Publications

03 Dec 2020
Research & Ideas

Cut Payroll Costs with Transparency, Fairness, and Compassion

many companies is that widespread salary cuts may not be workable because of existing employee agreements. Furloughs A furlough is a mandated unpaid leave of absence, utilized by private (such as General Motors during the 2019 United Auto... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Sarah Abbott

27 Feb 2017
Research & Ideas

Reputation is Vital to Survival in Turbulent Markets

practical lessons for business managers? Jones: The bottom line for practitioners in developing countries is that they need to really see corporate reputation as a huge asset. It enables their firms to more fully utilize existing... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

November 2019 (Revised April 2021)
Technical Note

Rechargeable Batteries, 2017: Gigafactory Wars in the Offing?

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

In 2017, the global market for rechargeable lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries was 126 gigawatt-hours (GWh) valued at $37 billion, growing by $10 billion in two years. Once confined largely to consumer electronics and appliances, the rapid increase in demand was spurred by... View Details

11 Mar 2001
Research & Ideas

Merchants to Multinationals: British Trading Companies in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

this period. The British willingness to use outside capital in affiliate ventures was distinctive. With some exceptions, in other European countries non-trading activities might be separately incorporated but were usually wholly owned. The ability of the British... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones

08 Oct 2008
Research & Ideas

Book Excerpt: A Sense of Urgency

an electric utility was actually looking forward to deregulation as a means of unfreezing a tradition-bound monopoly that was not adequately preparing for a more competitive future. But deregulation came slower than he anticipated and... View Details

Keywords: by John P. Kotter

21 Aug 2019
Research & Ideas

What Machine Learning Teaches Us about CEO Leadership Style

performance. “Machine learning is able to utilize data that is both large in size, but also in a different form than what would traditionally fit into an Excel spreadsheet,” says Harvard Business School’s Prithwiraj (Raj) Choudhury, the... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

2016
Book

Strategy Beyond Markets

By: John de Figueiredo, Michael Lenox, Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Rick Vanden Bergh

Strategy beyond markets has been an active area of research inquiry since the early 1990s. Since its inception, the scholarship emanating from this research stream has grown substantially in quantity, quality, and breadth. Likewise, firms across the world have... View Details

Keywords: Strategy

Find at Harvard

04 Jun 2001
What Do You Think?

What’s the Future of the Subscription Model?

Richard Feder maintains that the subscription model will gain momentum on the Internet as the memory of free service fades and the utility of new service increases. The response gives hope for those hoping to View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

20 Mar 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Waste, Recycling and Entrepreneurship in Central and Northern Europe, 1870-1940

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones & Andrew Spadafora

06 Sep 2004
Research & Ideas

The Innovator’s Battle Plan

servicing old versions of products. Companies tend to announce that they are "focusing on the core" or "seeking higher margin opportunities" when flight is in progress. Sometimes companies will launch diversification efforts to flee from an... View Details

Keywords: by Clayton M. Christensen, Scott D. Anthony & Erik A. Roth

05 May 2008
Research & Ideas

Connecting with Consumers Using Deep Metaphors

far more important to understand than the various positions taken on it, although those too are important. Q: What to your mind are a few effective marketing campaigns that have utilized knowledge of deep metaphors? What did they do that... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Consumer Products

January 2017
Case

The Six CEOs of Tyco International Ltd.

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

In September 2016, Johnson Controls, Inc. completed the acquisition of Tyco International PLC, a $9.9 billion business with operating profits of $884 million. The purchase consideration was $14.4 billion. Although the deal was billed as a merger, Ireland-based Tyco... View Details

2019
Working Paper

Rehabilitating Corporate Purpose

By: Malcolm S. Salter

In this paper, I address how the ascendance of the theory of shareholder value maximization into the central consciousness of public corporations and its canonization as the only legitimate expression of corporate purpose has contributed to both a widening breach... View Details

Keywords: Capitalism; Justice; Corporate Purpose; Shareholder Value Maximization; Ethical Reciprocity; Economic Systems; Business Ventures; Mission and Purpose; Ethics; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact

SSRN

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18 Mar 2019
Research & Ideas

Stuck in Commuter Hell? You Can Still Be Productive

employees are in limbo between their home and work roles. This unstructured time gives rise to “role ambiguity,” leaving people with the unpleasant feeling of being unsure what they’re expected to do. Sources: The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

24 Sep 2018
Research & Ideas

How Cost Accounting is Improving Healthcare in Rural Haiti

costs to deliver services,” Shah explains. “Every hard-earned dollar needs to be fully utilized to deliver high-quality citizen care.” Case in point is Haiti, where the governmental outlay for health care expenditures was a mere $54 per... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Health

October 2013 (Revised November 2016)
Case

Carbon Engineering

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and Sid Misra

Dr. David Keith, President of Carbon Engineering, a company based in Calgary, Alberta, is commercializing a technology to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. The company plans to market the captured CO2 to produce low carbon transportation fuels in... View Details

January 2017
Case

Danaher Corporation, 2007–2017

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

On July 2, 2016, Danaher Corporation completed the spinoff of Fortive Corporation. The previous day, Danaher’s stock price had reached an all-time high. In 2015, Danaher had decided to split off its test and measurement, fuel and fleet management, and automation... View Details