Publications

30 Mar 2003
Research & Ideas

The Future of IT Consulting

unprecedented frenzy of convergence of 1) adoption of systems such as ERP and CRM; 2) management improvements such as BPRE; 3) problems to solve such as Y2K; and 4) new territory to pioneer such as e-business. Q: Who are the current players who have successfully View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Johnston; Consulting

27 Feb 2017
Research & Ideas

Reputation is Vital to Survival in Turbulent Markets

informational cues it provides. We propose that it is this very stability that provides a springboard for firms to reorient resources in order to adapt to a changing environment. For example, when Mahindra had to lay off 500 people to... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

09 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

It’s Time to Reset Decision-Making in Your Organization

positioning. Strategy execution and implementation Strategic planning, converting strategic objectives into activities, is central to most organizations. Still, it is not possible to anticipate every event that might impact those plans. Executives need to be agile in... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Sarah Abbott

Web

Buy Now, Pay Later: Credit in a Consumer Society

The Rise of Installment Selling Home Finance Cars on Time The Secondary Credit Market The Usurer's Grip Research Links Credits “Beautiful credit, the foundation of modern society!” — Mark Twain, The Gilded Age: A Tale of To-Day (1873) Just as credit had to View Details

28 Nov 2018
HBS Case

On Target: Rethinking the Retail Website

managers themselves to work with the data. That meant creating a flexible analytics system that could not only adapt to real-time business changes but one that managers felt comfortable using. “He didn’t want to be the bottleneck. It took... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Retail

14 Jul 2023
Blog Post

Harvard Business School Announces Its 2023-2024 Blavatnik Fellows

(MBA 2022) and Christopher Edward Dee (MD 2021). Patrick's research focuses on utilizing real-world behavioral data from smartphones to characterize patient quality of life and to develop adaptive interventions using reinforcement... View Details

13 Feb 2014
Research & Ideas

Managing the Family Business: Leadership Roles

mediate differences among family members fairly. In leadership, they lack a clear vision for the future; or they haven't accepted the need to change in order to adapt to the environment; or they are uninspired. It takes deep inspiration... View Details

Keywords: by John A. Davis

10 Jan 2023
Op-Ed

Time to Move On? Career Advice for Entrepreneurs Preparing for the Next Stage

physically and emotionally, about these events? How did they motivate you going forward? What are 1-2 lowlights from your experience? It could be that one time you really thought the company was dead or when one of your best employees quit because they just couldn’t... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Austin

Web

Social Enterprise - Faculty & Research

Organizational Change and Adaptation ; Leadership ; Social Enterprise ; Entrepreneurship ; Social Entrepreneurship ; Growth and Development Strategy ; Growth Management ; Education Industry ; Central Asia Citation Educators Purchase... View Details

August 2011 (Revised April 2013)
Case

Language and Globalization: 'Englishnization' at Rakuten (A)

By: Tsedal Neeley

Hiroshi Mikitani, the CEO of Rakuten, (Japan's largest online retailer), is at the helm of an organization that is rapidly expanding into global markets. In a critical stride toward becoming the world's No. 1 Internet services company, Mikitani announces... View Details

Keywords: Teaching; Human Capital; Change Management; Transformation; Social Enterprise; Communication Strategy; Internet and the Web; Disruptive Innovation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategic Planning; Leadership; Global Strategy; Technology Industry; Retail Industry; Japan

March 2019 (Revised June 2019)
Case

Global Sourcing at Nike

By: Nien-hê Hsieh, Michael W. Toffel and Olivia Hull

This case explores the evolution of Nike’s global product sourcing strategy, in particular ongoing efforts to improve working conditions at its suppliers’ factories. When the case opens in July 2018, Vice President of Sourcing Amanda Tucker and her colleagues in Nike’s... View Details

16 Apr 2001
Research & Ideas

Strategy and the Internet

companies were forced to adapt their ways of doing things to the software. As a result, IT has been a force for standardizing activities and speeding competitive convergence. Internet architecture, together with other improvements in... View Details

Keywords: by Michael E. Porter

22 Oct 2021
Research & Ideas

Want Hybrid Work to Succeed? Trust, Don’t Track, Employees

The COVID-19 pandemic made remote work more the norm than the exception, and now many companies are struggling to map out a hybrid plan that both managers and employees can embrace long term. With return-to-work policies in flux, this is “a fragile period” in which... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

February 2009 (Revised June 2019)
Case

Cleveland Clinic: Transformation and Growth 2015

By: Michael E. Porter and Elizabeth O. Teisberg

The Cleveland Clinic's health care services are internationally renowned for quality. In 2008, The Clinic began to restructure the organization into teams defined around patient needs, rather than traditional medical specialties. "Patients First!" takes shape as the... View Details

Keywords: Health; Health Care Operations; Health Care Quality; Health Care; Strategy And Leadership; Strategy Development; Health Care and Treatment; Leading Change; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Measurement and Metrics; Service Delivery; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Outcome or Result; Health Industry; Cleveland

June 2023
Case

Tractor Supply Co

By: David L. Ager and Michael A. Roberto

In February 2023, Hal Lawton, CEO of Tractor Supply Co, the largest farm and ranch retailer in the United States reflected on the company’s 70% growth between 2019 and 2022. Economists had begun to predict an economic downturn and experts were predicting softening... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Demand and Consumers; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Retail Industry

18 Oct 2022
Research & Ideas

When Bias Creeps into AI, Managers Can Stop It by Asking the Right Questions

in a recent article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Harvard Business School professors Eva Ascarza and Ayelet Israeli suggest intervening at points along the algorithm’s decision-making chain using what they call “bias-eliminating View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

August 2019
Case

Huawei and the U.S.-China Trade War

By: Elie Ofek and John Masko

In 2019, Chinese smartphone maker and telecommunications empire Huawei was preparing to launch its new flagship smartphone series, the Mate 30. After years of explosive growth, the previous 18 months had been a challenge for the company. In early 2018, Huawei’s planned... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Global Strategy; International Relations; National Security; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Information Infrastructure; Volatility; Adaptation; Telecommunications Industry; China; United States; European Union