Publications

March 2014
Course Overview Note

Creating and Sustaining Competitive Advantage

By: Eric Van den Steen

This note gives an overview (for instructors) of the MBA elective course "Creating and Sustaining Competitive Advantage" (CSCA). The course gives students a deep dive on competitive advantage, on its relation to overall strategic performance (defined as performance... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Analysis; Strategic Theory; Economic Analysis; Sustainable Competitive Advantage; Value Capture; Performance And Value Analysis; Strategy And Leadership; Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Value Creation; Values and Beliefs; Leadership

June 2022 (Revised August 2023)
Case

Strategic Innovation at the United Nations: A Network of Ecosystems

By: Frank Nagle, Elizabeth J. Altman and Amy Klopfenstein

In 2021, Gina Lucarelli, leader of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Accelerator Labs, prepared for a meeting with UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner. The two planned to discuss the future of the Accelerator Labs, a network of social innovation labs located... View Details

Keywords: Change; Disruption; Transformation; Change Management; Education; Learning; Environmental Management; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; Geography; Geographic Scope; Global Range; Local Range; Geopolitical Units; Country; Human Resources; Recruitment; Retention; Selection and Staffing; Employees; Employee Relationship Management; Information Technology; Information Management; Innovation and Invention; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Disruptive Innovation; Innovation and Management; Innovation Leadership; Innovation Strategy; Knowledge; Knowledge Acquisition; Knowledge Dissemination; Knowledge Management; Knowledge Sharing; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Organizations; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Organizational Design; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Social Enterprise; Non-Governmental Organizations; Social Psychology; Social and Collaborative Networks; Society; Social Issues; Welfare; Strategy; Cooperation; Adaptation; Public Administration Industry; North and Central America

Teaching Interest

MBA Required Curriculum Leadership and Organizational Behavior (LEAD)

By: Rakesh Khurana

This course focuses on how managers become effective leaders by addressing the human side of enterprise.

The first modules examine teams, individuals, and networks in the context of:

The determinants of group... View Details

2012
Chapter

Pursuing Public Value: Frameworks for Strategic Analysis and Action

By: Herman B. Leonard and Mark H. Moore

Features Harvard Kennedy School scholars who focus diverse conceptual lenses on a single high-stakes management task—enhancing port security across the United States. This title considers the challenge of driving change in a complex system involving hundreds of private... View Details

Keywords: Leading Change; National Security; Complexity; Performance Improvement; United States

Find at Harvard

August 2002 (Revised February 2005)
Case

Gillette Company (B): Leadership for Change

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and James Weber

Describes the actions and behavior of a new CEO in his first days and weeks as he sets expectations for his top management team and introduces processes and disciplines to begin the turnaround of a global consumer products company. View Details

Keywords: Business Strategy; Policy; Change Management; Leading Change; Motivation and Incentives; Strategic Planning; Retail Industry

02 Oct 2013
What Do You Think?

Is Leadership an Increasingly Difficult Balancing Act?

Summing Up What's the Future of the Authority Figure In Leadership? Leadership involves the effective management of tensions characteristic of all organizations. Are such tensions exacerbated by today's need for increasing speed and... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

04 Mar 2002
What Do You Think?

Why the Bull Market in Leadership Books?

"People need something that gives them safety and answers to their questions." On another note, Roseanne Landay attributes the current supply of writing on leadership to the fact that during a slow economy, "many companies... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

Research Summary

Overview

My research examines CEO succession, top management teams, and corporate governance. View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Strategic Leadership; Leadership; Strategic Human Resource Management; CEO Succession; Top Management Teams; Corporate Governance; Organizational Change And Adaptation

09 Nov 2009
Research & Ideas

Come Fly with Me: A History of Airline Leadership

Entrepreneurs, Managers, and Leaders: What the Airline Industry Can Teach Us about Leadership (Palgrave Macmillan), coauthored by Anthony J. Mayo and Nitin Nohria of Harvard Business School, and Mark Rennella, a former research associate.... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Air Transportation

June 2025
Article

Outcome and Process Frames: Strategic Renewal and Capability Reprioritization at the Federal Bureau of Investigation

By: Ryan Raffaelli, Tiona Zuzul, Ranjay Gulati and Jan Rivkin

[Research Summary]: Framing is critical for leaders who must build support for strategic renewal. While research has concentrated on renewal that replaces one set of capabilities with another, we explore a distinctive challenge: how leaders persuade stakeholders to... View Details

