Publications

Article

The Business of Business Schools: Restoring a Focus on Competing to Win

By: Robert Simons

As business leaders worry about the decline of American competitiveness, business schools are responding by changing their curriculums. But are the topics and approaches taught in today's business schools part of the solution or part of the problem? In this paper, I... View Details

Keywords: Business Schools; Purpose Of Business Schools; Management Education; Business School Curriculum; Strategy Execution; U.S. Competitiveness; Capitalism; Management Profession; Innovation; Competing To Win; Integrated Corporate Reporting; Trends; Customer Focus and Relationships; Decision Making; Design; Business Education; Curriculum and Courses; Innovation and Management

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February 2011
Case

Jamie Turner at MLI, Inc.

By: John J. Gabarro and Colleen Kaftan

The case describes the evolution of an interpersonal mismatch between a previously successful manager, Jamie Turner, and his new boss, Pat Cardullo. Turner, a 32-year-old MBA graduate, has been recruited by Cardullo to be vice president of marketing and sales at Modern... View Details

Keywords: Communication; Interpersonal Relations; Superior ＆ Subordinate; Micro Organizational Behavior; Performance Management; Personal Strategy ＆ Style; Management Style; Conflict Management; Interpersonal Communication; Employee Relationship Management; Rank and Position; Performance; Communication Strategy; Personal Development and Career; Acquisition; Distribution Industry; Consumer Products Industry; San Diego; Chicago

March 2016 (Revised October 2017)
Case

Salesforce.com vs. Siebel (Abridged)

By: David B. Yoffie

Explores the phenomenon of software becoming a service. Salesforce.com has catapulted into the lead for offering a customer relationship management (CRM) solution as a Web-based service. Siebel, the leader in CRM packaged software sales, has to devise a strategy to... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Competitive Strategy; Software

2009
Book

The Adventures of an IT Leader

By: Robert D. Austin, Richard L. Nolan and Shannon O'Donnell

Becoming an effective IT manager presents a host of challenges-from anticipating emerging technology to managing relationships with vendors, employees, and other managers. Ultimately, a good IT manager must be a strong business leader, not just a technical... View Details

Keywords: Books; Leadership; Crisis Management; Personal Development and Career; Relationships; Safety; Information Technology

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28 Nov 2023
Book

Economic Growth Draws Companies to Asia. Can They Handle Its Authoritarian Regimes?

and others do not, or for why some crony relationships facilitate growth and others create crisis or stagnation. What strategies do authoritarian political elites adopt to manage the business class? What... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

August 2013 (Revised December 2017)
Supplement

Harold Mills at ZeroChaos (B)

By: Lena G. Goldberg and Maurice L. Kuykendoll II

After leading a management buy-out, Harold Mills transformed ZeroChaos into a global staffing enterprise. Poised to raise additional capital to fund the company's next phase of growth, he was also confronting the liquidity demands of his early-stage investors and... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Growth and Development Strategy; Business and Shareholder Relations

Thomas J. DeLong is a Baker Foundation Professor of Management Practice and the former Philip J. Stomberg Professor of Management Practice in the Organizational Behavior Department at the Harvard Business School. He is an expert in leader development, organizational... View Details

May 2006 (Revised November 2006)
Case

IKEA's Global Sourcing Challenge: Indian Rugs and Child Labor (A)

By: Christopher A. Bartlett, Vincent Marie Dessain and Anders Sjoman

Traces the history of IKEA's response to a TV report that its Indian carpet suppliers were using child labor. Describes IKEA's growth, including the importance of a sourcing strategy based on its close relationships with suppliers in developing countries. Details the... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Moral Sensibility; Policy; Employment; Contracts; Supply Chain Management; Organizational Culture; Natural Environment; Non-Governmental Organizations; Social Issues

Robert Simons is a Baker Foundation Professor at Harvard Business School. For over 35 years, Simons has taught accounting, management control, and strategy execution courses in both the Harvard MBA and Executive Education Programs. For 2023/24, he is... View Details

