Publications

22 Mar 2016
First Look

March 22, 2016

must overcome severe individual and organizational biases that prevent managers and employees from thinking deeply and analytically about their risk exposure. In this paper, we draw lessons from seven case studies about the View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 2021 (Revised May 2023)
Case

Engine No.1: An Impact Investing Firm Engages with ExxonMobil

By: Mark Kramer, Shawn Cole, Vikram S. Gandhi and T. Robert Zochowski

ExxonMobil, the world's fifth largest source of carbon emissions, remained committed to aggressively expanding its oil & gas business despite global warming. During the COVID pandemic this strategy resulted in massive losses as the price and demand for oil declined. ... View Details

Keywords: Carbon Emissions; Global Warming; Impact Investment Funds; Hedge Fund Activism; Leadership Development; Business Model; Renewable Energy; Resource Allocation; Decision Choices and Conditions; Governing and Advisory Boards

15 May 2012
First Look

First Look: May 15

PublicationsThe Two Facets of Collaboration: Cooperation and Coordination in Strategic Alliances Authors:Ranjay Gulati, Franz Wohlgezogen, and Pavel Zhelyazkov Publication:The Academy of Management Annals (forthcoming) Abstract This... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

Research Summary

Reinvention and “Frame Flexibility”

By: Ryan L. Raffaelli

Adopting a radical innovation creates pressure for leaders to reframe their mental models while they also sustain their organization's existing capabilities and product category variants. Yet at key junctures in a product class and during technological change, a... View Details

Keywords: Institutional Change; Innovation ＆ Entrepreneurship; Diffusion Processes; Technology Adoption; Cognition and Thinking; Identity; Emotions

March 2015 (Revised December 2016)
Case

American Well: The DTC Decision

By: Elie Ofek and Natalie Kindred

In late 2013, telehealth company American Well, which developed a digital platform that allowed patients to conduct online medical consultations with physicians, is considering pursuing a direct-to-consumer (DTC) strategy. Founded in 2006, American Well had, to date,... View Details

Research Summary

Overview

By: Jorge Tamayo

Professor Tamayo’s research focuses on theoretical modeling and structural estimation of firm decision-making and productivity.

Professor Tamayo studies dynamic competition for customer membership. Generally, firms that implement a membership model charge a... View Details

November 2010
Article

Beyond the Deal: Wage a 'Negotiation Campaign'

By: James K. Sebenius

While negotiation scholars primarily take the individual transaction as the "unit of analysis," this article characterizes the (new) concept of a "negotiation campaign" in which a number of individual deals must be put together, often on multiple "fronts," to realize a... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Deal; Management Practices and Processes; Value; Problems and Challenges; Business Startups; Sales; Partners and Partnerships; Venture Capital

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08 May 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Corporate and Integrated Reporting: A Functional Perspective

Keywords: by Robert Eccles & George Serafeim

November 2018 (Revised October 2019)
Case

Rebuilding Puerto Rico

By: Laura Alfaro, Laura Phillips Sawyer and Haviland Sheldahl-Thomason

On September 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria swept over Puerto Rico, devastating the island’s infrastructure and agriculture. The natural disaster was layered atop years of mounting financial distress. Before the hurricane, Puerto Rico had accumulated $74 billion in debt and... View Details

Keywords: Natural Disasters; Financial Crisis; Infrastructure; Borrowing and Debt; Economy; Strategic Planning; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Puerto Rico

2014
Working Paper

The Nobel Prize: A 'Heritage-based' Brand-oriented Network

By: Mats Urde and Stephen A. Greyser

Purpose — Understanding the Nobel Prize as a 'true' heritage brand in a networked situation and its management challenges, especially regarding identity and reputation.

Methodology — The Nobel Prize serves as an in-depth case study and is analysed within... View Details

Keywords: Nobel Prize; Heritage Brand; Brand Network; Networked Brand; Brand Within A Network; Brand Orientation; Brand Stewardship; Corporate Brand Identity; Reputation; Networks; Organizations; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Brands and Branding

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February 2023 (Revised July 2023)
Case

Moleskine Foundation: Can Creativity Change the World?

