Publications

05 Apr 2004
Research & Ideas

Six Ways to Build Trust in Negotiations

decided to start off the next round of talks with a take-it-or-leave-it offer and then refuse to haggle. He opened with an extremely generous offer—a wage that was almost certainly higher than what the union would have reasonably expected... View Details

Keywords: by Deepak Malhotra

October 1996 (Revised December 2022)
Case

Chiquita Brands International (A)

By: Debora L. Spar and Terence Mulligan

When a new banana import policy is implemented in 1993 by the European Union, Chiquita Brands International, the world's largest banana distributor, watches its sales and net income plummet. The policy, Council Regulation (EEC 404/93), uses a new tariff and quota... View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Trade; Government and Politics; Policy; Market Design; Fairness; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Latin America; European Union

13 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

Merck CEO Ken Frazier Discusses a COVID Cure, Racism, and Why Leaders Need to Walk the Talk

Business School) The COVID Gender Gap: Why Fewer Women Are Dying You're Right! You Are Working Longer and Attending More Meetings Read COVID-19 coverage from Working Knowledge Neeley: The EU union has barred Americans from traveling to... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Pharmaceutical

31 Aug 2021
Book

Feeling Powerless at Work? Time to Agitate, Innovate, and Orchestrate

of the same resource can increase a person’s power. Unions are one instance of this strategy; monopolies are another more extreme example—and can be problematic, the authors note. To weaken the power that others parties have on them,... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald

July 1990 (Revised October 1999)
Case

Nordstrom: Dissension in the Ranks? (A)

By: Robert L. Simons and Hilary Weston

In 1989, the performance measurement systems and compensation policies of Nordstrom Department Stores unexpectedly came under attack by employees, unions, and government regulators. The case describes the "sales-per-hour" monitoring and compensation system that many... View Details

Keywords: Performance Consistency; Performance Evaluation; Compensation and Benefits; Motivation and Incentives; Labor Unions; Salesforce Management; Retention; Growth and Development; Industrial Products Industry; Utilities Industry

24 May 2017
News

John J. Brennan, MBA 1980

is devoted to his family. Brennan often says he’s the luckiest person in the world, but it’s clear that his success involves considerable amounts of intelligence, hard work, and ambition. A middle-class kid whose early jobs included serving as a View Details

Keywords: Susan Young

20 Dec 2010
Research & Ideas

Panama Canal: Troubled History, Astounding Turnaround

operations. The Japanese did not attack the canal, of course, but the knowledge that the Soviet Union could knock the Panama Canal out of operation whenever it wanted meant that the United States needed to maintain a massive two-ocean... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Transportation

15 Jun 2021
News

Keeping Hourly Workers Focused on the Stock, Not the Clock

constant tension between employees and management. “We lived through a lot of strikes,” Stavros says. One of the changes the union was advocating for was profit sharing with hourly employees. “Can you believe I have no incentive to care... View Details

Keywords: April White; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management

21 Sep 2021
Office Hours

Readers Ask: How Can I Gain Power and Influence?

vacancies job applicants have more choice and more bargaining power. But with less than 11 percent of American workers being unionized and given that in the vast majority of companies, workers have no representation on the board of... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

02 Mar 2009
Research & Ideas

When Goal Setting Goes Bad

in the sciences. It may have also increased the degree to which the United States and the Soviet Union spent limited funds on mutually unhelpful defense expenditures. So, I think the answer is in the eyes of the beholder. Personally, I... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

09 Mar 2022
Research & Ideas

War in Ukraine: Soaring Gas Prices and the Return of Stagflation?

this era? Abdelal: I think it really depends on the industry and the exposure. I think a smart executive will spend considerable intellectual effort trying to first, make sense of these geopolitical risks and how they will unfold on the ground in Eastern Europe,... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman; Energy

06 Jul 2016
What Do You Think?

How Do We Pay for the Costs of Globalization?

to do it. What do you think? Original Column The Brexit vote by citizens of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union was neither the beginning nor the end of the anti-globalization, anti-establishment movement. But it grabbed the... View Details

Keywords: by James L. Heskett; Manufacturing

Web

Charts & Statistics - Leadership

initiated against Microsoft Influence: Medium-Low 1900 s 19 Fewer than 500,000 union members Department of Commerce and Labor created Influence: Medium 10 1910 s 19 Ford doubles factory wages and shortens workday Labor Secretary position... View Details

10 Oct 2023
Blog Post

Policy Drivers for Environmental Justice: What Businesses Need to Know

underserved, and overburdened by pollution while increase access to affordable and accessible clean energy.”[7] In Executive Order 14008, which established the Justice40 program, the same key points arise: investing in the economy to create well-paying View Details

Web

Eligibility | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

following: US federal student aid (e.g., Perkins, GradPLUS, Stafford) US state programs (e.g., MEFA, VSAC, etc.) Foreign national, state, and provincial educational loan schemes Educational loans from a bank or credit union (e.g., HUECU,... View Details

April 2015 (Revised April 2022)
Case

Bankruptcy in the City of Detroit

By: Stuart Gilson, Kristin Mugford and Annelena Lobb

The June 2013 bankruptcy of the city of Detroit, Michigan was, at the time, the largest municipal bankruptcy in American history. Detroit had struggled for years with a weakening tax base, high unemployment, a heavy debt load and increasing retiree costs. These... View Details