Publications

September 2016
Article

Do Display Ads Influence Search?: Attribution and Dynamics in Online Advertising

By: Pavel Kireyev, Koen Pauwels and Sunil Gupta

As firms increasingly rely on online media to acquire consumers, marketing managers feel comfortable justifying higher online marketing spending by referring to online metrics such as click-through rate (CTR) and cost per acquisition (CPA). However, these standard... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Digital Marketing

Find at Harvard

30 Mar 2021
Research & Ideas

Commuting Hurts Productivity and Your Best Talent Suffers Most

an average 27 minutes each way—almost an hour round-trip, according to the US Census Bureau. “The total opportunity cost of commuting for workers can exceed their hourly wages, amounting to thousands of dollars per average worker per... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

March 2003 (Revised April 2006)
Background Note

Scale and Scope in Professional Service Firms

By: Ashish Nanda

This case discusses why economies (and diseconomies) of scale and scope exist in professional service firms (PSFs) and how they influence the amount and range of services that PSFs offer. It is distributed with a case that focuses on determining the optimal scale/scope... View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Operations; Microeconomics; Service Industry

05 Feb 2007
Research & Ideas

Business and the Global Poor

more slowly have benefited from enlightened managers who take the view that a BOP venture's steep start-up costs are a long-term investment. Q: The case is made that companies in BOP markets can't just... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

December 2024 (Revised March 2025)
Case

Strategy and CEO Succession at Starbucks

By: Krishna G. Palepu and David Lane

On August 13, 2024, Starbucks announced that Laxman Narasimhan who was appointed as the CEO only in September 2023, was stepping down as CEO and board director “with immediate effect.” Laxman would be replaced on September 9 by Brian Niccol, CEO since 2018 of Chipotle... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Corporate Governance; Leadership; Management Succession; Cost Management; Labor Unions; Working Conditions; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Service Operations; Investment Activism; Governing and Advisory Boards; Resignation and Termination; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

05 Jun 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, June 5, 2018

the differences in contemporary perspectives. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=54034 May 2018 Negotiation and Conflict Management Research Linda Babcock: Go-getter View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

August 1995 (Revised August 1995)
Case

CIGNA Property and Casualty Reengineering (A)

By: Richard L. Nolan, Donna B. Stoddard, Chiara Francalanci and Elise C Martin

Reengineering was introduced at CIGNA Corp. in 1988. CIGNA entered a second wave reengineering effort through a major project at CIGNA P&C, one of CIGNA's larger businesses. P&C was in financial crisis and as a result brought in a new executive team in 1991 to head the... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Cost vs Benefits; Design; Growth and Development; Analytics and Data Science; Growth and Development Strategy; Balanced Scorecard; Financial Crisis; Crisis Management; Projects; Information Technology; Insurance Industry

16 Dec 2002
Lessons from the Classroom

Marrying Distance and Classroom Education

save all these costs if we just do it online, they have to recognize that neither the quality nor the quantity of what comes from that online discussion is ever going to compensate for the costs we're... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

October 2014
Case

Honeywell and the Great Recession (A)

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Susan J. Winterberg

CEO Dave Cote spent six years turning around an ailing Honeywell and in 2008 Cote and his team face a new challenge: how to respond to the Great Recession. Cote does not want to give up the gains he made in transforming and unifying Honeywell. With a fall-off in... View Details

Keywords: Layoffs; Furloughs; Downsizing; Work Sharing; Short Time Work; Recessions; Earnings Forecast; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Cost Management; Executive Compensation; Crisis Management; Financial Crisis; Manufacturing Industry

04 Sep 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Wellsprings of Creation: Perturbation and the Paradox of the Highly Disciplined Organization

Keywords: by David James Brunner, Bradley R. Staats, Michael L. Tushman & David M. Upton

12 Sep 2023
Book

Successful, But Still Feel Empty? A Happiness Scholar and Oprah Have Advice for You

they’re leading a whole bunch of other people. So emotional management is even more important.” Brooks says the country, and maybe the world, is in a happiness slump. This epidemic predates the COVID-19... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

2018
Dictionary Entry

Communicating about Climate Change with Corporate Leaders and Stakeholders

By: Andrew J. Hoffman

Within the corporate sector, climate change represents an unfolding market shift, one that is driven by policy but also by pressures from a variety of market constituents such as consumers, suppliers, buyers, insurance companies, banks, and others. The shift takes... View Details

Keywords: Adaptation; Climate Change; Transition; Innovation Strategy; Markets

Web

Payment and Financial Aid - HBS Online

Certificate, DD214 forms, or Veteran’s licenses. Eligible Courses Eligible Course Offerings Program Fee Grant Amount Net Out of Pocket Cost CORe Program (Non-credit) May 2024 and future courses dates $2,650... View Details

Web

Cases & Teaching Notes - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

allocations. Through participation in a comparative cost study, management at Springfield Hospital, known for its heavy focus on operational... April 2016 (Revised May 2016) HBS Case Collection Hôpital... View Details

21 Nov 2013
News

Case Study: BlackBerry and Thorsten Heins

BlackBerry Messenger limit his market? Was the decision to release a touch-screen version before the phone with a physical keyboard—a favorite of the business class—a strategic error? Should he have re-focused on enterprise users? Willy Shih, Robert View Details

Keywords: Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management of Companies and Enterprises

May 2011
Case

Baria Planning Solutions, Inc.: Fixing the Sales Process

By: Steven C. Wheelwright and William Schmidt

Baria Planning Solutions (BPS) is a consulting firm that specializes in using spend analysis to help companies identify savings through reduced procurement costs and improved supplier performance. Management is concerned about the disappointing performance of the sales... View Details

Keywords: Quantitative Analysis; Technology; Operations Management; Product Lines; Manufacturing; Capacity Planning; Production Planning; Production; Management Practices and Processes; Service Operations; Supply Chain Management; Salesforce Management; Planning; Consulting Industry; North and Central America

22 Apr 2015
Op-Ed

Reforming Greece: Myths and Truths

both equity and fixed income claims increased significantly because of country risk premium. In the 2014 World Competitiveness Yearbook Ranking, conducted by the International Institute for Management... View Details

Keywords: by George Serafeim

01 Nov 2010
Research & Ideas

How IT Shapes Top-Down and Bottom-Up Decision Making

to the information necessary to make important choices, both the ERP and CAD systems would increase the likelihood that plant managers and production workers would make... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

August 2018 (Revised October 2020)
Case

Tailor Brands: Artificial Intelligence-Driven Branding

By: Jill Avery

Using proprietary artificial intelligence technology, startup Tailor Brands set out to democratize branding by allowing small businesses to create their brand identities by automatically generating logos in just minutes at minimal cost with no branding or design skills... View Details