Publications

October 2015
Teaching Plan

The Coca-Cola Company's Case for Creative Transformation

By: Thales Teixeira

This Teaching Plan is to be used with the Video Case "The Coca-Cola Company's Case for Creative Transformation" (HBS No. 815-714) View Details

August 2016 (Revised May 2018)
Module Note

Strategy Execution Module 1: Managing Organizational Tensions

By: Robert Simons

This module reading lays the foundation for executing strategy using performance measurement and control systems. Properly applied, these systems can overcome the organizational blocks that impede the potential of all people who work in modern organizations. This... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Strategy Execution; Performance Measurement; Profit Planning; Organization Design; Profitable Growth; Management Attention; Organizational Conflict; Human Behavior; Strategy; Ethics; Goals and Objectives; Organizational Design; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Performance; Measurement and Metrics

March 2017 (Revised May 2017)
Teaching Note

The Strategy Execution Series

By: Robert Simons and Jennifer Packard

This is the teaching note for the 15-module Strategy Execution series. New management tools and techniques are needed to implement strategy in the 21st century. Rapid innovation, entrepreneurial competitors, and increasingly demanding customers have radically altered... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Strategy Execution; Performance Measurement; Profit Planning; Organization Design; Profitable Growth; Management Attention; Organizational Conflict; Job Design; Business Strategy; Management Systems; Entrepreneurship; Competition; Organizational Design; Performance Evaluation; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques

2014
Working Paper

The Rising Cost of Consumer Attention: Why You Should Care, and What You Can Do about It

By: Thales S. Teixeira

Attention is a necessary ingredient for effective advertising. The market for consumer attention (or "eyeballs") has become so competitive that attention can be regarded as a currency. The rising cost of this ingredient in the marketplace is causing marketers to waste... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Advertising

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06 Nov 2023
Research & Ideas

Did You Hear What I Said? How to Listen Better

flourish and thrive.” After all, people are good at faking when they are paying attention to others, consciously or not, smiling and nodding when they are really thinking about their favorite streaming show or the football game they... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

21 Nov 2023
Research & Ideas

Employee Negativity Is Like Wildfire. Manage It Before It Spreads.

Regulating our own emotions in stressful situations is difficult enough, but business leaders face the added challenge of attempting to regulate the collective emotions of the groups they lead to guide them toward success. Now, research by Harvard Business School... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

22 Aug 2016
Research & Ideas

Master the One-on-One Meeting

Whether you’re a CEO or a line manager, your team is just as important as a group as its members are as individuals. Today’s tech companies offer many perks to attract and retain the best employees. We offer competitive salaries, training and the promise of... View Details

Keywords: by Julia B. Austin

21 Feb 2018
News

When a Competitor Abandons the Market, Should You Advance or Retreat?

14 Mar 2018
Research & Ideas

Feeling Stressed? Try Sniffing Your Romantic Partner's Shirt

Blair Storie-Johnson Are you anxious about an upcoming job interview, public speaking engagement, or any other high-pressure workplace situation? Here’s a weird but now research-supported tip: Try taking a whiff of your sweetheart’s sweaty t-shirt. A recent... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

December 2002 (Revised January 2003)
Case

Four Seasons Goes to Paris: '53 Properties, 24 Countries, 1 Philosophy'

By: Roger H. Hallowell, David Bowen and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Illustrates how Four Seasons manages hotels in countries with strong and distinct national cultures. Focuses on how the chain meets its exacting service standards in a variety of settings worldwide, with special attention on France. View Details

Keywords: Service Delivery; Organizational Culture; Global Range; Global Strategy; Standards; Accommodations Industry; Paris

21 Aug 2000
Research & Ideas

Inside the OR: Disrupted Routines and New Technologies

Why did a group of Harvard Business School professors become interested in an innovative new heart surgery technique? It turns out that a hospital's operating room provides an excellent controlled arena from which to explore the role that teamwork plays in the... View Details

Keywords: by Hilah Geer

February 2024
Article

Conveying and Detecting Listening in Live Conversation

By: Hanne Collins, Julia A. Minson, Ariella S. Kristal and Alison Wood Brooks

Across all domains of human social life, positive perceptions of conversational listening (i.e., feeling heard) predict well-being, professional success, and interpersonal flourishing. But a fundamental question remains: Are perceptions of listening accurate? Prior... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Behavior; Perception

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July 1997 (Revised September 2004)
Case

Depreciation at Delta Air Lines and Singapore Airlines (A)

By: William J. Bruns Jr. and Jeremy Cott

Depreciation policies at Delta Air Lines and Singapore Airlines are compared and contrasted against a summary of operating data from each airline. Questions focus attention on differing depreciation policies. View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Policy; Financial Statements; Air Transportation Industry

April 2012
Article

Emotion-induced Engagement in Internet Video Ads

By: Thales S. Teixeira, Michel Wedel and Rik Pieters

This study shows how advertisers can leverage emotion and attention to engage consumers in watching Internet video ads. In a controlled experiment, joy and surprise were assessed through automated facial expression detection for a sample of ads. Concentration of... View Details

Keywords: Behavior; Online Advertising; Emotions

Find at Harvard

03 Apr 2019
News

Do Your Experiential Marketing Moves Produce Enough ROI?

29 Jan 2014
Working Paper Summaries

The Rising Cost of Consumer Attention: Why You Should Care, and What You Can Do about It

Keywords: by Thales S. Teixeira

November 30, 2020
Editorial

Don't Focus on the Most Expressive Face in the Audience

By: Amit Goldenberg and Erika Weisz

Research has shown that when speaking in front of a group, people’s attention tends to gets stuck on the most emotional faces, causing them to overestimate the group’s average emotional state. In this piece, the authors share two additional findings: First, the larger... View Details

Keywords: Bias; Emotions; Perception

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April 2003 (Revised October 2003)
Background Note

Diasporas: Causes and Effects

By: Tarun Khanna and Paula Campbell

Articulates a simple supply-demand framework to understand why people immigrate and focuses attention on the specialized cross-border intermediaries that facilitate such movement. Analyzes a series of important effects, primarily economic, of the diaspora communities... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Diasporas; Economics; Framework; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Business or Company Management

March 1987 (Revised April 1987)
Background Note

Specialties vs. Commodities: The Battle for Profit Margins

By: Benson P. Shapiro

Explains the differences between commodities and specialties and defines four different types of specialty products. The analysis is customer oriented. Special attention is given to the distinctions between functions (product- ) and relationship (vendor-oriented)... View Details

Keywords: Goods and Commodities