Publications

09 Dec 2002
Research & Ideas

Unilever—A Case Study

chairmen and one other director. Beneath the two parent companies a large number of operating companies were active in individual countries. They had many names, often reflecting predecessor firms or companies that had been acquired.... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones; Consumer Products; Entertainment & Recreation; Food & Beverage; Manufacturing; Retail

22 Mar 2024
Research & Ideas

Open Source Software: The $9 Trillion Resource Companies Take for Granted

value, in part because their study didn’t include operating systems, the part of a computer system that controls all the other programs. “When we first came up with numbers in the trillions, we thought,... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Computer; Information Technology; Technology

27 Feb 2024
Research & Ideas

Why Companies Should Share Their DEI Data (Even When It’s Unflattering)

“There’s definitely a sunshine effect where, when a company shares this information, it increases brand attitude, and the company is seen as having more commitment to diversifying the workforce,” Buell says. The paper, to be published in Production and View Details

Keywords: by Shalene Gupta

01 Aug 2022
What Do You Think?

Does Religious Belief Affect Organizational Performance?

schools that operated centuries ago in China. These are areas in which Mao-indoctrinated leaders—“whose ideology suppresses Confucianism,” according to the researchers—have less influence today. The team found that firms exposed to... View Details

Keywords: Re: James L. Heskett

07 Feb 2012
First Look

First Look: February 7

mimic the three-stage CDM process. To model airline disruption responses, an integer optimization model was developed to balance operational and passenger considerations in determining which flights to cancel, swap, or delay. The value of... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Web

Faculty & Research - Business & Environment

and Sarah Sasso Teaching Note for HBS Case Nos. 324-038 and 324-039. 2025 Book Chapter Institutional Entrepreneurship and Climate Change By: Ann-Kristin Bergquist and Geoffrey Jones This chapter explores when and why private regulatory governance View Details

03 Jan 2007
First Look

First Look: January 3, 2007

company is deciding how it could apply the lessons of the Chinese experience, as well as the lessons of its experience across Asia, Europe, and Latin America, to India. First of all, should Lincoln Electric own a manufacturing operation... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 1994
Background Note

Reorienting Channels of Distribution

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

Traditionally, distribution channels have been viewed as vertical marketing systems where responsibility was transferred from one layer to the next, like passing a baton in a relay race. Distribution channels in the future are likely to look more like horizontal... View Details

Keywords: Distribution Channels; Customers; Supply and Industry; Alliances; Performance Efficiency; Performance Effectiveness; Change; Distribution Industry

2020
Case

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation: Accelerating a Circular Economy for Plastic Packaging

By: Andrew J. Hoffman

Plastic has become essential to global day-to-day activities, yet it is also causing extreme environmental degradation. Many leaders in the plastics industry are starting to question its sustainability. This case presents insights into the future of the plastic... View Details

Keywords: Plastic Waste; Environmental Sustainability; Cooperation; Supply Chain Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Consumer Products Industry

July 2019 (Revised November 2019)
Case

Osaro: Picking the Best Path

By: William R. Kerr, James Palano and Bastiane Huang

The founder of Osaro saw the potential of deep reinforcement learning to allow robots to be applied to new applications. Osaro targeted warehousing, already a dynamic industry for robotics and automation, for its initial product—a system which would allow robotic arms... View Details

31 Mar 2022
Op-Ed

Navigating the ‘Bermuda Triangle’ in Professional Services

easy. Small firms operate informally. Continuing an informal approach to management strains performance as a firm grows. Costs begin to increase and errors in operations and service delivery begin to... View Details

Keywords: by Ashish Nanda

Web

Accounting & Management Curriculum - Faculty & Research

Business Leaders (also listed under Technology & Operations Management) Suraj Srinivasan Spring 2026 Q4 1.5 Strategy Execution Robert Simons Spring 2026 Q4 1.5 Systems for Scaling Ventures (SSV) (also listed... View Details

August 1994 (Revised May 2001)
Case

ITT Automotive: Global Manufacturing Strategy (1994)

By: Gary P. Pisano and Sharon L. Rossi

ITT Automotive is in the process of developing a new-generation antilock brake system (ABS), designated the MK-20. The case focuses on the level of automation to be used in the production of this new system, and whether all plants should use the same process... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Innovation Strategy; Production; Product Development; Globalized Firms and Management; Performance Productivity; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry; Belgium; Germany; United States

Article

Social Technology: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Improving Care for Older Adults

By: Arthur Kleinman, Hongtu Chen, Sue E. Levkoff, Ann Forsyth, David E. Bloom, Winnie Yip, Tarun Khanna, Conor J. Walsh, David Perry, Ellen W. Seely, Anne S. Kleinman, Yan Zhang, Yuan Wang, Jun Jing, Tianshu Pan, Ning An, Zhenggang Bai, Jiexiu Wang, Qing Liu and Fawwaz Habbal

Population aging is a defining demographic reality of our era. It is associated with an increase in the societal burden of delivering care to older adults with chronic conditions or frailty. How to integrate global population aging and technology development to help... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Age; Service Delivery; Information Technology; Collaborative Innovation and Invention

Read Now

February 2013 (Revised March 2013)
Case

Agero: Enhancing Capabilities for Customers

By: Robert Simons and Natalie Kindred

This case illustrates the importance of choosing a primary customer as the basis for organization design. Cross Country Group managers adjusted resource allocation, organization design and performance measures over time to transform Cross Country Group from an... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Management; Entrepreneurial Gap; Entrepreneurship; Auto Industry; Insurance; Performance Management; Performance Measurement; Performance Measures; Performance Pressure; Decisions; Family Business; Resource Allocation; Organizational Design; Customer Focus and Relationships; Performance Evaluation; Growth and Development Strategy; Service Industry

November 2007
Article

Solve the Succession Crisis by Growing Inside-Outside Leaders

By: Joseph L. Bower

This article includes a one-page preview that quickly summarizes the key ideas and provides an overview of how the concepts work in practice along with suggestions for further reading. In his interviews and data analysis, Harvard Business School professor Bower found... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Leadership Development; Management Practices and Processes; Management Succession; Planning

Find at Harvard

December 2015 (Revised September 2016)
Supplement

ANA (B)

By: Doug J. Chung and Mayuka Yamazaki

All Nippon Airways (ANA) became the largest airline in Japan in 2013. Having been designated as a domestic carrier by the Japanese government till the mid-1980s and Japan being the sixth largest domestic airline market, two-thirds of ANA’s passenger revenue came from... View Details

Keywords: Demand and Consumers; Analysis; Economics; Price; Marketing Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Product; Policy; Air Transportation Industry; Japan

09 Aug 2011
First Look

First Look: August 9

for Auditor Independence Yet? Authors:M.H. Bazerman and D.A. Moore Publication:Accounting, Organizations and Society (in press) Abstract Well before the collapse of Enron and Arthur Andersen, we argued that the auditing system had been... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2016 (Revised July 2018)
Case

Cyberdyne: A Leap to the Future

By: Doug J. Chung and Mayuka Yamazaki

Cyberdyne Inc. was a Japanese technology venture that wanted to commercialize a hybrid assistive limb (HAL). HAL was a robotic exoskeleton system for people who had difficulty walking due to nervous system disabilities resulting from stroke, spinal cord injury (SCI),... View Details

Keywords: Go-to-market Strategy; Pricing; Sales Channel; Technological Innovation; Marketing; Sales; Distribution; Strategy; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry