Publications

Nitin Nohria served as the tenth dean of Harvard Business School from 2010-2020. He previously served as co-chair of the Leadership Initiative, Senior Associate Dean of Faculty Development, and Head of the Organizational Behavior unit.

As Dean, building on... View Details

15 Sep 2008
Research & Ideas

The Coming Transformation of Social Enterprise

nation's social enterprise organizations. Today, the United States has more than 1.4 million non-profit organizations, and they account for 5 percent of GDP. Annual contributions have grown faster than the economy for years, and experts... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

Rapid Response: Inside the Retailing Revolution

and John T. Dunlop of the Harvard University Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and David Weil of Boston University. Their recent book, A Stitch in Time: Lean Retailing and the Transformation of Manufacturing—Lessons from the Apparel and Textile View Details

Keywords: by James E. Aisner; Apparel & Accessories; Fashion; Consumer Products; Manufacturing; Retail

12 Sep 2023
Research & Ideas

How Can Financial Advisors Thrive in Shifting Markets? Diversify, Diversify, Diversify

boomers surge into retirement and fintech businesses offer new ways for investors to grow their nest eggs. While revenue from financial planning reached $65 billion in 2021, up 30 percent from 2017, many in the industry are trying to... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Financial Services

Web

Entrepreneurial Management - Faculty & Research

a fictional elevator company, invest a lot of money in reskilling its entire staff? The industry is moving from hardware to software in the form of smart, connected elevators. But instead of laying off legacy hardware staff and hiring new... View Details

October 2006 (Revised April 2007)
Case

Ayala Corporation

Ayala Corporation is the oldest conglomerate in the Philippines and has been controlled by the Zobel de Ayala family for seven generations. Over the past 25 years, Ayala has evolved from a real estate family business into a highly diversified and professionally managed... View Details

Keywords: Diversification; Family Business; Business Conglomerates; Valuation; Financial Strategy; Public Ownership; Real Estate Industry; Philippines

Program

Advancing Women of Color in Leadership

relationships with people who are like and unlike yourself Develop your own career vision and action plan Expand your personal and professional network Extend your network by living and working with accomplished professionals from various backgrounds and View Details

2016
Working Paper

The Search for Peer Firms: When Do Crowds Provide Wisdom?

By: Charles M.C. Lee, Paul Ma and Charles C.Y. Wang

In knowledge-based economies, many business enterprises defy traditional industry boundaries. In this study, we evaluate six "big data" approaches to peer firm identifications and show that some, but not all, "wisdom-of-crowd" techniques perform exceptionally well. We... View Details

Keywords: Peer Firm; EDGAR Co-search; Analyst Co-coverage; Wisdom Of Crowds; Performance Benchmarking; Crowd Of Crowds; Internet and the Web; Accounting

SSRN

Read Now

Ashish Nanda is Senior Lecturer and C. Roland Christensen Distinguished Management Educator at Harvard Business School. From 2018 to 2021, he was course head for the MBA Required Curriculum course in Strategy. Beginning in 2022, he is teaching an MBA Elective... View Details

2010
Article

The Strategic Use of Brand Biographies

By: Jill Avery, Neeru Paharia, Anat Keinan and Juliet Schor

We introduce the concept of a brand biography to describe an emerging trend in branding in which firms author a dynamic, historical account of the events that have shaped the brand over time. Using a particular type of brand biography, "the underdog," we empirically... View Details

Find at Harvard

October 2018 (Revised May 2019)
Teaching Note

Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs

By: Joseph Fuller, Shikhar Ghosh and Monica Baraldi

Teaching Note for HBS No. 816-048. The case tells the story of a product manager within Intuit who develops an idea for a new product that spans two of the company's existing business units—professional tax software, sold to accountants, and the consumer focused... View Details

Keywords: Business Units; Business or Company Management; Applications and Software; Accounting; Product Development; Financial Services Industry

21 Nov 2006
First Look

First Look: November 21, 2006

that future work should develop more precise and context-specific theories to help guide research and practice in disparate task and industry domains. Working paper not available. Why Do Firms Hold So Much Cash? A Tax-Based Explanation... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

April 2010 (Revised September 2011)
Case

Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (A) (Abridged)

By: V.G. Narayanan and Lisa Brem

Owens & Minor (O&M) performed lean inventory services for Virginia Mason (VM) as its Alpha Vendor, but the outdated industry pricing model created perverse incentives and could not capture O&M's costs. Together, O&M and VM created an activity-based pricing model: Total... View Details

Keywords: Supply Chain Management; Partners and Partnerships; Activity Based Costing and Management; Business Model; Non-Governmental Organizations; Nonprofit Organizations; Motivation and Incentives; Asset Pricing; Cost Accounting; Fair Value Accounting; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

September 1997 (Revised May 1999)
Case

Precision Controls, Inc.

By: James K. Sebenius and David T. Kotchen

Precision Controls is a Minnesota-based manufacturer of electronic control devices. To enhance its product line, Precision would like to establish an artificial intelligence research group, either through internal development or, preferably, by merging with or... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Valuation; Research and Development; Negotiation Process; Stock Shares; Negotiation Tactics; Mergers and Acquisitions; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Minnesota

Find at Harvard

September 1997 (Revised May 1999)
Case

Automated Intelligence Corporation

By: James K. Sebenius and David T. Kotchen

Precision Controls is a Minnesota-based manufacturer of electronic control devices. To enhance its product line, Precision would like to establish an artificial intelligence research group, either through internal development or, preferably, by merging with or... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Valuation; Research and Development; Stock Shares; Negotiation Process; Negotiation Tactics; Mergers and Acquisitions; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Minnesota

January 2025
Supplement

A Winning Strategy (B): Innovation in Olympic Speed Skating

By: Rebecca Karp, Maria Roche, Maisie Wiltshire-Gordon and Tom Quinn

This case describes the aftermath of decisions made by two innovators in the Olympic sport of speed skating: the U.S. Men’s team, which devised a new approach to the team pursuit event; and Nils van der Poel, a Swedish skater who created a new training plan that defied... View Details

Keywords: Sports; Disruptive Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Knowledge Sharing; Performance Improvement; Sports Industry; United States; Sweden; Netherlands; Norway

April 1993 (Revised October 1995)
Case

ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (A): Technological and Financial Innovation

By: Josh Lerner and Peter Tufano

To develop the next generation of risky products, ALZA, a mature and profitable biotechnology firm specializing in drug delivery systems, must raise $40 million. Organizational constraints and competitive concerns demand that the work be done inside the firm. However,... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Technological Innovation; Business Subsidiaries; Decision Choices and Conditions; Corporate Finance; Biotechnology Industry; Biotechnology Industry

March 2006 (Revised August 2006)
Case

Putnam Investments: Rebuilding the Culture

By: Nitin Nohria and Charles Nichols

Charles "Ed" Haldeman Jr. is promoted CEO of Putnam Investments after the firm was badly damaged by a series of improper trading practices. He is charged with the task of managing the crisis, repairing the company culture, and putting the firm back into a pattern of... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Ethics; Investment Funds; Investment; Leading Change; Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Services Industry; United States

April 2006 (Revised March 2007)
Case

PayPal Merchant Services

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Lauren Barley

In early 2006, PayPal management is deciding how to respond to Google's entry into online payments. PayPal, owned by eBay, has targeted online merchants outside eBay's auction community for its next wave of expansion. Google represents a potential threat to PayPal's... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Competition; Expansion; Service Operations; Auctions; Web Services Industry; Web Services Industry