Publications

15 Aug 2024
Op-Ed

Post-CrowdStrike, Six Questions to Test Your Company's Operational Resilience

disaster, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Some research reports estimate that the cost of the CrowdStrike event could exceed $1 billion. Preparation for a crisis is just as crucial as the response. We... View Details

Keywords: by Hise Gibson and Anita Lynch

17 Oct 2012
Research & Ideas

America Needs a Manufacturing Renaissance

tough logic to combat. Yet, as each company makes such a decision, it becomes increasingly difficult for existing suppliers to stay in business. Investing in new technologies or training workers becomes less economically feasible. This lack of investment in... View Details

Keywords: by Gary P. Pisano & Willy C. Shih; Manufacturing

19 Nov 2001
Research & Ideas

Wrapping Your Alliances In a World Wide Web

business together and so are willing to invest resources in building a highly functional link, especially one that allows their information systems to interact on routine tasks without human intervention.... View Details

Keywords: by Andrew McAfee

Web

Your Commitment | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

responsibilities Other members of the project team (if any) Name, title, telephone number and fax number of project supervisor Level of administrative support available Human resources contact Facility and... View Details

01 Jun 1998
News

How the Ron Brown Award Was Born

responsibility, who, with a number of business executives, died in a 1996 plane crash in Croatia. The President discussed his idea with several business leaders, who then approached The Conference Board because they knew of its work on corporate responsibility and... View Details

April 2017
Case

The Future of Patent Examination at the USPTO

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury, Tarun Khanna and Sarah Mehta

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is the federal government agency responsible for evaluating and granting patents and trademarks. In 2015, the USPTO employed approximately 8,000 patent examiners who granted nearly 300,000 patents to inventors. As of April... View Details

Keywords: Machine Learning; Telework; Collaborating With Unions; Human Resources; Recruitment; Retention; Intellectual Property; Copyright; Patents; Trademarks; Knowledge Sharing; Technology Adoption; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance Productivity; Performance Improvement; District of Columbia

September 2023
Article

Corporate Purpose in Public and Private Firms

By: Claudine Gartenberg and George Serafeim

Analyzing data from approximately 1.5 million employees across 1,108 established public and private US companies, we find that the strength of employee beliefs related to purpose is weaker in public companies. Among public companies, those beliefs are stronger for... View Details

Keywords: Purpose; Corporate Purpose; Culture; Corporate Culture; Public And Private Organizations; Hedge Fund; Executive Pay; Corporate Governance; Corporate Strategy; Organizational Culture; Mission and Purpose; Employees; Attitudes; Executive Compensation; Ownership

June 2011
Article

Implicit Voice Theories: Taken-for-granted Rules of Self-censorship at Work

By: J. R. Detert and Amy C. Edmondson

This article examines, in a series of four studies, the nature and impact of implicit voice theories-largely taken-for-granted beliefs about when and why speaking up at work is risky or inappropriate. In Study 1, qualitative data from 190 interviews conducted in a... View Details

Keywords: Spoken Communication; Interpersonal Communication; Employees; Managerial Roles; Organizational Culture; Risk and Uncertainty; Behavior

Find at Harvard

June 1989 (Revised May 1993)
Case

Fairfield Inn (A)

By: James L. Heskett

The Fairfield Inn, an economy hotel venture by the Marriott Corp., has developed a novel method for selecting and measuring the performance of its hotel personnel that fits the company's strategy. Because it faces the need to grow rapidly, questions have arisen as to... View Details

Keywords: Selection and Staffing; Innovation and Invention; Growth and Development Strategy; Franchise Ownership; Performance Evaluation; Corporate Strategy; Accommodations Industry

March 1998 (Revised March 1999)
Case

Shepard Quraeshi Associates (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Harold F. Hogan Jr

Samina Quraeshi, principal of Boston-based Shepard Quraeshi Associates, must decide whether to take legal action against her key employees after they leave her firm to start their own, taking with them key clients and data. Quraeshi sees the situation as reflecting... View Details

Keywords: Ethnicity; Nationality; Ethics; Employees; Gender; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Immigration; Growth and Development Strategy; United States

September 2003 (Revised November 2005)
Case

Best Buy Co., Inc. (A): An Innovator's Journey

By: Dorothy A. Leonard and Brian DeLacey

The CEO of Best Buy, a hugely successful retailing company, has hired consulting firm Strategos to imbue the company with an improved innovative capability. The six-month program of experimental learning yields new business ideas and also trains Best Buy employees as... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Management Teams; Creativity; Adoption; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Employees; Learning; Training; Programs; Retail Industry; United States

Article

Capital Allocation in Financial Firms

By: André Perold

Keywords: Resource Allocation; Capital; Finance; Business Ventures

Find at Harvard

March 2001 (Revised September 2002)
Case

Merck Latin America (C): Brazil

By: Michael Beer and James Weber

Examines Merck's change effort in Brazil from the perspective of the local employees. View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Multinational Firms and Management; Employees; Operations; Perspective; Pharmaceutical Industry; Brazil

17 Nov 2011
Sharpening Your Skills

Sharpening Your Skills: Organizational Design

managers allow so-called support function employees to become catalysts for change. Key concepts include: Marketers, human resources managers, finance managers, and other... View Details

Keywords: Re: Ranjay Gulati & Raffaella Sadun

01 Oct 1996
News

Leading In a New Era

but rather as a portfolio of flexible and interlinked roles and relationships." While the outmoded top-down management structure of corporate divisions gave managers tight control and enabled their companies... View Details

Keywords: Nancy O. Perry

25 Feb 2020
News

The Past Informs the Future of Work

automating local telephone operation by converting to dial phones, it had to grapple with the business and societal impact of dramatically reducing human interface. A century later, artificial intelligence, big data, and advancements in... View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Gillespie; Telecommunications; Information

01 Dec 2010
News

Ilene Lang

pursue the opportunities available to her. I recently had dinner with the se-nior vice president of human resources at a large Fortune 500 company. He said, “Everything that the women employees want are... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; interview; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; Information; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

March 2023
Case

Best Buy: Renew Blue (A)

By: Sunil Gupta, Dave Habeeb and Amram Migdal

Preabstract: The A Video Case should be assigned to students in advance of class. The B case is intended to be used in class by educators and the C case can be assigned to students during or after class. The product is designed as a low-prep case for students, with... View Details

Keywords: Job Offer; Management Succession; Personal Development and Career; Business or Company Management; Leadership; Selection and Staffing; Retail Industry

July–August 2023
Article

Case Study: How Should a Start-Up Cut Its Burn Rate?

By: Nitin Nohria, Katie Josephson, Sophia Wronsky and Elizabeth Rha

Tyler Smith, the founder and CEO of the enterprise software firm Puck.io, is facing a hard decision. Just three months earlier the company laid off 20% of its employees to reduce its burn rate amid growing economic uncertainty and a suddenly unattractive funding... View Details

Keywords: Employees; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Governing and Advisory Boards; Business and Shareholder Relations; Business or Company Management; Business Startups