Publications

Retirement, as a major life transition, can be both thrilling and challenging in unexpected ways. Written by acclaimed researchers in the fields of business leadership, careers, and work, this book is based on a decade of research and over 200 interviews with... View Details

Article

The Learning Effects of Monitoring

By: Dennis Campbell, Marc Epstein and F. Asis Martinez-Jerez

This paper investigates the relationship between monitoring, decision making, and learning among lower-level employees. We exploit a field-research setting in which business units vary in the "tightness" with which they monitor employee decisions. We find that tighter... View Details

Keywords: Learning; Business or Company Management; Decision Making; Employees; Research; Resignation and Termination; Rights; Business Units; Governance Controls; Performance; Motivation and Incentives

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11 Sep 2018
News

Why we buy the things we buy

January 2016 (Revised January 2019)
Case

The Allergan Board Under Fire (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine, Suraj Srinivasan, John C. Coates and David Lane

In 2014, the Allergan Inc. board of directors received a surprise takeover offer from Valeant Pharmaceuticals in alliance with hedge fund activist Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management. In the unprecedented arrangement between an acquirer and a hedge fund... View Details

12 Apr 2010
Research & Ideas

One Report: Better Strategy through Integrated Reporting

benefits to companies: Greater clarity about the relationship between financial and nonfinancial key performance indicators. This will help managers understand and confront the trade-offs necessary to balance financial and societal... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

William C. Kirby

William C. Kirby is T. M. Chang Professor of China Studies at Harvard University and Spangler Family Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. He is a Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor. He serves as Chairman of the Harvard... View Details

Keywords: education industry; wine

24 May 2004
Research & Ideas

The Watsons: IBM’s Troubled Legacy

the International Business Machines Corporation and its indomitable leader, Thomas J. Watson Sr. As a demonstration of the latest device out of the I.B.M. research laboratories, a letter of congratulation was flashed through the air from... View Details

Keywords: by Richard S. Tedlow

Zhongming Jiang

Zhongming Jiang is a first-year Ph.D. student in Marketing (Quantitative) at Harvard Business School. His research focuses on developing methodologies for Customer Relationship Management (CRM) that enable personalized interventions, dynamic customer... View Details

March 1998 (Revised December 2000)
Case

Siebel Systems (A)

By: Michael J. Roberts, Joseph B. Lassiter III and Nicole Tempest

The case describes the early evolution of Siebel Systems, a sales force automation software company, focusing on issues surrounding Siebel's use of systems integrators as implementation partners and the relationship between implementation and the selling function. View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Software; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Sales; Information Technology Industry

July 2002 (Revised March 2003)
Case

Avon.com (A)

Avon has always sold its products through a large independent direct-selling organization. However, it is now considering whether it should sell directly to the consumer. The company's independent representatives number 500,000 in the United States alone. Yet, there... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Marketing Strategy; Internet and the Web; Salesforce Management; Marketing Channels; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry

Video

HBS Online Partners with United Planet for the Third Annual Community Challenge

March 2005 (Revised April 2007)
Case

Comergent Technologies Inc.: Enterprise E-Commerce

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Marie Bell

Coming out of the 2001 high-tech industry recession, this venture capital start-up has to come up with a marketing plan to break even and grow. Its innovative e-commerce software provides unique customer relationship management solutions, but it has to convince... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Customer Relationship Management; Financial Crisis; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Business or Company Management; Marketing Strategy; Problems and Challenges; Software; Information Technology Industry

Robert S. Kaplan is Senior Fellow and Marvin Bower Professor of Leadership Development, Emeritus at the Harvard Business School. He joined the HBS faculty in 1984 after spending 16 years on the faculty of the business school at Carnegie-Mellon University, where he... View Details

Keywords: health care; nonprofit industry

2019
Working Paper

Intelligent Design of Inclusive Growth Strategies

By: Robert S. Kaplan, George Serafeim and Eduardo Tugendhat

Improving corporate engagement with society, as advocated in the Business Roundtable’s 2019 statement, should not be viewed as a zero-sum proposition where attention to new stakeholders detracts from delivering shareholder value. Corporate programs for sustainable and... View Details

Keywords: Inclusion; Sustainability; Performance Measures; Environmental Sustainability; Social Issues; Strategy; Governance; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Stakeholder Relations

SSRN

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2012
Book

The Founder's Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup

By: Noam Wasserman

Often downplayed in the excitement of starting up a new business venture is one of the most important decisions entrepreneurs will face: Should they go it alone or bring in cofounders, hires, and investors to help build the business? More than just financial rewards... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Partners and Partnerships; Social Psychology; Outcome or Result

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September 2000 (Revised February 2025)
Case

Netflix (2000)

By: E. Scott Mayfield

The CEO of a successful Internet start-up must decide whether to delay the company's initial public offering following a significant decline in the NASDAQ market during the spring of 2000. The company's CFO is asked to reevaluate the company's projected cash flow needs... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Contracts; Initial Public Offering; Cash Flow; Service Delivery; Financial Strategy; Web Services Industry

September 2017 (Revised April 2022)
Supplement

Tempur Sealy International (A)

By: Benjamin C. Esty

This case explores the long-term relationship between Tempur Sealy (TPX, a mattress manufacturer) and Mattress Firm (MFRM, a bedding retailer and TPX's largest customer). For almost 20 years, the firms enjoyed a mutually beneficial and commercially prosperous... View Details

June 2011 (Revised December 2013)
Case

FIJI Water: Carbon Negative?

By: Francesca Gino, Michael W. Toffel and Stephanie van Sice

Seeking to go beyond global best practices in reducing environmental impacts, FIJI Water, a premium artesian bottled water company in the United States, launched a Carbon Negative campaign that would offset more greenhouse gas emissions than were released by the... View Details

Keywords: Carbon Footprint; Carbon Offsetting; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Brands and Branding; Negotiation Tactics; Business and Government Relations; Corporate Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; United States; Fiji