Publications

May 2025
Background Note

Skills-First Talent Management: The Importance of Managers

By: Boris Groysberg, Nicole Zelazko, Tom Quinn, Robin Abrahams, Izzy Yeoh and Colleen Ammerman

This note supplements a 2025 series on skills-first talent management in organizations, comprising “Skills-First Talent Management: Hiring” (HBS No. 425-019), “Skills-First Talent Management: Onboarding, Development, and Performance Management” (HBS No. 425-020), and... View Details

Keywords: Competency and Skills; Talent and Talent Management; Experience and Expertise; Job Design and Levels; Employment; Human Capital; Management Practices and Processes; United States

24 Sep 2007
Research & Ideas

The FDA: What Will the Next 100 Years Bring?

world's premier regulator of food, drugs, cosmetics, and other products and also of helping to lead the transformation of medicine to a molecular level. Current logistical challenges include ever-more rapid... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Biotechnology; Consumer Products; Food & Beverage; Health

October 2018 (Revised August 2019)
Case

Beth Israel Deaconess: Consolidating to Strengthen, or to Stave Off, Competition?

By: Leemore Dafny

In July 2017, CEO Kevin Tabb of Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center announced his plan to consolidate 11 Massachusetts hospitals under a common management structure. These hospitals collectively generated $5 billion in patient revenue and 25% of... View Details

Keywords: Beth Israel Deaconess; Lahey; Partners; Health Care; Hospitals; Payers; Providers; Anti-trust; Health Care Regulation; Mergers and Acquisitions; Health Care and Treatment; Market Design; Duopoly and Oligopoly; Negotiation; Consolidation; Competition; Health Industry; Massachusetts; Boston

August 2006 (Revised February 2021)
Case

Anthem, Inc.

By: Regina E. Herzlinger

Describes the U.S. Health Care industry and WellPoint's background, market growth strategies, and potential as an investment option. View Details

Keywords: Investment; Growth and Development Strategy; Health; Industry Structures; Organizational Design; Health Industry; United States

15 Jul 2019
Blog Post

Exploring the World of Electric Adventure Vehicles

high-performance SUVs and pickup trucks are as powerful as they are eco-friendly, and are designed to inspire people to get out and explore. “I... View Details

Keywords: Manufacturing; Manufacturing

Profile

Jessey Jin

you most looking forward to in your career? I am going to join a leading global technology and manufacturing conglomerate. I expect to experience something different from the professional service sector I... View Details

Keywords: Manufacturing; Manufacturing; Manufacturing

October 2015 (Revised September 2016)
Technical Note

Flight: Now without Humans Aboard

By: Mitchell Weiss, Karim Lakhani, HT Kung and Kerry Herman

This note provides an overview of the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, or drones) industry in September 2015. UAVs offered many potential applications in industries as diverse as aerial imaging and photography, agriculture, construction, infrastructure inspection and... View Details

Keywords: Public Entrepreneurship; Drones; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Product Design; Research and Development; Technological Innovation; Rights; Ethics; Strategy; Transportation Networks; Market Entry and Exit; Innovation and Management; European Union; Asia; United States

17 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

Harvard Business School Faculty Comment on Crisis in Japan

lean inventories and just in time deliveries, there is not a lot of slack in the system to act as a buffer. This disaster promises to be quite a test. Consider, for example, Shin-Etsu Handotai, one of the world's leading producers of the... View Details

Keywords: Re: Multiple Faculty

January 2011 (Revised September 2011)
Case

Caterpillar, Inc. (A)

By: David F. Hawkins

2010 Healthcare Reform Act eliminates Medicare Part D subsidy and Caterpillar recognizes a $100 million change. View Details

Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Employment; Cost vs Benefits; Forecasting and Prediction; Change Management; Asset Management; Financial Strategy; Activity Based Costing and Management; Business or Company Management; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States

24 Aug 2009
Research & Ideas

SuperCorp: Values as Guidance System

What's good for General Motors may no longer be good for the country. In its place must arise a new model of the company, one that serves society as well as rewarding shareholders and employees, Kanter argues in her new book, SuperCorp:... View Details

Keywords: by Rosabeth Moss Kanter

23 Apr 2013
First Look

First Look: April 23

Publications 2006 University of Chicago Press Manufacturing Morals: The Values of Silence in Business School Education By: Anteby, Michel Abstract—Corporate accountability is never far from the front page, View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 1989 (Revised March 1995)
Teaching Note

Technology Transfer at a Defense Contractor & (Abridged), Teaching Note

By: Linda A. Hill

Teaching Note for (9-489-084) and (9-490-094). View Details

Keywords: Technology Adoption; Job Design and Levels

April 1999 (Revised March 2002)
Background Note

Aluminum Industry in 1994, The

After reaching all-time highs in excess of $2,500 per ton in 1988 and 1989, aluminum prices fall dramatically in the early 1990s as the former Soviet Union begins exporting far larger quantities of metal. By the beginning of 1994, the price has hit all-time lows (in... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Demand and Consumers; Price; Supply and Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Soviet Union

09 Feb 2004
Research & Ideas

Got a New Strategy? Now Make it Happen

years ago we launched a research program to develop a process that leaders could use to engage their people in an honest conversation. The "strategic fitness process" was designed in partnership with senior executives to enhance... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Beer & Russell A. Eisenstat

September 1995 (Revised December 2018)
Case

Managing Innovation at Nypro, Inc. (A)

By: Clayton M. Christensen and Rebecca Voorheis

Nypro is the world's leading injection molder of precision plastic parts, operating a global network of 21 plants. Nypro's strategy is for each plant to offer identical capabilities, because its customers are global companies with worldwide sourcing needs. The case... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Innovation and Management; Operations; Performance Consistency; Manufacturing Industry

January 2002
Exercise

Socrates, Inc.

By: Alan D. MacCormack and Kerry Herman

Socrates, Inc., a provider of e-learning tools and technologies to educational institutions and, potentially, corporations, must decide which of several opportunities to pursue next and which priorities to focus on in terms of better structuring the firm's processes... View Details

Keywords: Business Plan; Business Startups; Internet and the Web; Opportunities; Business Processes; Organizational Structure; Decision Choices and Conditions; Organizational Design; Education Industry; Information Technology Industry