Publications

Find at Harvard

Read Now

February 2003 (Revised April 2003)
Case

Roman Catholic Diocese of San Jose, The

By: Allen S. Grossman and Christina Darwall

Patrick J. McGrath, the bishop of the healthy and growing San Jose diocese, is pioneering the use of long-term, business-like strategic planning to better deliver on his churches' core mission. The adopted plan addresses issues at the heart of how the diocese is... View Details

Keywords: Financial Management; Innovation Strategy; Leadership; Growth Management; Success; Performance Effectiveness; Strategic Planning; Problems and Challenges

28 Jul 2015
Blog Post

Nairobi Love: Heading Home

questions of development, public policy, and politics have always pulled me. But having studied economics for my bachelor's, and then working with McKinsey thereafter reaffirmed that I have a private sector mind – questions of leverage,... View Details

February 2003 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Centre Suisse d'Electronique et de Microtechnique (CSEM)

By: Michael E. Porter, Willis M. Emmons III and Christian Fenner

Le Centre Suisse d'Electronique et de Microtechnique S.A. (CSEM)--the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology--was a major nonprofit research institution located in Neuchatel, Switzerland, with roots in the Swiss watch industry. CSEM maintained close links to... View Details

Keywords: Cooperation; Information Technology; Alliances; Research and Development; Performance Productivity; Innovation and Invention; Nonprofit Organizations; Electronics Industry; Switzerland

21 Jul 2014
Research & Ideas

Is a Gap in Small-Business Credit Holding Back the American Economy?

and not for the size of the business, so small business loans are defined as business loans under $1 million. This can be problematic when a range of larger businesses are paying down their larger loans and... View Details

Keywords: by Karen Mills; Manufacturing

2009
Working Paper

On Good Scholarship, Goal Setting, and Scholars Gone Wild

By: Lisa D. Ordonez, Maurice E. Schweitzer, Adam D. Galinsky and Max Bazerman

In this article, we define good scholarship, highlight our points of disagreement with Locke and Latham (2009), and call for further academic research to examine the full range of goal setting's effects. We reiterate our original claim that goal setting, like a potent... View Details

Keywords: Education; Goals and Objectives; Management Practices and Processes; Performance Improvement; Research; Motivation and Incentives

Read Now

March 2007 (Revised August 2009)
Case

Aurolab: Bringing First-World Technology to the Third-World Blind

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

Aurolab is the in-house producer of IOLs (required in cataract surgery) for the Aravind Eye Care System, a group of charity hospitals with the largest volume of eye surgery in the world. Aurolab's manufacturing capability and capacity had long exceeded the requirements... View Details

Keywords: Emerging Markets; Production; Mission and Purpose; Performance Capacity; Nonprofit Organizations; Corporate Strategy; India

09 Jun 2003
Research & Ideas

Around the World of Entrepreneurial Ventures

that have evolved from IEF, said Kuemmerle. In his words, they are: Local context matters for the frequency and form of entrepreneurial activity. A global perspective on opportunities by the entrepreneur enhances the View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

June 2009 (Revised April 2011)
Case

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center

By: Anita L. Tucker and Amy C. Edmondson

The case describes an organization's use of the science of improvement to transform their process quality from below average to the top 10% in their industry. The case outlines the protagonist's strategy of developing internal experts who are trained in a common... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Experience and Expertise; Leading Change; Measurement and Metrics; Service Delivery; Performance Improvement; Health Industry; Ohio

24 Jul 2006
Research & Ideas

How Kayak Users Built a New Industry

The sport of rodeo kayaking—the use of specialized kayaks to perform acrobatic tricks and maneuvers in rough white water—began around 1968 when an avid sportsman by the name of Walt Blackader developed techniques View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Entertainment & Recreation

April 2023
Article

A Field Experiment on Subgoal Framing to Boost Volunteering: The Trade-off Between Goal Granularity and Flexibility

By: Aneesh Rai, Marissa A. Sharif, Edward H. Chang, Katherine L. Milkman and Angela L. Duckworth

Research suggests that breaking overarching goals into more granular subgoals is beneficial for goal progress. However, making goals more granular often involves reducing the flexibility provided to complete them, and recent work shows that flexibility can also be... View Details

Keywords: Goals and Objectives; Outcome or Result; Performance Improvement

14 Apr 2019
Interview

How to Build Psychological Safety, with Amy Edmondson

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Dave Stachowiak

Amy Edmondson is the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School. She has been recognized by the Thinkers50 global ranking of management thinkers for many years and was honored with their Talent Award in 2017. Amy is the author of... View Details

Keywords: Psychological Safety; Organizational Culture; Groups and Teams; Performance Effectiveness

26 Nov 2007
Research & Ideas

Best Practices of Global Innovators

this platform needs to be. We were surprised by how many firms pay inadequate attention to this area, causing major problems. Consider the Airbus 380, which had been delayed for 2 years, in part because 2... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

2024
Working Paper

Consumer Inertia and Market Power

By: Alexander MacKay and Marc Remer

We study the pricing decisions of firms in the presence of consumer inertia. Inertia, which can arise from habit formation, brand loyalty, and switching costs, generates dynamic pricing incentives. These incentives mediate the impact of competition on market power in... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Inertia; Market Power; Dynamic Competition; Demand Estimation; Consumer Behavior; Markets; Performance; Competition; Price