Publications

2014
Working Paper

Management Practices, Relational Contracts and the Decline of General Motors

By: Susan Helper and Rebecca Henderson

General Motors was once regarded as one of the best managed and most successful firms in the world, but between 1980 and 2009 its share of the US market fell from 62.6 to 19.8 percent, and in 2009 the firm went bankrupt. In this paper we argue that the conventional... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Structure; Decision Making; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry

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12 Feb 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Management Practices, Relational Contracts, and the Decline of General Motors

Keywords: by Susan Helper & Rebecca Henderson; Auto

May 2007 (Revised November 2019)
Case

Dollar General (A)

By: Willy Shih, Stephen P. Kaufman and Rebecca McKillican

Dollar General Corporation (DG) operates one of the leading chains of extreme value retailers in the United States. 2006 revenues reached $9.2 billion, making DG the 6th largest mass retailer in the country. With revenues growing at 9% annually over the five-year... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Family Business; Disruptive Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Retail Industry; United States

January 2000
Article

Coordinating and Managing Supply Chains: The General Manager's Role

By: A. Raman

Keywords: Management; Supply Chain

August 2010 (Revised August 2012)
Supplement

Generation Health: A Pioneer in Genetics Benefit Management (B)

By: Robert F. Higgins

Keywords: Health; Research and Development; Biotechnology Industry

August 2006 (Revised March 2007)
Background Note

Developing an Effective Living Group in the General Management Program

By: Michael Beer and John J. Gabarro

Discusses the importance of living room groups (eight participants who share a living room) at Harvard Business School's Advanced Management Program developing into effective learning groups. The diversity of the groups is a strength, but only a conscious and concerted... View Details

Keywords: Groups and Teams

April 1999
Case

General Property Trust

By: Peter Tufano

In 1994 General Property Trust, an Australian property investment trust, was anticipating future cash needs beyond those that the Trust could fund with internal cash flows. The managers of the Trust were considering a novel financing structure whereby it would sell... View Details

Keywords: Financing and Loans; Financial Institutions; Financial Services Industry; Real Estate Industry; Australia

2005
Class Lecture

Leadership Is a Choice: The General Manager in the Middle

By: Joseph L. Bower

Keywords: Leadership; Managerial Roles

December 2008
Article

The Teaching of Strategy: From General Manager to Analyst and Back Again?

By: Joseph L. Bower

Courses in strategy are an outgrowth of the business policy course first taught at Harvard Business School in 1912. This article examines how the teaching of a course concerned with the development and implementation of the goals and policies of a firm changed during... View Details

Keywords: Business Education; Curriculum and Courses; Teaching; Policy; Business History; Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy

July 2023
Teaching Note

Hello Heart: The Next Generation of Chronic Disease Management Apps

By: Ariel Dora Stern and Kumba Sennaar

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 622-061. View Details

September 2015
Exercise

Your Value Based Strategy—An Exercise for the General Management Program

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee, Robyn C. Davis and Stephanie R. Khurana

01 Mar 2014
News

Generation Next

generated an operational loss. "My feedback was, 'You're in trouble,'" recalls Kahn. By the spring, Kahn was in Mumbai, part of a team tasked with turning Agrovet around—the first foreigner the Godrej Group had ever hired in a leadership... View Details

Keywords: Mark Bergen; Godrej Group; Management

May 1985 (Revised March 1993)
Case

General Electric Co.--1984

By: Francis Aguilar and Richard G. Hamermesh

Describes the first four years of Jack Welch's tenure as CEO of the General Electric Co. Deals with the ways Welch has tried to change GE's strategy and planning activities and his attempts to make the company more entrepreneurial. View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Management Style; Change Management; Strategic Planning; Corporate Strategy; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Organizational Change and Adaptation

Article

The Second Face of Appropriability: Generative Appropriability and Its Determinants

By: Gautam Ahuja, Curba Morris Lampert and Elena Novelli

We distinguish between two forms of appropriability: primary appropriability—effectiveness in exploiting inventions as problem-solving mechanisms and capturing a share of their profits—and generative appropriability—effectiveness in exploiting inventions as concepts... View Details

Keywords: Innovation Management; Profit Management; Product Management; Resource Management; Strategic Alliances (Business); Strategic Planning; Innovation and Management

April 1999 (Revised May 1999)
Teaching Note

Innovation and the General Manager: Managing Innovation: Introductory Teaching Note for Instructors

By: Clayton M. Christensen

Provides instructors with an overview of the entire Managing Innovation course. It lists the cases that are recommended to be taught in each class session and summarizes the key concepts students should learn in each of the course's five modules. View Details

Keywords: Cases; Innovation and Management; Managerial Roles

January 1988 (Revised May 1988)
Case

General Motors' Asian Alliances

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr.

Describes all of General Motors' major alliances with Asian firms. These include Toyota, Fanuc, Isuzu, Daewoo, Suzuki, Nissan, and Hitachi. Students can discuss the rationale of each alliance, their risks, their management problems, and their likely evolution. Also... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Cost Management; Globalized Firms and Management; Problems and Challenges; Alliances; Risk and Uncertainty; Adoption; Corporate Strategy

December 2007 (Revised July 2008)
Case

General Mills (A)

By: Raymond V. Gilmartin, Marco Iansiti and Bianca Buccitelli

General Mills is an 80-year-old company that specializes in consumer foods such as cereal, snacks, baking, and dinner products. Although General Mills is, on the whole, a very successful company, they have, in the recent past, had to face challenges as a result the... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Change Management; Cost Management; Problems and Challenges; Inflation and Deflation; Price; Consumer Products Industry; Manufacturing Industry