Publications

31 Oct 2018
What Do You Think?

What is the Function of Fear in Leadership?

leader’s role should involve reducing fear among associates to a minimum. Beatriz commented that, “quite often, team members paralyze due to fear and start delegating upward New KPIs, action plans, and strategies that don’t decipher the... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

Web

Skydeck - Alumni

(MBA 2008) , Chief Operations and Strategy Officer at Major League Baseball, on building and nurturing an organizational culture of innovation—and what his experience at MLB can teach any business leader.... View Details

27 Sep 2019
Blog Post

Learning the Language of Product at Duolingo

worked in tech or in a PM role - I had previously worked in strategy and design consulting, but I really wanted to explore actually applying insights to change a real, live product. Over the summer, I got to do that and much more. A few... View Details

Keywords: Technology

Web

Leadership - Faculty & Research

and the Scale team began to focus aggressively on increasing talent density. They implemented a more rigorous hiring process, strengthened their talent management processes, and made internal promotions. Wang believed that hiring the right people and fostering the... View Details

August 2015 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Amazon.com, 2021

By: John R. Wells, Benjamin Weinstock, Gabriel Ellsworth and Galen Danskin

In February 2021, Amazon announced 2020 operating profits of $22,899 million, up from $2,233 million in 2015, on sales of $386 billion, up from $107 billion five years earlier (see Exhibit 1). The shareholders expressed their satisfaction (see Exhibit 2), but not all... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Analysis; Retail; E-commerce; Amazon; Internet; Amazon.com; AmazonFresh; Jeff Bezos; Cloud Computing; Marketplaces; Streaming; E-reader Market; Digital Media; Mobile App; Online Retail; Shipping; Database; Tablet; Kindle; Kindle Fire; Smartphone; Delivery; Digital Platforms; Competition; Internet and the Web; Corporate Strategy; Digital Marketing; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Business Organization; For-Profit Firms; Film Entertainment; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Music Entertainment; Television Entertainment; Profit; Revenue; Global Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Taxation; Business History; Human Resources; Resignation and Termination; Books; Human Capital; Working Conditions; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Management Practices and Processes; Industry Growth; Industry Structures; Media; Distribution; Distribution Channels; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Infrastructure; Logistics; Product Development; Supply Chain; Supply Chain Management; Organizational Culture; Public Ownership; Work-Life Balance; Problems and Challenges; Labor and Management Relations; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Diversification; Expansion; Integration; Horizontal Integration; Vertical Integration; Information Infrastructure; Information Technology; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Price; Applications and Software; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Working Capital; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Value and Value Chain; Retail Industry; Advertising Industry; Distribution Industry; Electronics Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Information Technology Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; Music Industry; Publishing Industry; Shipping Industry; Technology Industry; Video Game Industry; Web Services Industry; United States; Washington (state, US); Seattle

Web

Building Iconic Brands and Brighter Futures: Interview with Glossier CEO, Kyle Leahy - Recruiting

different diverse backgrounds.” It was also at HBS that Leahy learned she could utilize her skillset in strategy consulting to contribute to an iconic brand. “I ultimately went to do my internship at Nike in the Corporate View Details

24 Apr 2017
Op-Ed

Op-Ed: Courage: The Defining Characteristic of Great Leaders

Chevrolet Camaros. Rather than make excuses, Barra took responsibility for the problems and went further to attribute them to “GM’s cultural problems.” Three years later, she is well on her way to transforming GM’s moribund,... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George; Auto; Food & Beverage

Web

Klarman Hall | About

collaborative environment of mutual respect, and a style of value investing that “requires deep reservoirs of patience and discipline.” He is the author of the classic 1991 investment book, Margin of Safety: Risk-Averse Value Investing View Details

2013
Case

Ningbo FOTILE Kitchen Ware Co., Ltd.

