Publications

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27 Nov 2000
Research & Ideas

The Dynamics of Standing Still: Firestone Tire & Rubber and the Radial Revolution

In the decades prior to the advent of radial tires," writes Donald Sull in Business History Review, "Firestone Tire & Rubber was viewed by some observers as the best managed U.S. tire company." But in the face of French... View Details

Keywords: by Donald N. Sull; Manufacturing; Transportation

Program

High Potentials Leadership Program

eligible for the Certificate of Management Excellence. Learn More Key Benefits Focused on developing high potential leaders, this program prepares you to embrace the risks and opportunities that accompany new leadership roles. You will... View Details

March 2017
Teaching Note

Showpad

By: Frank Cespedes

Showpad is a startup that provides a sales enablement platform and tools. The venture has grown 100% annually since its founding four years ago, and the founders are evaluating growth options and decisions in three areas: adding product features, possible pricing... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Sales

March 2008
Article

Is Yours a Learning Organization?

By: David A. Garvin, Amy C. Edmondson and Francesca Gino

This article includes a one-page preview that quickly summarizes the key ideas and provides an overview of how the concepts work in practice along with suggestions for further reading. An organization with a strong learning culture faces the unpredictable deftly.... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Learning; Surveys; Leading Change; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Organizational Culture

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January 2018 (Revised March 2020)
Case

SAP: Branding in the Digital Age

By: Das Narayandas and Amram Migdal

By 2017, digital, social, and mobile technologies were rapidly changing the way many of SAP’s traditional customers did business over the last decade. In response to this trend, SAP had acquired companies with capabilities in e-commerce, human capital, workforce... View Details

Keywords: Brand Positioning; Marketing; Sales; Brands and Branding; Strategy; Technology Industry

May 2010 (Revised November 2010)
Case

Investment Technology Group

By: Clayton S. Rose and David Lane

Investment Technology Group (ITG) CEO Robert Gasser wondered if the financial crisis had permanently affected the firm's business model. A leader in trade analytics and execution for institutional equity investors, ITG had grown since its establishment in 1987 in step... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Financial Crisis; Investment; Resignation and Termination; Crisis Management; Product Positioning; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Financial Services Industry; Information Technology Industry; New York (city, NY)

24 Sep 2019
Blog Post

Launching a Career in Clean Energy

Established in 2010, the HBS Business & Environment Initiative (BEI) works to deepen understanding of the environmental challenges facing business leaders and inspire new ideas and practical, effective solutions. BEI has established a network of 5,000 alumni whose... View Details

Person Page

Course Development

General Management: Processes and Action (GMPA) focuses on implementation and the way that general managers get things done. Typically, they work through processes—sequences of tasks and activities that unfold over time, like strategic planning,... View Details

Program

Finance for Senior Executives

Summary When you can speak the language of finance, you have the power to build stronger strategies, expand your influence, and make better business decisions. Finance for Senior Executives delivers a foundation in corporate finance that is essential for leaders across... View Details

2010
Working Paper

Being a Leader and the Effective Exercise of Leadership: An Ontological Model (PDF File of PowerPoint Slides)

By: Werner Erhard, Michael C. Jensen and Kari Granger

This presentation is based on our research program over the last seven years in which our objective has been to rigorously distinguish leader and leadership and to create a technology for providing access to being a leader and exercising leadership effectively (in... View Details

Keywords: Curriculum and Courses; Innovation and Invention; Leadership Development; Goals and Objectives; Research and Development; Attitudes; Perception; Technology; United States

SSRN

February 2010 (Revised March 2013)
Case

Zynga (A)

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski and David Chen

In January 2010 Mark Pincus is deciding how to double the number of Zynga games' players to 500 million without sacrificing profitability. These ambitious growth plans required changes to product, corporate strategy, and customer acquisition and retention. With regard... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Decision Choices and Conditions; Growth and Development Strategy; Distribution Channels; Product Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Corporate Strategy; Video Game Industry

Program

Behavioral Economics—Virtual

program prepares you to influence the behavior of customers and employees—and become a bigger contributor to your organization's success. This program is eligible for the Certificate of Management Excellence. Learn More Key Benefits... View Details

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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October 2006 (Revised May 2007)
Case

King Arthur Flour

By: Thomas J. DeLong, James Holian and Joshua Weiss

Steve Voigt, the CEO of King Arthur Flour, must determine how the company can continue to grow, whilst preserving its unique culture. In 1996, the company was sold to employees in as ESOP transaction. The following decade saw significant growth, despite declining sales... View Details

Keywords: Employee Stock Ownership Plan; Business or Company Management; Organizational Culture; Employee Ownership

Companies everywhere face two major challenges today: getting noticed and getting paid. To confront these obstacles, Bharat Anand examines a range of businesses around the world, from Chinese Internet giant Tencent to Scandinavian digital trailblazer Schibsted,... View Details

September 2007 (Revised December 2008)
Case

Michael Fernandes at Nicholas Piramal

By: Michel Anteby and Nitin Nohria

Michael Fernandes, the Director of Custom Manufacturing Operations at the pharmaceutical company Nicholas Piramal India Limited (NPIL), schedules a meeting with three of his reports, whose interpersonal conflicts with one another are causing his business development... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Management Skills; Groups and Teams; Conflict Management; Cooperation; Pharmaceutical Industry; India; United Kingdom; Canada

April 2002 (Revised February 2003)
Module Note

Teaching Project Finance: An Overview of the Large-Scale Investment Course

By: Benjamin C. Esty

Large-Scale Investment is a case-based course about project finance for second-year MBA students. Project finance involves the creation of a legally independent project company financed with nonrecourse debt for the purpose of investing in a single-purpose industrial... View Details

Keywords: Projects; Financing and Loans