Publications

28 May 2012
Research & Ideas

A Pragmatic Alternative for Creating a Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy

Associates. A social responsibility strategy should fulfill two goals: create a positive social impact, and enhance the company's brand, reputation, employee morale, and/or its bottom line, Rangan says. "But... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

14 Dec 2007
Op-Ed

When Your Product Becomes a Commodity

exceeding the new specifications. Bundle. Selling a commoditized product with differentiated ancillary services (such as after-sales service) can appeal to buyers willing to... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch

May 2013 (Revised August 2013)
Case

McKinsey & Company

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Kathleen Durante

In early 2013 the leaders of McKinsey & Co., were reflecting, as they did periodically, on the path forward for their firm. Founded in Chicago in 1926 by James O. McKinsey (Mac), with only a small staff in one office, the firm had grown to be a global company with more... View Details

Keywords: CONSULTING Firms; McKinsey; Professional Service Firm; Marvin Bower; Strategy; Governance; Consulting Industry

29 May 2019
News

A Study of More Than 250 Platforms Reveals Why Most Fail

01 Jun 2008
News

A Binary Formula

Harvard’s initiatives in stem cells, bio-inspired engineering, systems biology, chemical biology, and innovative computing. The colloquium featured a number of case studies about academic labs as well View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons; science; research; Educational Services; Educational Services; Educational Services

01 Mar 2017
News

A Healthy Profit

Illustration by Suharu Ogawa Illustration by Suharu Ogawa Luxury cruise company Royal Caribbean’s connection to public health might not be immediately apparent. “People don’t think of it as a health company,... View Details

Keywords: Dan Morrell

21 Jun 2018
Blog Post

Living in a Dorm at HBS

dorm is spacious (Size 3). There is a common kitchenette on our floor and a full size kitchen on the main floor. We have a nice common room with study rooms that I use... View Details

February 2020
Case

Klöckner & Co: Steeling for a Digital World

By: Scott Duke Kominers and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Hoping to get ahead of potential digital disruption at Klöckner & Co.—one of the world’s largest steel and metal distributors—CEO Gisbert Rühl set up both kloeckner.i (KCI), an internal transformation arm, and XOM Materials (XOM), an independent industry platform. KCI... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Market Design; Digital Platforms; Markets; Industry Structures; Supply and Industry; Technology Adoption; Transformation; Digital Transformation; Steel Industry; Information Technology Industry; Europe; Germany

03 Mar 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Testing a Purportedly More Learnable Auction Mechanism

Keywords: by Katherine L. Milkman, James Burns, David C. Parkes, Gregory M. Barron & Kagan Tumer; Web Services

January 2015 (Revised October 2015)
Case

Trouble at Tessei

By: Ethan Bernstein and Ryan W. Buell

In 2005, Teruo Yabe is asked to revive Tessei, the 669-person JR-East subsidiary responsible for cleaning its Shinkansen ("bullet") trains. Operational mistakes, customer complaints, safety issues, and employee turnover are at or near all-time highs, even as the... View Details

Keywords: Service Management; Employee Engagement; Employee Motivation; Leadership And Managing People; Quality Improvement; Efficiency; Japan; Operational Transparency; Employee Coordination; Transparency; Leadership; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Employees; Quality; Transportation Industry; Japan

01 Oct 1998
News

A Community Investment

service agencies. Employees who volunteer individually and through organized company programs bring renewed enthusiasm to the workplace. Scoon: Our company has benefited in three ways from social enterprise activity. First, we take pride... View Details

27 Aug 2007
Op-Ed

Mattel: Getting a Toy Recall Right

recall will be determined by the percentage of affected products that are returned. Anything less than 90 percent within 3 months for a child safety hazard will represent failure. View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Consumer Products

16 Sep 2024
Blog Post

Creating a Candidate-Centered Recruiting Process

importance of transparency in the recruiting process. For Meredith Hamilton (MBA 2008), clear expectations helped her navigate recruiting as a student with Bipolar Disorder and ADHD who understood that... View Details

Keywords: All Industries

07 Aug 2012
News

A Novel Approach

almost three months in which to reach 100-percent participation, the two decided to get their sectionmates involved as quickly as possible. "We thought if we used the whole time, we would lose some momentum,... View Details

Keywords: Educational Services; Educational Services; Educational Services; Educational Services

01 Sep 2012
News

Making a Difference

Passion for aiding entrepreneurs and supporting women’s issues brought four members of the MBA Class of 2012 recognition as winners of the Dean’s Award. Established in 1997, the award celebrates students’ positive impact on the School and... View Details

Keywords: awards; Educational Services; Educational Services; Educational Services; Educational Services

01 Jun 2005
News

A Tough Assignment

O’neill: An educational expedition. Courtesy Shackleton Schools As a corporate lawyer living in Greenwich, Connecticut, Luke O’Neill (MBA ’95) was on a well-defined path of... View Details

Keywords: Shackleton Schools; Educational Services; Educational Services

27 Jan 2016
Blog Post

A Summer Internship in the Music Industry

to experience what life was like in the creative part of the music industry. In my opinion, a great place to do this is in artist management. Not only are these companies taking power and responsibilities away from record labels View Details

01 Mar 2013
News

RallyPoint a Winner

i-lab, RallyPoint won the $100,000 MassChallenge start-up competition last fall and was a runner-up in the 2012 HBS Business Plan Contest. In December, it announced that it had raised $1 million from angel investors. View Details

Keywords: News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services

2008
Other Unpublished Work

Accounting, Risk Management and the Aftermath of a Control Debacle

By: Anette Mikes

Despite the widespread adoption of risk management systems in the financial services industry, recent control debacles highlight the apparent lack of top managerial attention to risk controls. Yet in order to understand the workings and uses of risk controls (or any... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Governance Controls; Management Systems; Accounting; Conflict and Resolution; Trends; Financial Services Industry