Publications

January 2011 (Revised July 2019)
Case

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah L. Abbott

One of the leading publishers of textbooks and other educational materials for the U.S. K-12 educational instruction market has suffered a dramatic decline in sales and profits in the wake of the 2008-2009 financial market crisis and economic recession, and is now... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Capital Structure; Financial Crisis; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Publishing Industry; Massachusetts

12 Jun 2020
Working Paper Summaries

Corporate Resilience and Response During COVID-19

Keywords: by Alex Cheema-Fox, Bridget LaPerla, George Serafeim, and Hui (Stacie) Wang

November 2019 (Revised May 2020)
Case

Collibra

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Jeffrey F. Rayport and Julia Kelley

Founded in 2008 at Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Collibra was a data intelligence company that found product-market fit in the years after the global financial crisis when many companies were under pressure from consumers and governments to improve their data management... View Details

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

Research Summary

Overview

By: Dutch Leonard

Professor Leonard's research focuses on understanding the role of leadership in the development of strategy and processes for execution in private sector and socially-oriented organizations, including an emphasis on innovation, uncertainty, building successful adaptive... View Details

Keywords: Strategy And Leadership; Social Business; Social Capital; Social Enterprise; Social Entrepreneurship; Risk Management; Crisis Management

2022
Working Paper

On the Origins of Our Discontent

By: Rawi Abdelal and Thomas J. DeLong

Signs of discontent with global capitalism and national capitalisms abound. Unless we find ways to create better jobs and then improve those jobs further with empathic management and thoughtful mentoring, then we will be unable to create a more stable, purposeful... View Details

Keywords: Capitalism; Human Needs; Public Opinion; Social Issues; Wealth and Poverty; Globalization; Government and Politics

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July–August 2023
Article

Investing in Growth Through Uncertainty

By: Ranjay Gulati

When faced with disruptions and downturns, many leaders and companies instinctively focus on cutting costs to maintain profitability. But some identify opportunities and then take thoughtful action to emerge from crisis even stronger. That means not only planning for... View Details

Keywords: Crisis Management; Strategic Planning

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2016
Book

The Three Box Solution: A Strategy for Leading Innovation

By: Vijay Govindarajan

How to Innovate and Execute. Leaders already know that innovation calls for a different set of activities, skills, methods, metrics, mind-sets, and leadership approaches. And it is well understood that creating a new business and optimizing an already existing one are... View Details

Keywords: Innovation Strategy; Innovation Leadership

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May 1994 (Revised December 1997)
Case

Sealed Air Corporation 's Leveraged Recapitalization (A)

Less than a year after Sealed Air embarked on a program to improve manufacturing efficiency and product quality, the company borrowed almost 90% of the market value of its common stock and paid it out as a special dividend to shareholders. Management purposefully and... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Corporate Finance; Manufacturing Industry

July 2010 (Revised March 2012)
Case

China 'Unbalanced'

By: Diego A. Comin and Richard H.K. Vietor

In 2010, Wen Jiabao looked back at the financial crisis with some satisfaction. Using aggressive fiscal and monetary policy, China had weathered the crisis successfully, growing 8.7% annually in 2010. Most of the unemployed workers had returned to work, often... View Details

Keywords: Economic Growth; Financial Crisis; Trade; Currency Exchange Rate; Investment; Local Range; Growth and Development Strategy; Demand and Consumers; China

04 Mar 2014
News

Social Media to the Rescue

22–23 Sep 2020
Virtual Programming

Driving Impact: A Dialogue on Capitalism, Climate, and Social Change

Join Professor Rebecca Henderson and Sir Ronald Cohen (MBA 1969) as they debate the theories of change. The conversation will compare and contrast the authors groundbreaking approaches to rethinking the role of business in driving impactone through the lens of... View Details

March 2013
Case

First Green Bank: Bringing Bloom to Desert Landscapes

By: Christopher Marquis and Juan Almandoz

First Green Bank is a bank start-up in the midst of the financial crisis which aims to promote sustainability while making money as a bank. The case presents an ethical dilemma as it considers a loan to an arms manufacturer. View Details

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship; Financial Crisis; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Business and Community Relations; Environmental Sustainability; Ethics; Banking Industry; United States; Florida

Robert Simons is a Baker Foundation Professor at Harvard Business School. For over 35 years, Simons has taught accounting, management control, and strategy execution courses in both the Harvard MBA and Executive Education Programs. For 2023/24, he is... View Details

May 2011 (Revised December 2011)
Case

Redesigning a 401(k) Plan at Haley-Midland

By: Robert C. Pozen and Scott Eric Perl

Rose Adams, the CFO of Haley-Midland, Inc., dispensed with pleasantries and started right in on her questions for Jim Sweeney, the senior vice president of human resources, and Nancy Walters, Haley-Midland's vice president and treasurer, about the brewing crisis with... View Details

Keywords: Retirement; Crisis Management; Design; Planning; Human Resources

2012
Chapter

Leading in Crises: Observations on the Political and Decision-Making Dimensions of Response

By: Herman B. Leonard and Arnold M. Howitt

Emergency response organizations, as we have argued in earlier writing, must deal with both "routine emergencies" (dangerous events, perhaps extremely severe, that are routine because they can be anticipated and prepared for) and "true crises" (which, because of... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Leadership; Decision Choices and Conditions; Crisis Management; Government and Politics

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