Publications

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Leslie A. Perlow is the Konosuke Matsushita Professor of Leadership in the Organizational Behavior Unit at Harvard Business School. She leads the Crafting Your Life Special Project, dedicated to helping individuals make purposeful life choices while gathering... View Details

04 May 2012
Working Paper Summaries

No News Is Good News: CSR Strategy and Newspaper Coverage of Negative Firm Events

Keywords: by Jiao Luo, Stephan Meier & Felix Oberholzer-Gee

April 2009 (Revised April 2012)
Case

Bono and U2

By: Nancy F. Koehn, Katherine Miller and Rachel Wilcox

This case traces the 30-year development of the rock band U2 and the development of its four members as artists, business leaders, and humanitarians (with particular attention paid to lead singer Bono's global humanitarian work). The case examines the beginnings of the... View Details

Keywords: Arts; Business Model; Social Entrepreneurship; Globalized Markets and Industries; Leadership; Brands and Branding; Personal Development and Career; Social Enterprise; Music Industry

October 2015 (Revised October 2016)
Case

Paez

By: Jill Avery, Maria Fernanda Miguel and Laura Urdapilleta

Paez, an Argentine start-up fashion brand, sold traditional alpargatas, a sleepy shoe category that suddenly woke up when U.S. company TOMS borrowed the traditional alpargata design, covered it with fashionable colors and prints, and tied it to a social cause. Paez's... View Details

Keywords: Brands; Brand Management; Brand Positioning; Entrepreneurship In Emerging Markets; Retailing; Fashion; Competitive Strategy; Marketing; Advertising; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Competition; Fashion Industry; Retail Industry; Argentina; Spain

28 Jan 2014
First Look

First Look: January 28

Publications August 2013 Princeton University Press Fortune Tellers: The Story of America's First Economic Forecasters By: Friedman, Walter A. Abstract—The period leading up to the Great Depression witnessed the rise of the economic... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2020 (Revised February 2021)
Case

Wes Hall and the BlackNorth Initiative

By: Shikhar Ghosh, Marilyn Morgan Westner and Reza Satchu

Wes Hall founded Kingsdale Advisors and built it into one of Canada’s leading shareholder services and advisory firms. Influenced by the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and a series of social injustices—specifically the death of George Floyd in police custody—Hall... View Details

Keywords: Racism; Cultural Entrepreneurship; Social Entrepreneurship; Diversity; Race; Social Issues; Ethics; Canada; North America

October 2019 (Revised February 2025)
Case

A Conversation with Ellen J. Kullman, Chairman & CEO of DuPont, 2009-2015

By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz

Ellen J. Kullman, the retired Chairman and CEO of DuPont, describes how she guided the storied science and technology company through a contentious proxy battle with activist investor Trian Partners, which acquired DuPont shares in 2013 and sought to break up the... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Capital Structure; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Governance; Institutional Investing; Leadership; Leadership Style; Management; Transformation; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Chemical Industry; United States

February 2017
Teaching Note

Paez

By: Jill Avery

Paez, an Argentine start-up fashion brand, sold traditional alpargatas, a sleepy category that suddenly woke up when TOMS, a U.S. company, appropriated the traditional alpargata design, covered it with fashionable colors and prints, and tied it to a social cause.... View Details

Keywords: Brand Management; Brand Positioning; Competitive Positioning; Competitive Strategy; Retailing; Go To Market Strategy; Marketing; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Retail Industry; Fashion Industry; Argentina; Latin America; South America; Europe

06 Jul 2016
What Do You Think?

How Do We Pay for the Costs of Globalization?

to do it. What do you think? Original Column The Brexit vote by citizens of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union was neither the beginning nor the end of the anti-globalization, anti-establishment movement. But it grabbed the View Details

Keywords: by James L. Heskett; Manufacturing

16 Apr 2020
Blog Post

Am I Eligible for the 2+2 Program?

consumer goods, retail, industrials, etc. From a lower socio-economic background (first generation in college, lower income family background, less family exposure to graduate school) Going into a technically demanding role Pursuing entrepreneurship So, here’s the... View Details

08 Dec 2008
Research & Ideas

Thinking Twice About Supply-Chain Layoffs

potential profit drivers rather than the first troops to cut in a downturn. Ton's working paper, "The Effect of Labor on Profitability: The Role of Quality", examines how mundane activities such as stocking shelves, setting up displays,... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail

27 Sep 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Salience in Quality Disclosure: Evidence from the U.S. News College Rankings

Keywords: by Michael Luca & Jonathan Smith; Education; Information; Publishing

15 Jun 2016
Research & Ideas

These VC Partners May Make Your Firm Less Innovative

“which is a fancy way of referring to all of the things you don’t have as a new company—products, knowledge, connections, resources.” The most common and effective way to make up for that lack is to find someone who can help you overcome... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services; Banking

01 Jun 2023
HBS Case

A Nike Executive Hid His Criminal Past to Turn His Life Around. What If He Didn't Have To?

business leaders recognize that just because an individual makes a mistake does not mean they cannot be valuable within an organization.” Yet as soon as he opened up about his incarceration, the previously jovial meeting with the senior... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Apparel & Accessories

September 2023 (Revised December 2023)
Case

TetraScience: Noise and Signal

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Tom Quinn

In 2019, TetraScience CEO “Spin” Wang needed advice. Five years earlier, he had cofounded a startup that saw early success with a hardware product designed to help laboratory scientists in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical spaces more easily collect data from... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Organization; Restructuring; Forecasting and Prediction; Digital Platforms; Analytics and Data Science; AI and Machine Learning; Organizational Structure; Network Effects; Competitive Strategy; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States; Boston

January 2008
Case

Lenovo: Building A Global Brand (Multimedia case)

By: John A. Quelch and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Announced in December 2004, the $1.75 billion acquisition of IBM's PC division by Lenovo, China's largest PC maker, made headlines around the world. A relative upstart in the business, Lenovo acquired the division of IBM that invented the PC in 1981. While Lenovo was... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Information Infrastructure; Global Strategy; Acquisition; Brands and Branding; Manufacturing Industry; Computer Industry; China