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Zheng Xiaoming, Yuren Fang and Hong Zhang

Since 2008, FOTILE has actively introduced philosophies of the traditional Chinese culture—such as benevolence, justice, courtesy, wisdom and faith—into its management, which it believes to compensate for deficiencies in Western management concepts and creates a new... View Details

Keywords: Human Resource Management; China; Human Resources; Leadership; Management; Strategy; China

01 Mar 2024
News

In Harmony

Kim at Seoul’s government-built Hoehyeon “Citizens’ Apartments.” Opened in 1970, it stands as a reminder of a Korea from a very different era. Like so many South Koreans of a certain age, Michael ByungJu Kim (MBA 1990) lives in a country where the past lingers,... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; photographs by Jun Michael Park; private equity; fiction; financial crisis; leadership; Korea

Web

Business & Environment - Faculty & Research

experimental methods to further demonstrate causality and to consider the effects of potential moderators. These findings have implications for decisions related to product pricing, placement and assortment, store layout, and the choice of View Details

Web

HBS - The year in Review

experienced colleagues. Assistant Professors Anjali M. Bhatt Organizational Behavior Julian De Freitas Marketing Summer R. Jackson Organizational Behavior Jung Koo Kang Accounting & Management Rebecca A. Karp Strategy Shirley Lu... View Details

September 2024
Case

Navigating Digital Transformation at Carrefour

By: Sunil Gupta and Emilie Billaud

In 2023, Elodie Perthuisot, Carrefour’s Executive Director for e-commerce and digital transformation, met with CEO Alexandre Bompard to discuss strategies for the company’s digital initiatives. Carrefour, a global retail giant with over 14,300 stores across 40... View Details

22 May 2012
First Look

First Look: May 22

Working PapersCorporate Social Responsibility and Access to Finance Authors:Beiting Cheng, Ioannis Ioannou, and George Serafeim Abstract In this paper, we investigate whether superior performance on corporate social responsibility (CSR) View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

April 2010 (Revised January 2013)
Case

Southwest Airlines: In a Different World

By: James L. Heskett and W. Earl Sasser Jr.

This is the fourth in a 35-year series of HBS cases on an organization that has changed the rules of the game globally for an entire industry by offering both differentiated and low-price service. The focus of the case is on whether Southwest Airlines should buy gates... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Organizational Culture; Competitive Strategy; Air Transportation Industry; New York (city, NY)

07 Jul 2008
Research & Ideas

Innovation Corrupted: How Managers Can Avoid Another Enron

in diverse markets proved a significant challenge. Still, supreme overconfidence and perverse financial incentives led to a gladiator culture in which executives proposed—and risk managers and the board of directors approved—a growing... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Energy; Utilities

13 Feb 2020
Book

Open Your Organization to Honest Conversations

develop a systemic plan for change that will realign the company with the new strategy and cultural values. “This isn’t a vote,” Beer emphasizes. “Leaders are still the ones making the decisions, but they’re... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

April 2006
Case

Adrian Ivinson at the Harvard Center for Neurodegeneration and Repair

By: Robert Steven Kaplan and Ayesha Kanji

Adrian Ivinson is the director of Harvard Center for Neurodegeneration and Repair (HCNR), a not-for-profit research center at the Harvard Medical School (HMS). The center was started in late 2000 with a gift of $37.5 million from an anonymous donor. Its mandate was to... View Details

Keywords: Leadership Style; Power and Influence; Organizational Culture; Research and Development; Nonprofit Organizations; Motivation and Incentives; Change Management; Alignment; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Health Industry; Massachusetts

May 2022
Supplement

Borusan CAT: Monetizing Prediction in the Age of AI (B)

By: Navid Mojir and Gamze Yucaoglu

Borusan Cat is an international distributor of Caterpillar heavy machines. In 2021, it had been three years since Ozgur Gunaydin (CEO) and Esra Durgun (Director of Strategy, Digitization, and Innovation) started working on Muneccim, the company’s predictive AI tool.... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Commercialization; Technology Adoption; Industrial Products Industry; Turkey; Middle East