Publications

07 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

Why Companies Fail—and How Their Founders Can Bounce Back

Failure Can Be An Asset, But Personal Failure Is Ruinous Still, stubborn entrepreneurs continue to found companies, in spite of the failure rates, which raises the question of why. It's not as if any of them harbored childhood dreams of... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

January–February 2025
Article

Want Your Company to Get Better at Experimentation?: Learn Fast by Democratizing Testing

By: Iavor Bojinov, David Holtz, Ramesh Johari, Sven Schmit and Martin Tingley

For years, online experimentation has fueled the innovations of leading tech companies, enabling them to rapidly test and refine new ideas, optimize product features, personalize user experiences, and maintain a competitive edge. The widespread availability and lower... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; AI and Machine Learning; Analytics and Data Science; Product Development; Competitive Advantage

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07 Feb 2005
What Do You Think?

If You Blink, Will You Miss?

blink. As Skip Corsini put it, "I believe a person with the attention span of a hummingbird who really knows his or her business is better prepared to deal with the world as it has become than someone who has to have every single... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

Blog

Lessons from Jazz in the Live Online Classroom

the Executive Education program Developing Yourself as a Leader—Virtual, organizational behavior expert Frank Barrett encouraged executives to embrace Davis's mindset, reducing their reliance on the tried-and-true in the effort to allow... View Details

06 Jun 2011
Research & Ideas

Why Leaders Lose Their Way

increased pressure and seduction. Leaders can avoid these pitfalls by devoting themselves to personal development that cultivates their inner compass, or True North. This requires reframing their leadership... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George

25 Apr 2012
Research & Ideas

The Importance of Teaming

interdependence, establishing trust, and figuring out how to coordinate. But there usually isn't time to build a foundation of familiarity through the careful sharing of personal history and prior experience, or the View Details

Keywords: Re: Amy C. Edmondson

25 Jul 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas: July 25, 2017

working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=51704 Harvard Business School Case 902-412 Tobacco and the Future of Rural Kentucky Governor Patton decides how to use settlement funds to develop a long-term plan for... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

18 Nov 2008
First Look

First Look: November 18, 2008

the position of Brand Development Manager (BDM) to build the company's presence, sales, and relationships with its retail customers. After one year, the CEO, CFO and President must evaluate the impact of the BDM on retail customers, the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

June 2024 (Revised September 2024)
Case

Driving Scale with Otto

By: Rebecca Karp, David Allen and Annelena Lobb

This case asks how startup founders make scaling decisions in light of their priorities for their business and for themselves. Otto was a technology company that applied artificial intelligence technology to sales. It deployed natural language processing to find sales... View Details

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Natural Language Processing; B2B; B2B Innovation; Scaling; Scaling Tech Ventures; Business Startups; AI and Machine Learning; Finance; Sales; Business Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Information Technology Industry; United States; Cambridge; New York (city, NY); Spain

October 2019 (Revised November 2019)
Case

C16 Biosciences: Lab-Grown Palm Oil

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Olivia Hull

Synthetic biology start-up C16 Biosciences wants to solve a big problem: replace palm oil, a major contributor to deforestation and climate change, with a lab-grown substitute. CEO Shara Ticku has ambitious plans to supply her lab-grown palm oil to food manufacturers,... View Details

Keywords: Science-Based Business; Environmental Sustainability; Social Entrepreneurship; Product Development; Product Positioning; Venture Capital; Strategy; Decision Making; Food and Beverage Industry; Consumer Products Industry

Career Coach

Betsy Edwards

Betsy (HGSE, '12) is a Corporate Relations Director in HBS Career & Professional Development with over ten years of coaching experience. Her focus is on supporting students and alumni seeking an impact-oriented career primarily in... View Details

Keywords: Education; Fintech; Financial Services (All); Impact Investing; Financial Services (All); Government; Health Care; Social Enterprise

20 Oct 2020
Blog Post

Exploring Technology and Public Impact Through the HBS/HKS Joint Degree Program

If the past two decades have demonstrated technology’s potential, one of the challenges of the next ten years will be defining its boundaries. How can new technologies benefit people and societies in equitable ways? How can companies -- increasingly central to the... View Details

13 Mar 2023
Op-Ed

How Leaders Should Leave

Advise, but only if asked. A good organization will plan for your succession, and to help out, you may want to develop a couple of plausible candidates. Your boss or human resources may ask for your opinions about who should succeed you,... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch

February 1998 (Revised July 1998)
Case

Rob Parson at Morgan Stanley (A)

Rob Parson was a star producer in Morgan Stanley's Capital Markets division. He had been recruited from a competitor the prior year and had generated substantial revenues since joining the firm. Unfortunately, Parson's reviews from the 360-degree performance evaluation... View Details

Keywords: Management; Personal Development and Career; Performance Evaluation; Financial Services Industry

July 2022
Teaching Plan

Wellthy: The Economics of Caring

By: Brian Trelstad

Teaching Plan for HBS Case No. 320-028. In 2014, Lindsay Jurist-Rosner (MBA ’09) founded Wellthy, a B2C business that coordinates care for working professionals seeking help to support loved ones with chronic diseases or aging parents. With personal experience as a... View Details

Keywords: B2B Vs. B2C; Future Of Work; Health; Social Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Health Care and Treatment; Recruitment; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Health Industry; United States