Publications

03 Jan 2017
Research & Ideas

5 New Year's Resolutions You Can Keep (With the Help of Behavioral Science Research)

order and devour a pepperoni pizza at midnight, try tackling next week’s grocery list instead. Researchers from Harvard Business School and the Analyst Institute evaluated a year's worth of customer orders from an online grocer. Their... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

06 Oct 2014
Research & Ideas

Why Businesses Need a Language Strategy

levels of language skills, communication and performance suffer. Q: You have written about English becoming the primary lingua franca in global businesses. Do you see any dangers in that proliferation? Are there cultural assumptions that... View Details

Keywords: Re: Tsedal Neeley

June 1991 (Revised December 1997)
Case

Takeover of the Norton Co., The

By: Thomas R. Piper

After a decade of mediocre performance, the Norton Co. enters 1990 with the prospect of increased sales in the next few years. Yet Norton is pursuing slow growth industries, and a lower than expected earnings announcement at the beginning of 1990 has depressed earnings... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Conglomerates; Goals and Objectives; Forecasting and Prediction; Performance Evaluation; Revenue; Bids and Bidding; Business Processes; Ownership Stake

June 1997 (Revised May 1998)
Case

Mobil USM&R (A2)

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Second of a two-part case on the development and use of a Balanced Scorecard (BSC) at Mobil's US Marketing and Refining Division. This case describes the completed BSC, and how this was linked to the BSCs of the independent business units and the internal service... View Details

Keywords: Balanced Scorecard; Performance Evaluation; Management Teams; Management Practices and Processes; Executive Compensation; Motivation and Incentives; Corporate Strategy; Energy Industry; Mining Industry; United States

19 Dec 2005
Research & Ideas

Public Education Goes to School

years, we've produced sixteen teaching cases, two conceptual notes, and a working paper. Q: The performance problems of U.S. public education are receiving growing attention. How are urban schools performing... View Details

Keywords: by Mallory Stark; Education

April 2020 (Revised April 2023)
Supplement

TransDigm in 2017: The Beginning of the End or the End of the Beginning?

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher

TransDigm was a highly acquisitive company that manufactured a wide range of highly engineered aerospace parts for both military and commercial customers. Over the ten years ending in 2016, its stock price had increase ten times, and both EBITDA and revenues had grown... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Ethics; Private Equity; Financial Strategy; Growth Management; Performance Evaluation; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Horizontal Integration; Value Creation; Competitive Advantage; Aerospace Industry; Air Transportation Industry; United States

June 2020
Supplement

TransDigm in 2017: Congressional Hearing on the DoD Inspector General’s Report (5/15/19)

By: Benjamin C. Esty

This video accompanies the case, “TransDigm in 2017: The Beginning of the End or the End of the Beginning?” View Details

March 2010 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Roll Back Malaria and BCG: The Change Initiative

By: Nava Ashraf, Rachel Gordon and Catherine Ross

Roll Back Malaria, a global partnership dedicated to fighting malaria has not met its founders' expectations of effectively combatting malaria. In 2005, after several internal evaluations, RBM leadership has decided to engage the Boston Consulting Group to work on a... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Management Practices and Processes; Performance Evaluation; Communication Strategy; Communication Intention and Meaning; Non-Governmental Organizations; Change Management; Multinational Firms and Management; Negotiation; Health Industry

26 May 2015
First Look

First Look: May 26

that individuals who are given time to reflect on a task improve their performance at a greater rate than those who are given the same amount of time to practice with the same task. Our results also show that if individuals themselves are... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

December 1999 (Revised July 2000)
Case

Cimetrics Technology (B): Russian Perspectives

By: Lynn S. Paine

Presents the perspectives of two Russian software developers working for Cimetrics in Moscow. A central issue from the Russian perspective is whether a more structured and formal arrangement is needed for managing the Russian team. View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Applications and Software; Business or Company Management; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Human Resources; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Labor and Management Relations; Product Development; Performance Evaluation; Information Technology Industry; Russia; Canada; United States

September 2020 (Revised September 2021)
Supplement

Student Success at Georgia State University (B)

By: Michael W. Toffel, Robin Mendelson and Julia Kelley

This is a supplement to the Student Success at Georgia State University (A) case. The (B) case includes the results of a randomized control trial that Georgia State conducted to test education technology start-up AdmitHub’s chatbot solution as a strategy for improving... View Details

11 Dec 2006
Research & Ideas

Fixing Price Tag Confusion

instead of being all-inclusive, was partitioned as "Hardware $1,500 + Software $500" consumers would investigate their feelings about both hardware performance and software desirability, and they might get discouraged in the process.... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

March 2014
Teaching Note

Roll Back Malaria and BCG: The Change Initiative

By: Nava Ashraf and Natalie Kindred

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Management Practices and Processes; Performance Evaluation; Communication Strategy; Communication Intention and Meaning; Non-Governmental Organizations; Change Management; Multinational Firms and Management; Negotiation; Health Industry

30 Jul 2013
First Look

First Look: July 30

Telecom and Chorus. Purchase this case: http://hbr.org/search/413081-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 913-036 Massachusetts Financial Services (Abridged) This case describes the compensation and performance View Details

Keywords: Anna Secino

19 Apr 2011
First Look

First Look: April 19

the right questions. The challenge lies in being able to step back, reflect, and ask the key questions that are critical to your performance and your organization's effectiveness. In What to Ask the Person in the Mirror, HBS professor and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2000 (Revised July 2019)
Teaching Note

Cafes Monte Bianco: Building a Profit Plan

By: Robert Simons and Indra Reinbergs

Teaching Note for (9-198-088). View Details

Keywords: Business Strategy; Cash Flow; Capital Structure; Business Earnings; Financial Statements; Business Plan; Profit; Cost Management; Performance Evaluation; Strategic Planning; Financial Management; Investment Return; Food and Beverage Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Italy

08 Sep 2003
Research & Ideas

A Bold Proposal for Investment Reform

time. (Of course, we later learned that this performance was over-stated due to accounting problems at Enron.) Unless we can ensure that analysts and professional investors use information to evaluate a... View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen; Financial Services

2009
Article

Placing the Normative Logics of Accountability in 'Thick' Perspective

By: Alnoor Ebrahim

This article provides a critical reflection on the heavily normative nature of current accountability debates. In particular, it explores three streams of normative discourse on nonprofit accountability: improving board governance, improving performance-based... View Details

Keywords: Fair Value Accounting; Accounting; Governance; Performance Evaluation; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Goals and Objectives; Management Practices and Processes; Power and Influence; Social and Collaborative Networks; Organizational Structure; Relationships; Accounting Industry