Publications

12 Dec 2023
Research & Ideas

COVID Tested Global Supply Chains. Here’s How They’ve Adapted

vulnerability A series of major crises and surprises over the past few years raised concerns of the potential fragility of sprawling supply chains for both companies and governments. The rethinking extends beyond the COVID-19 pandemic and... View Details

Keywords: by Scott Van Voorhis

02 May 2023
What Do You Think?

How Should Artificial Intelligence Be Regulated—if at All?

said, “Savvy employers don’t have to settle for the limitations of a local talent pool ” Ryan concluded, “The given argument (for in-office innovation) is weak because it uses a pre-pandemic example of collaboration and innovation, ignoring the transformative impact of... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Information Technology; Technology

30 Jun 2022
HBS Case

Peloton Changed the Exercise Game. Can the Company Push Through the Pain?

demand, which led to shipment delays, followed by pricing confusion and a series of public relations bungles—just as the pandemic eased and people began returning to gyms. Peloton scrambled by recalling items and dropping prices, amid an... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Media & Broadcasting; Health; Bicycle

10 Feb 2022
Research & Ideas

Why Are Prices So High Right Now—and Will They Ever Return to Normal?

tend to drive up prices, typically for three to four months. But as the COVID-19 pandemic wears on, some shortages, especially food and electronics, are likely to linger much longer. That means higher prices are probably here to stay for... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

27 Feb 2024
Research & Ideas

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

pandemic’s uneven demands on labor markets and supply chains. The study notes that Amazon’s 2020 EEO-1 suggested that three in five workers hired to cover the pandemic surge in sales were people of color, but only 3.6 percent of its... View Details

Keywords: by Shalene Gupta

Web

Hidden Workers, Untapped Talent - Managing the Future of Work

Davarzani 24 DEC 2020 | Harvard Business Review Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, low- and middle-skill workers struggled to find and retain steady work. Now, many of these workers are considered "essential," while many others are unemployed and struggling to find... View Details

October 2022
Case

EducationSuperHighway 2.0

By: William A. Sahlman, Allison M. Ciechanover and Emily Grandjean

In 2012, Evan Marwell launched EducationSuperHighway (ESH) to address a major problem: though most public K-12 schools in the US had access to the Internet, only roughly 30% had true broadband access that would enable every student to have high speed connectivity. ... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Social Entrepreneurship; Social Issues; Leading Change; Early Childhood Education; Infrastructure; Internet and the Web; Telecommunications Industry; Education Industry; Technology Industry; United States; San Francisco

July 2021 (Revised August 2021)
Supplement

Airbnb Emerges from the Pandemic: Lessons for Stakeholder Governance (B)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Allison M. Ciechanover

As the COVID pandemic spread in early 2020, global travel ground to a halt. For Airbnb, the San Francisco-based platform for renting accommodations, the impact was both swift and severe as revenues plummeted more than 70% over the prior year. Responding to the sudden... View Details

Keywords: Business and Stakeholder Relations; Corporate Governance; Crisis Management; Leadership; Two-Sided Platforms; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Value Creation; Decision Making; Goals and Objectives; Travel Industry; Tourism Industry; Service Industry; United States

November 2020 (Revised June 2022)
Case

Community-First Public Safety

By: Mitchell B. Weiss and Sarah Mehta

How many police officer positions to fund? In August 2020, the question facing St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, which might have seemed routine to another mayor at another time in another place, was anything but. A pandemic had rendered the city some $19-$34 million short... View Details

Keywords: Race; Law Enforcement; Governance; Decision Making; Safety; Social Issues; Public Administration Industry; United States; Minnesota; Saint Paul

January 2021
Case

Digital Transformation 2.0: CEO Elie Girard at Atos

By: Tsedal Neeley and James Barnett

Elie Girard has taken the helm as CEO of Atos—multinational IT giant—to lead the company into the next era of digital transformation. Noticing that customers’ digital needs were evolving to become even more specialized and global in scope, he made a bold first step as... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Change; Leadership; Technology Industry

17 Jan 2023
In Practice

8 Trends to Watch in 2023

As 2023 begins, businesses and employees face an uncertain economy and labor market, as the twin dilemmas of inflation and interest rates weigh on forecasts. Harvard Business School faculty share the top trends that they believe will shape the workplace and markets... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

Web

Skydeck - Alumni

improve Black representation in their ranks What the Climate Change Movement Can Learn from the Pandemic Joro founder Sanchali Pal (MBA 2018) on the power of collective action How Business Can Advance Racial Equity Executive Lisa Lewin... View Details

Web

Negotiation, Organizations & Markets - Faculty & Research

two in shaping beliefs. Keywords: Expectations ; Memory ; COVID-19 Pandemic ; Risk and Uncertainty ; Cognition and Thinking Citation Read Now Purchase Related Bordalo, Pedro, Giovanni Burro, Katherine B. Coffman, Nicola Gennaioli, and... View Details

18 Jul 2023
News

The First Five Years: Brooke Biederman (MBA 2019)

What inspired you to launch Forby Entertainment Partners? I started working on film and TV shoots in New York City during college. My first boss, an executive producer, recommended Edward Jay Epstein’s book, The Hollywood Economist: The Hidden Financial Reality Behind... View Details

Keywords: Robert Bochnak

01 Sep 2023
News

Solving for Z

With nearly 20 years of experience as a senior human resources executive, Matthew Breitfelder (MBA 2002) has seen a lot of change in the corporate talent space. But what’s happening now looks like a tectonic generational shift. From his perch as global head of human... View Details

Keywords: Alexander Gelfand; Illustrations by Doug Chayka; Administration of Human Resource Programs; Government

Web

Finance - Faculty & Research

Business Owners in the COVID-19 Pandemic By: Olivia S. Kim , Jonathan A. Parker and Antoinette Schoar August 2025 | Article | Journal of Financial Economics Using financial account data linking small businesses to their owner households,... View Details

Web

HBS - The year in Review

pandemic travel restrictions, the program pivoted to focus on US challenges and opportunities, taking more than 1,000 students to one of 15 domestic locations. With a lens on the course’s three modules—contextual intelligence, team... View Details

March 2023 (Revised May 2023)
Case

OneTen at Delta Air Lines: Catalyzing Family-Sustaining Careers for Black Talent (A)

By: Linda A. Hill and Lydia Begag

It was December 10, 2020, and Ed Bastian, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Delta Air Lines (Delta), had just finished a meeting with Joanne Smith, Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer, and Keyra Lynn Johnson, the Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer.... View Details

Keywords: Recruitment; Training; Race; Equality and Inequality; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Job Design and Levels; Air Transportation Industry; United States