Publications

February 2005
Article

Portrait of a Failed Rebellion: An Account of Rational, Sub-optimal Violence in Western Uganda

By: Lucy Hovil and Eric D. Werker

While newspaper reports typically describe anti-civilian violence in civil war as resulting from hatred or anarchy, there is an emerging literature that interprets these processes as calculated, strategic actions of war makers. We argue that this literature... View Details

Keywords: Civilian Violence; Civil War; Insurgency; War Financing; Uganda; Failure; Society; Uganda

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04 Jan 2018
Working Paper Summaries

Creating the Market for Organic Wine: Sulfites, Certification, and Green Values

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones and Emily Grandjean; Food & Beverage

November 23, 1998
Article

Eight Failings That Bedevil the Best

By: James Waldroop and Timothy Butler

Keywords: Failure

2016
Chapter

Understanding Confidence: Its Roots and Role in Performance

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Daniel Fox

Keywords: Confidence; Turnarounds; Performance; Ownership; Failure

November 2024 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Fire at Notre Dame de Paris

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Jerome Barthelemy

In early 2019, the Notre Dame de Paris cathedral was severely damaged by a fire. Though many people still believe that the fire was due to errors made at the “sharp end”, the case suggests that it resulted from the combination of various types of errors that could have... View Details

Keywords: Failure; Crisis Management; France; Paris

June 2007
Article

Bounded Awareness: What You Fail to See Can Hurt You

By: Dolly Chugh and M. Bazerman

Keywords: Failure; Knowledge

December 1961 (Revised January 1994)
Case

First National Bank of Westhaven (A)

By: Samuel L. Hayes III

Concerns a loan that has gone bad. View Details

Keywords: Financing and Loans; Failure; Banking Industry

2004
Chapter

When Good Names Go Bad: Organizational Illegitimacy, and the Dotcom Collapse

By: Mary Ann Glynn and Christopher Marquis

Keywords: Business Ventures; Failure; Web Services Industry

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Research Summary

Overview

By: Shikhar Ghosh

I am focused on exploring the human side of developing early stage entrepreneurial ventures. These enterprises are characterized by the pursuit of opportunity, shortage of resources to pursue their goals and uncertainty at every step of the journey. Some of the... View Details

Keywords: Scale; Exit; Founders' Agreements; Success Measures; Entrepreneurial Risk; Founding Teams; Entrepreneurship; Failure; Europe; Middle East; Asia

July 1999 (Revised November 1999)
Case

Northwest Airlines and the Detroit Snowstorm (A)

Northwest Airlines forced hundreds of passengers to wait up to 8 1/2 hours on aircraft after reaching their destination in an unusually horrible service disaster. The case explores what occurred, why it occurred, and the feelings of those involved. View Details

Keywords: Service Delivery; Failure; Air Transportation Industry; Service Industry

March 2014
Article

Why China Can't Innovate

By: Regina M. Abrami, William C. Kirby and F. Warren McFarlan

A look at how innovation is happening in China—from the top down, from the bottom up, through acquisition, and through education. Sheds light on the complexities of the issue, highlighting the promise and the problems China faces in its quest to become the world's... View Details

Keywords: Failure; Innovation and Invention; China

December 1961 (Revised January 1994)
Case

First National Bank of Westhaven (B)

By: Samuel L. Hayes III

Describes the events leading to deterioration of a goose farming operation. View Details

Keywords: Animal-Based Agribusiness; Failure; Banking Industry

08 Nov 2010
Research & Ideas

How to Fix a Broken Marketplace

writes in "What Have We Learned from Market Design?" "Among the general tasks markets have to perform, difficulties in providing thickness, dealing with congestion, and making participation safe and simple are often at the root of market View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Health

June 2, 2013
Article

Corporate Sustainability Is Not Sustainable

By: Auden Schendler and Michael W. Toffel

Despite perceptions that sustainable business efforts are progressing, the environment reminds us we're failing to deal with the problem sufficiently. Here's what business leaders must do next. View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Environmental Sustainability; Failure