Publications

Find at Harvard

17 Apr 2019
News

Your Workforce Is More Adaptable Than You Think

01 Jun 2023
HBS Case

A Nike Executive Hid His Criminal Past to Turn His Life Around. What If He Didn't Have To?

Miller vowed to hide his criminal past from the business world—a secret he managed to keep for more than 40 years. That was back in 1982, when arrest and prison records were recorded on paper, stored in filing cabinets, and were much... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Apparel & Accessories

08 Apr 2013
Research & Ideas

How to Demotivate Your Best Employees

productivity. More than 80 percent of companies dole out work-related awards like "employee of the month" or "top salesperson." Managers often view these awards as inexpensive ways to improve worker performance; many believe that when... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Service

18 Aug 2022
Op-Ed

Your Best Employees Are Burning Out: A Framework for Retaining Talent

Burnout, retention, and renewed labor organization are critical challenges for leaders, especially amid COVID-19 and a looming recession. Leaders must ask themselves: What is it about my organization’s culture that is contributing to such... View Details

Keywords: by Hise Gibson and MaShon Wilson

January 1992 (Revised April 1993)
Case

FBO, Inc.

By: Steven C. Wheelwright

FBO, Inc. is a fixed-base operator at a large metropolitan airport. The general manager must decide if the current pooling format is the appropriate way to staff the commercial refueling operations. If pooling is deemed inappropriate then the implementation of a... View Details

Keywords: Selection and Staffing; Labor Unions; Operations; Labor and Management Relations; Aerospace Industry

March 2022 (Revised March 2024)
Case

DaVita Responds to COVID

By: Susanna Gallani and David Lane

Early in August 2021, DaVita CEO Javier Rodriguez was assessing the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on his firm, which provided life-sustaining kidney dialysis to roughly 240,000 people. Effective infection control practices and information sharing had ensured... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Change Management; Communication; Talent and Talent Management; Fairness; Values and Beliefs; Corporate Accountability; Health Care and Treatment; Health Pandemics; Human Resources; Employee Relationship Management; Retention; Wages; Working Conditions; Leadership Style; Crisis Management; Organizational Culture; Health Industry; United States

October 2006 (Revised March 2007)
Case

Production I.G: Challenging the Status Quo

By: Andrei Hagiu, Tarun Khanna, Felix Oberholzer-Gee, Masako Egawa and Chisato Toyama

In July 2006, Mitsuhisa Ishikawa wondered how he could further enhance the success and visibility of his animation production company headquartered in Tokyo, Production I.G. For the year ended May 2006, Production I.G. had sales of 5,439 million yen ($47.3 million),... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Competitive Advantage; Markets; Animation Entertainment; Going Public; Growth and Development Strategy; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; Tokyo

19 Dec 2023
Research & Ideas

15 Podcast Episodes That Grabbed Listeners in 2023

Happiness, artificial intelligence, and climate change were just some of the themes that caught the attention of Harvard Business School podcast listeners in 2023. Here are some of the most-downloaded episodes of the year: Deep Purpose How Framebridge Founder Susan... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

Web

Topics - HBS Working Knowledge

Acquisition (4) Knowledge Dissemination (5) Knowledge Management (40) Knowledge Sharing (14) Knowledge Use and Leverage (11) Knowledge (68) Labor and Management Relations (3)... View Details

November 2017
Teaching Note

Reinventing Best Buy

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

Teaching Note for HBS No. 716-455. On March 1, 2017, Best Buy Company, Inc., North America’s largest retailer of consumer electronics and appliances, announced a third year of comparable-store sales increases and a 20.8% increase in domestic comparable online sales.... View Details

Keywords: Best Buy; Hubert Joly; Renew Blue; Showrooming; Webrooming; E-commerce; E-Commerce Strategy; Online Retail; Multichannel Retailing; Omnichannel; Marketplaces; Turnaround; Consumer Electronics; Consumer Electronics Accessories; Appliances; Stores-within-stores; Store Experience; Store Size; Store Pickup; Store Management; Delivery; Delivery Models; Amazon; Amazon.com; Pricing Strategy; Business Subsidiaries; Business Units; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Entertainment; Film Entertainment; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Music Entertainment; Television Entertainment; Theater Entertainment; Price; Profit; Revenue; Geographic Scope; Multinational Firms and Management; Business History; Cost; Selection and Staffing; Reports; Technological Innovation; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Human Capital; Leading Change; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Teams; Brands and Branding; Product Marketing; Consumer Behavior; Demand and Consumers; Media; Distribution; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Distribution Channels; Infrastructure; Product; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Public Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Programs; Groups and Teams; Sales; Salesforce Management; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Technology; Hardware; Information Technology; Internet; Mobile Technology; Online Technology; Search Technology; Software; Web; Web Sites; Wireless Technology; Resource Allocation; Computer Industry; Electronics Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Information Technology Industry; Retail Industry; Service Industry; Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Video Game Industry; United States; Minnesota; Minneapolis; Saint Paul; St. Paul

27 Jun 2005
Research & Ideas

Asian and American Leadership Styles: How Are They Unique?

and discussion of business, to distinguish among leadership, management, and administration. They are in fact very different; each is valuable and has its place. Briefly, leadership is about a vision of the future and the ability to energize others to pursue it. View Details

Keywords: by D. Quinn Mills

05 Dec 2018
News

6 Ways Traveling Makes You A Better Employee

07 Nov 2017
First Look

New Research and Ideas: November 7, 2017

competitiveness in the face of the territorial extent of the United States and its ability to integrate a dynamic industrial sector with ample raw material supplies, agriculture commodities, markets, and labor into one national economy.... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

February 1999 (Revised June 1999)
Case

Transformation of Pratt & Whitney North Haven (Abridged)

By: H. Kent Bowen, Jeffrey L. Bradach, Linda A. Hill and Kristin Doughty

Business unit manager Tom Hutton has empowered a group of hourly workers to purchase grit blast equipment for two cells. The capital purchase decision runs into some problems when the two cells fail to reach an agreement on which equipment to purchase. A rewritten... View Details

Keywords: Business Units; Decision Making; Labor; Managerial Roles; Failure; Problems and Challenges; Power and Influence; Hardware

Find at Harvard

23 May 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Board Games: Timing of Independent Directors’ Dissent in China

Keywords: by Juan Ma & Tarun Khanna

Web

Employee Welfare – The Human Relations Movement – Baker Library | Bloomberg Center, Historical Collections

to the worker; from the machinery of industry, to the man who made, owns, or operates it. Robert Yerkes, Chairman of the Personnel Research Federation, National Research Council, 1922 Track and Field Events, ca. 1925 Western Electric Company Photograph Album In the... View Details

May 2019 (Revised June 2019)
Background Note

Responsibilities in the Supply Chain

By: Nien-hê Hsieh

Companies are increasingly called upon to take responsibility for what occurs in their supply chains. One particular area of debate is a company’s responsibility for working conditions in supplier factories. This note provides a framework for managers to grapple with... View Details

Keywords: Supply Chain; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Working Conditions; Safety; Corporate Accountability