Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(2,126)
- Faculty Publications (106)
- March 2008 (Revised December 2011)
- Case
IBM Values and Corporate Citizenship
IBM's transformation into a globally integrated enterprise (GIE) began with a conviction about what should never change. Since its founding in 1911, the company operated under a set of principles articulated by founder Thomas Watson and became known for a strong... View Details
- October 2007
- Case
The AtekPC Project Management Office
By: F. Warren McFarlan, Mark Keil and John Hupp
Presents one company's efforts to implement a project management organization, or PMO, and the challenges they faced in doing so. Issues brought out in the case include defining the PMO's purpose and mission, the structure and governance of the PMO, and how to... View Details
- 2007
- Book
An Experiment in Fair Value Accounting? The State of the Art in Research and Thought Leadership on Accounting for Life Assurance in the UK and Continental Europe
By: Joanne G Horton, Richard H. Macve and George Serafeim
"Fair value" is currently the central topic of debate in the development of accounting standards. While it has now been defined to mean an exit price in US GAAP, the IASB is still considering its own definition, and some commentators are arguing for versions of entry... View Details
- October 2007 (Revised January 2008)
- Case
The Transformation of Thomson
By: David J. Collis and Troy Smith
Thomson, a French multinational, went through a decade of dramatic change in the early years of the 21st century. From a state-owned enterprise earning 97% of its revenue from television sets and other analog consumer electronics, Thomson had become a publicly traded... View Details
- May 2007
- Article
Inner Work Life: Understanding the Subtext of Business Performance
By: Teresa M. Amabile and Steven J. Kramer
Anyone in management knows that employees have their good days and their bad days and that, for the most part, the reasons for their ups and downs are unknown. Most managers simply shrug their shoulders at this fact of work life. But does it matter, in terms of... View Details
- 2007
- Working Paper
Retail Market Structure and Dynamics: A Three Country Comparison of Japan, the U.K. and the U.S.
By: Jonathan Haskel, Ron S. Jarmin, Kazuyuki Motohashi and Raffaella Sadun
This paper compares structure and dynamics of the Retail Trade Sectors in Japan, the U.K. and the U.S. This is done using confidential establishment and firm level data for each country. By using micro data we are able to perform much more detailed comparisons than... View Details
- April 2005
- Article
Partisan Social Happiness
By: Rafael Di Tella and Robert MacCulloch
We use a new approach to study questions in political economy that relies on data on the subjective well-being of a large sample of people living in the OECD over the period 1975-1992. Controlling for the personal characteristics of the respondents, year and country... View Details
- 2003
- Book
When You Say Yes But Mean No: How Silencing Conflict Wrecks Relationships and Companies
By: Leslie Perlow
“Saying yes when you really mean no” is a problem that haunts organizations from start-ups to multi-nationals. It exists across industries, levels, and functions. And it’s exacerbated by a down economy, when the fear of losing one’s job is on everybody’s mind and the... View Details
- February 2003 (Revised July 2005)
- Case
British Broadcasting Corporation (A): One BBC
By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Douglas A Raymond
Greg Dyke, the new director general of the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) must decide whether to extend an already ambitious change effort at the world's largest public service broadcaster. The initial results of the effort are very positive: audience numbers are up,... View Details
- December 2001
- Case
Cisco China
By: F. Warren McFarlan, Guoqing Chen and David Kiron
Designed to show how Cisco has taken its U.S.-based infrastructure and applied it to China. It is stunning in its impact as one notes how so much of what is being done in the United States in terms of the intranet has been transferred to China. View Details
- December 2001
- Case
Alibaba.com (B)
By: F. Warren McFarlan and Fred Young
The challenges the largest Chinese electronic commerce company faces many challenges at the end of 2001. This case describes how it has completely reoriented its strategy in the past 12 months to become a B-to-B company. The key question is: Will it work and what... View Details
- September 2000 (Revised February 2007)
- Case
Freeport Studio
By: Rajiv Lal and James Weber
Describes the start-up and first-year difficulties of Freeport Studio, a unit of L.L. Bean, founded in 1998 to sell women's clothing by catalog. First-year sales were far below plan, and projected profits did not materialize. Fran Philip must identify the problems and... View Details
- March 1999
- Case
Hans Fritz at Novartis Thailand (A): The First Month
By: Michael Y. Yoshino and Carin-Isabel Knoop
Dr. Hans Fritz is 37 years old when he arrives in Bangkok on March 1, 1998 to assume his position as general manager of Novartis Thailand. Novartis is the world's largest pharmaceutical company. He had lobbied to transition from a staff position to this line management... View Details
- February 1999 (Revised April 1999)
- Case
Guaranty Trust Bank PLC Nigeria (A)
By: Lynn S. Paine and Hal Hogan
Fola Adeola, the CEO of Nigeria's Guaranty Trust Bank and one of its founders in 1991, is considering what should be done to maintain the bank's original vision and vitality in the face of its rapid growth and success in the marketplace. Known for its high ethical... View Details
- March 1996 (Revised January 1997)
- Case
America Online: Using Information Technology to Better Serve the Customer
By: James I. Cash Jr. and Judy E. Stahl
Mike Connors, president of AOL Technologies, examines several efforts to correct operational problems inhibiting the company's growth. What will need to be done to support growth and counter competition from Prodigy, Compuserv, and Internet-related services? View Details
- February 1995 (Revised August 1995)
- Case
Microsoft in the People's Republic of China, 1993
By: Tarun Khanna
Explores some of the economic and political tradeoffs that need to be negotiated by a firm seeking to influence industry structure. The setting is the nascent personal computer software industry in the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1993. Microsoft has to localize... View Details
- September 1993
- Case
Manufacturing at ALZA: The Right Prescription? (A)
ALZA, a company specializing in drug delivery systems such as transdermal patches, considers manufacturing its own products. Until now, the company has conducted research and development on its patented system but has then licensed the technology to client-partner... View Details
- April 1993 (Revised October 1995)
- Case
ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (A): Technological and Financial Innovation
By: Josh Lerner and Peter Tufano
To develop the next generation of risky products, ALZA, a mature and profitable biotechnology firm specializing in drug delivery systems, must raise $40 million. Organizational constraints and competitive concerns demand that the work be done inside the firm. However,... View Details
- September 1991 (Revised December 1991)
- Case
Apple Computer (D): Epilogue
By: Michael Beer and Michael J. Gibbs
Brings students up to date on events at Apple Computer as of August 1991. Outlines resolutions of, or attempts to deal with, problems outlined. Illustrates what Apple had done to address problems, shows progress to date, and alludes to further issues to be addressed.... View Details
- September 1987 (Revised November 1992)
- Background Note
Note on Transaction and Translation Exposure
By: W. Carl Kester and Richard P. Melnick
Describes the transaction and translation exposures that companies doing business internationally face when foreign exchange rates change. Also discusses how to measure and cover both types of exposure. Covering techniques are demonstrated using examples of forward... View Details