Publications

September–October 2024
Article

Working Around the Clock: Temporal Distance, Intrafirm Communication, and Time Shifting of the Employee Workday

By: Jasmina Chauvin, Prithwiraj Choudhury and Tommy Pan Fang

This paper examines the effects of temporal distance generated by time zone separation on communication in geographically distributed organizations. We build on prior research, which highlights time zone separation as a significant challenge, but argue that employees... View Details

Keywords: Communication; Employees; Behavior; Equality and Inequality

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Program

Managing Turbulence

Summary Even before the global pandemic, businesses and their leaders struggled with the extraordinary challenges of technological change, rapidly evolving consumer tastes, and a reconfiguration of the global economic order. COVID-19... View Details

21 Aug 2017
Lessons from the Classroom

Companies Love Big Data But Lack the Strategy To Use It Effectively

analyzing that data and designing strategy around it. That’s one reason eight HBS professors pooled resources in June to launch the Competing on Business Analytics and Big Data Executive Education program. “It was unprecedented to View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

Web

Marketing - Doctoral

engage in a broad spectrum of disciplinary bases. Curriculum & Coursework Our programs are full-time degree programs which officially begin in August. Students are expected to complete their program in five years. Typically, the first two... View Details

27 Jun 2019
Research & Ideas

Rituals Strengthen Couples. Here’s Why They’re Good for Business, Too

symbolic meaning. Rituals are common in all kinds of social relationships, from religious gatherings and sports games, to holiday celebrations and business meetings. Families engage in rituals when they... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

07 Mar 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research, March 7

private-sector financial intermediaries to engage in excessive amounts of maturity transformation—i.e., to finance risky assets using dangerously large volumes of runnable short-term liabilities. Specifically, we make the case that the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

08 Mar 2022
Research & Ideas

Representation Matters: Building Case Studies That Empower Women Leaders

Ten years before Harvard Business School published its first case study, activists across Europe celebrated the first International Women’s Day. They demanded, among other things, the right for women to hold public office and an end to... View Details

Keywords: by Colleen Ammerman and Boris Groysberg

November 2009
Article

Responding to Public and Private Politics: Corporate Disclosure of Climate Change Strategies

By: Erin Marie Reid and Michael W. Toffel

The challenges associated with climate change will require governments, citizens, and firms to work collaboratively to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a task that requires information on companies' emissions levels, risks, and reduction opportunities. This paper... View Details

Keywords: Climate Change; Problems and Challenges; Pollutants; Risk and Uncertainty; Business and Shareholder Relations; Management Practices and Processes; Social Issues; Corporate Disclosure; Values and Beliefs; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Government and Politics

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July 2011
Case

Shifting the Diversity Climate: The Sodexo Solution

By: David A. Thomas and Stephanie J. Creary

This case profiles the evolution of Sodexo's diversity initiative. Diversity became a key priority for Sodexo, North America in 2001 after a class-action lawsuit was filed and certified in Washington, D.C. against Sodexo Marriot Services, Inc., the food services... View Details

Keywords: Diversity; Business Strategy; Globalization; Management Teams; Gender; Race; Ethnicity; Age; Food and Beverage Industry; North America; Washington (state, US)

10 Aug 2020
Blog Post

HBS Summer Fellows Focus on Racial Equity and Justice

students engaging in this critical work. This summer, HBS is supporting a record 161 Social Enterprise Summer Fellows, with many organizations and projects focused on racial equity and justice. The Social Enterprise Initiative connected... View Details

September 2013
Article

Cultures as Learning Laboratories: What Makes Some More Effective than Others?

By: Elaine Mosakowski, Goran Calic and P C Early

With a mandate to globalize, business school educators have increasingly embraced global service learning as an important technique for creating global mind-sets and enhancing cultural understanding in students. While we applaud this movement from the domestic to the... View Details

Keywords: Business Education; Learning; Cognition and Thinking; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues

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21 Aug 2020
Blog Post

Pursuing a JD/MBA Joint Degree

Students enrolled in the HBS/HLS four-year joint degree program come from a wide variety of backgrounds. Many are interested in pursuing careers that operate at the intersection of business and law, and they seek to utilize the resources... View Details

November 2009 (Revised March 2013)
Case

Miles Everson at PricewaterhouseCoopers

By: Robert G. Eccles and David Lane

Miles Everson, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), is the Global Engagement Partner (GEP) for a large U.S. financial institution and about to take over this role for a much larger global financial institution. The GEP role is a critical one at PwC. GEPs have... View Details

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Customer Relationship Management; Globalized Firms and Management; Managerial Roles; Consulting Industry

April 2017
Supplement

CIC: Catalyzing Entrepreneurial Ecosystems (B)

By: William R. Kerr, Sari Kerr and Alexis Brownell

CIC engages in "guerrilla warfare," offering free or highly discounted rates in order to get its empty offices filled before the opening day of its St. Louis branch. Opening day is a huge success, and CIC St. Louis grows rapidly, even opening a second building. In the... View Details

Keywords: Start-ups; Boston; Cambridge; St. Louis; CIC; Cambridge Innovation Center; Co-working Space; Entrepreneurial Ecosystems; Innovation Ecosystems; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Expansion; Growth and Development Strategy; Boston; Cambridge; St. Louis

August 2024 (Revised December 2024)
Case

Influencer-Led Brand Building: Hairitage and the McKnights

By: William R. Kerr, Daniel O'Connor and James Palano

Longtime hairstyle influencer Mindy McKnight had been building her “Cute Girls Hairstyles” audience across numerous online platforms for nearly two decades. Brand incubator Maesa took an innovative approach to producing successful brands: identifying white space in the... View Details

January 2013 (Revised November 2016)
Case

The New Carolina Initiative

By: Michael E. Porter and Jorge Ramirez-Vallejo

The New Carolina Initiative case explores the process of fostering competitiveness in the subnational region, South Carolina, one of the poorest states in the United States. The case has been developed primarily for use in the course "Microeconomics of... View Details

Keywords: Public Sector; Poverty; Competitive Strategy; Private Sector; Economic Growth; South Carolina

December 2009
Article

Restructuring Within an Academic Health Center to Support Quality and Safety: The Development of the Center for Quality and Safety at the Massachusetts General Hospital

By: Richard Bohmer, Jonathan David Bloom, Elizabeth Mort MD, Akinluwa Demehin and Gregg Meyer MD

Recent focus on the need to improve the quality and safety of health care has created new challenges for academic health centers (AHCs). Whereas previously quality was largely assumed, today it is increasingly quantifiable and requires organized systems for... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Design; Performance Improvement; Quality; Safety; Massachusetts