Strategic Human Resource Management - Publications - Faculty & Research

May 2014
Case

WeaveTech: High Performance Change

By: Michael Beer and Paul Swiercz

WeaveTech, formerly Johnson-Ware, is a clothing company that produces jackets, coats, overalls, coveralls, and fire-resistant clothing for the military. A private equity firm renamed the company after it acquired Johnson-Ware several years ago. WeaveTech now faces a... View Details

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August 2012
Supplement

William Jeffrey: Departing Bay Colony (C)

By: Lena G. Goldberg

The decision-making process, policies and procedures, and legal obligations of the Board, the company's inside counsel and the company's outside counsel are explored in connection with on-boarding, investigating alleged misconduct of, and terminating a company's CEO,... View Details

Keywords: Leadership And Managing People; Employment Law; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Resignation and Termination; Governance Compliance; Leadership; Insurance Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States

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March 2001 (Revised September 2002)
Case

Merck Latin America (A)

By: Michael Beer and James Weber

Introduces Grey Warner, the vice president of Merck's Latin America region, and his efforts to improve the organizational effectiveness of the region and to introduce a more global business culture and values. Discusses Merck's ethics and values, its Latin American... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Ethics; Business Processes; Strategic Planning; Change Management; Values and Beliefs; Globalized Firms and Management; Employee Relationship Management; Business Strategy; Government and Politics; Economy; Pharmaceutical Industry; Latin America

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February 2016
Case

Express Scripts: Promoting Prescription Drug Home Delivery (A)

By: John Beshears, Patrick Rooney and Jenny Sanford

The pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) sector processes prescription drug claims on behalf of companies that offer a prescription drug benefit to their employees. This case follows Bob Nease, Chief Scientist at Express Scripts, as he considers methods to promote home... View Details

Keywords: Pharmaceuticals; Prescription Drugs; Pharmacy Benefit Manager; PBM; Healthcare; Behavioral Economics; Choice Architecture; Active Choice; Service Delivery; Decision Choices and Conditions; Health Care and Treatment; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Compensation and Benefits; Pharmaceutical Industry

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Research Summary

Professor Wei-Skillern's research is focused in the field of Social Enterprise. Her research examines the creation of social value in both commercial and nonprofit organizations. In the former stream of research on corporate social responsibility, she has studied... View Details

Ashish Nanda

Ashish Nanda is Senior Lecturer and C. Roland Christensen Distinguished Management Educator at Harvard Business School. From 2018 to 2021, he was course head for the MBA Required Curriculum course in Strategy. Beginning in 2022, he is teaching an MBA Elective... View Details

April 2001 (Revised November 2001)
Case

AvantGo

By: Alan D. MacCormack and Kerry Herman

Richard Owen, CEO of AvantGo, is preparing for a meeting in which he will set the human resource policy for the firm going forward. It has been three months since the company's IPO, and given the tremendous cramp in hiring over the six months prior to the IPO, he knows... View Details

Keywords: Initial Public Offering; Management Teams; Selection and Staffing; Retention; Growth and Development Strategy; Performance Evaluation; Information Technology; Decisions; Information Technology Industry; Service Industry; United States

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October 1997 (Revised March 1998)
Case

Komatsu Ltd.: Project G's Globalization

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

This case describes the major strategic and organizational transformation at Komatsu aimed at changing it from a Japan-based producer of construction equipment to a truly global company with the ability to leverage its groupwide portfolio of resources and capabilities... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Construction; Asset Pricing; Investment Portfolio; Global Strategy; Leadership; Resource Allocation; Risk Management; Expansion; Manufacturing Industry; Japan

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October 2023
Case

Making Progress at Progress Software (A)

By: Katherine Coffman, Hannah Riley Bowles and Alexis Lefort

In this case, the Human Capital team at Progress Software has identified that some employees have a hard time understanding how to advance within Progress. This realization leads the team to develop several major people-process innovations: the introduction of... View Details

Keywords: Leading Change; Organizational Culture; Performance Evaluation; Prejudice and Bias; Personal Development and Career; Human Capital; Employee Relationship Management; Technology Industry; Bulgaria

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February 2016 (Revised March 2022)
Case

Express Scripts: Promoting Prescription Drug Home Delivery (B)

By: John Beshears, Patrick Rooney and Jenny Sanford

The pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) sector processes prescription drug claims on behalf of companies that offer a prescription drug benefit to their employees. This case follows Bob Nease, Chief Scientist at Express Scripts, as he considers methods to promote home... View Details

