Publications

28 Jan 2020
Book

Advanced Leadership Requires More Than Outside-The-Box Thinking

expertise, and then gathering them in the quest for a common goal—the way Torsten Thiele, a European banker, helped get insurance companies together with NGOs to look at projects to improve the health of the... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

March 2024 (Revised September 2024)
Case

Vineyard Wind Starts Spinning: Overcoming Onshore Challenges to Offshore Wind

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jacob A. Small

To activate the first wind turbines in the ocean off Martha’s Vineyard eventually supplying clean energy to 400,000 households, Vineyard Wind’s leaders had to navigate the permitting process, numerous delays, and objections from stakeholders in three communities:... View Details

Keywords: Climate Change; Renewable Energy; Joint Ventures; Green Technology; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Massachusetts; Martha's Vineyard; New Bedford; New England

20 Sep 2017
Research & Ideas

The Three Types of Leaders Who Create Radical Change

presidential victory. The Innovator develops a solution to address the grievances. That means anticipating roadblocks and coming up with alternative paths, as well as justifying those alternatives in... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

Research Summary

Overview

By: Ethan C. Rouen

Relying on empirical archival methodologies—as well as techniques in data science—to develop and structure new sources of data by which to approach questions of looming disclosure changes, Professor Rouen has focused on one of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s... View Details

21 Sep 2022
Research & Ideas

You Don’t Have to Quit Your Job to Find More Meaning in Life

It’s a philosophical debate as old as time: What is the secret to leading a meaningful life? For many, the question gained new urgency after years of social distancing and upheaval during the COVID-19 pandemic. After surviving a public... View Details

Keywords: by Shalene Gupta

18 Jul 2023
News

The First Five Years: Brooke Biederman (MBA 2019)

market and sell products. The Moral Leader uses great literature to teach great leadership, a dream of a class for this English major. We studied how great leaders—fictional characters as well as history’s... View Details

Keywords: Robert Bochnak

Blog

Take Control of Your Personal Brand

branding is all about. We all want to be well thought of in the minds of others who are important to our happiness and to the achievement of our goals. We all have a personal brand, whether we like it or... View Details

October 2014 (Revised June 2021)
Teaching Note

Making Room for the Baby Boom: Senior Living

By: Charles F. Wu and Ben Eppler

Tom Alperin's firm National Development is an experienced multifamily and commercial developer in the Northeast. It has a strong track record for working on challenging projects, delivering high quality products and generating strong returns for his investors. The firm... View Details

Keywords: Housing; Age; Investment Return; Construction Industry; Real Estate Industry; Massachusetts

August 2011 (Revised November 2011)
Case

The U.S. Military Academy at West Point

By: Anat Keinan

The case examines an iconic institution's decision on whether or not to undertake a branding initiative. Founded in 1802, West Point has played a key role in America's history. It is one of the nation's oldest institutions of higher learning and is well known for... View Details

Keywords: Surveys; Resource Allocation; Brands and Branding; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Competitive Strategy; Education Industry; United States

September 2012 (Revised May 2013)
Case

Automating the Paris Subway (A)

By: Michel Anteby, Elena Corsi and Emilie Billaud

In 2001, the head of the Paris Subway reflected on how to transform Line 1 into a driverless line without triggering a social conflict. After the shock of the 2000 Notre Dame de Lorette subway accident, in which a train derailed and caused 25 injuries in a Paris subway... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Technological Innovation; Rail Transportation; Labor Unions; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Conflict Management; Rail Industry; Transportation Industry; Paris

April 2009
Case

GSK's Acquisition of Sirtris: Independence or Integration?

By: Toby E. Stuart and James Weber

An executive from pharmaceutical company GSK must choose how much to integrate a recently acquired biotechnology firm, Sirtris. Moncef Slaoui, GSK's global head of R&D, championed the acquisition of Sirtris to gain access to its potentially revolutionary science.... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Resource Allocation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Research and Development; Science-Based Business; Integration

29 Nov 2021
Research & Ideas

How Bonuses Get Employees to Choose Work Over Family

you are not working is a moment that's wasted,” says Whillans. “The negative effects of constantly choosing work over personal relationships appear to accumulate over time and in turn contribute to negative mental View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Kim Raczka

2012
Working Paper

Do Market Leaders Lead in Business Process Innovation? The Case(s) of E-Business Adoption

By: Kristina S. McElheran

This paper explores the relationship between market position and business process innovation. Prior research has focused on the alignment between new technologies and the internal capabilities of firms to pursue them. I extend the investigation to include external... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Technological Innovation; Leadership; Business Processes; Behavior; Motivation and Incentives; Technology Adoption; Manufacturing Industry; United States

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February 2016
Teaching Note

Akın Öngör's Journey

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

The case of Akın Öngör's Journey describes a highly successful former CEO with stellar leadership skills, who transformed a bank in Turkey into one of the world's best, steered it to contribute to his country's social agenda, influenced business practices of other... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Change Management; Social Entrepreneurship; Business and Community Relations; Turkey

18 Mar 2008
First Look

First Look: March 18, 2008

returns are more positive for acquisitions in which both the target and the acquirer are financed by the same venture capital firm. Similarly, we find that having a common investor increases both the likelihood that a transaction will be... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

October 2021
Case

Unshrinking the Pie: Desirée Stolar's Negotiation Saga (A)

By: James K. Sebenius and Alex Green

When Desirée (“Des”) Stolar’s wool sweater shrank two sizes, the Harvard Business School student worked with classmates to develop a solution that both fixed her problem and launched Unshrinkit, a successful consumer goods company with a widely-available product for... View Details

Keywords: Bargaining; Startups; Negotiation; Contracts; Negotiation Tactics; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Strategy; Consumer Products Industry