Publications

01 Oct 2001
Research & Ideas

Five Questions for Stuart Gilson

Harvard Business School professor Stuart Gilson fielded some questions regarding his new book in an email interview with HBS Working Knowledge editor Sean SilverthorneSilverthorne: When should a company consider a major restructuring? Are there tell-tale signs? Gilson:... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

18 Nov 2008
First Look

First Look: November 18, 2008

the partnership to grow to the benefit of both parties. Purchase this case: http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/ b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=109006 Intel NBI: Intel Corporation's New Business Initiatives Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

02 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

Managing the Open Source vs. Proprietary Decision

implications. In this excerpt, they discuss how corporate managers should consider the interaction of open source and proprietary on software they develop and use. Implications For Corporate Managers Be... View Details

Keywords: by Josh Lerner & Mark Schankerman; Technology

October 2002 (Revised December 2003)
Case

Collabrys, Inc. (A)-The Evolution of a Startup

By: Dorothy A. Leonard and Brian DeLacey

The CEO of a two-year-old start-up must now decide whether to become a technology provider or a service agency. In a time of enormous uncertainty about the viability of various business models for Internet-delivered services and products, Collabrys has survived the... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Internet and the Web; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Corporate Strategy; Technological Innovation; Cost vs Benefits; Partners and Partnerships; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Startups; Corporate Finance; United States

01 Feb 2008
What Do You Think?

How Sustainable Is Sustainability in a For-Profit Organization?

profitability in the name of sustainability? It remains to be seen whether this initiative is overblown, representing little more than solar panels on the roof of corporate headquarters. This topic comes at a time when an interesting... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

01 Jun 2012
News

The American Dream

part of a field study, she worked out an idea for a digital library for users of computer-aided design (CAD). That became InPart Design, a company she sold to Parametric Technology for a reported $60 million two years after founding it. After success as a View Details

Keywords: Executive, Legislative, and Other General Government Support; Government; Computer Systems Design and Related Services; Professional Services

04 Apr 2005
What Do You Think?

Can an Organization’s “Deep Smarts” Be Preserved?

the phenomenon in large, publicly-listed business organizations. What are the causes? As Simon Griffiths puts it, "While we continue to focus on the short term, we will lose the benefits of working for the long term. Wisdom is only... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

Carl C. Icahn

Throughout his career, Icahn specialized in and greatly benefited from orchestrating complex financial transactions including arbitrage. At the height of the “go-go eighties,” Icahn became a quintessential Wall Street View Details

Keywords: Finance

01 Jan 2002
News

Marjorie M.T. Yang (MBA '76)

more than $500 million, Esquel makes more men's cotton shirts than any other company in the world. Guiding the firm to such prominence has been Margie Yang, a combination of energy, style, and determination who gave up her job at First Boston View Details

July 1993 (Revised December 2003)
Case

Sears Auto Centers (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Michael Santoro

The CEO of Sears must decide how to respond to allegations that the company's auto repair division has been misleading consumers and charging them for unnecessary repairs. View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Corporate Accountability; Ethics; Organizational Culture; Compensation and Benefits; Management Teams; Employees; Behavior; Motivation and Incentives; Performance Improvement; Auto Industry

August 2002 (Revised January 2003)
Case

Australia-Japan Cable: Structuring the Project Company

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Carrie Ferman

In late September 1999, representatives from Telstri, Japan Telecom, and Teleglobe met to discuss the structure of the Australia-Japan Cable (AJC) project, a $520 million submarine cable system that would run from Australia to Japan. The sponsors, excited by the... View Details

Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Cooperative Ownership; Organizational Structure; Investment; Ownership; Capital; Corporate Governance; Management Teams; Communication Technology; Projects; Compensation and Benefits; Corporate Finance; Telecommunications Industry; Australia; Japan

01 Jun 1998
News

Mark Tatum

vice president of the university's Black Alumni Association. Working at Procter & Gamble after graduation, he was promoted four times in four years, eventually becoming an award-winning corporate account executive. As a regional sales... View Details

Keywords: Susan Young; photograph by Webb Chappell

July 2011 (Revised September 2011)
Case

CEO Compensation at GE: A Decade with Jeff Immelt

By: V.G. Narayanan and Lisa Brem

When ISS, a large shareholder advisory group, recommended a "no" vote on Jeff Immelt's award of 2 million stock options in April 2011, GE's compensation committee had to decide whether to rescind or amend the award or ignore the ISS recommendation. Was Immelt's 2010... View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Stock Options; Stock Shares; Annual Reports; Executive Compensation; Compensation and Benefits; Business and Shareholder Relations; Performance Evaluation; Corporate Governance; Corporate Accountability; Energy Industry; Financial Services Industry

02 Oct 2000
Research & Ideas

Networked Incubators: Hothouses of the New Economy

CarOrder.com, an online auto seller that began in Trilogy Software's corporate incubator. According to CarOrder.com founder Brian Stafford, the critical benefit that Trilogy provided was rapid access to... View Details

Keywords: by Morten T. Hansen, Henry W. Chesbrough, Nitin Nohria & Donald N. Sull

02 Dec 2022
Blog Post

Why Does Your Company Exist?

help the local community. While most companies have some type of socially positive goal, it usually takes a back seat to making money. But for some companies, a corporate purpose is actually much, much more—it's a powerful force that... View Details

Keywords: All Industries

16 Jun 2003
Research & Ideas

Peeling Back the Global Brand

elements from the real, tangible, and functional to the virtual, intangible, emotional, and unspecific. Henkel decided to tweak the conventional wisdom that a brand "is some sort of holistic entity" that had to consistently blend various product attributes... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Consumer Products; Retail

01 Dec 2010
News

Ilene Lang

professional lives in a new direction. An early pioneer in the high-tech world, Ilene Lang (MBA 1973) worked in senior management and chief leadership roles at established corporations and start-ups alike during the 1980s and ’90s,... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; interview; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; Information; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

09 Aug 2004
Research & Ideas

A Diagnostic for Disruptive Innovation

a January 2, 2004, article in the Wall Street Journal, large corporations are increasingly unwilling to pay for expensive upgrades to software programs. This indicates that software providers are overserving increasing swaths of the... View Details

Keywords: by Scott D. Anthony, Mark W. Johnson & Matt Eyring

March 2023
Teaching Note

Hikma Pharmaceuticals Governance Journey

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Jonah Goldberg

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 318108. The case opens with Said Darwazah, chairman and CEO of Hikma Pharmaceuticals, the multinational generics company, anticipating the company’s 2017 AGM and reflecting on changes made over the previous year to address concerns... View Details

Keywords: Jordan; Emerging Market; Private Sector; For-profit Firms; Boards Of Directors; Pharmaceuticals; Remuneration; Shareholder Engagement; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Business and Shareholder Relations; Executive Compensation; Business Growth and Maturation; Pharmaceutical Industry; Jordan