02 Mar 2020
Blog Post

Know Your Audience – Recruiting HBS Students for Energy

Director Amanda Schmitt – Recruiting Relations Manager Together, Phillip and Amanda make up the Career & Professional Development team that manages relationships with... View Details

Keywords: Energy / Cleantech

March 2016
Case

Tenet Healthcare and Conifer Health Solutions

By: Robert F. Higgins and Jeet Guram

This case explores the relationship between Tenet Healthcare, the third largest for-profit hospital chain, and its subsidiary Conifer Health Solutions, a health services company. Conifer's IT programs help healthcare providers with revenue cycle management and... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare; Health Solutions; Business Subsidiaries; Growth Management; Health Care and Treatment; Information Technology Industry; Health Industry; Texas

November 2008 (Revised September 2014)
Background Note

Differences at Work: The Leadership Challenge

By: Sandra J. Sucher

This note reviews research findings on the leadership challenges of diversity, including the social psychology of similarity and difference, the value of multiple perspectives to problem-solving, the relationship between diversity and firm performance, and management... View Details

Keywords: Prejudice and Bias; Leadership; Behavior; Ethics; Organizational Culture; Diversity

21 Jan 2021
Video

Hemendra Kothari

Hemendra Kothari, chairman of DSP Investment Managers in India, discusses how his bank forged relationships with western institutions such as Dresdner Bank and Merrill Lynch during the 1970s and 1980s. View Details

05 Jan 2021
Video

Beatriz Fernández

Beatriz Fernández, Co-Founder and Manager of Crepes & Waffles S.A., explains the decision to grow her business internationally in the 1990s, going first to Ecuador and then across the Atlantic by focusing on her relationships with the local communities, local tastes,... View Details

June 2024
Teaching Note

Beamery: Using Skills and AI to Modernize HR

By: Boris Groysberg, David Lane, Susan Pinckney and Alexis Lefort

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 424-004. Unicorn human relationships startup Beamery evaluates it growth versus depth strategy as its strategic partners and customers could become future competitors in a quickly changing AI based human resources and talent management... View Details

November 2011
Teaching Note

Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul? (Brief Case)

By: Michael J. Roberts and Paul E. Morrison

Teaching Note for Product #4377. View Details

Keywords: Capacity Utilization; Supply ＆ Demand; Operations Management; Customer Service; Management; Demand and Consumers; Operations; Customer Focus and Relationships; Supply and Industry; Capital

March 2005 (Revised April 2007)
Case

Comergent Technologies Inc.: Enterprise E-Commerce

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Marie Bell

Coming out of the 2001 high-tech industry recession, this venture capital start-up has to come up with a marketing plan to break even and grow. Its innovative e-commerce software provides unique customer relationship management solutions, but it has to convince... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Customer Relationship Management; Financial Crisis; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Business or Company Management; Marketing Strategy; Problems and Challenges; Software; Information Technology Industry

May 2021
Supplement

Paul Levy: Confronting a 'Corporate Campaign' (B)

By: James K. Sebenius and Isaac Silberberg

Paul Levy, CEO of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center hospital is faced with a formidable negotiation campaign to unionize staff at BIDMC. Armed only with his personal blog, does Paul stand a chance against the union's multi-million dollar organizing budget? View Details

Keywords: Healthcare; Healthcare Industry; Hospital Management; Unions; Negotiation Campaign; Blog; Health Care and Treatment; Labor; Labor Unions; Labor and Management Relations; Negotiation; Strategy; Social Media; Health Industry; Massachusetts; United States

August 1999 (Revised June 2008)
Case

Taran Swan at Nickelodeon Latin America (A)

By: Linda A. Hill and Kristin Doughty

Eighteen months after launching Nickelodeon Latin America, general manager Taran Swan must leave the company's Miami headquarters for her New York home because of complications with her pregnancy. Unable to travel for at least the next six months, Swan must decide how... View Details

Keywords: Selection and Staffing; Leadership Style; Managerial Roles; Organizational Culture; Groups and Teams