Publications

November 1997
Supplement

Washington Post Company,The: Conversation Between Katharine and Don Graham (Video)

By: Louis B. Barnes and John A. Davis

Presents a conversation between a mother and son about such issues as family business, going public, the son coming into the business, and succession. View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Family Business; Interpersonal Communication; Management Succession; Going Public; Family and Family Relationships

March 2020 (Revised April 2021)
Case

Odebrecht's 'Transformation Journey' (A)

By: Suraj Srinivasan, Lynn S. Paine, Ruth Costas and Mariana Cal

At the center of one of the largest corruption scandals in Latin America, Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht signed a leniency agreement with American, Swiss and Brazilian prosecutors in 2016 admitting to paying bribes in 12 countries. In an effort to regain financial... View Details

August 2005 (Revised October 2005)
Case

Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots (A)

By: John R. Wells and Travis Haglock

What happens when an MBA buys a football team and hires a bunch of MBAs and a coach with an economics degree to run it? In this case, a historic three Super Bowls in five years. The end run Bob Kraft (HBS '65) used to acquire the New England Patriots. Why Kraft ignored... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Management Style; Motivation and Incentives; Leading Change; Management Practices and Processes; Leadership Style; Sports; Management Teams; Sports Industry; United States

March 2020 (Revised September 2020)
Case

Opportunity Insights: Research and Policy for Social Mobility

By: Scott Duke Kominers, Jeffrey Huizinga and Allison Ciechanover

Opportunity Insights -- a non-profit that researches drivers of economic opportunity and develops policy solutions to help families achieve better life outcomes -- seeks to expand its impact. View Details

Keywords: Economic Opportunity; Social Mobility; Nonprofit Organizations; Social Issues; Housing; Policy; Opportunities

January 2017
Case

TalentCorp Malaysia and the Returning Expert Programme

By: William R. Kerr, Danielle Li, Mathis Wagner and Alexis Brownell

TalentCorp Malaysia runs the "Returning Expert Programme" (REP), a government program designed to encourage Malaysian professionals abroad to return home through use of various incentives. The REP is intended to combat the "brain drain," caused by highly educated... View Details

Keywords: Malaysia; Diaspora; Brain Drain; Migration; Diasporas; Government and Politics; Immigration; Human Capital; Programs; Malaysia

July 2004 (Revised December 2004)
Case

Timberland: Commerce and Justice

By: James E. Austin, Herman B. Leonard and James Quinn

When Jeffrey Swartz became the third generation in his family to lead the Timberland Co., he pursued a strategy in which commerce and justice were "inextricably linked." Community involvement, environmental management, and global labor standards became not addenda to... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Innovation and Invention; Leadership Development; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Programs; Opportunities; Alignment; Business Strategy; Value

October 2005
Case

Tad Piper and Piper Jaffray

By: William W. George and Andrew N. McLean

In 2005, Tad Piper reflects on the successful spin-off from US Bancorp of Piper Jaffray, the investment bank founded by his grandfather. Profiles the development of Piper Jaffray from a Midwestern brokerage house to a national, diversified financial services firm. In... View Details

Keywords: Crisis Management; Leadership Style; Management Style; Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Financial Services Industry

December 2009 (Revised March 2013)
Case

Woolf Farming and Processing

By: David E. Bell, Laura Winig and Mary Louise Shelman

Woolf Farming Company, a privately owned family farming business in California's Central Valley, found its business threatened by a lack of water, brought on by a combination of drought, poor quality well water and unavailability of surface water due to federally... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Resource Allocation; Quality; Business and Government Relations; Decision Choices and Conditions; Infrastructure; Investment; Growth and Development Strategy; Climate Change; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; California

29 Oct 2012
Video

The Life and Legacy of Ruth Mulan Chu Chao

16 Jan 2018
News

Facebook, BlackRock, and the Case for Purpose-Driven Companies

Video

Harvard Business School Commencement 2012

September 1989
Background Note

Performance Curves: Costs, Prices, and Value

By: Robert J. Dolan and Benson P. Shapiro

Explains the concept of a family of performance curves. The most well known is the price/performance curve relating the prices of items in a product line to their performance. Also discusses the cost/performance curve and its impact on product positioning, product line... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Price; Product Positioning; Performance; Competition; Value

November 2000
Case

Clust.com: Dream More and Pay Less

Clust is a French group-buying Web site. Instead of marketing products to consumers, Clust is marketing aggregated consumer demands to manufacturers. Consequently, beyond the usual act of choosing among predefined alternatives, consumers are expected to bring up their... View Details

Keywords: Customer Value and Value Chain; Marketing

Twitter has attracted tremendous attention from the media and celebrities, but there is much uncertainty about Twitter's purpose. Is Twitter a communications service for friends and groups, a means of expressing yourself freely, or simply a marketing... View Details

2021
Working Paper

The Old Boys' Club: Schmoozing and the Gender Gap

By: Zoë B. Cullen and Ricardo Perez-Truglia

Offices are social places. Employees and managers take breaks together and talk about family and hobbies. In this study, we show that employees’ social interactions with their managers can be advantageous for their careers, and that this phenomenon contributes to the... View Details

Keywords: Career; Promotions; Social Interactions; Networking; Gender; Personal Development and Career; Wages; Social and Collaborative Networks