Publications

Stefan Thomke (sthomke@hbs.edu), an authority on the management of innovation, is the William Barclay Harding Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He has worked with firms on product, process, and... View Details

25 Jun 2012
News

Harvard’s prescription for a broken American political system

09 Jan 2015
News

Report: Don't let integration cause physician micromanagement

May 2017
Case

Cambridge Franchise Partners

By: Richard Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Two partners commence a rollup in the quick-service restaurant segment. They focus on operating improvements and spinning-off real estate. View Details

Keywords: Real Estate; Mergers and Acquisitions; Operations; Performance Improvement; Property; Management

17 May 2022
Cold Call Podcast

Delivering a Personalized Shopping Experience with AI

Keywords: Re: Jill J. Avery

July 1994 (Revised August 1994)
Case

Pacific Bell: Centrex Reengineering

Describes the redesign and rollout of the new order-fulfillment process for a flagship product at Pacific Bell. Pacific Bell is one of the Regional Bell Operating Companies comprised of seven regional business units. Rather than implement the new process, roles, and... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Information Technology; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Telecommunications Industry

16 Jan 2020
News

5 Ways Office Design Helps Your Company Navigate Change

Robert S. Kaplan

Robert S. Kaplan is Senior Fellow and Marvin Bower Professor of Leadership Development, Emeritus at the Harvard Business School. He joined the HBS faculty in 1984 after spending 16 years on the faculty of the business school at Carnegie-Mellon University, where he... View Details

Keywords: health care; nonprofit industry

28 Jan 2022
News

Helping Trapped Low-Wage Workers, Employers Struggling to Fill Spots

13 Oct 2021
News

Executive Education Courses in Social Entrepreneurship and Nonprofit Leadership

16 Jul 2008
Op-Ed

What Should Employers Do about Health Care?

delivery reveals some powerful, and ultimately optimistic, principles. First, the best way truly to reduce health care cost is to improve its quality—better diagnoses, more timely treatment, less invasive methods, getting the right... View Details

Keywords: by Michael E. Porter, Elizabeth O. Teisberg & Scott Wallace; Health

12 Feb 2015
Video

Philanthropy 2.0: Investing with a Purpose

August 2007 (Revised April 2008)
Case

Texas Pacific Group--J. Crew

By: Michael J. Roberts, William A. Sahlman and Lauren Barley

Describes Texas Pacific Group's purchase and operation of J. Crew, the catalog and specialty clothing retailer. Highlights the issues involved in financing such a transaction, and then focuses on the operational challenges of turning around the business, and of TPG's... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Private Equity; Financing and Loans; Investment; Operations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Retail Industry

25 Jan 2021
Book

In a Nutshell, Why American Capitalism Succeeded

How did the United States become the world’s center of business growth following its founding in 1776? Surely a number of nations had powerful natural resources, stable financial and legal institutions, and dynamic entrepreneurs over that same span. Why was American... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Manufacturing

November 2009 (Revised January 2010)
Case

Zara: Managing Stores for Fast Fashion

By: Zeynep Ton, Elena Corsi and Vincent Marie Dessain

Pablo Isla, the CEO of Zara, wanted to improve operational efficiencies in managing its store network. In particular, he wanted to improve labor productivity at the stores. He considered outsourcing certain store operations to third parties, changing the way store... View Details

Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Employees; Managerial Roles; Service Operations; Business Processes; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance Efficiency; Performance Productivity; Retail Industry

12 Dec 2023
Book

HBS Faculty Books of 2023: Find Happiness, Fix Things, and Fail Well

mobilize organizational change quickly, untangle digital strategy, and reflect on socially responsible leadership. Take a look back at some of the books by Harvard Business School faculty members that hit the market this year: Economic... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

July 1998 (Revised May 2005)
Case

Anderson Steel Service, Inc.

By: John A. Davis

Explores the management of family and business issues and helps to identify a range of topics with which families in business wrestle. Describes a dilemma faced by sixty-eight-year-old Charles Anderson, the semi-retired founder of the company and the father of three... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Family Business; Problems and Challenges; Business or Company Management; Family and Family Relationships; Strategy; Steel Industry