Publications

February 2005
Article

European Integration and Corporate Restructuring: The Strategy of Unilever c1957-c1990

By: Geoffrey Jones and Peter Miskell

This article examines the role of the large Anglo-Dutch consumer products company in promoting European integration. It shows that Unilever contributed financially to campaigns to support the creation of the European Union, and its subsequent expansion, despite a... View Details

Keywords: Horizontal Integration; Organizations; Policy; Expansion; Market Transactions; Geographic Location; Restructuring; Competition; Brands and Branding; Production; Capital Structure; Value; Consumer Products Industry; European Union; United States

Find at Harvard

18 Sep 2007
First Look

First Look: September 18, 2007

modularized. Instead these areas should be located in transaction-free zones so that the costs of transacting do not overburden the system. The boundaries of transaction-free zones constitute breakpoints where firms and industries may... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

19 Jan 2011
Research & Ideas

Activist Board Members Increase Firm’s Market Value

shift too much power to unions and special interest groups, and that highly experienced directors might not want to serve on a board if they had to work alongside shareholder-sponsored candidates. In addition, shareholders would be... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

May 2023
Case

CMA CGM: Reducing the Carbon Footprint of Container Shipping

By: Willy C. Shih and Emilie Billaud

Marine transport is the most cost-effective way to move large volumes over long distances, and container shipping is the backbone of international trade in goods. Yet shipping contributed 3% of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions, and the deep-sea segment, which... View Details

Keywords: Container Shipping; Logistic Regression; Trade Links; Decarbonization; Environmental Strategies; Environmental Impact; Globalization; Trade; Environmental Regulation; Logistics; Supply Chain; Governance Compliance; Shipping Industry; European Union; Asia; North America

17 Feb 2022
Blog Post

The Fifth Year of Short Intensive Programs (SIPs) at HBS

co-founder, director, and CEO of Natural Order Acquisition Corporation, facilitated discussions and presentations from more than 20 guests, including entrepreneurs, investors, activists, policy makers, doctors, and industry professionals.... View Details

29 Aug 2024
Research & Ideas

Shoot for the Stars: What to Know About the Space Economy

revolutionized by bringing in market forces in a way that they never were before. Competition that we take for granted in most sectors of the economy is now driving efficiencies and innovations in the space sector, making it much more of a typical industry, or at least... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin; Aerospace

01 Apr 1998
News

Student Conferences Inspire Campus Dialogue

sharing upward mobility with all African Americans was the theme of the 26th annual HBS African-American Student Union (AASU) Career/Alumni Conference, "The Next Step: Revitalizing Our Community," held January 22-25. Taking place at HBS... View Details

September 2012 (Revised May 2013)
Case

Automating the Paris Subway (A)

By: Michel Anteby, Elena Corsi and Emilie Billaud

In 2001, the head of the Paris Subway reflected on how to transform Line 1 into a driverless line without triggering a social conflict. After the shock of the 2000 Notre Dame de Lorette subway accident, in which a train derailed and caused 25 injuries in a Paris subway... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Technological Innovation; Rail Transportation; Labor Unions; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Conflict Management; Rail Industry; Rail Industry; Paris

September 1989 (Revised July 1991)
Case

Caterpillar, Inc.: George Schaefer Takes Charge

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

For over half a century, Caterpillar, Inc. (CAT) had been a world leader in the manufacture of earthmoving and construction machinery. In 1982, just months after it recorded the highest sales and profits in its history, CAT experienced its greatest crisis. Demand fell... View Details

Keywords: Machinery and Machining; Crisis Management; Labor Unions; Demand and Consumers; Management Teams; Problems and Challenges; Competitive Strategy; Business Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry

September 2023
Supplement

CMA CGM: Reducing the Carbon Footprint of Container Shipping

By: Willy C. Shih

Marine transport is the most cost-effective way to move large volumes over long distances, and container shipping is the backbone of international trade in goods. Yet shipping contributed 3% of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions, and the deep-sea segment, which... View Details

Keywords: Container Shipping; Trade Links; Decarbonization; Environmental Strategies; Environmental Impact; Globalization; Trade; Environmental Regulation; Supply Chain; Logistics; Shipping Industry; European Union; Asia; North America

August 1995
Teaching Note

Polaroid Corporation: European Distribution System TN

By: Janice H. Hammond and Afroze A Mohammed

Teaching Note for (9-695-038). View Details

Keywords: Consumer Products Industry; Europe; European Union; United States

01 Aug 1998
News

Spring Reunions: Milestones and Memories

as the "crown prince of a Swiss industrial dynasty," Ernesto Bertarelli took over as CEO of his father's company, the Ares-Serono Group, right after graduating from HBS. It was a natural progression: his father, Fabio Bertarelli, had... View Details

Keywords: Eileen K. McCluskey

02 Sep 2008
First Look

First Look: September 3, 2008

bribery but even made it tax deductible until 1999, it was not welcomed in some nations where Siemens did business such as the United States—or in Germany after 2000—but old practices continued. Cooperative management-labor relations, often seen as key to the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 1997 (Revised December 2012)
Case

Jim Sharpe: Extrusion Technology, Inc. (A)

By: H. Kent Bowen and Barbara Feinberg

Jim Sharpe, 11 years after receiving his MBA from Harvard and working for others, has finally become his own boss and 100% owner of manufacturer of aluminum extrusions. After 10 months of an unfunded search, he acquires the business in an LBO and prepares to face his... View Details

Keywords: Acquisitions; Search Funds; Entrepreneurial Management; Entrepreneurs; Turnarounds; Bank Loan; Manufacturing; Metals Processing; Entrepreneurial Finance; Leveraged Buyouts; Labor Unions; Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Crisis Management; Management Skills; Experience and Expertise; Borrowing and Debt; Manufacturing Industry

20 Sep 2004
Research & Ideas

How Consumers Value Global Brands

brands, in industries as diverse as information technology and oil. Social Responsibility. People recognize that global companies wield extraordinary influence, both positive and negative, on society's well-being. They expect firms to... View Details

Keywords: by Douglas B. Holt, John A. Quelch & Earl L. Taylor

November 2012
Case

Teaming at GE Aviation

By: Rakesh Khurana, Jeffrey Polzer, Willy Shih and Eric Baldwin

Describes the challenges and successes encountered by GE's Aviation business in implementing a teaming work structure and culture in plants across its supply chain. GE Aviation leadership had seen dramatic gains in productivity, quality, and worker satisfaction in... View Details

September 2009
Article

Labor Market Institutions and Global Strategic Adaptation: Evidence from Lincoln Electric

By: Jordan I. Siegel and Barbara Zepp Larson

Although one of the central questions in the global strategy field is how multinational firms successfully navigate multiple and often conflicting institutional environments, we know relatively little about the effect of conflicting labor market institutions on... View Details

Keywords: Institutions; Labor Market; Complementarity; Global Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Labor Unions; Laws and Statutes; Operations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Manufacturing Industry