Publications

2013
Chapter

The Most Successful CEOs Come from Within

By: Joseph L. Bower

The financial crisis of 2008 and the Great Recession caused a crisis of public confidence in business and American-style capitalism, with its focus on maximizing shareholder value. Corporate leaders understood that reform was needed and that they needed to commit... View Details

Keywords: Governing and Advisory Boards; Management Succession; Business and Community Relations; Management Teams

January 2018 (Revised January 2019)
Case

ZappRx

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Olivia Hull

In October 2015, ZappRx founder Zoe Barry is deciding between two business models for her health technology start-up. Her product, a software application that aims to expedite the prescription fulfillment process for patients with rare diseases, has attracted interest... View Details

Keywords: Speciality Drugs; Hub Services; Pivot; Speciality Prescriptions; Health Care and Treatment; Customization and Personalization; Internet and the Web; Business Model; Decision Choices and Conditions; Pharmaceutical Industry; Massachusetts

Educators

October 2023
Article

Speedy Activists: Firm Response Time to Sociopolitical Events Influences Consumer Behavior

By: Jimin Nam, Maya Balakrishnan, Julian De Freitas and Alison Wood Brooks

Organizations face growing pressure from their consumers and stakeholders to take public stances on sociopolitical issues. However, many are hesitant to do so lest they make missteps, promises they cannot keep, appear inauthentic, or alienate consumers, employees, or... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Public Opinion; Social Media; Social Issues

October 2023
Case

Kevin O'Leary: Building a Brand in Shark-infested Waters

By: Reza Satchu and Patrick Sanguineti

For more than fifteen years, successful Canadian entrepreneur and investor Kevin O’Leary had developed his brand into a global powerhouse. Since his first appearance on the Canadian television program Dragons’ Den in 2006 and his meteoric rise to stardom through the... View Details

Keywords: Personal Brand; Crisis; Brands and Branding; Entrepreneurship; Crisis Management; Social Media; Public Opinion; Power and Influence; Financial Services Industry

Educators

Article

Network Effects Aren't Enough

By: Andrei Hagiu and Simon Rothman

In many ways, online marketplaces are the perfect business model. Since they facilitate transactions between independent suppliers and customers rather than take possession of and responsibility for the products or services in question, they have inherently low cost... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Competition; Internet and the Web; Network Effects; Market Participation

Register to Read

2021
Book

The Heart of Business—Leadership Principles for the Next Era of Capitalism

By: Hubert Joly and Caroline Lambert

A remarkable turnaround by a leader with a remarkable philosophy: Find your noble purpose. Put people at the center. Unleash human magic.
"It was fall in Minnesota. It was getting cold and we were supposed to die." This is how Hubert Joly describes the early,... View Details

Keywords: Capitalism; Leadership; Mission and Purpose; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Leading Change

09 Aug 2011
First Look

First Look: August 9

product and/or the by-product. The firm creates value through this process innovation and can capture this value by capturing newly created market opportunities, taking market share from competitors, or licensing the innovation to its... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2024
Book

Retiring: Creating a Life That Works for You

By: Teresa M. Amabile, Lotte Bailyn, Marcy Crary, Douglas T. Hall and Kathy E. Kram

Retirement, as a major life transition, can be both thrilling and challenging in unexpected ways. Written by acclaimed authors in the fields of business leadership, careers, and work, this book goes beyond the typical financial and health-related advice on retirement,... View Details

Keywords: Retirement

18 Mar 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Modeling Expert Opinions on Food Healthiness: A Nutrition Metric

Keywords: by Jolie Mae Martin, John Leonard Beshears, Katherine Lyford Milkman, Max H. Bazerman & Lisa Sutherland; Retail

2017
Working Paper

Structural Transformation: A Competitiveness-based View

By: Christian H.M. Ketels

Competitiveness research aims to enhance our understanding of the drivers of prosperity differences across locations and of policies that can sustainably raise a location’s prosperity level. The paper outlines key elements of the competitiveness framework and discusses... View Details

Keywords: Competitiveness; Cluster; Development; Growth; Economic Policy; Competition; Development Economics; Economic Growth; Policy

Read Now

19 Apr 2004
Research & Ideas

Ground-Floor Opportunities for Retail in India

spending. Real estate costs are high. The taxation and legislation system is complex and difficult to navigate. Vijay Jain said he left a "cushy" job in investment banking to take advantage of the huge potential promised by... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Consumer Products; Retail

Research Summary

Emotional Experience, Expression, and Regulation

By: Alison Wood Brooks

Once considered irrational, emotions often exert a more profound influence on decision-making and workplace outcomes than logic or reason. Professor Brooks studies emotional experience, emotional expression, and how individuals can regulate their emotions... View Details

Research Summary

Social Learning

One major area of my research is social learning: the ways and extent to which people discover what they want and need from the behavior and opinions of others. Social learning takes many forms. Probably most obvious is word of mouth—the advice and... View Details

13 May 2008
First Look

First Look: May 13, 2008

actions to take in BP's business strategy and in the political arena to manage ongoing climate risk. Purchase this case: http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=708026 Go Mobile Harvard Business School Case 508-023... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

07 May 2018
Research & Ideas

Why Online Retailers Should Hide Their Best Discounts

New advice for online retailers suggests bargain items should not be too easy for shoppers to find. (Matjaz Slanic) Retailers have long known where to put the bargain bin—in the back of the store, where customers have to work a little bit... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Retail

31 Oct 2004
Research & Ideas

Bypass Marketing: Are Docs Influenced?

Until the close of the last decade, health consumers received much of their knowledge and advice about prescription drugs from their physicians or other health care professionals. Today, pharmaceutical companies are spending several... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls

2025
Book

Talk: The Science of Conversation and the Art of Being Ourselves

By: Alison Wood Brooks

We all struggle with difficult conversations, but we're often not very good at easy ones either. Though we do it all the time, conversation is one of the most complex, demanding, and delicate of all human tasks, rife with possibilities for misinterpretation and... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication

March 2015
Case

Clifford Chance: Women at Work

By: Boris Groysberg, Katherine Connolly and Stephanie Marton

It was October 2013, and global law firm Clifford Chance was coming under fire for the second time in less than a year for reputedly failing to provide a supportive work environment for its female associates. A memo entitled "Speaking Effectively" was just issued to... View Details

Keywords: Women; Law; Fairness; Employee Relationship Management; Retention; Human Capital; Organizational Culture; Performance Expectations; Work-Life Balance; Public Opinion; Problems and Challenges; Legal Services Industry; United States

Educators