Publications

Educators

Article

Managing the Narrative: Investor Relations Officers and Their Interactions with Sell-Side Analysts and Institutional Investors

By: Lawrence D. Brown, Andrew C. Call, Michael B. Clement and Nathan Y. Sharp

Investor relations officers (IROs) play a central role in corporate communications with Wall Street. We survey 610 IROs at U.S. public companies and conduct 14 follow-up interviews to deepen our understanding of the role of IROs in corporate disclosure events. Three... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Disclosure; Power and Influence; Business and Shareholder Relations

Article

Culture Is Not the Culprit: When Organizations Are in Crisis, It's Usually Because the Business Is Broken

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Emily McTague

When organizations get into big trouble, fixing the culture is usually the prescription. That's what most everyone said GM needed to do after its recall crisis in 2014—and ever since, CEO Mary Barra has been focusing on creating "the right environment" to promote... View Details

Keywords: Culture; Cultural Reform; Organizational Culture; Crisis Management; Business Processes

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Register to Read

September 2011 (Revised September 2013)
Case

The K-Dow Petrochemicals Joint Venture

By: Guhan Subramanian, James K. Sebenius, Phillip Andrews, Rhea Ghosh and Charlotte Krontiris

In 2007, the Dow Chemical Company and the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation announced plans to launch a multibillion-dollar joint venture. Later known as K-Dow Petrochemicals, it would be one of the largest manufacturers of chemicals and plastics in the world. Analysts... View Details

Keywords: Announcements; Joint Ventures; Chemical Industry; Kuwait; United States

Educators

2009
Working Paper

Firsthand Experience and the Subsequent Role of Reflected Knowledge in Cultivating Trust in Global Collaboration

By: Mark Mortensen and T. B. Neeley

While scholars contend that firsthand experience—time spent onsite observing the people, places, and norms of a distant locale—is crucial in globally distributed collaboration, how such experience actually affects interpersonal dynamics is poorly understood. Based on... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Experience and Expertise; Globalized Firms and Management; Knowledge Acquisition; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Trust

04 Nov 2013
News

A Harvard Professor Knows Why the Bloated Blockbuster Will Never Die

23 Jul 2018
News

Driving Digital Strategy to Reimagine Your Business

2021
Working Paper

T-Shaped Managers—One Size Does Not Fit All: Exploratory Study from the Military

By: Hise O. Gibson

People are an organization’s most important resource. Managers who are collaborative and innovative ensure that organizations remain competitive. This type of manager has been referred to as a T-shaped manager. “T” given that the vertical portion represents the depth... View Details

Keywords: T-shaped Management; Leader Development; Talent Management; Leadership Style; Leadership Development; Management Skills; Talent and Talent Management

28 Sep 2017
HBS Seminar

Annelle Sheline, GWU

June 2008 (Revised July 2008)
Case

How Serial Entrepreneurs Build and Manage a Board of Directors in a Venture-Backed Start Up

By: Michael J. Roberts, William A. Sahlman and Sasha Novakovich

This case includes structured interviews with four serial entrepreneurs about the way in which they built and used their boards in each of their companies and what they have learned through that process. These entrepreneurs were asked similar questions, such as "How do... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards

Educators

October 2020
Teaching Plan

Merck: COVID-19 Vaccines

By: Willy C. Shih

COVID-19 infections were still climbing across the U.S. and many other parts of the world in September 2020, and it seemed that every time Ken Frazier, the CEO of Merck & Co. consented to an interview in recent months he always seemed to hear the same question,... View Details

Keywords: Vaccines; Health Pandemics; Health Testing and Trials; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Research and Development; Business Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States

Article

The Right and Wrong Way to Do ‘CEO Activism’

By: Aaron K Chatterji and Michael W. Toffel

CEO activism—where leaders take public stands on controversial social and political issues that aren’t related to their company’s bottom line—has become increasingly common. CEO activism has attracted favorable media attention, but has also resulted in backlash and... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Social Issues; Communication Strategy; Performance Effectiveness

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