Publications

Keywords: Professors Stephen Greyser, John D.Macomber, and John Gourville; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools

Find at Harvard

07 Aug 2012
News

HBS Faculty on Olympic Lessons

13 Dec 2022
News

The First Five Years: Christine Keung and Reggie Smith

relationship with Harvard. HBS launched a Mid-US Research Office in 2021 to spur research into business challenges and innovations in the region. Alicia Dadlani (MBA 2003), who leads the office, joined us on... View Details

2010
Working Paper

Beyond Agency Theory: The Hidden and Heretofore Inaccessible Power of Integrity (PDF file of Keynote Slides)

By: Michael C. Jensen and Werner Erhard

There is far too much concern today about the conflicts of interest between people; for example, conflicts of interest between agents and owners—historically a favorite topic of Jensen—and not enough attention paid to the damage caused by an individual's conflict of... View Details

Keywords: Moral Sensibility; Lawfulness; Production; Organizations; Performance Improvement; Agency Theory; Conflict of Interests; Trust; Competitive Advantage; Value Creation

02 Apr 2024
What Do You Think?

What's Enough to Make Us Happy?

The result is measured in terms of outcomes that may be more or less than we expected, just as customer satisfaction is measured in terms of whether our expectations were met or exceeded. But how many of us take time out periodically to... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

October 2023 (Revised January 2024)
Case

McDonald's Board of Directors (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz

In October 2019, the McDonald’s Corporation board of directors, chaired by Enrique Hernandez, Jr., gathered to learn the results of their outside counsel’s investigation into the conduct of the CEO. On the surface, the iconic fast-food chain was thriving as growing... View Details

November 1999 (Revised February 2000)
Case

Granny's Goodies, Inc.

By: Das Narayandas and Katherine B. Korman

The young entrepreneurs of Granny's Goodies, Inc., a corporate gift package specialist, face the challenge of finding ways to create consistent revenue streams and reduce sales costs. Outside of a few long-term contracts, the two founders have had to work very hard for... View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Customer Relationship Management; Entrepreneurship; Cost Management; Marketing Strategy; Product Design; Problems and Challenges; Sales; Segmentation; Service Industry

May 1996 (Revised November 2018)
Case

Ecolab, Inc.

By: Ashish Nanda

By 1993, Ecolab has established a dominant market position in the institutional cleaning industry. As the company’s principal competitor, Diversify, drives sales aggressively, Ecolab president Al Schuman faces a choice about how best to market Ecolab’s offerings.... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Employees; Retention; Marketing Strategy; Risk Management; Service Industry

2012
Book

The Culture Cycle: How to Shape the Unseen Force That Transforms Performance

By: James Heskett

The contribution of culture to organizational performance is both substantial and quantifiable. This book presents the results of field research that demonstrates how an effective culture can account for up to half of the differential in performance between... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Learning; Framework; Policy; Retention; Books; Analytics and Data Science; Innovation and Invention; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Culture; Performance Expectations; Research

Find at Harvard

03 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

HBS Faculty on Revolution in the Middle East and North Africa

dictator's fall from power (e.g., in Egypt), we should focus on building relationships with the country's many future leaders and constituents. This outreach should include all... View Details

Keywords: Re: Deepak Malhotra; Energy; Utilities

30 Jan 2012
News

The Perils of High CFO Incentive Pay

25 Sep 2017
Research & Ideas

Why Politics is Failing America, and What Business Can Do To Help

industrial complex that limits healthy competition in order to promote its continued growth and caters to the power and profit-driven demands of its best customers instead of... View Details

Keywords: by Christina Pazzanese, Harvard Gazette

07 Jul 2021
Book

Good News for Disgraced Companies: You Can Regain Trust

landscape is bitterly divided and the COVID-19 pandemic has shaken the economy and led to widespread job losses globally, a corporate focus on trust may be more important than... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

October 1994
Case

Campbell Soup Company: A Leader in Continuous Replenishment Innovations

Campbell Soup, like most food manufacturers, faced grocery chain and wholesale demand for its goods driven by Campbell's own promotional pricing structure rather than retail consumer demand. Former policies to encourage overstock created huge swings in production and... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Supply Chain Management; Logistics

July 2008 (Revised July 2020)
Case

Managing a Global Team: Greg James at Sun Microsystems, Inc. (A)

By: Tsedal Neeley and Thomas J. DeLong

Greg James, a global manager at Sun Microsystems, Inc., sets out to meet with his entire 43-member customer implementation team spread across India, France, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States of America to resolve a dire customer system outage as required... View Details

Keywords: Groups and Teams; Global Range; Management; Customer Satisfaction; Service Delivery; Crisis Management; Conflict and Resolution; Technology Industry; India; United Arab Emirates; France; United States

26 Sep 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, September 26, 2017

during the AFC. Regression estimates suggest that the relationship between leverage, exchange rate depreciations, and corporate financial distress is time varying. Also, a central finding is that firm size... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

29 Oct 2021
Blog Post

Helping Women in Mexico to Live Fulfilled and Healthy Lives

an online to offline customer journey, lowering the cost of health care for women. Plenna focuses on gynecology for modern women, aged 18 to 30 years old. First we want to crack this problem, and then expand... View Details

25 Jun 2024
Research & Ideas

Rapport: The Hidden Advantage That Women Managers Bring to Teams

It’s a manager’s nightmare: A customer pulls into a drive-thru after a long day at work with children in tow, everyone looking frazzled and famished. After waiting patiently in line, the View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin; Food & Beverage

October 2002 (Revised April 2007)
Case

Dell Computers (A): Field Service for Corporate Clients

By: Frances X. Frei, Amy C. Edmondson and Corey B. Hajim

Explores the highly successful PC and low-end server manufacturer's entry into the large-scale server market in the United States. A key difference of this new market is the intense service element required to support the larger hardware. Specifically, the industry... View Details

Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Customer Relationship Management; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Service Operations; Business or Company Management; Emerging Markets; Problems and Challenges; Service Delivery; Computer Industry; United States

November 1994 (Revised May 1998)
Background Note

Strategic Sales Management: A Boardroom Issue

By: Benson P. Shapiro, Stephen X. Doyle and Adrian J. Slywotsky

Explains why sales management has become an increasingly important and complex topic for top managers. Demonstrates the financial impact of a superior salesforce and then describes a way to gain superiority. The focus is on a salesforce that is responsive to customer... View Details

Keywords: Salesforce Management; Strategy