Publications

February 2004 (Revised May 2007)
Case

George Barker

By: John A. Davis

George Barker, the 40-year-old CEO of his family's commercial real estate design and development firm, must deal with the unsatisfactory performance of his brother Peter, who is also in the business. Although Peter's performance is upsetting to George, George feels... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Leadership Style; Business or Company Management; Performance Evaluation; Problems and Challenges; Family and Family Relationships; Real Estate Industry

26 Oct 2010
First Look

First Look: October 26, 2010

PublicationsSelling to Many Countries—Within the U.S. Authors:Frank V. Cespedes and Michael Wong Publication:MIT Sloan Management Review 52, no. 1 (fall 2010) Abstract In pursuing growth, many companies have plans to sell to emerging... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

12 Apr 2004
Research & Ideas

Waking Up a Sleeping Company

shielded them from responsibility. The lack of performance standards related directly to the organization's inability to deal with conflict. Many managers could not abide open conflict in meetings. Disagreements over issues were... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George

10 Sep 2001
Research & Ideas

The Negotiator’s Secret: More Than Merely Effective

untrustworthiness, miscommunication, bad timing, revealing too much or too little, a poorly designed agenda, sequencing mistakes, negotiating with the wrong person on the other side, personalizing issues, and so on. Even if you manage to... View Details

Keywords: by James K. Sebenius

February 2006 (Revised November 2006)
Case

GE's Growth Strategy: The Immelt Initiative

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Follows the actions of GE CEO, Jeff Immelt, as he implements a growth strategy for the $150 billion company in a tough business environment. In four years, he reinvigorates GE's technology, expands its services, develops a commercial focus, pushes developing countries,... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Judgments; Global Strategy; Leadership Style; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Structure

02 Jan 2007
Research & Ideas

Most Popular Articles of 2006

In the six-year history of Harvard Business School's Working Knowledge, some types of articles have always been popular with our readers. Want to generate a lot of reader buzz? Then write about negotiation strategy, managing IT,... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

06 Jun 2013
Op-Ed

How to Do Away with the Dangers of Outsourcing

Staffing, risks, benefits, and regulatory compliance are all increasingly externalized, most often to parts of the world where need routinely trumps prudence. Rather than manage their own corporate assets, CEOs and other top executives of... View Details

Keywords: by Ranjay Gulati; Manufacturing; Apparel & Accessories; Fashion

17 Jul 2012
First Look

First Look: July 17

controllers relied on the cultural authority of financial economics and the "full fair value" logic. Second, top management's interactive use of a particular control system sends a signal to external stakeholders about the firm's internal control View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

June 2010 (Revised June 2010)
Case

Virginia Mason Medical Center (Abridged)

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer

In 2000, Dr. Gary Kaplan became CEO of the Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, Washington. The hospital was facing significant challenges: it was losing money for the first time in its history, staff morale had plummeted, and area hospitals presented ardent... View Details

Keywords: History; Competition; Operations; Leadership Style; Problems and Challenges; Change Management; Health Care and Treatment; Business Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Health Industry; Seattle

February 2023 (Revised May 2023)
Case

Accelerating the Accelerator: Raja Al Mazrouei at DIFC Fintech Hive

By: Linda A. Hill, Emily Tedards and Lydia Begag

In January 2023, Raja Al Mazrouei became the Managing Director and Acting CEO of Etihad Credit Insurance (ECI) in Dubai, UAE. In her previous role as the Executive Vice President of the DIFC Fintech Hive, she successfully built and led an accelerator program for... View Details

October 2019
Case

A Conversation with Ellen J. Kullman, Chairman & CEO of DuPont, 2009-2015

By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz

Ellen J. Kullman, the retired Chairman and CEO of DuPont, describes how she guided the storied science and technology company through a contentious proxy battle with activist investor Trian Partners, which acquired DuPont shares in 2013 and sought to break up the... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Capital Structure; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Governance; Institutional Investing; Leadership; Leadership Style; Management; Transformation; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Chemical Industry; United States

Article

The Best of Both Worlds: Integrating Conscious and Unconscious Thought Best Solves Complex Decisions

Two studies address the debate over whether conscious or unconscious mental processes best handle complex decisions. According to Unconscious Thought Theory (Dijksterhuis & Nordgren, 2006), both modes of thinking have particular advantages: conscious thought can follow... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Values and Beliefs; Information; Knowledge Management; Management Skills; Management Style; Measurement and Metrics; Success; Research; Cognition and Thinking; Personal Characteristics; Perception

Find at Harvard

April 1993 (Revised May 1994)
Case

General Dynamics and Computer Sciences Corporation: Outsourcing the IS Function (A)

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Katherine Seger

Designed to generate discussion on the issues of outsourcing from the perspective of a firm thinking about turning over its IS activities to a third-party vendor. View Details

Keywords: Management Systems; Management Style; Information Technology; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Business Strategy; Economic Systems; Business or Company Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business Processes; Employment; Emerging Markets; Activity Based Costing and Management; Information Technology Industry; Consulting Industry

13 Mar 2017
Research & Ideas

Hiding Products From Customers May Ultimately Boost Sales

Concealment, co-authored by Kris Johnson Ferreira and Joel Goh, both assistant professors in the Technology and Operations Management Unit at Harvard Business School. The paper is novel in that it considers product categories in which... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Retail; Fashion

16 Jan 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, January 16, 2018

virtually all the gains to be had go to those that create an ownership culture, by building in participative management and helping employees learn to think and act like owners. Publisher's link:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

26 Jun 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, June 26, 2018

hedonic products to enhance their enjoyment of future consumption occasions. Current approaches to becoming expert center on cultivating an analytic mindset. In the present research the authors explore the benefit to enthusiasts of moving beyond analytics to cultivate... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

26 Sep 2005
Research & Ideas

What Perceived Power Brings to Negotiations

organizational rank would indicate—recognized experience in a particular style of negotiation, for example. Can such "perceived relative power" make a difference at the table? The short answer is yes. In "Perceived Relative... View Details

Keywords: by Mallory Stark

24 Apr 2007
First Look

First Look: April 24, 2007

Luce's magazines often resonated with readers, allowing him to quickly trump competitors such as Newsweek, Forbes, The New Yorker, Esquire, and National Geographic. Yet Luce was also criticized for occasionally using his imaginative style... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

June 2024
Supplement

Heritage Holding (A)

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Pre-Abstract: Instructors should consider the timing of making videos available to students, as they may reveal key case details.

Abstract: The summer of 2022 marked a crucial period for Heritage Holding co-founders, Alex de Pfyffer and Ross Porter. The... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Small Business; Cost vs Benefits; Decisions; Business Education; Leadership Style; Leading Change; Business or Company Management; Problems and Challenges; Private Equity; Corporate Strategy; Business Model; North America