Publications

29 Aug 2018
What Do You Think?

What Should Harley-Davidson’s Management Do?

CasPhotography What Can the Harley-Davidson Case Teach Us About Managing in a Politicized Environment? The advice to Harley-Davidson’s management from respondents of this month’s column is to (1) ensure that politics doesn’t deter the Company from its current strategy,... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Auto

May 2014
Case

Gunfire at Sea (multi-media case)

By: Michael Tushman and Tom Ryder

This short video illustrates the challenges of leading innovation and change. This classic case (one of the oldest in the HBS system) retains its timeliness. The case describes how Lt. Sims develops a new form of gunfire at sea—continuous aim gunfire. While 3,000% more... View Details

Keywords: Organization Behavior; Change; Innovation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leading Change; Innovation Leadership; United States

15 Jan 2014
Research & Ideas

Managing the Family Business: It Takes a Village

leader does matter.) Because there is not only a business, but also an ownership group and a family that need capable leadership, a family business system is much more complicated than other kinds of business organizations. Leading these... View Details

18 Nov 2013
Research & Ideas

Pulpit Bullies: Why Dominating Leaders Kill Teams

When Harvard Business School Associate Professor Francesca Gino invites high-powered business leaders to address her class, she often observes an interesting phenomenon. The guest speakers announce that they are just as interested in learning from the students as... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

26 May 2003
Research & Ideas

When Silence Spells Trouble at Work

Silence is associated with many virtues: modesty, respect for others, prudence, decorum. Thanks to deeply ingrained rules of etiquette, people silence themselves to avoid embarrassment, confrontation, and other perceived dangers. There's an old saying that sums up the... View Details

Keywords: by Leslie A. Perlow

1997
Book

The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail

By: Clayton M. Christensen

His work is cited by the world's best known thought leaders, from Steve Jobs to Malcolm Gladwell. In this classic bestseller, innovation expert Clayton M. Christensen shows how even the most outstanding companies can do everything right—yet still lose market... View Details

Keywords: Disruptive Innovation; Leadership

Find at Harvard

01 Dec 2006
What Do You Think?

How Important Is Quality of Labor? And How Is It Achieved?

jobs as well as labor, most agreed with author Gregory Clark's thesis that "labor quality," not just low cost, is a major driver of capital flows that leads to economic prosperity. This raised questions, though, about the impact... View Details

Keywords: by by Jim Heskett

June 2000 (Revised October 2017)
Case

IDEO

By: Stefan Thomke and Ashok Nimgade

Describes IDEO, the world's leading product design firm, and its innovation culture and process. Emphasis is placed on the important role of prototyping and experimentation in general, and in the design of the very successful Palm V handheld computer in particular. A... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Innovation Strategy; Business or Company Management; Time Management; Product Design; Product Development; Business Processes; Organizational Culture; Practice; Problems and Challenges; Creativity; Hardware

30 Nov 2016
What Do You Think?

How Do Leaders Manage the Tension Between Pride and Arrogance?

influence on whether or not an organization crosses the line from pride to arrogance. (3) It is possible to lead close to the line between pride and arrogance without crossing it; several suggestions were offered for how to do this. Ken... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

18 Dec 2019
Book

6 Skills That Wise Companies Harness for World-Changing Innovation

As a boy, Soichiro Honda, the eventual founder of Honda Motor Co., was infatuated with airplanes. At age 10 he biked 20 kilometers to see American pilots performing aerobatics near his home in Japan, climbing a tree to watch the show. It would take about 70 more years,... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

February 2010 (Revised January 2013)
Case

The Dabbawala System: On-Time Delivery, Every Time

By: Stefan H. Thomke and Mona Sinha

Describes the Mumbai-based Dabbawala organization, which achieves very high service performance (6 Sigma equivalent or better) with a low-cost and very simple operating system. The case explores all aspects of their system (mission, information management, material... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Service Operations; Service Delivery; Logistics; Alignment; Management Systems; Human Resources; Innovation and Invention; Mumbai

October 2018
Case

Booking.com

By: Stefan Thomke and Daniela Beyersdorfer

The case reveals how Booking.com has become the world's leading travel accommodation platform. The company has put online experimentation at the heart of how it designs digital experiences for its customers and partners. To unlock the potential of large-scale testing,... View Details

Keywords: Travel; Product Innovation; Experimentation; A/B Testing; User Experience Design; Product Development; Product Design; Innovation and Management; Transformation; Information Technology; Digital Transformation; Travel Industry

June 2000
Case

Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts

Four Seasons has a love/hate relationship with technology, including the best Web site in the industry. This case examines how a leading service delivers high-tech/high-touch, and looks at its progressive human resource strategy. View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Service Operations; Accommodations Industry

02 May 2022
What Do You Think?

Can the Case Method Survive Another Hundred Years?

more about the material being taught than the instructor. That’s why instructors are encouraged to prepare their own case materials. It’s a way of educating themselves as well. And a body of cases often leads to research based on... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Education

June 2021
Case

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments): April 2021

By: Josh Lerner, Reza Satchu and Alys Ferragamo

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) is one of the largest pools of investment capital in the world and follows a rigorous “Total Portfolio Framework” in its approach to investment management. In April of 2021, John Graham was just two months into his role... View Details

Keywords: Pension Funds; Investment Strategy; Capital Markets; Financial Strategy; Investment; Asset Management; Financial Institutions; Private Equity; Growth and Development Strategy; Investment Portfolio; Assets; Financial Markets; Financial Services Industry; Canada

February 2004
Case

Note on Human Behavior: Reason and Emotion

By: Nitin Nohria and Bridget Gurtler

Human beings are driven by reasons and emotions. On the one hand, as rational choice theorists assert, human beings are resourceful and evaluative as they strive to maximize their own interests. An individual's interests can converge or diverge from the interests of... View Details

Keywords: Behavior; Cognition and Thinking; Emotions; Interests; Organizations; Organizational Design; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

December 2020
Case

Urban Company

By: Krishna G. Palepu

Urban Company is an India-based market platform that helps customers book home services and at home beauty services. The company differentiated itself by investing heavily in building customer trust. Rather than merely positioning itself as a lead generating... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Entrepreneurship; Digital Platforms; Emerging Markets; Strategy; Service Delivery; Trust; Technology Industry; Service Industry; India