• May–June 2023
• Article

The High Cost of Neglecting Low-Wage Workers: Six Mistakes That Companies Make—and How They Can Do Better

By: Joseph Fuller and Manjari Raman

Many companies blame outside factors for the trouble they’ve been having in finding and retaining frontline workers: the pandemic, the government’s stimulus checks, the intrinsic nature of low-wage work. The authors argue that in fact the real problem lies in six big... View Details

Keywords: Retention; Recruitment; Human Capital; Personal Development and Career; Compensation and Benefits; Performance Productivity

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Fuller, Joseph, and Manjari Raman. "The High Cost of Neglecting Low-Wage Workers: Six Mistakes That Companies Make—and How They Can Do Better." Harvard Business Review 101, no. 3 (May–June 2023): 40–48.

• 15 Dec 2016
• HBS Seminar

Joel Isaac, University of Cambridge

Six Myths of Product Development

Many companies approach product development as if it were manufacturing, trying to control costs and improve quality by applying zero-defect, efficiency-focused techniques. While this tactic can boost the performance of factories, it generally backfires with... View Details

• March 1998 (Revised November 2004)
• Case

FAG Kugelfischer-A German Restructuring

By: Stuart C. Gilson

A large German manufacturer of ball bearings and precision machinery experiences severe financial difficulty brought on by poor management practices, an ill-conceived acquisition of a former East German ball-bearings company, and an industry recession. The company... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Acquisition; Restructuring; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Machinery and Machining; Policy; Resignation and Termination; Management Practices and Processes; Performance Evaluation; Business and Shareholder Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Europe; Germany; United States

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Gilson, Stuart C. "FAG Kugelfischer-A German Restructuring." Harvard Business School Case 298-046, March 1998. (Revised November 2004.)

• March 2018 (Revised March 2019)
• Technical Note

Control or Flexibility? Structured Empowerment Offers Both — Lessons from Retail & Service Chains

By: Tatiana Sandino

This note explains how several retail and service organizations use a practice described here as “structured empowerment” to balance control and flexibility as they grow. I define structured empowerment as a practice that grants employees both (a) the power to make... View Details

Keywords: Service Operations; Standards; Employees; Service Delivery; Decision Making; Power and Influence; Retail Industry; Service Industry

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Sandino, Tatiana. "Control or Flexibility? Structured Empowerment Offers Both — Lessons from Retail & Service Chains." Harvard Business School Technical Note 118-082, March 2018. (Revised March 2019.)

• 02 Jan 2024
• Research & Ideas

10 Trends to Watch in 2024

The lightning-fast ascent of generative AI isn’t the only sea change on the horizon for businesses in the new year. The global economy is in flux as war, climate change, trade issues, and infrastructure problems demand attention. Many companies continue to struggle to... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

• Web

Capstone | MBA

that will advance new drug discoveries and therapeutics with those equally passionate about changing the business of healthcare for the better. 2. The practicalities of business decisions meet the View Details

• October 2013
• Article

Consulting on the Cusp of Disruption

By: Clayton M. Christensen, Dina Wang and Derek C. M. van Bever

Consulting fundamental business model has not changed in more than 100 years: very smart outsiders go into organizations for a finite period of time and recommend solutions for the most difficult problems confronting their clients. But at traditional... View Details

Keywords: Disruptive Innovation; Consulting Industry

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Christensen, Clayton M., Dina Wang, and Derek C. M. van Bever. "Consulting on the Cusp of Disruption." Harvard Business Review 91, no. 10 (October 2013): 106–114.

• Research Summary

Managing Workplace Reforms and Organization-Wide Transformations

Richard E. Walton is studying (with doctoral candidate Scott Hamlin and research associate Kathleen Scharf) the development and diffusion of new forms of union-management partnership together with other new practices in the steel industry. To test and elaborate... View Details

• 03 Oct 2023
• HBS Case

Layoffs Can Be Bad Business: 5 Strategies to Consider Before Cutting Staff

have to be this way. “If companies I know and admire are doing this, it can’t be that bad, or else they wouldn’t do it.” Layoffs are an example of “hope triumphing over science,” says Sandra Sucher, the MBA Class of 1966 Professor of Management View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Telecommunications; Technology; Financial Services; Manufacturing

• June 2008 (Revised July 2008)
• Case

Kit Hinrichs at Pentagram (A)

By: Linda A. Hill and Emily Stecker

This case focuses on Kit Hinrichs, a 65-year-old partner at Pentagram, a privately owned multidisciplinary design firm. One of the world's most prestigious design firms, Pentagram was founded by five designers from different disciplines in London in the 1970s. By 2008,... View Details

Keywords: Arts; Business Offices; Customer Relationship Management; Design; Leadership; Personal Development and Career; Groups and Teams; Creativity; Service Industry; San Francisco

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Hill, Linda A., and Emily Stecker. "Kit Hinrichs at Pentagram (A)." Harvard Business School Case 408-127, June 2008. (Revised July 2008.)

• 2011
• Working Paper

How Foundations Think: The Ford Foundation as a Dominating Institution in the Field of American Business Schools

By: Rakesh Khurana, Kenneth Kimura and Marion Fourcade

The question of institutional change has become central to organizational research (Powell, 2008). Recent scholarship has demonstrated, often through carefully researched cases, that institutions can and sometimes do change. According to this research, there are two... View Details

Keywords: Change; Business Education; Business History; Organizations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Relationships; Behavior

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Khurana, Rakesh, Kenneth Kimura, and Marion Fourcade. "How Foundations Think: The Ford Foundation as a Dominating Institution in the Field of American Business Schools." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 11-070, January 2011.

• 2015
• Working Paper

Build It, Buy It or Both? Rethinking the Sourcing of Advertising Services

By: Alvin J. Silk and Marta M. Stiglin

This paper provides an update on the current state of in-house agencies. Whereas traditional consideration of internalizing advertising services was framed as a binary choice of build or buy, today's advertisers frequently pursue hybrid policies of build and buy to... View Details

Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Advertising

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Silk, Alvin J., and Marta M. Stiglin. "Build It, Buy It or Both? Rethinking the Sourcing of Advertising Services." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 15-093, June 2015.

• 24 Jul 2023
• Research & Ideas

Part-Time Employees Want More Hours. Can Companies Tap This ‘Hidden’ Talent Pool?

many such workers are caregivers, excluded from full-time jobs because short-sighted employers don’t offer them the flexibility they need. Filtered out by hiring algorithms due to employment gaps or other hiring “red flags,” these willing workers could offer one... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin