Publications

03 Jan 2008
What Do You Think?

Does Judgment Trump Experience?

can it be done more efficiently and at lower risk than in the "school of hard knocks" assumed in many responses? (David White's comment that " the only way to improve judgment is to make mistakes" was typical of... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

08 Dec 2015
First Look

December 8, 2015

create value by introducing visual transparency between consumers and producers. Although operational transparency has been shown to improve consumer perceptions of service value, existing theory posits that increased contact between... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

17 Nov 2015
First Look

November 17, 2015

in the greater Orlando area and in the east coast towns of Daytona, Melbourne, Merritt Island, and Vero Beach. The performance of these stores had lagged in recent years, and O'Rourke was charged with building a cross-functional district... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

August 2023
Supplement

Reimagining Hindustan Unilever (B)

By: Sunil Gupta and Rachna Tahilyani

In April 2023, as the CEO and MD of Hindustan Unilever (HUL), India’s largest fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) firm, prepared to hand over the firm’s reins to his successor, he proudly reflected on the last decade. His quest to digitally transform HUL into an... View Details

Keywords: Experimentation; Digital Transformation; Digital Strategy; Leading Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business Strategy; Marketing; Performance; Competition; E-commerce; Consumer Behavior; Transformation; Distribution; Decisions; Consumer Products Industry; Asia; India

January 2010
Case

The Future of Financial Reporting

By: Karthik Ramanna

Multimedia/video case on the SEC's work on improvements to financial reporting. Students review topical audio and video from various sources including SEC footage, and interviews with others involved, such as Bob Pozen, (past head of Fidelity and chairman of the SEC's... View Details

Keywords: Fair Value Accounting; Financial Reporting; Financial Management; Performance Improvement

February 1985
Case

General Electric--Thermocouple Manufacturing (B)

By: David A. Garvin

Describes what has happened since the introduction of just-in-time production techniques were developed to reduce inventory. Reviews the progress to date in such areas as process rationalization; set-up reduction; quality improvement and leveling the scheduling; and... View Details

Keywords: Supply Chain; Logistics; Production; Business Processes; Technological Innovation; Quality; Performance Improvement; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Manufacturing Industry

December 2019 (Revised June 2020)
Case

The New LAX: Ready for Takeoff?

By: Boris Groysberg, Kerry Herman and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Chair of LAX Board Sean Burton and LAX CEO Deborah Flint have made progress on streamlining and modernizing LAX's complex capital projects ($12 billion worth) while reorganizing and retooling Los Angeles World Airport (LAWA) staff resources, management processes, and... View Details

Keywords: Leadership And Change Management; Leadership; Change Management; Performance Improvement; Strategic Planning; Air Transportation; Outcome or Result; Air Transportation Industry; Los Angeles

07 May 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Broadening Focus: Spillovers and the Benefits of Specialization in the Hospital Industry

Keywords: by Jonathan R. Clark & Robert S. Huckman; Health

2016
Article

Organizational Decision-Making and Information: Angel Investments by Venture Capital Partners

By: Andy Wu

We study information aggregation in organizational decision-making for the financing of entrepreneurial ventures. We introduce a formal model of voting where agents face costly tacit information to improve their decision quality. Equilibrium outcomes suggest a... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Finance; Angel Investors; Organization Design; Voting; Group Decision-making; Information; Strategy; Organizations; Entrepreneurship; Decision Making; Financing and Loans

Find at Harvard

Read Now

September 2011 (Revised July 2012)
Case

Building Watson: Not So Elementary, My Dear!

By: Willy Shih

This case is set inside IBM Research's efforts to build a computer that can successfully take on human challengers playing the game show Jeopardy! It opens with the machine named Watson offering the incorrect answer "Toronto" to a seemingly simple question during the... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Standards; Product Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Mathematical Methods; Research and Development; Information Technology

29 Dec 2014
Research & Ideas

Most Popular Articles and Research Papers of 2014

2014 is simple but powerful—maybe the best way to improve your work performance is to devote time to reflecting on your actions. Now is also your chance to tell Working Knowledge readers in more than 200... View Details

January 2018
Case

PrimeStone Capital and dormakaba

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Quinn Pitcher

London-based activist hedge fund PrimeStone Capital identifies a potential investment in Swiss security company Kaba. PrimeStone believes that the company is undervalued because it has been pushing back various financial targets and thinks it can help by proposing a... View Details

Keywords: Investment Activism; Value Creation; Executive Compensation; Performance Improvement

June 2008 (Revised May 2017)
Case

Cook Composites and Polymers Co.

By: Deishin Lee, Michael W. Toffel and Rachel Gordon

This case describes how a company improves resource efficiency and process quality in its manufacturing process by developing a waste by-product into a new product. The case describes how CCP cleans production equipment between batches using styrene, which becomes a... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Product Development; Business Processes; Performance Efficiency; Natural Environment; Wastes and Waste Processing; Pollutants; Environmental Sustainability; Chemical Industry; Manufacturing Industry

March 2023 (Revised January 2024)
Case

Deepa Bachu (A): Design Thinking at Pensaar Design

By: Thomas Graeber, Joshua Schwartzstein and Amram Migdal

In this case, set in June 2019 in Bangalore, Karnataka, India, Deepa Bachu of Pensaar Design and her team work with client ITC Ltd. to use design thinking and behavioral experiments to improve workplace safety and strive toward the company’s zero-accident goal. The... View Details

October 2000 (Revised June 2017)
Case

Vyaderm Pharmaceuticals: The EVA Decision

By: Robert Simons and Indra A. Reinbergs

In 2016, the new CEO of Vyaderm Pharmaceuticals introduces an Economic Value Added (EVA) program to focus the company on long-term shareholder value. The EVA program consists of three elements: EVA centers (business units), EVA drivers (operational practices that... View Details

Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Employee Relationship Management; Economic Growth; Economic Systems; Management; Motivation and Incentives; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Performance Evaluation; Decision Choices and Conditions; Pharmaceutical Industry; Washington (state, US)

March 2015 (Revised January 2024)
Case

CV Ingenuity (A): How to Evaluate the Commercial Viability of New Health Care Technologies

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Andrew Otazo

Duke Rohlen (HBS MBA ’01) hoped to win over a prominent venture capital investor for Series B financing of his firm CVI that was creating a drug-eluting balloon (DES) to treat peripheral arterial disease. As a second-mover, Duke felt he was more likely to acquire... View Details

March 2008
Exercise

Exercise: Challenging Operational Assumptions

By: Frances X. Frei

This exercise provides students with an opportunity to thoroughly test an operating assumption. Students state an assumption as a testable hypothesis, collect and analyze relevant data, and communicate the results. At HBS, it is incorporated in a second-year elective... View Details

Keywords: Customers; Employees; Knowledge Acquisition; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Service Operations; Performance Improvement

Find at Harvard

2009
Article

Placing the Normative Logics of Accountability in 'Thick' Perspective

By: Alnoor Ebrahim

This article provides a critical reflection on the heavily normative nature of current accountability debates. In particular, it explores three streams of normative discourse on nonprofit accountability: improving board governance, improving performance-based... View Details

Keywords: Fair Value Accounting; Accounting; Governance; Performance Evaluation; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Goals and Objectives; Management Practices and Processes; Power and Influence; Social and Collaborative Networks; Organizational Structure; Relationships; Accounting Industry