Publications

September 2024
Case

Navigating Digital Transformation at Carrefour

By: Sunil Gupta and Emilie Billaud

In 2023, Elodie Perthuisot, Carrefour’s Executive Director for e-commerce and digital transformation, met with CEO Alexandre Bompard to discuss strategies for the company’s digital initiatives. Carrefour, a global retail giant with over 14,300 stores across 40... View Details

01 Feb 2011
First Look

First Look: Feb. 1

clamor for accountability, it is tempting to accept the popular normative view that more accountability is better. But is it feasible, or even desirable, for nonprofit organizations to be accountable to everyone for everything? The challenge for leadership and View Details

12 May 2009
First Look

First Look: May 12, 2009

http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/09-078.pdf Deep Dives: The Role of Top Management in Linking Relevant Capabilities to Core Activities Authors:Howard H. Yu and Joseph L. Bower Abstract The inability of established firms to make necessary... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

23 Jul 2012
Research & Ideas

Book Excerpt: ‘Talk, Inc.’

spatial—that would normally separate them from their employees. They do so by cultivating the art of listening to people at all levels of their organization, and by learning to talk with those people in ways that are personal, honest, and authentic. Conversational... View Details

Keywords: Re: Boris Groysberg

24 Apr 2020
Op-Ed

Lessons from the NFL: Virtual Hiring, Leadership, Building Teams and COVID-19

someone on Goodell’s team directly. Goodell will be overseeing the whole process—from his basement in Westchester, NY. Participants have also expressed concern about the reduced information flow in a virtual draft. “General managers are... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Abbott , Boris Groysberg, Tali Groysberg, and Abhijit Naik; Sports

12 Dec 2016
HBS Case

Business Lessons from Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson

little more familiar to MBA students: she studied finance and marketing at the University of Miami, worked at Merrill Lynch, and founded her own wealth-management firm, all before Dwayne asked her to take over the management of his... View Details

Keywords: Re: Anita Elberse; Motion Pictures & Video; Entertainment & Recreation

24 Nov 2014
Research & Ideas

Corrupting Silence: Companies Must Speak Up Against Bribes

In a 2012 Harvard Business School case on corruption at German conglomerate Siemens AG, Peter Solmssen —brought in to clean house —reflects on how people approach a business bribe. "The stupid ones say, very simply, what are you going to do for me?" says Solmssen,... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

06 Aug 2014
Research & Ideas

Climbing Down from the Ivory Tower

police to protect the citizens. Olstrom dubbed the phenomenon "co-production." Since then, it has become common for organizations to treat consumers as production partners. Many high-tech firms hire existing customers to beta-test early... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Education; Health

16 Jul 2024
Research & Ideas

Weighing Digital Tradeoffs in Private Equity

“There are many more private equity firms than in the past, so it’s becoming difficult for them to generate returns and add value,” says Brian Baik, an assistant professor in the Accounting and Management Unit at Harvard Business School.... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services

June 1995
Teaching Note

Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive TN

By: Richard E. Walton

Teaching Note for (9-392-025). View Details

Keywords: Value; Business Ventures; Creativity; Marketing; Business and Shareholder Relations; Policy; Business Growth and Maturation; Organizational Culture; Performance Effectiveness; Competency and Skills; Managerial Roles; Compensation and Benefits; Food and Beverage Industry

15 Dec 2009
First Look

First Look: Dec. 15, 2009

we find it difficult to identify the tangible benefits delivered by brokers. While brokerage customers are directed toward funds that are harder to find and evaluate, they pay substantially higher fees and the funds they buy have lower... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

April 1992 (Revised July 1993)
Case

Conoco's: "Green" Oil Strategy (A)

By: Malcolm S. Salter and Joseph L. Badaracco Jr.

Conoco faces challenges in formulating a proactive environmental strategy for its proposed oil development in Ecuador's pristine tropical rain forest region. The case outlines the innovative process in which Conoco collaborated with a wide range of often conflicting... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Ethics; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Outcome or Result; Problems and Challenges; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Conflict Management; Ecuador

March 2024 (Revised April 2024)
Supplement

From "BIG" Ideas to Sustainable Impact at ICL Group (B)

By: Linda A. Hill and Lydia Begag

In August 2023, Raviv Zoller, CEO of ICL Group, discussed his upcoming business trip to St. Louis with Eduard Croitoru, VP of ICL Corporate Initiatives, to commemorate the construction of ICL's new $400 million advanced manufacturing facility. In preparation for the... View Details

26 Jul 2016
Research & Ideas

Where will Pokémon Go with Your Personal Information?

app’s success has striking implications for a number of industries. Willy Shih is the Robert and Jane Cizik Professor of Management Practice in Business Administration at Harvard Business School and spent 28 years in industry at IBM,... View Details

Keywords: Re: Willy C. Shih; Video Game; Entertainment & Recreation

2012
Chapter

Schumpeterian Competition and Diseconomies of Scope: Illustrations from the Histories of Microsoft and IBM

By: Timothy F. Bresnahan, Shane Greenstein and Rebecca M. Henderson

We address a longstanding question about the causes of creative destruction. Dominant incumbent firms, long successful in an existing technology, are often much less successful in new technological eras. This is puzzling, since a cursory analysis would suggest that... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Opportunities; Competition; Information Technology; Innovation and Management; Organizations; Relationships; Information Technology Industry

Find at Harvard

April–May 2012
Article

Resources or Power? Implications of Social Networks on Compensation and Firm Performance

By: Joanne Horton, Yuval Millo and George Serafeim

Using a sample of 4,278 listed UK firms, we construct a social network of directorship-interlocks that comprises 31,495 directors. We use social capital theory and techniques developed in social network analysis to measure a director's connectedness and investigate... View Details

Keywords: Power and Influence; Social and Collaborative Networks; Compensation and Benefits; Performance; Relationships; Resource Allocation; United Kingdom

March 2008
Case

Novartis AG: Science-Based Business

By: H. Kent Bowen and Courtney Purrington

Novartis is a science-based drug company, which has important implications for its business strategy. It is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world with over $38B in sales in 2007. Pharmaceuticals account for slightly over $24B of that total. In 2007,... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Resource Allocation; Product Development; Partners and Partnerships; Research and Development; Science-Based Business; Pharmaceutical Industry

November 2007
Case

Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology (CIMIT)

By: H. Kent Bowen and Courtney Purrington

Translating innovative ideas form the clinician to the patient remains a major problem in the field of medicine. Dr. John Parrish and colleagues created an organization (CIMIT) that brings the technical, financial, and administrative resources to these innovative... View Details

Keywords: Financing and Loans; Innovation and Invention; Technological Innovation; Resource Allocation; Alliances; Research and Development; Health Industry; Service Industry

Find at Harvard

July 2004 (Revised May 2009)
Case

Getting Participant-centered Learning to Work

By: Thomas R. Piper, James L. Heskett and Gustavo Herrero

The newly appointed dean of a South American business school is eager to transform the learning process from the traditional lecture method to one that actively engages students and contributes to the development of critical managerial skills, attitudes, and world... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Transformation; Business Education; Leading Change; Business Processes; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Alliances; Education Industry; South America