Publications

June 2023
Case

Block: Creating an Ecosystem of Ecosystems

By: Lauren Cohen, Richard Ryffel, Grace Headinger and Ruoshi Qi

At Investor Day 2022, Block announced a new vision for its businesses: creating an ecosystem of ecosystems. Outside the norm for many public growth companies, Block had recently acquired a variety of new business streams in the creator economy and Bitcoin despite a... View Details

2011
Working Paper

Managing Political Risk in Global Business: Beiersdorf 1914-1990

By: Geoffrey Jones and Christina Lubinski

This working paper examines corporate strategies of political risk management during the twentieth century. It focuses especially on Beiersdorf, a German-based pharmaceutical and skin care company. During World War I the expropriation of its brands and trademarks... View Details

Keywords: History; Risk Management; Business History; Multinational Firms and Management; Corporate Strategy; Intellectual Property; Cooperation; Business and Government Relations; Germany

Read Now

September 2003 (Revised June 2006)
Case

"American Challenge, The:" Europe's Response to American Business

By: Geoffrey G. Jones and Meghan Gallagher-Kernstine

Examines the tensions multinationals cause by focusing on Europe's reaction to the growing U.S. multinational investment in the 20th century. Initially, Europeans rarely felt threatened by U.S. investments, however, tensions grew over time. After the Second World War,... View Details

Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Investment; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; United States; Europe

06 May 2019
Research & Ideas

Consumers Blame Business for Global Health Problems. Can Business Become the Solution?

long term. Two Harvard University faculty members—Amy C. Edmondson, the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School, and Dr. Howard K. Koh, the Harvey V. Fineberg Professor of... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Health

November 1990 (Revised May 1994)
Case

Microsoft Corp.: Office Business Unit

By: Marco Iansiti

Describes the development of a new word processing software package, Word for Windows. The major focus is how the development process should be improved to reduce schedule slips and cost overruns. Some of the issues raised are: the use of schedules in managing... View Details

Keywords: Communication Strategy; Cost Management; Business or Company Management; Time Management; Product Development; Programs; Projects; Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Information Technology Industry

05 Feb 2007
Research & Ideas

Business and the Global Poor

Are the world's poor, who individually have less than $5 a day in disposable income, a viable market for new goods and services? Consider the fact that there are four billion people around the globe that fit this description and you have the start of an answer. But... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

22 Jul 2013
Sharpening Your Skills

Sharpening Your Skills: Meeting Management Challenges in India

As Harvard Business School increasingly researches management issues around the world, India has proven a fertile ground for study. In this edition of Sharpening Your Skills, we revisit four articles where... View Details

Keywords: Re: Tarun Khanna & Rohit Deshpande

March 2009 (Revised May 2011)
Case

Risk Management at Wellfleet Bank: Deciding about "Megadeals"

By: Anette Mikes

Inspired by one of the few banks that successfully weathered the 2007-2009 credit crisis, the case illustrates risk management in a corporate finance business. Chief executive Alastair Dowes has to decide if the risk governance process is adequate to uncover mega-risks... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Decision Making; Performance Evaluation; Credit; Balance and Stability; Integrated Corporate Reporting; Decision Choices and Conditions; Negotiation Offer; Performance Effectiveness; Corporate Finance; Banking Industry

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

25 Nov 2019
Working Paper Summaries

The Effect of Systems of Management Controls on Misreporting

Keywords: by Aishwarrya Deore, Susanna Gallani, and Ranjani Krishnan

January 2006 (Revised December 2006)
Case

Wal-Mart's Business Environment

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee

In 2004, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. proposed to build a new supercenter in Inglewood, a low-income community near Los Angeles. The proposal was a part of Wal-Mart's strategy to bring its supercenter format to California. Introduced in the late 1980s, supercenters added a... View Details

Keywords: Goals and Objectives; Expansion; Market Entry and Exit; Corporate Strategy; Labor Unions; Conflict and Resolution; Retail Industry; Los Angeles

2022
Book

The Heart of Business (ハート・オブ・ビジネス)――「人とパーパス」を本気で大切にする新時代のリーダーシップ

By: Hubert Joly and Caroline Lambert

A remarkable turnaround by a leader with a remarkable philosophy: Find your noble purpose. Put people at the center. Unleash human magic.
"It was fall in Minnesota. It was getting cold and we were supposed to die." This is how Hubert Joly describes the early,... View Details

Keywords: Capitalism; Leadership; Mission and Purpose; Business and Stakeholder Relations

November 2003 (Revised March 2008)
Case

Caja España: Managing the Branches to Sell (A)

By: Francisco de Asis Martinez-Jerez and Rosario de Albornoz

Juan Luis Rojas, commercial planning manager of a Caja de Ahorros (savings bank), faces the challenge of motivating the branches to sell more long-term mortgages and ponders whether to use transfer prices to achieve his objective. View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Banks and Banking; Resource Allocation; Organizational Design; Performance Improvement; Sales; Motivation and Incentives; Banking Industry

June 1991 (Revised June 1993)
Case

Railroads and the Beginnings of Modern Management (Abridged)

By: Thomas K. McCraw

Consists of three selections by the most innovative of the early American railroad managers describing the organizational structures and control systems they created. Questions to be asked are: why and how such managerial techniques were created, how well they worked,... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Rail Transportation; Organizational Structure; Management Systems; Rail Industry; United States

21 Nov 2012
Research & Ideas

What Health Care Managers Need to Know--and How to Teach Them

Harvard Business School Professor Regina Herzlinger. “This is not a field for mile-wide, inch-deep managers” On October 4-5, Herzlinger, the Nancy R. McPherson Professor of Business Administration, hosted... View Details

Keywords: by Paul Guttry; Health; Education

September 2012 (Revised April 2013)
Case

Digital Microscopy at Carl Zeiss: Managing Disruption

By: Willy Shih

Ulrich Simon, the head of the Microscopy business group at Carl Zeiss AG knew that his unit was facing a disruptive threat, so he chartered a special team to tackle the industrial segment. Given a high degree of autonomy, the project team developed an understanding of... View Details

Keywords: Modularity; High Technology Products; Emergent Strategy; Product Lines; Corporate Strategy; Digital Platforms; Disruptive Innovation; Technology Industry; Germany

Research Summary

The Emergence of Charismatic Business Leadership

By: Richard S. Tedlow

Since World War II, a handful of individuals have helped transform the face of modern-day leadership, making charisma essential to the role. In The Emergence of Charismatic Business Leadership, Richard S. Tedlow examines how pioneers like Steve Jobs, Oprah... View Details

2021
Book

Management as a Calling: Leading Business, Serving Society

By: Andrew J. Hoffman

Business leaders have tremendous power to influence our society, how it operates, whether it is fair, and the extent to which it impacts the environment. And yet, we do not recognize or call out the responsibility that comes with that power. This book is meant to... View Details

Keywords: Business Education; Power and Influence; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Social Issues; Leadership