Keywords: Framing; Stakeholder Management; Capabilities; Transformation; Leading Change; Crisis Management; Resource Allocation; Government and Politics; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Public Administration Industry

Read Now

14 Feb 2017
Research & Ideas

A Strategy For Steady Leadership in an Unsteady World

forecasting, strategic planning, and statistical decision making have not prepared them for this amount of flux in the environment. In short, these rapid-fire changes are putting extreme pressure on business leaders to lead in ways not... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George

April 2019
Case

Barber Cardiosystems

By: Ranjay Gulati and Paul S. Myers

Barber Cardiosystems, based in Melbourne, Australia, designs and manufactures therapeutic devices used for treatment of coronary conditions. Over four decades, it has grown to be among the top 200 medical device companies in the world. It competes against much larger... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Behavior; Strategic Alignment; Cost Management; Performance Productivity; Organizational Culture; Motivation and Incentives; Organizational Design; Strategy; Leadership; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Australia

21 Aug 2019
Research & Ideas

What Machine Learning Teaches Us about CEO Leadership Style

expressions of chief executives to see if leadership style can be correlated with a firm’s performance. The researchers believe their work could open new directions in big data analysis, combining image and textual analysis to create a... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

21 Feb 2012
Research & Ideas

Leadership Program for Women Targets Subtle Promotion Biases

wrong? In their article Taking Gender into Account: Theory and Design for Women's Leadership Development Programs, which appeared in the September 2011 issue of the Academy of Management Learning & Education, Ely and coauthors... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish

21 May 2001
Research & Ideas

From Tigers to Kaleidoscopes: Thinking About Future Leadership

on-the-ground managers navigate their changing roles as leaders. Three of the essays that address compelling leadership issues were written by prominent HBS faculty members: Linda A. Hill, Christopher A. Bartlett (with two co-authors),... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

2010 - 2010
Conference Presentation

Teams at the Top: Revisiting the Structure and Effects of Strategic Work in Top Management

By: James R. Dillon

This paper examines the usage and effects of small work groups by top management in the course of guiding an organization's strategy process. Reviewing evidence from research literatures on strategy process, strategic leadership, and small groups, I propose that a... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Strategy; Leadership; Practice; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques

8 Feb 2022
Interview

Episode 109: Former Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly

By: Hubert Joly and Adam Mendler

A former Fortune 100 CEO, Hubert Joly was the leader of America's largest consumer electronics retailer. As CEO of Best Buy, Hubert led the company’s turnaround by implementing a distinct leadership philosophy and contrarian strategic decisions. Hubert joins Adam to... View Details

Keywords: Leadership Philosophy; Leadership; Personal Development and Career

2016
Case

Advanced Leadership Pathways: Alberto Mora and the Costs and Consequences of Torture

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Benjamin Summers

Alberto Mora's time as General Counsel of the Navy from 2001–2006 greatly influenced his mission to illuminate the policy consequences of torture. Mora's drive to restore the nation's awareness and conscience against torture was gaining traction. Prominent... View Details

Keywords: Leadership Skills; Torture; Costs And Consequences; Humane; Restraint; Human Dignity; Treatment Of Prisoners; Prison; Repression; Opposition; Revolution; Democracy; Communism; International Affairs; Public Service; September 11; War On Terror; Operation Enduring Freedom; Guantanamo; Cuba; Coalition; Working Group; Cruelty; Interrogation; Memorandum; American Law; Authority; Authoritative; Quadrennial Defense Review; National Defense Authorization Act; Public Engagement; Advocacy; Law; Accountability; Center For The Victims Of Torture; Human Rights; Public Policy; Legality; Morality; Legal System; Tactical Military Operations; West Point; NGO; Human Rights First; American Civil Liberties Union; Human Rights Watch; Amnesty International; Constitution Project; Center For Constitutional Rights; Strategic Military Effect; National Security; Weapon; Terrorism; Prisoners Of War; Abu Ghraib; Pentagon; Ethics; Moral Sensibility; Leadership; Rights; Policy; Public Opinion; United States

May 2013 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Strategy and the Strategist

By: Eric Van den Steen

This short case presents a series of brief accounts, observations, and quotations that challenge students to think about the role of the CEO — and of the CEO's (possibly strong) beliefs and convictions — in strategy. It focuses in particular on three issues and their... View Details

Keywords: Belief Systems; Strategic Analysis; Competitive Advantage; Values; Vision; Strategy And Leadership; Strategy; Leadership; Values and Beliefs