Publications

July 2011 (Revised October 2011)
Case

Lady Gaga (A)

By: Anita Elberse and Michael Christensen

In September 2009, Troy Carter, manager of up-and-coming pop star Lady Gaga, has to decide on a new course of action now that his artist's planned co-headlining arena tour with hip-hop superstar Kanye West has been cancelled. Carter knows that continuing the tour, but... View Details

Keywords: Employee Relationship Management; Marketing Strategy; Product; Product Development; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Creativity; Music Industry

06 Aug 2012
Research & Ideas

Strategic Intelligence: Adapt or Die

Corporations, Wells collects case studies from companies that have learned this lesson—some of them the hard way—and explains how all companies can strategize more intelligently. Michael Blanding: Why did you decide to write a book about strategy? John R. Wells: We... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

13 Jul 2010
First Look

First Look: July 13

PublicationsHow Will You Measure Your Life? Authors:Clayton M. Christensen Publication:Harvard Business Review 88, nos. 7-8 (July-August 2010) An abstract is unavailable at this time. Read the Article: http://hbr.org/2010/07/how-will-you-measure-your-life/ar/1 The... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

15 Oct 2007
Research & Ideas

Businesses Beware: The World Is Not Flat

flat world, what differences have mattered, do matter, and will continue to matter for companies? Pankaj Ghemawat: The subtitle is meant to emphasize that we continue to live in a semiglobalized world, one... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

Article

Managing a Polarized Workforce: How to Foster Debate and Promote Trust

By: Julia A. Minson and Francesca Gino

One of the toughest challenges leaders face is managing diverse perspectives—and given heightened tensions over politics and movements such as #MeToo and Black Lives Matter, that’s more difficult today than ever before. At the same time, productive disagreement and... View Details

Keywords: Polarization; Employees; Perspective; Interpersonal Communication; Organizational Culture; Trust

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01 Oct 2014
What Do You Think?

Is Too Much Focus a Problem?

"Excess of everything is bad it always relates to the matter in point (for example) getting big data about our customers and focusing too deeply on it will lead to not noticing other important facets However, while finalizing a... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

17 Nov 2020
In Practice

How Retailers Can Thrive in a Shopping Season Like No Other

retailers struggle to match supply with demand. Many e-retailers are urging consumers to “buy early” this holiday season, citing concerns about postal services and shipping. Given capacity constraints placed upon retail stores by many state governments, retailers are... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Retail

19 Apr 2010
Research & Ideas

The History of Beauty

impact of television both in helping define beauty and in developing the industry? A: During the late 1940s, television spread rapidly across the United States, and soon afterwards elsewhere. Television offered remarkable new opportunities to take brands into people's... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Beauty & Cosmetics

10 Jan 2012
First Look

First Look: January 10

be reinforced in the labor market but do not result in weaker political preferences for redistribution. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/12-048.pdf Inside the Black Box of the Corporate Staff: An Exploratory Analysis... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2022
Background Note

The Future of E-Commerce: Lessons from the Livestream Wars in China

By: Ayelet Israeli, Jeremy Yang and Billy Chan

This note explores the emerging multi-billion dollar commerce trend of livestream commerce. Livestream commerce is the sale of goods or services directly to consumers via live shows on digital platforms (such as social media or e-commerce platforms). It is a form of... View Details

06 Oct 2008
Research & Ideas

Updating a Classic: Writing a Great Business Plan

sector and social entrepreneurs. Q: You wrote in the original article that most business plans "waste too much ink on numbers and devote too little to the information that really matters to intelligent investors." Still true... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

August 6, 2020
Article

Companies Must Go Beyond Random Acts of Humanitarianism

By: Frank Cooper and Ranjay Gulati

Any organization can write a check or mobilize resources when confronted with a crisis such as the Covid-19 pandemic or a social movement such as Black Lives Matter. But corporate crisis response becomes much more meaningful when stakeholders know that the organization... View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact

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08 Mar 2004
Research & Ideas

Secret to Success: Go for “Just Enough”

it seems to be about simpler values. Like the upper-middle-class living room featured in sitcoms, many depictions of a simple life today cost more than you might think. Our collective fixation on "the best" and what the best... View Details

Keywords: by Laura Nash & Howard Stevenson

September 2024 (Revised December 2024)
Case

Ming Min Hui at Boston Ballet

By: Edward H. Chang, David Allen and Annelena Lobb

This case asks how Ming Min Hui, the newly appointed executive director of Boston Ballet, should ensure that the company stays true to its art form yet relevant to its times. Hui stood out among ballet leaders as a young, Asian American woman with a Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: Arts; Change; Diversity; Gender; Race; Entertainment; Theater Entertainment; Leadership; Management; Nonprofit Organizations; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Music Industry; United States; Massachusetts; Boston

07 Jun 2004
What Do You Think?

How Important are Big Ideas?

effective implementation. Matt Crichton pointed out that "... you can have the biggest idea in the world but if you don’t make it personal in your employees’ lives ... the idea will go nowhere." In Kathryn Yates’ words,... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

2021
Book

Time for Reparations: A Global Perspective

By: Jaqueline Bhabha, Margareta Matache and Caroline M. Elkins

In this sweeping international perspective on reparations, Time for Reparations makes the case that past state injustice—be it slavery or colonization, forced sterilization or widespread atrocities—has enduring consequences that generate ongoing harm, which... View Details

Keywords: Reparations; Slavery; Colonization; Structural Racism; State Injustice

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18 Mar 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Modeling Expert Opinions on Food Healthiness: A Nutrition Metric

Keywords: by Jolie Mae Martin, John Leonard Beshears, Katherine Lyford Milkman, Max H. Bazerman & Lisa Sutherland; Retail

September 2022
Case

Deciding When to Engage on Societal Issues

By: Hubert Joly and Amram Migdal

This case provides brief descriptions of 18 examples of corporate leaders confronting questions of whether and how to engage with societal issues, including social, political, and environmental issues. Social issues include COVID-19; social and racial justice;... View Details

Keywords: Political Issues; Social Justice; Racial Justice; Environmental Issues; Social Issues; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Values and Beliefs

August 2017 (Revised July 2018)
Case

MannKind Corporation: Take a Deep Breath, This Time Afrezza Will Work

By: Elie Ofek and Amanda Dai

In June 2014, MannKind Corporation announced that after years of development and billions of dollars in expenses, the FDA had finally approved its drug, Afrezza. MannKind would thus be the only company with an inhalable insulin on the market. As an alternative to... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Product Launch; Product Positioning; Marketing Strategy; Adoption; Pharmaceutical Industry