible for one third to one half of the rise in wage inequality during the 1980s. These growing transitory... View Details

Keywords: Wages; Production; Business Earnings; Fluctuation; Performance; Volatility; Relationships; Sales; Business Ventures; United States

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01 Jun 2024
News

Quantum Leap

“This is the first new kind of computer in 75 years,” says John Levy (MBA 1979), CEO of the quantum computing startup SEEQC. “And we’re building it on a chip!” Strolling through his company’s design and testing facility in Elmsford, New York, Levy looks less like a... View Details

Keywords: Alexander Gelfand; photographed by Chris Sorensen; quantum computing; innovation; leadership; Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing; Manufacturing

29 Nov 2022
Research & Ideas

How Much More Would Holiday Shoppers Pay to Wear Something Rare?

Do you have that one friend who seems to snag the coolest, most fashionable shoes, jewelry, or clothes? Now new research shows that when luxury goods companies cater to these trendy consumers by controlling how rare certain items... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Retail

16 Jan 2013
Research & Ideas

The Messy Link Between Slave Owners and Modern Management

critique of capitalism—one that could broaden the understanding of today's business practices. The work is part of her current book project, "From Slavery to Scientific Management: Capitalism and Control in America, 1754-1911,"... View Details

Keywords: by Katie Johnston

2009
Article

Placing the Normative Logics of Accountability in 'Thick' Perspective

By: Alnoor Ebrahim

This article provides a critical reflection on the heavily normative nature of current accountability debates. In particular, it explores three streams of normative discourse on nonprofit accountability: improving board governance, improving performance-based... View Details

Keywords: Fair Value Accounting; Accounting; Governance; Performance Evaluation; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Goals and Objectives; Management Practices and Processes; Power and Influence; Social and Collaborative Networks; Organizational Structure; Relationships; Accounting Industry

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01 Mar 2024
News

In Harmony

authority, an unusual trait for the few Asians represented in the new batch of associates. “When he was sent over to Hong Kong to work for Goldman, it wasn’t the polished operation it is today,” says Tan. “Michael saw it as an opportunity... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; photographs by Jun Michael Park; private equity; fiction; financial crisis; leadership; Korea

June 2012 (Revised August 2012)
Case

MF Global: Where's the Money?

By: Clayton S. Rose, Pamela Chan and Raghav Chopra

When MF Global failed in October of 2011, it was discovered that $1.6 billion of segregated customer assets was missing. Safeguarding these assets was the firm's responsibility, and in the words of one SEC official, its "sacred obligation." What is known about the... View Details