Publications

11 Nov 2014
First Look

First Look: November 11

organizations, Kaplan and Haas identify five common mistakes when managers attempt to cut health care costs. The mistakes are triggered, primarily, by working from the line-item expense categories on... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Web

Dean’s House | About

Dean’s House The Dean’s House was part of the original campus design and made possible by the George F. Baker founding gift. The Dean’s House was designed by Coolidge Shepley Bulfinch and Abbott.... View Details

June 2012
Case

The Atavist: Reinventing the Book

By: Mukti Khaire and Mary Tripsas

Atavist, a start-up founded by journalists, publishes enhanced ebook singles as well as the software to create enhanced ebooks. The company is currently engaged in both publishing and software development, but as they raise funding and grow, must decide whether to... View Details

Keywords: Disruptive Technology; Growth Strategy; Innovation; Publishing; Software Industry; Technological Change; Disruptive Innovation; Applications and Software; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Information Technology Industry; Publishing Industry

March 2009 (Revised May 2009)
Background Note

Executing Strategy

By: J. Bruce Harreld

This is a note to introduce the principles for effectively implementing a new strategy. It emphasizes the interdependence of strategy and execution in developing and sustaining superior competitive performance. Primarily based on the notion that strategy should be a... View Details

Keywords: Alignment; Competitive Strategy; Management Teams

Profile

Philippe Rival

Why did you choose this path at this point in time? After six years of working as a civil engineer, the importance and value of adding management skills to an existing engineering and technical base became apparent to me. The MBA was the... View Details

22 Jan 2025
Blog Post

Career risks and professional growth: Finding a fulfilling career with Paige Arnof-Fenn (MBA 1991)

leap wasn’t without its struggles. I had to prove myself in a new field and convince recruiters that my analytical background gave me a unique advantage as a marketer. Persistence and self-belief became my greatest allies. After HBS, I stepped into brand View Details

Keywords: All Industries

28 Apr 2015
Blog Post

3 Reasons Engineers Thrive at Business School

driven decisions. By way of their background and training, engineers are set up to thrive in HBS’s rigorous, analytical environment. They bring a unique perspective to the classroom Carol: I tend to take a different approach to team work... View Details

August 2006 (Revised September 2008)
Case

Duane Morris: Balancing Growth and Culture at a Law Firm

By: Boris Groysberg and Robin Abrahams

After nearly 100 years as a mid-size regional law firm, Duane Morris entered a period of spectacular growth led by CEO Sheldon Bonovitz. Originally founded by Quakers, the firm had a distinct organizational culture featuring a number of unique or unusual business... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Culture; Competitive Advantage; San Francisco

01 Jun 2023
News

From Big Pharma to Startup

Sciences Track at the 2021 President’s Innovation Challenge, a University-wide competition hosted by the Harvard Innovation Labs, which identifies student ventures with significant potential. The experience “was a huge catalyst for us,... View Details

Keywords: April White

08 Nov 2018
Blog Post

Long Distance Relationships: What if my partner can’t join me at HBS?

to explore a traditional career in a fast-paced and exciting environment, so I spent 2 years working as a consultant at McKinsey & Company, Sao Paulo. After those years in consulting, I decided to roll up my sleeves and work on the implementation of great ideas... View Details

2016
Article

The Mirroring Hypothesis: Theory, Evidence, and Exceptions

By: Lyra J. Colfer and Carliss Y. Baldwin

The mirroring hypothesis predicts that organizational ties within a project, firm, or group of firms (e.g., communication, collocation, employment) will correspond to the technical dependencies in the work being performed. This article presents a unified picture of... View Details

Keywords: Modularity; Mirroring Hypothesis; Organization Design; Conway's Law; Knowledge Boundaries; Relational Contracts; Open Source Software; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Boundaries; Knowledge Management; Applications and Software

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Portrait Project

Joe Coleman

I spent my 23rd birthday in a psychiatric hospital. Family and friends reassured me during visiting hours, but I was still terrified by my diagnosis bipolar disorder—an incurable condition that felt like a... View Details

01 Apr 2014
First Look

First Look: April 1

purporting to show that Section 203 did in fact give bidders a meaningful opportunity for success; (3) between 1990 and 2010, not a single bidder was able to achieve the 85% threshold required by Section 203, thereby calling into question... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May–June 2018
Article

Structure That's Not Stifling: How to Give Your People Essential Direction—Without Shutting Them Down

By: Ranjay Gulati

Most leaders view employee freedoms and operational controls as antagonists in a tug-of-war. They tend to focus on regulating workers’ behavior, often putting a damper on commitment, innovation, and performance without realizing it. But freedom and control aren’t zero... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Structure; Mission and Purpose; Framework; Employee Relationship Management; Performance Effectiveness

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November 2018 (Revised February 2023)
Case

Bangladesh: Into the Maelstrom

By: Reshmaan Hussam, Sophus A. Reinert and Namrata Arora

In the fall of 2018, Rohima Begum considered her options as the small island, or “char,” on which her family’s house rested slowly but inescapably eroded into the mighty Brahmaputra River in northern Bangladesh. The country, once unceremoniously dubbed a “basket case”... View Details

Keywords: Climate Change; Adaptation; Environmental Management; Problems and Challenges; Immigration; Bangladesh

August 2023
Article

Taking Stock of the Implementation Gap in Climate Policy

By: Taryn Fransen, Jonas Meckling, Anna Stunzi, Tobias Schmidt, Florian Egli, Nicolas Schmid and Christopher Beaton

A gap persists between the emissions reductions pledged by countries under the Paris Agreement and those resulting from their domestic policies. We argue that this gap in fact contains two parts: one in the policies that countries adopt, and the other in the outcomes... View Details

Keywords: Emission Reduction; Outcome or Result; Policy; Environmental Regulation; Equality and Inequality

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October 1981 (Revised June 1985)
Case

Walton Instruments Manufacturing--1980

Provides an opportunity for students to examine the impact of different manufacturing control methods on the manufacturing infrastructure. Information flow, inventory control, quality control and process flows interact and different trade-offs are examined. Introduces... View Details

Keywords: Quality; Production; Management Practices and Processes; Infrastructure

Web

HBS - The year in Review

and an academic career in management by partnering them with a faculty member to work on articles, cases, and other research projects. As part of the School's efforts to increase diversity in doctoral... View Details

2008
Working Paper

Bank Accounting Standards in Mexico. A Layman's Guide to Changes 10 Years after the 1995 Bank Crisis

By: Gustavo A. Del Angel, Stephen Haber and Aldo Musacchio

After the 1995 crisis, the Mexican banking system experienced significant changes in bank accounting standards. Most of these changes took place between 1996 and 2001, and had a significant impact in the structure and interpretation of financial information of banks.... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Accounting; Standards; Financial Crisis; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry; Mexico