Publications

March 2010 (Revised April 2010)
Case

Deworming Kenya: Translating Research into Action (A)

By: Nava Ashraf, Neil Buddy Shah and Rachel Gordon

Karen Levy and her colleague, Margaret Ndanyi, have spent the last six months planning and preparing for a national Kenyan program to target school children most at risk for parasitic worm infection. One week after its launch, the program seemed to be going well but... View Details

Keywords: Planning; Risk and Uncertainty; Mission and Purpose; Performance Efficiency; Programs; Problems and Challenges; Research; Policy; Health Care and Treatment; Management Practices and Processes; Kenya

August 2009
Teaching Note

Procter & Gamble in the 21st Century (A): Becoming Truly Global (TN)

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Matthew Bird

Teaching Note for [309030]. View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Value; Multinational Firms and Management; Change Management; Mergers and Acquisitions; Problems and Challenges; Decision Making; Consumer Products Industry

06 Sep 2017
What Do You Think?

Summing Up: What Are the Limits of CEO Activism?

company’s mission and values. When these values are violated, even by someone as powerful as the president of the United States, they are obliged to take a clear stand. In this era of instant global communications and social media, it is... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

10 Jan 2007
HBS Case

The Challenge of Managing National Security

urgent action, it enjoyed the luxury of time, relatively speaking, to find its new identity. By contrast, the intelligence community's national-security imperative puts great pressure on it to change immediately. Consider the challenge facing the FBI, for example. The... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons; Service

28 Oct 2013
Research & Ideas

Responsible Leadership in an Unforgiving World

Struggle is an experience we instinctively avoid, looking for any way to minimize the hard work and pain involved in getting what we want. And yet—nearly every book we read and movie we watch involves someone struggling mightily to achieve their ends. Like them, we... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

February 7, 2023
Editorial

Business Schools are Ignoring Students’ Changing Aspirations: They Must Focus on Management as a Calling

By: Andrew J. Hoffman

Many management students today are concerned about the mounting threats of climate change, income inequality, health care, and more. They increasingly see business as a place to make a difference in the world. Andrew Hoffman writes that business schools are slow to... View Details

Keywords: Business Education; Social Issues; Values and Beliefs; Mission and Purpose

Read Now

August 2019 (Revised January 2020)
Case

Essential Explorations at MUJI

By: Tomomichi Amano, Das Narayandas, Naoko Jinjo and Akiko Kanno

Launched as a private brand in 1980 to counter the increasingly brand-conscious consumer in Japan, MUJI offered beautifully designed, fairly priced, no-frills quality goods. The once modest private label brand with 40 products had expanded significantly by 2019 to more... View Details

Keywords: Product Portfolio Management; Brands and Branding; Product; Management; Change Management; Mission and Purpose; Retail Industry; Japan

06 May 2002
Research & Ideas

Profits for Nonprofits: Earning Your Own Way

cons of mixing business with social service? Can nonprofits effectively serve two masters, their nonprofit mission and the call of the market? At the annual Dialogue on Social Enterprise, a daylong event held April 20 at Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

March 2021 (Revised June 2022)
Case

Bill Wilson: Changing the World

By: Robert Simons and Max Saffer

This case describes the life choices of Bill Wilson, the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. A young man with tremendous potential, Wilson hit rock bottom as a drunk. An epiphany, coupled with his personal drive, led him to build a worldwide organization that has helped... View Details

Keywords: Leadership Development; Nonprofit Organizations; Mission and Purpose; Values and Beliefs; Personal Characteristics; Leadership Style; Work-Life Balance; Personal Development and Career

July 2005
Article

Price Improvement in Dealership Markets

By: Matthew Rhodes-Kropf

Price improvement refers to the practice whereby dealers order executions that improve on quoted prices. Why are these improvements given? Standard thinking is that competition causes dealers to give better prices to customers with less information. This paper... View Details

Keywords: Price; Markets; Competition; Information; Customers; Negotiation; Mission and Purpose; Practice; Theory; Performance Improvement; Bids and Bidding; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

Find at Harvard

January 2008
Article

Putting Leadership Back into Strategy

By: Cynthia A. Montgomery

In recent decades an infusion of economics has lent the study of strategy much needed theory and empirical evidence. Strategy consultants, armed with frameworks and techniques, have stepped forward to help managers analyze their industries and position their companies... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Managerial Roles; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Creativity; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage

Find at Harvard

September 1987 (Revised October 1987)
Background Note

The Job of the General Manager

By: James L. Heskett

Describes elements of the job of the general manager that are addressed in the Management Policy and Practice course at the Harvard Business School. These include: 1) establishing strategic direction, 2) setting goals and managing standards of performance, 3)... View Details

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Policy; Recruitment; Working Conditions; Managerial Roles; Resource Allocation; Mission and Purpose; Performance Evaluation; Strategy; Value

20 Jun 2012
Lessons from the Classroom

Teaching Leadership: What We Know

grown, so has the demand for courses on the topic. Scan the mission statements of most major universities and professional schools and you'll find that "educating leaders" is the common thread. Search the catalogues of almost... View Details

Keywords: by Scott A. Snook, Rakesh Khurana & Nitin Nohria; Education

August 2024
Case

Pioneering Pain Management: CWC Alliance Combats the Opioid Epidemic

By: Susanna Gallani, Karen L. Sedatole and Sarah Mehta

Set in March 2024, this case is about CWC Alliance (CWC), a nonprofit working to prevent opioid addiction in the U.S. Founder Cammie Wolf Rice launched CWC in 2018 after her son, Christopher Wolf, died of a heroin overdose. Wolf’s dependence on opioids stemmed from a... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Innovation and Invention; Jobs and Positions; Nonprofit Organizations; Expansion; Growth and Development Strategy; Service Delivery; Mission and Purpose; Health Industry; United States; Georgia (state, US); Atlanta

2010
Working Paper

The Many Faces of Nonprofit Accountability

By: Alnoor Ebrahim

What does it mean for a nonprofit organization to be accountable? Nonprofit leaders tend to pay attention to accountability once a problem of trust arises—a scandal in the sector or in their own organization, questions from citizens or donors who want to know if their... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Accountability; Corporate Disclosure; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Leadership; Mission and Purpose; Performance Evaluation; Nonprofit Organizations; Business Strategy

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15 Nov 2017
Research & Ideas

How Does a Social Startup Decide to Commercialize? It May Depend on the Founder's Gender

donations or grants, hybrid organizations generate their own commercial revenues that sustain their pursuit of a social mission. While hybrid models can enhance financial sustainability, they also pose new challenges for entrepreneurs. Hybrids run the risk of losing... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

10 Oct 2000
Research & Ideas

Cross-Sector Collaboration: Lessons from the International Trachoma Initiative

working paper then examines, in detail, critical elements of the partnering process: connection, congruency of mission and strategy, creation of value, and relationship management. The following excerpt describes the importance of... View Details

Keywords: by Diana Barrett, James Austin & Sheila McCarthy

June 2022 (Revised October 2022)
Case

Can Goodr Fight Food Insecurity at Scale?

By: Daniel Isenberg and William R. Kerr

Jasmine Crowe founded Goodr to redirect food waste to people in need. Now a profitable enterprise, she’s searching for Series A funding and encountering pushback. Scaling and contract concerns are also at the forefront of her mind, but so are her values. Feeding... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Investor Demand; Food; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Values and Beliefs; Social Issues; Race; Opportunities; Contracts; Mission and Purpose; Financing and Loans