Publications

January 2024
Supplement

Winning Business at Russell Reynolds

By: Ethan Bernstein and Cara Mazzucco

In an effort to make compensation drive collaboration, Russell Reynolds Associates’ (RRA) CEO Clarke Murphy sought to re-engineer the bonus system for his executive search consultants in 2016. As his HR analytics guru, Kelly Smith, points out, that risks upsetting—and... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Talent and Talent Management; Compensation and Benefits; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Performance Evaluation; Motivation and Incentives; Consulting Industry

February 2011 (Revised May 2012)
Teaching Note

Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. (TN)

By: William E. Fruhan

Teaching Note for 211-067. View Details

Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Business and Shareholder Relations; Value Creation; Opportunities; Mergers and Acquisitions; Corporate Governance; Executive Compensation; Balance and Stability; Manufacturing Industry

September 2010
Case

Bush Brothers & Company

By: Lena G. Goldberg and Chad Carr

The chairman and CEO of Bush Brothers grapples with leading and managing changes in strategy, governance and board composition, as well as succession, compensation and ownership issues, as he takes the family owned/family operated business into its fourth generation.... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Change Management; Decision Making; Selection and Staffing; Leading Change; Management Succession; Governing and Advisory Boards; Wages; Values and Beliefs; Growth and Development Strategy

February 1999 (Revised June 2000)
Case

Cimetrics Technology (A-1)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Jose Royo

Jim Lee, president of Cimetrics (a young, fast growing, software start-up) is reevaluating his small company's geographically dispersed product development model. To take advantage of talented low-cost labor in Russia, the company has relied on two software engineering... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Applications and Software; Business or Company Management; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Human Resources; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Labor and Management Relations; Product Development; Performance Evaluation; Information Technology Industry; Russia; Canada; United States

30 May 2000
Research & Ideas

Market Makers Bid for Success

whereas if you're a kind of a single-purpose performer, if you change the play, you're in trouble. Sahlman: It's an interesting human resources strategy to try to make sure that you don't have people who define your strategy and make it... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Web Services; Technology

November 2015 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Cisco Systems: In Search of the Next CEO

By: Boris Groysberg, Sarah L. Abbott, Olivia Hull and J. Yo-Jud Cheng

It’s August 2014 and John Chambers is expected to announce his retirement after 17 years as CEO of global technology giant Cisco Systems. Under Chambers’s leadership, Cisco has grown from $2.2 billion in annual revenues and under 4,000 employees to revenues of $46... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Succession Planning; CEO Succession; Managing Change; Person-organization Fit; Management Succession; Transition; Talent and Talent Management; Change Management; Retirement; Innovation Leadership; Recruitment; Corporate Governance; Experience and Expertise; Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; United States; San Jose; California

September 1997 (Revised October 1997)
Case

French Pension System, The: On the Verge of Retirement?

By: David A. Moss, Anne Dias and Bertrand O. Stephann

Surveys the French pension system, its particular institutional characteristics, and some of the critical challenges and opportunities facing French reformers. Like almost every other industrialized country, France has a large pay-as-you-go public pension system that... View Details

Keywords: Retirement; Compensation and Benefits; Capital Markets; Economic Growth; Labor; Problems and Challenges; Opportunities; Welfare; Investment; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Public Administration Industry; France

08 Oct 2015
Research & Ideas

Four Questions Fundraisers Must be Prepared to Answer

(The book is also a valuable read for donors hoping to refine their giving strategy, and board members of nonprofit organizations.) Stevenson, known as the godfather of entrepreneurship at HBS, is well known for his definition of the term as “the pursuit of opportunity... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

18 Jun 2001
Research & Ideas

Tech Investment the Wise Way

whom resources will flow. Value, of course, is an economic concept, not primarily measured in physical performance attributes, but rather what a buyer will pay for a product or service. A customer can value a technology according to its... View Details

Keywords: by Henry Chesbrough & Richard S. Rosenbloom

27 May 2009
First Look

First Look: May 27, 2009

low-cost care. But in the case of iterative care, a patient's condition is unknown, and tremendous resources may be required for diagnosis and treatment, often with uncertain outcomes. Bohmer shows that to reduce costs and manage care... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

17 Apr 2006
Research & Ideas

Resisting the Seductions of Success

a natural member of this group. Tony's story strongly suggests that the most fundamental inner resource of leaders is a peculiar, negative skill. Leaders need the capacity to distance themselves from the pressures and seductions of... View Details

Keywords: by Joseph L. Badaracco Jr.; Entertainment & Recreation; Information; Publishing

18 Mar 2001
Research & Ideas

Want to Be an Entrepreneur? [Part I]

give-and-take among students, professor, and manager, the class touched on the tension between the romance of ideas and the reality of enterprises, the conflicting motivations of the participants in an immature business, and the staged growth and View Details

Keywords: by John S. Rosenberg

08 Aug 2017
First Look

First Look at Research and Ideas, August 8, 2017

its infrastructure for societal uses, or whether to exploit a commercial opportunity related to launching small, handheld cubesats. The case explores the basis for ISRO’s cost advantage vis-à-vis western entities, as well as its resource... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

18 Feb 2015
First Look

First Look: February 18

with the greatest increases occurring when many of these directors leave. While agency theory highlights the importance of the right incentives being in place, this research suggests that this can be ineffective if the right resources are... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

08 Mar 2004
Research & Ideas

Secret to Success: Go for “Just Enough”

marveled at humankind's resourcefulness and success: The chorus notes that without gills, man has devised ways to travel on the sea. He has invented speech, and plows for the earth. With these accomplishments he secures good things such... View Details

Keywords: by Laura Nash & Howard Stevenson

Research Summary

Overview

What makes some organizations more innovative than others? Innovation follows from strategy and structure. A good strategy allows individuals to impose their own imagination towards organizational goals in a coordinated way. Good structure adds incentives that... View Details

Keywords: Energy Generation; Renewable Energy; Entrepreneurship; Environmental Sustainability; Green Technology; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Innovation and Management; Resource Allocation; Strategy; Energy Industry; Green Technology Industry; Canada; United States; Europe; Croatia; Serbia and Montenegro

February 2018 (Revised July 2025)
Case

Hikma Pharmaceuticals Governance Journey

By: Lynn Paine, Suraj Srinivasan and Gamze Yucaoglu

The case opens with Said Darwazah, chairman and CEO of Hikma Pharmaceuticals, the multinational generics company, anticipating the company’s 2017 AGM and reflecting on changes made over the previous year to address concerns expressed by proxy advisors and some... View Details

Keywords: Boards Of Directors; Pharmaceuticals; Remuneration; Shareholder Engagement; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Business and Shareholder Relations; Executive Compensation; Business Growth and Maturation; Emerging Markets; Private Sector; For-Profit Firms; Pharmaceutical Industry; Jordan

April 2001 (Revised July 2001)
Case

Zaplet, Inc.

By: Dorothy A. Leonard and Brian DeLacey

Start-up Zaplet, Inc., has radical software, prestigious venture capital funding, and a multitude of business opportunities. New CEO Alan Baratz must select a strategy and redesign the organization to deliver. This case describes the roles and philosophies of the... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business or Company Management; Information Technology; Organizational Design; Venture Capital; Valuation; Business Strategy; Restructuring; Expansion; Product Development; Innovation Strategy; Human Resources; Information Technology Industry; California

August 2014 (Revised May 2016)
Case

Husk Power

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and Sid Misra

In late 2013, Husk Power Systems found itself falling further and further behind plan. The founding CEO had decided to resign. His co-founder is faced with the decision of quitting his corporate job in the US to head to India and help form a new management team. Husk... View Details