Publications

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13 Apr 2023
HBS Seminar

Bhaven Sampat, Columbia

William R. Kerr

William Kerr is the D’Arbeloff Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. Bill is Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Research, co-director of Harvard’s Managing the Future of Work initiative, and faculty chair of the... View Details

Keywords: communications; computer; consulting; high technology; information technology industry; management consulting; manufacturing; telecommunications; venture capital industry

TeachingInterests

Strategy Execution

By: Dennis Campbell

This course takes strategy as given and teaches what students need to know to execute and win in highly competitive markets. Using fundamental building blocks based on accountability systems and structures, this course is divided into seven modules:

1.... View Details

12 Aug 2008
First Look

First Look: August 12, 2008

needed to ponder on how to revise the company's compensation system to better motivate its staff in a deregulated market and communicate all these changes to the unionized labor force. Purchase the case:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2021
Case

Astralis Group: Determining a Brand Strategy

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Mette Fuglsang Hjortshoej and Emilie Billaud

After launching a Danish esports company in July 2019, and going public in December 2019 with multiple brands associated with different games, the Astralis leadership team was contemplating a shift to a single, corporate brand. While the original arguments for... View Details

March 2021
Article

Assortment Rotation and the Value of Concealment

By: Kris J. Ferreira and Joel Goh

Assortment rotation—the retailing practice of changing the assortment of products offered to customers—has recently been used as a competitive advantage for both brick-and-mortar and online retailers. We focus on product categories where consumers may purchase multiple... View Details

Keywords: Assortment Optimization; Retailing; Imperfect Information; Sales; Strategy; Consumer Behavior

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January 2019 (Revised December 2020)
Case

Angola Starts Now

By: Jeremy Friedman and Sophus A. Reinert

After five centuries of colonialism, four decades of civil war, an extended experiment with Marxism-Leninism, and nearly four decades of rule by a single man, José Eduardo Dos Santos, Angola finally has a chance to realize its enormous economic potential. A country... View Details

Keywords: Development Economics; Government and Politics; History; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Social Issues; Angola

2015
Working Paper

Coactive Vicarious Learning: Towards a Relational Theory of Vicarious Learning in Organizations

By: Christopher G. Myers

Vicarious learning—a process of individual belief and behavior change that occurs through being exposed to, and making meaning of, another's experience—has long been recognized as a key driver of individual, team and organizational success. Yet existing perspectives on... View Details

Keywords: Organizations; Learning

SSRN

04 Jul 2016
Research & Ideas

Is Your Org Chart Stuck in a Rut? Try a Scientific Experiment

If you want to be awed by the pace of technological advancement over the past few decades, compare the capabilities of a bulky PC from 1984 with those of a sleek smartphone in 2016. You’ll find stark differences. But if you want to be underwhelmed, try comparing a... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

Web

Capstone | MBA

Capstone MS/MBA Biotechnology: Life Sciences Each student develops a capstone project in their second year of studies that challenges them to perform an in-depth structured scientific and business analysis of a biotechnology opportunity.... View Details

April 2021 (Revised June 2021)
Case

IBM: Design Thinking

By: Srikant M. Datar, Amram Migdal and Paul Hamilton

This case describes the 2012-2020 effort at IBM to implement design thinking throughout the company and hire thousands of designers to serve on every product team alongside technical engineers and developers and product managers. IBM’s design transformation is told... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Business Divisions; Business Units; Business Organization; Change; Change Management; Transformation; Competency and Skills; Talent and Talent Management; Design; Human Resources; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Innovation and Invention; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Jobs and Positions; Job Design and Levels; Leading Change; Management; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Management Practices and Processes; Operations; Product; Product Design; Product Development; Organizations; Business Processes; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Strategy; Adaptation; Adoption; Technological Innovation; Information Infrastructure; Information Technology; Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; United States

November 1999
Case

Long-Term Capital Management, L.P. (C)

By: Andre F. Perold

Long-Term Capital Management, L.P. (LTCM) was in the business of engaging in trading strategies to exploit market pricing discrepancies. Because the firm employed strategies designed to make money over long horizons--from six months to two years or more--it adopted a... View Details

Keywords: Fluctuation; Capital; Financial Liquidity; Financing and Loans; Investment Funds; Investment Portfolio; Corporate Governance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Management; Risk Management; Markets; Motivation and Incentives; Financial Services Industry

January 2005
Case

Managing Failure: American Bankruptcy Law at a Crossroads

By: David A. Moss, Mary Oey and Jonathan Lackow

Introduces the core principles and challenges of bankruptcy law (both individual and corporate) against the backdrop of the early 1970s, when the U.S. bankruptcy system appeared to be failing. With personal bankruptcy filings at record levels and successful corporate... View Details

Keywords: Change; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Policy; Government Legislation; United States

January 2022
Teaching Plan

Just Arrived: Integrating Refugees in Sweden

By: Brian Trelstad and Emilie Billaud

Teaching Plan for HBS Case No. 321-040. Just Arrived is an online platform that matches newly-arrived immigrants in Sweden with employment opportunities. As one of several for-profit and non-profit start-ups in Europe that is looking to address the refugee crisis, the... View Details

Keywords: Immigration; Refugees; Employment; Integration; Business Model; Social Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Employment Industry; Sweden; Italy; Germany

January 1999
Article

An Analysis of Value Destruction and Recovery in the Alliance and Proposed Merger of Volvo and Renault

By: Robert Bruner

Volvo's attempt to merge with Renault in 1993 temporarily destroyed SEK 8.6 billion (US$ 1.1 billion) in Volvo shareholder wealth. This study traces the destruction to hubris, managerialism, and the escalation of commitment—elements suggested in previous research. In... View Details

Keywords: Mergers ＆ Acquisitions; Institutional Investors; Alliances; Privatization; Mergers and Acquisitions; Institutional Investing; Auto Industry

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12 Mar 2019
HBS Seminar

Giorgos Zervas, Boston University

Hidden Structure: Using Network Methods to Map System Architecture

All complex systems can be described in terms of their architecture, that is, as a nested hierarchy of subsystems. In this paper, we use network methods to detect the core components of an architecture, to establish... View Details

November 2008 (Revised October 2009)
Case

American Cancer Society: Access to Care

By: Robert L. Simons and Kathryn Rosenberg

CEO John Seffrin decides to radically change the strategy of the American Cancer Society. The new Access to Care strategy relies on advocacy to change public policy and increase the number of Americans eligible for cancer prevention and treatment. The new strategy... View Details

Keywords: Values and Beliefs; Governance Controls; Leading Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Nonprofit Organizations; Business Strategy; Health Industry; United States