Keywords: Pharmaceuticals; Prescription Drugs; Pharmacy Benefit Manager; PBM; Healthcare; Behavioral Economics; Choice Architecture; Active Choice; Health Care and Treatment; Service Delivery; Decision Choices and Conditions; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Compensation and Benefits

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January 2017 (Revised April 2018)
Background Note

Introduction to Incentive-based Sales Compensation Systems

By: Willy Shih

This background note explains the structure of incentive-based sales compensation systems. View Details

Keywords: Sales Compensation; Sales Force Compensation; Sales Force Management; Sales; Salesforce Management; Compensation and Benefits; Motivation and Incentives; Industrial Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Retail Industry; United States

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2013
Case

Career Pathways, Performance Pay, and Peer-review Promotion in Baltimore City Public Schools

By: Susan Moore Johnson, John J-H Kim, Geoff Marietta, S. Elisabeth Faller and James Noonan

In the fall of 2012, Dr. Andres Alonso had much to celebrate about in his five-year tenure as CEO of Baltimore City Public Schools, including the approval and implementation of an innovative teachers' contract with a jointly-governed four-tier career pathway that tied... View Details

Keywords: Labor Management; Public Education; PELP; Union; Compensation; Collaboration; Public Education Leadership Project; Education; Labor; Compensation and Benefits; Education Industry; United States

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Ethan Bernstein (@ethanbernstein) is an associate professor in the Organizational Behavior unit at Harvard Business School. He has spent his career researching novel talent management practices and their effect on employee behavior, collaboration, and performance.... View Details

February 2009 (Revised June 2010)
Case

Mibanco: Meeting the Mainstreaming of Microfinance

By: Michael Chu and Gustavo A. Herrero

Mibanco, Peru's leading microfinance bank, faces intense competition as the banking industry rushes into low income segments. Companion video clips bring into the classroom the contemporary reality of a world-class microfinance institution, where the unpaved streets... View Details

Keywords: Microfinance; Profit; Business History; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Marketing Strategy; Service Operations; Performance; Competition; Banking Industry; Peru

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September 2019 (Revised December 2019)
Case

Google: To TVC or Not to TVC?

By: William R. Kerr and Carl Kreitzberg

In late 2018, evidence emerged that many of Google’s temporary help agency workers, vendors, and independent contractors (“TVCs”) were unhappy with the company. TVCs, who reportedly made up 49.95% of Google’s 170,000-person global workforce, had raised concerns of... View Details

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15 Nov 2010
Lessons from the Classroom

Connecting Goals and Go-To-Market Initiatives

In some respects, developing strategy is the easy part. Executing that strategy in alignment with strategic priorities is where real mastery of management takes place. We asked Harvard Business School senior... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

16 Aug 2016
First Look

August 16, 2016

these streams and offers human resource management researchers and professionals insights and approaches for helping diverse teams tackle complex problems. Download working... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

06 Jun 2007
Research & Ideas

Behavioral Finance—Benefiting from Irrational Investors

Least Resistance," a paper forthcoming in the Journal of Financial Economics, the authors argue that this sort of passive behavior can have a significant effect on how companies make strategic financing decisions. It all fits under... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

March 2016
Supplement

Trouble at Tessei

By: Ethan Bernstein and Ryan W. Buell

In 2005, Teruo Yabe is asked to revive Tessei, the 669-person JR-East subsidiary responsible for cleaning its Shinkansen ("bullet") trains. Operational mistakes, customer complaints, safety issues, and employee turnover are at or near all-time highs, even as the... View Details

Keywords: Service Management; Employee Engagement; Employee Motivation; Leadership And Managing People; Quality Improvement; Efficiency; Japan; Operational Transparency; Employee Coordination; Transparency; Leadership; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Employees; Quality; Transportation Industry; Japan

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September 2012 (Revised July 2014)
Case

Blackstone's Investment in Intelenet

By: Josh Lerner, Sandeep Bapat and Rachna Tahilyani

Three years had passed since Blackstone's investment in Intelenet Global Services, their third largest investment in India. Great progress had been made, but now a new challenge loomed. Globank, a large global bank, was Intelenet's largest customer. Intelenet's... View Details

Keywords: India; Blackstone; Private Equity; Financial Services Industry; India

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