Publications

February 2009 (Revised September 2009)
Case

Investing in Early Learning as Economic Development at the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank

By: Stacey M. Childress and Geoff Eckman Marietta

In his role as Senior Vice President and Director of Research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis (Minneapolis Fed), Art Rolnick and his colleague, Rob Grunewald, had written "Early Childhood Development: Economic Development with a High Public Return." The... View Details

Keywords: Development Economics; Early Childhood Education; Investment Return; Demand and Consumers; Supply and Industry; Performance Effectiveness; Nonprofit Organizations; Minneapolis; Saint Paul

04 Jun 2020
Book

It’s Not About You: Why Leaders Need to Look Outward

for teams to thrive, even in the leader’s absence. Frei, the UPS Foundation Professor of Service Management at Harvard Business School, served as senior vice president for leadership and strategy at Uber and has consulted with WeWork and... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

15 Apr 2015
Research & Ideas

Why Americans Voted for an Income Tax

took another 50 years before the 16th Amendment, which allows Congress to levy a national income tax, was adopted in 1913. Why We Tax Ourselves One of the clearest statements of why Americans in the early twentieth century were willing to tax their incomes came from... View Details

Keywords: by Matthew C. Weinzierl

09 Jun 2022
HBS Case

From Truck Driver to Manager: US Foods’ Novel Approach to Staff Shortages

each night. “We can’t afford to have our veteran employees leaving,” explains Rob Koppenhaver, senior vice president of US Food’s field operations, in the case study. From dead-end jobs to management roles With those two basic changes in... View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds

September 2022
Case

Deciding When to Engage on Societal Issues

By: Hubert Joly and Amram Migdal

This case provides brief descriptions of 18 examples of corporate leaders confronting questions of whether and how to engage with societal issues, including social, political, and environmental issues. Social issues include COVID-19; social and racial justice;... View Details

Keywords: Political Issues; Social Justice; Racial Justice; Environmental Issues; Social Issues; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Values and Beliefs

October 2021 (Revised January 2022)
Supplement

Michael Ku and Global Clinical Supply at Pfizer Inc.: Bringing Hope to Patients (C)

By: Linda A. Hill and Emily Tedards

This case is the third installment in a series about the 10-year cultural and digital transformation of Pfizer’s Global Clinical Supply organization. In 2011, Michael Ku became Pfizer’s Vice President of Global Clinical Supply (GCS) after the company had undergone... View Details

Keywords: Clinical Supply Chain; COVID-19; Vaccine; Agile; Innovation and Invention; Change Management; Organizational Culture; Transformation; Leadership; Corporate Strategy; Health Pandemics; Crisis Management; Mission and Purpose; Health Care and Treatment; Supply Chain Management; Digital Transformation

Winter 2020
Article

The Sky above and the Mud below: Two Books about Steve Jobs

By: Richard S. Tedlow

Steve Jobs was the most charismatic businessperson in the modern era. When he died, on October 5, 2011, Apple was inundated with condolence messages from all over the United States and from around the world. These notes were sent not only to Apple headquarters in... View Details

Keywords: Steve Jobs; Impact

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December 2016 (Revised October 2018)
Case

U.S. Digital Service

By: Mitchell Weiss, Nick Sinai and Michael Norris

Mikey Dickerson and Haley Van Dyck found themselves far from home and far from certain about where to take the U.S. Digital Service (USDS) next. In the summer of 2015, they had landed in London to meet with Mike Bracken, director of the United Kingdom’s Government... View Details

Keywords: Public Entrepreneurship; Haley Van Dyck; Mikey Dickerson; United States Digital Service; Digital Services; Innovation Teams; Scaling Innovation; 18F; Presidential Innovation Fellows; Government Digital Service; Mike Bracken; Innovation Fellowships; Entrepreneurship; Government Administration; Innovation and Management; United States; United Kingdom

September 2011 (Revised January 2012)
Case

Telemonitoring at Visiting Nurse Health System

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Mark Keil and Mala Kaul

The Telemonitoring at Visiting Nurse Health System case presents one home healthcare organization's efforts to use telemonitoring to improve the quality of care provided to at-risk patients who were discharged from hospitals and needed home care. After two years of... View Details

Keywords: Capital Budgeting; Cost vs Benefits; Risk Management; Technology Adoption; Technological Innovation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Competitive Strategy; Health Industry; Technology Industry

2008
Case

Great Negotiator Case Study Package

By: James K. Sebenius, Jeswald Salacuse, Daniel Curran, Rebecca Hulse and Kristin Schneeman

This special curriculum package includes the following case studies in the Great Negotiator Case Study Series, each of which features a past recipient of PON's Great Negotiator Award:

2000 PON Great Negotiator: "To Hell with the Future, Let's Get... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation

25 Jun 2018
Research & Ideas

In America, Immigrants Really Do Get the Job Done

the administration has instituted high-profile travel bans and worked to undo the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) policy of the Obama administration, the president has also often signaled a desire to shift the H-1B visa... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Agriculture & Agribusiness; Technology; Service

May 2024 (Revised February 2025)
Case

Choosing the Course of Passion: Brooke Boyarsky Pratt at knownwell

By: Jon M. Jachimowicz and Alexis Lefort

Brooke Boyarsky Pratt (HBS ’13) enjoyed considerable success in her early career, quickly climbing the ranks to associate partner at McKinsey, and later becoming an executive vice president at Berkadia, a Berkshire Hathaway portfolio company. Throughout these years,... View Details

Keywords: Passion; Career; Career Planning; Purpose; Personal Development and Career; Mission and Purpose; Identity; Business Startups; Health Care and Treatment; Health Disorders; Growth and Development Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Health Industry; United States

28 Jan 2020
Book

Advanced Leadership Requires More Than Outside-The-Box Thinking

uses examples and stories from dozens of high-performing managers and entrepreneurs. Is there one person, one quote, that you think most brilliantly captures the spirit of Think Outside the Building? Kanter: Doug Rauch, former president... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

January 2022
Background Note

Common Prosperity? China Shifts Left

By: William C. Kirby and Noah B. Truwit

Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been mistrustful of entrepreneurs and the private sector that operates outside the government’s authority. In its first decades under Mao Zedong, the CCP... View Details

Keywords: Market Reform; Gdp; Government Administration; Government and Politics; Private Sector; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Economy; Globalized Economies and Regions; Entrepreneurship; Business and Government Relations; Globalized Markets and Industries; Social Issues; Society; Economic Growth; China

02 Mar 2009
Research & Ideas

When Goal Setting Goes Bad

goals, but we recommend doing so with caution, and our paper discusses the needed steps to take (e.g., strong leaders who model appropriate behavior, oversight to prevent unethical behavior, etc.). Q: One of the most famous stretch goals was delivered by View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

02 Jun 2010
First Look

First Look: June 2

different approaches adopted by Presidents Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin and concludes with a vision outlined by Russia's third post-Soviet president, Dmitry Medvedev. The case focuses on problems of state authority, fiscal capacity,... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

February 2023 (Revised May 2023)
Case

Accelerating the Accelerator: Raja Al Mazrouei at DIFC Fintech Hive

By: Linda A. Hill, Emily Tedards and Lydia Begag

In January 2023, Raja Al Mazrouei became the Managing Director and Acting CEO of Etihad Credit Insurance (ECI) in Dubai, UAE. In her previous role as the Executive Vice President of the DIFC Fintech Hive, she successfully built and led an accelerator program for... View Details