By: Ryan Raffaelli, Alexandra C. Feldberg and Sarah Gulick

The Italy-based Moleskine Foundation worked with young adults in Africa and Europe to inspire social change through art and creative projects. Adama Sanneh, the newly appointed CEO of the Moleskine Foundation, faced several challenges: First, he had to make his own... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Social Enterprise; Leadership; Identity; Strategy; Education Industry; Italy; Africa; Europe; United States

14 Dec 2007
Op-Ed

When Your Product Becomes a Commodity

Editor's Note: Harvard Business School professor John Quelch writes a blog on marketing issues, called Marketing Know: How, for Harvard Business Online. It is reprinted on HBS Working Knowledge. How often have you heard a manager blame... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch

September–October 2023
Article

A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats: The Effects of Common Ownership on Corporate Social Responsibility

By: Mark R. DesJardine, Jody Grewal and Kala Viswanathan

Common owners face an incredible investment challenge: managing systematic risk. Because common owners hold shares in multiple firms across an industry, an action (or inaction) by one firm that affects industry peers is felt more severely by common owners than by... View Details

Keywords: Common Ownership; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Institutional Investing; Corporate Governance; Risk and Uncertainty; Investment Return

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March 2025 (Revised March 2025)
Case

Seattle's Climate Pledge Arena: Ticket to a Greener Future

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jacob A. Small

Tim Leiweke reviewed how his development group and partners had completely rebuilt an aging Seattle landmark into the world’s greenest arena, carrying the visible name Climate Pledge Arena. It had attracted a new National Hockey League franchise, the Kraken, and... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Leadership; Bids and Bidding; Standards; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Green Buildings; Innovation Leadership; Partners and Partnerships; Power and Influence; Operations; Green Technology Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Seattle

January 2021 (Revised May 2021)
Case

Delta Air Lines: Navigating the COVID-19 Storm

By: Ted Berk and Ryan Flamerich

This case examines Delta Air Lines’ response as demand for its services plummeted in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on the company’s funding needs and capital structure. Following a series of initial actions, the company’s cash “burn” had reduced from... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Health Pandemics; Financial Condition; Capital Structure; Crisis Management; Risk Management; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Air Transportation Industry

May 2016
Article

'Both/And' Leadership

By: Wendy K. Smith, Marianne Lewis and Michael Tushman

Leaders face a multitude of strategic paradoxes—contradictory pressures that are too often viewed as "either/or" choices. There are innovation paradoxes, in which the pursuit of new offerings and processes conflicts with the mandate to sustain the tried and... View Details

Keywords: Conflict of Interests; Goals and Objectives; Business Processes

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2025
Working Paper

An Empirical Examination of Business Climate Alliances: Effective and/or Harmful?

By: Matteo Gasparini and Peter Tufano

This research studies business alliances that seek to address climate change, offering empirical evidence to address claims advanced by alliance supporters and critics. We study eleven major alliances mostly focused on financial services firms and 424 major... View Details

Keywords: Antitrust; Climate Change; Financial Institutions; Competition; Network Effects; Alliances

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October 8, 2012
Column

Henkel's Culture Shift

By: Robert Simons

This case descriibes a CEO-led organizational transformation driven by stretch goals, performance measurement, and accountability. When Kasper Rorsted became CEO of Henkel, a Germany-based producer of personal care, laundry, and adhesives products, in 2008, he was... View Details

Keywords: Strategy Execution; Culture; New CEO; Change; Performance Measures; Accountability; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Corporate Accountability; Leading Change; Competitive Strategy; Organizational Culture; Performance Evaluation; Consumer Products Industry; Germany

February 2019 (Revised June 2019)
Case

Where to Grow Next at Online Marketplace OLX

By: Thales Teixeira, Leandro A. Guissoni and Samy Dana

The CEO of OLX Brazil, an online classifieds platform business, is debating among multiple paths to grow sustainably (i.e., profitably) without the need for investor money. The options under consideration are (1) penetration growth by focusing on the core, (2) new... View Details

Keywords: Online Marketplace; Growth; Customer Acquisition; Facebook; Two-sided Network; E-commerce; Classifieds; Naspers; Schibsted; Innovation; Startup; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Model; Innovation and Invention; Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Brazil