Publications

10 Apr 2014
Research & Ideas

John Kotter’s Plan to Accelerate Your Business

To succeed in today's fast-moving economy, traditional corporate structures are holding back companies, even great companies, from being creative enough and speedy enough to compete effectively. What's needed, argues Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard

21 Feb 2005
Op-Ed

Is Business Management a Profession?

Repeated and, as of this writing, ongoing revelations of corporate wrongdoing over the past two years have eroded public trust in business institutions and executives to levels not seen in decades. A recent Gallup poll indicates that... View Details

Keywords: by Rakesh Khurana, Nitin Nohria & Daniel Penrice

October 2016 (Revised April 2018)
Case

JCPenney: Back in Business

By: Elie Ofek, K. Shelette Stewart and Christine Snively

In 2016, JCPenney was in the midst of a multi-year turnaround after coming dangerously close to bankruptcy. Under CEO Marvin Ellison, the company had identified three strategic objectives—a focus on omnichannel, private label goods, and increasing revenue per... View Details

Keywords: Retail; Customer Management; Omnichannel; Turnarounds; Private Label; Promotions; Marketing Strategy; Brands and Branding; Customer Relationship Management; Goals and Objectives; Competition; Retail Industry; United States

26 Jun 2000
Research & Ideas

What’s an Internet Business Model? Ask a Health Care Professional

Though the Internet has woven itself into most aspects of life, few fields have adopted it more actively, and at times controversially, than health care. What new business models in health care, based on the Internet, are rising to the... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Health

June 12, 2019
Article

Business as Usual Will Not Save the Planet

By: Mark R. Kramer, Rishi Agarwal and Aditi Srivinas

The United Nations’ 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) were explicitly designed to engage the private sector in addressing the world’s most pressing challenges. Four years into the UN’s 15-year timeline, the question is whether companies are advancing serious... View Details

Keywords: Sustainable Development; Environmental Sustainability; Goals and Objectives; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Planning

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October 2024
Article

On Why Women-owned Businesses Take More Time to Secure Microloans

By: Goran Calic, Moren Lévesque and Anton Shevchenko

Examining gender differences in business financing reveals important dimensions on which women- and men-owned businesses differ. Although considerable progress has been made in understanding gender differences in mobilizing resources, the role of time in business... View Details

Keywords: Microfinance; Gender; Financing and Loans; Equality and Inequality; Risk and Uncertainty; Decision Choices and Conditions; Entrepreneurship

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August 2006 (Revised July 2007)
Background Note

Governance of the Family Business Owners

By: John A. Davis

Reviews the principal ways in which the owners of a family business achieve their governance objectives of a suitable identity and sensible direction and the discipline to achieve these. Covers the responsibilities and rights of owners, plus governance procedures,... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Corporate Governance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Goals and Objectives; Family Ownership

May 25, 2016
Comment

How Consumers and Businesses are Reshaping Public Health

By: John A. Quelch

Healthcare and education are two issues in which citizens around the world, rich and poor, are passionately interested. It has long been appreciated that the way that a society treats its youngest and oldest members says much about its moral maturity. Economic... View Details

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30 Nov 2021
In Practice

What's the Role of Business in Confronting Climate Change?

The 26th annual United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties, also known as COP26, ended with a hard-fought pact that called on businesses and governments to meet their climate change goals faster. The event followed an August report by the Intergovernmental... View Details

Keywords: by Lynn Schenk and Dina Gerdeman

June 2015
Case

B Lab: Can it Scale Business as a Force for Good?

By: Christopher Marquis and Matthew Lee

To achieve its goal of redefining success in business, B Lab recognizes it needs to scale. Its strategy to do so requires B Lab to depend heavily on new partners, venture into new markets, influence new audiences, and to strike a balance between standards and... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Expansion; Social Entrepreneurship

21 Feb 2007
Op-Ed

What a U.N. Partnership with Big Business Could Accomplish

for a local business to flourish, it must invariably be connected to world markets, credit, and technology. That's why multinational corporations must play a critical role. The goal of poverty reduction will... View Details

Keywords: by George C. Lodge & Craig Wilson

September 2019 (Revised May 2020)
Supplement

Keroche (D): Transforming the Core Business

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Pippa Tubman Armerding

This case describes Keroche co-founder Tabitha Karanja’s decision to exit the wine business following the Kenyan government’s 2007 increase in excise taxes on wine. In August 2007, Keroche introduced the vodka drink Viena Ice as a replacement for its fortified wines,... View Details

July 1995
Background Note

Managerial Duties and Business Law

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr. and Jerry Useem

Consists of excerpts from Principles of Corporate Governance, a set of legal guidelines that enumerates the principal duties of corporate managers and directors, including fiduciary duty, duty of care, and duty of fair dealing. Also addresses legal obligations relating... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Corporate Governance; Retention; Common Law; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Managerial Roles