Publications

April 1991 (Revised November 1997)
Case

Levi Strauss & Co. and the AIDS Crisis

By: Richard S. Tedlow

Keywords: Health Disorders; Employee Relationship Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Apparel and Accessories Industry

12 Feb 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Do Bonuses Enhance Sales Productivity? A Dynamic Structural Analysis of Bonus-Based Compensation Plans

Keywords: by Doug J. Chung, Thomas Steenburgh & K. Sudhir

January 2004 (Revised April 2004)
Case

Crisis and Response: Sexual Abuse Allegations in the Boston Archdiocese (A)

By: Ashish Nanda

This case describes how the Boston archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church handled allegations of clergy sexual abuse during the 1990s. In 2002, the archdiocese was confronted by public revelations of how the allegations were handled. Professional organizations first... View Details

Keywords: Conflict of Interests; Crime and Corruption; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Religion; Crisis Management; Boston

15 Feb 2016
Research & Ideas

Want Your Employees to Plan Better for Retirement? Don't Do This

was really surprising.” The finding is useful for employers because as DC plans continue to proliferate, companies face more of a responsibility to effectively educate their workforce, particularly older... View Details

Keywords: Re: John Beshears; Financial Services

03 Feb 2018
Op-Ed

How to Heed BlackRock's Call for Corporate Social Responsibility

Larry Fink recently created a shockwave. As cofounder, chairman, and CEO of BlackRock, one of the world’s largest global asset management firms, in an open letter to CEOs he caught the attention of financial markets and beyond by insisting on the importance of... View Details

Keywords: by Julie Battilana

24 Mar 2020
Research & Ideas

These Coronavirus Heroes Show Us How Crisis Leadership Works

We are in the greatest crisis of our lifetimes—even worse than 9/11 and the 2008-09 financial meltdown that triggered the Great Recession. This crisis is directly affecting every person, even those who don’t... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George; Health

23 Apr 2020
Research & Ideas

This Crisis Loan Program Preserved Jobs—and Made Money

after an event passes, according to recent research based on a survey examining French firms with fewer than 250 employees during the global financial crisis last decade. Conducted over a seven-year period starting in 2008, the research... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Financial Services

22 Feb 2010
Op-Ed

Tragedy at Toyota: How Not to Lead in Crisis

plans for resolution have been Toyota's substitute for crisis response. As accounts pour in about declining quality, the company parades out relatively unknown mid-level managers to quell the firestorm. It... View Details

Keywords: by William George; Auto

December 2020 (Revised March 2025)
Case

Responsive Working at PepsiCo UK (A): Designing a Turnaround

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Nancy Boghossian Staples

Facing a significant decline in revenues in 2016, David Gwilliam, Head of Transformation at PepsiCo UK introduced a new way of working (“Responsive Working”), which encompasses a set of work practices and some new team structures. The work practices comprise a set of 9... View Details

Keywords: SLAM Teams; Turnaround; Groups and Teams; Employees; Training; Decision Making; Planning; Performance Improvement; Consumer Products Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United Kingdom; Europe

January 1997 (Revised March 1997)
Case

Crisis at the Federal Reserve: Arthur Burns and the Stagflation of 1973-75

By: David A. Moss and Wyatt C. Wells

Briefly examines the history of the Federal Reserve System up through 1970 and then delves into how the central bank, under the leadership of Arthur F. Burns, responded to the "stagflation" of the early 1970s. It culminates with the Federal Reserve's response to the... View Details

Keywords: Central Banking; Inflation and Deflation; Government Administration; Financial Crisis; United States

July 2012 (Revised May 2024)
Case

Lyric Dinner Theater (A)

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Jim Sharpe

Looking back at five years of losses, Rivka Belzer, a newly minted MBA, steps into her family owned business with their mandate to turn it around or close it. In her first six months, she has made a number of changes, with mixed results, but is beginning to show a... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurs; Entrepreneurial Management; Crisis Management; Family Business; Turnarounds; Financial Crisis; Boards Of Directors; Operations Management; Strategy Implementation; Career Planning; Entrepreneurship; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States

2010
Working Paper

Do Bonuses Enhance Sales Productivity? A Dynamic Structural Analysis of Bonus-Based Compensation Plans

By: Doug J. Chung, Thomas J. Steenburgh and K. Sudhir

We estimate a dynamic structural model of sales force response to a bonus based compensation plan. The paper has two main methodological innovations: First, we implement empirically the method proposed by Arcidiacono and Miller (2010) to accommodate unobserved latent... View Details

Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Performance Productivity; Mathematical Methods; Salesforce Management; Motivation and Incentives

SSRN

Read Now

November 2007
Article

Solve the Succession Crisis by Growing Inside-Outside Leaders

By: Joseph L. Bower

This article includes a one-page preview that quickly summarizes the key ideas and provides an overview of how the concepts work in practice along with suggestions for further reading. In his interviews and data analysis, Harvard Business School professor Bower found... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Leadership Development; Management Practices and Processes; Management Succession; Planning

17 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

Harvard Business School Faculty Comment on Crisis in Japan

with the task of fashioning an appropriate fiscal response. Bold recovery plans would seem to be in order, but how that response is financed holds great import for Japan's economic future. With government... View Details

Keywords: Re: Multiple Faculty

March–April 2014
Article

Do Bonuses Enhance Sales Productivity? A Dynamic Structural Analysis of Bonus-Based Compensation Plans

By: Doug J. Chung, Thomas Steenburgh and K. Sudhir

We estimate a dynamic structural model of sales force response to a bonus based compensation plan. Substantively, the paper sheds insights on how different elements of the compensation plan enhance productivity. We find evidence that: (1) bonuses enhance productivity... View Details

Keywords: Performance Productivity; Salesforce Management; Compensation and Benefits

09 May 2014
Working Paper Summaries

‘My Bad!’ How Internal Attribution and Ambiguity of Responsibility Affect Learning from Failure

Keywords: by Christopher G. Myers, Bradley R. Staats & Francesca Gino

November 2008
Journal Article

Financial Constraints and Growth: Multinational and Local Firm Responses to Currency Crises

By: Mihir A. Desai, C. Fritz Foley and Kristin Forbes

This paper examines how financial constraints and product market exposures determine the response of multinational and local firms to sharp depreciations. U.S. multinational affiliates increase sales, assets, and investment significantly more than local firms during,... View Details

Keywords: Economic Growth; Financial Crisis; Currency; Private Equity; Foreign Direct Investment; Multinational Firms and Management; Emerging Markets; United States

SSRN