Publications

July 2023
Article

Managerial Quality and Productivity Dynamics

By: Achyuta Adhvaryu, Anant Nyshadham and Jorge Tamayo

Do productivity and managerial quality vary within the firm? If so which managerial traits and practices matter most for team productivity? Combining granular garment production data with survey data on managers across 120 production lines in India, we document... View Details

Keywords: Productivity; Non-cognitive Skills; Learning By Doing; Ready-made Garments; Management; Management Practices and Processes; Management Skills; Performance Productivity; Fashion Industry; Manufacturing Industry; India

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October 2009 (Revised January 2010)
Case

The University of Notre Dame Endowment

By: Andre F. Perold and Paul Michael Buser

The Endowment Model of Investing, which was based on creating high risk-adjusted performance through diversification, a long time horizon, top-notch outside managers, and illiquid investments, had served Notre Dame and other large universities well over the past... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Higher Education; Asset Management; Private Equity; Financial Liquidity; Investment; Risk Management; Performance Evaluation; Education Industry; Financial Services Industry

April 1990 (Revised March 1992)
Case

Oakland A's: Baseball's Great Transformation

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger

The Oakland A's baseball team underwent a major turnaround during the 1980s, both on the field and in the business office. One of the most significant improvements came in the area of customer service. The A's management believed that if they took care of their fans,... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Customer Focus and Relationships; Sports; Sports Industry; California

08 Nov 2012
News

Ernest Shackleton's Lessons for Leaders in Harsh Climates

28 Jun 2013
News

Women quoted more for auto repairs

Martin A. Sinozich

Martin Sinozich is a Senior Lecturer in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at Harvard Business School, where he teaches in both MBA and Executive Education programs. For first-year MBAs, Martin teaches in Field Global Immersion, a required course that... View Details

October 2000
Supplement

Singulus: Reflections by Roland Lacher

On January 14, 1999, Roland Lacher of Singulus, speaks to Harvard Business School students about the company he chairs. This video supplements the case and can be shown at the end of class. Roland Lacher describes the drivers of his decision whether to join Singulus.... View Details

Keywords: Management; Entrepreneurship

October 1999
Case

Overhead Reduction Task Force, The

By: J. Richard Hackman, Ruth Wageman and John J. Gabarro

A middle manager is about to meet with his boss to discuss her request that he head up a task force to determine how overhead can be reduced by 20%. He must decide what to address in that meeting and how the task force should be launched and led. The focus is on team... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Leadership Style; Management Teams; Management Style; Groups and Teams

February 2022 (Revised April 2024)
Case

Aleph Farms: A New Culture of Meat

By: Elie Ofek and Jeff Huizinga

Aleph Farms, an Israeli food-tech start-up, was hoping to play a major role in disrupting the conventional meat sector. Compared to intensive agricultural practices, Aleph’s cultured (or lab-grown) meat solution held the promise of considerably reducing greenhouse gas... View Details

January 2022
Case

Walmart USA—Searching for Growth

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Maria P. Roche

In 2022, Doug McMillon, president and CEO of Walmart, and his team looked back at a difficult but ultimately successful past year. The global pandemic had posed enormous challenges, but the company had weathered the storm successfully, raising same-store sales growth,... View Details

Keywords: Health Pandemics; Growth and Development Strategy; Sales; Business Strategy; Business and Shareholder Relations; Retail Industry

Research Summary

Research Summary

By: Jeffrey T. Polzer

Jeff Polzer is the UPS Foundation Professor of Human Resource Management in the Organizational Behavior Unit at Harvard Business School. He studies how people collaborate in teams and across... View Details

March 2023 (Revised May 2023)
Supplement

OneTen At Delta Air Lines: Catalyzing Family-Sustaining Careers for Black Talent (B)

By: Linda A. Hill and Lydia Begag

In January 2023, Delta Air Lines (Delta) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ed Bastian and his team had just launched the third iteration of an internal skills-first apprenticeship program, designed to move frontline employees into "merit" positions in four job categories.... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Diversity; Race; Talent and Talent Management; Training; Human Resources; Air Transportation Industry; United States

30 May 2007
Research & Ideas

Health Care Under a Research Microscope

operating room, have been studied by HBS faculty. Amy Edmondson has looked at organizational learning in hospital intensive care units; Gary Pisano and Robert Huckman studied technology adoption and teamwork in hospitals; and Edmondson, Pisano, and Richard M. Bohmer... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Health; Biotechnology

July 2019 (Revised May 2020)
Case

AT&T, Retraining, and the Workforce of Tomorrow

By: William R. Kerr, Joseph B. Fuller and Carl Kreitzberg

By the late 2000s, rapid changes in the telecommunications industry forced AT&T’s management team to take on a task that CEO Randall Stephenson called the “biggest logistical challenge” they had ever seen: retraining 100,000 workers by 2020. In 2012, internal company... View Details

July 2007 (Revised March 2009)
Case

Berkshire Partners: Purchase of Rival Company (A)

Berkshire Partners, a private equity firm in Boston, was pleased with their recent investment in the Holmes Group, a home comfort consumer electronics company. The portfolio company was exceeding key financial targets and Berkshire Partners was confident that it would... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Capital Structure; Decision Choices and Conditions; Investment; Acquisition; Financial Services Industry; Boston

October 2018 (Revised July 2023)
Case

Innovation at Uber: The Launch of Express POOL

By: Chiara Farronato, Alan MacCormack and Sarah Mehta

Set in March 2018, the case follows ride-sharing company Uber as it develops and launches a new product called Express POOL. This product offers a reduced price to riders willing to carpool, walk a short distance to/from their pick-up and drop-off points, and wait a... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Innovation Leadership; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Information Technology; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Applications and Software; Digital Platforms; Decision Making; Technology Industry; California; San Francisco

March 2023
Supplement

Innovation at Google Ads: The Sales Acceleration and Innovation Labs (SAIL) (B)

By: Linda A. Hill and Emily Tedards

In 2018, Ana Owczarzak was appointed to lead Google Ads' new innovation and accelerator team - the Sales Acceleration and Innovation Labs (SAIL). The purpose of SAIL was to offer testing and incubation services for individuals within Google Ads who were developing new... View Details

Keywords: Innovation Leadership; Organizational Culture; Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; Advertising Industry; United States