Human Capital Management - Publications - Faculty & Research

October 2012
Case

Winfield Refuse Management, Inc.: Raising Debt vs. Equity

A small, publicly traded company specializing in non-hazardous waste management considers a major acquisition in the Midwestern U.S. The acquisition can provide entry into the region, help the firm compete in a competitive industry, and improve its cost position. The... View Details

Keywords: United States; Acquisitions; Capital Structure; Equity Capital; Debt Management; Expansion; Leveraged Buyouts; Financial Analysis; Administrative/Support/Waste Management/Remediation Services; Equity; Borrowing and Debt; Service Industry

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December 2016 (Revised May 2018)
Module Note

Strategy Execution Module 15: Using the Levers of Control to Implement Strategy

By: Robert Simons

This module reading pulls together key concepts and techniques from the Strategy Execution series into an integrated model—the levers of control. The four levers are: (1) belief systems, (2) boundary systems, (3) diagnostic control systems, and (4) interactive control... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Execution; Levers Of Control; Balancing Innovation And Control; Managing Growing Businesses; Turn Around Management; Human Behavior; Organizational Life Cycle; Strategy; Management Systems; Performance; Measurement and Metrics; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Behavior

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Introduction - The Request - The Human Factor – Baker Library | Bloomberg Center, Historical Collections

HBS Home HBS Index Contact Us Harvard Business School Baker Library Historical Collections The Human Factor Introducing the Industrial Life Photograph Collection at the Baker Library Introduction The Exhibition The Request Chapter... View Details

05 Dec 2012
What Do You Think?

Should Managers Bother Listening to Predictions?

Summing Up Can Managers Afford to Ignore Predictions in Planning? There is a healthy skepticism when it comes to the reliability of predictions as a basis for planning. Donald Kortalon, commenting on this month's column, cites a number of... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

Web

Introduction - The Production - The Human Factor – Baker Library | Bloomberg Center, Historical Collections

HBS Home HBS Index Contact Us Harvard Business School Baker Library Historical Collections The Human Factor Introducing the Industrial Life Photograph Collection at the Baker Library Introduction The Exhibition The Request The Response... View Details

July 2020
Case

Karen Bruck: Growing Managers at MercadoLibre

By: Joshua D. Margolis, Fernanda Miguel and Mariana Cal

Karen Bruck, Corporate Sales Director at MercadoLibre, Latin America's largest e-commerce platform, needs to make a decision about one of her managers, who, while analytically savvy, has an approach that does not fit in with the company's culture. View Details

Keywords: Performance Evaluation; Employee Relationship Management; Decision Making; Interpersonal Communication; Organizational Culture; Retail Industry; Latin America; Argentina

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Introduction - The Audience - The Human Factor – Baker Library | Bloomberg Center, Historical Collections

HBS Home HBS Index Contact Us Harvard Business School Baker Library Historical Collections The Human Factor Introducing the Industrial Life Photograph Collection at the Baker Library Introduction The Exhibition The Request The Response... View Details

May 2011 (Revised March 2012)
Supplement

Global Knowledge Management at Danone (C)

By: Amy C. Edmondson, Ruth Dittrich and Daniela Beyersdorfer

The (C) case provides an update on the B-case decision and describes the introduction of Dan 2.0, an internal social virtual network for the purpose of knowledge sharing in a company that was only used to face-to-face networking. View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Knowledge Sharing; Information Infrastructure; Opportunities; Problems and Challenges; Networks; Employees; Motivation and Incentives; Knowledge Management; Management Practices and Processes

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September 2023 (Revised February 2024)
Case

Accelerating with Caution: Forecasting and Managing birddogs' Growth

By: Mark Egan

As 2017 was drawing to a close, birddogs’ founder and CEO, Peter Baldwin, was working with his CFO Jack Sullivan to prepare for 2018. Their task at hand? To predict the demand for their product in the coming season, determine the appropriate investments in working... View Details

Keywords: Inventory; Working Capital; Forecasting and Prediction; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Financing and Loans; Apparel and Accessories Industry

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29 Sep 2003
Research & Ideas

Why Managing Innovation is Like Theater

If you don't know where you're going, any map will do.1 This conventional wisdom sounds right to many managers. It highlights the safety of having a clear objective for your management actions. It implies that all View Details

Keywords: by Rob Austin & Lee Devin

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

The Intellectual Underpinnings of Entrepreneurial Management

or an old idea applied to a new setting. (More broadly and more famously, he described capitalism as a form of "creative destruction," often involving the dismantling of old modes of doing business.) Schumpeter's definition of... View Details

Keywords: by Howard H. Stevenson & Teresa M. Amabile

2011
Other Unpublished Work

Functional Centralization and the Division of Labor in Management

By: Julie Wulf, Maria Guadalupe and Hongyi Li

This paper shows that the trend towards flatter hierarchies in large US firms since the mid-80's has been accompanied by increased centralization of activities at the top of the organization. In particular, the number of functional managers (e.g., Chief Financial... View Details

Keywords: Executive Compensation; Management Teams; Organizational Structure; Business Strategy; Diversification; Information Technology; United States

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13 Oct 2020
News

The Post-Pandemic Rules of Talent Management

01 Mar 2022
News

Effective Employee Development Starts with Managers

2003
Article

BMW Group's Sustainability Management System: Preliminary Results, Ongoing Challenges, and the UN Global Compact

By: Michael W. Toffel, Natalie Hill and Kellie McElhaney

This article describes preliminary results and ongoing challenges faced by Designworks/USA, an industrial design subsidiary of BMW Group, in its sustainability management efforts since it implemented the world's first certified Sustainability Management System (SMS).... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Management Systems; Standards; Social Issues; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Outcome or Result; Auto Industry

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03 Oct 2020
News

Managing Stakeholder Trust During Supply Chain Disruptions

September 2024
Article

The Human Side of the Future of Work: Understanding the Role People Play in Shaping a Changing World

By: Jochen I. Menges, Lauren C. Howe, Erika Hall, Jon M. Jachimowicz, Sharon K. Parker, Riki Takeuchi, Abhijeet K. Vadera, Ashley Whillans and Susan K. Cohen

For as long as there has been work, there has been a “future of work,” through humans’ ingenuity and drive to get things done easier, faster, and better. With the industrial revolution, efforts to shape a better future of work were dominated by improvements in... View Details

Keywords: Change; Labor

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April 1996 (Revised May 2008)
Exercise

Adam Baxter Company/Local 190: 1983 Negotiation, Baxter Management Confidential Information

By: Kathleen L. McGinn and Victoria Medvec

Includes a series of three negotiation exercises portraying management/labor relations at ABC over a period of seven years. ABC, initially a family-owned business, had prided itself on its cooperative relationship with its union, Local 190. With the skyrocketing... View Details

Keywords: Inflation and Deflation; Compensation and Benefits; Wages; Working Conditions; Management; Negotiation Process; Labor and Management Relations

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February 2012
Case

Henkel: Building a Winning Culture

By: Robert Simons and Natalie Kindred

This case illustrates a CEO-led organizational transformation driven by stretch goals, performance measurement, and accountability. When Kasper Rorsted became CEO of Henkel, a Germany-based producer of personal care, laundry, and adhesives products, in 2008, he was... View Details