Publications

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Article

Why a Blended Workforce May Be Key to Lasting Competitive Advantage

By: Joseph B. Fuller

Keywords: Workforce; Future Of Work

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2025
Working Paper

Generative AI and the Nature of Work

By: Manuel Hoffmann, Sam Boysel, Frank Nagle, Sida Peng and Kevin Xu

Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) technology demonstrate a considerable potential to complement human capital intensive activities. While an emerging literature documents wide-ranging productivity effects of AI, relatively little attention has been paid... View Details

Keywords: Generative Ai; Digital Work; Open Source Software; Knowledge Economy; AI and Machine Learning; Open Source Distribution; Organizational Structure; Performance Productivity; Labor

SSRN

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11 Jul 2012
Research & Ideas

The Future of Boards

In discussions that continue to swirl in the aftermath of the financial crisis, the question of corporate... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

30 Mar 2003
Research & Ideas

The Future of IT Consulting

example is the IT product firms that incorporate certification and training for their own consultants, independent consultants, and customer professionals. Microsoft, Sun, and Novell are examples of these... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Johnston; Consulting

Research Summary

Managing the Advantages and Tradeoffs of Collaborative Structures

By: Ethan S. Bernstein

To solve complex problems, organizations must both collect facts and use them to solve problems. In one study, my coauthors and I show that increased connectivity—measured as network... View Details

Keywords: Networks; Human Behavior; Performance; Virtual Work; Hybrid Work; Office Space; Workplace Design; Communication; Social and Collaborative Networks; Behavior; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Leadership; Management

July 2019 (Revised May 2020)
Case

AT&T, Retraining, and the Workforce of Tomorrow

By: William R. Kerr, Joseph B. Fuller and Carl Kreitzberg

By the late 2000s, rapid changes in the telecommunications industry forced AT&T’s management team to take on a task that CEO Randall Stephenson called the “biggest logistical challenge” they had ever seen: retraining 100,000 workers by 2020. In 2012, internal company... View Details

08 Jun 2020
News

Thinking about the future of work in the gig economy using the experience of consultants

07 Jul 2019
HBS Case

Walmart's Workforce of the Future

explores how technology and demographics are changing the way companies like Walmart, and their workers, operate. “The pace of change in the retail sector is truly... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail

Research Summary

The Future of Market Capitalism

By: Joseph L. Bower

In 2009 we are aware of the fragile state of our market system. But a careful examination of the long term prospects for the global economy reveal other problems that may destabilize the system that has created so much wealth in the period since the second world... View Details

10 Jun 2021
News

Here's the Future of the Workplace

May 2016 (Revised April 2018)
Case

Building the Digital Manufacturing Enterprise of the Future at Siemens

By: Willy Shih

This case describes the motivation for and the development of Siemens' digital manufacturing enterprise vision, which became the foundation for its implementation of Industrie 4.0. While the effort started with a purely defensive move by Anton Huber, head of the... View Details

The need for leadership development has never been more urgent. Companies of all sorts realize that to survive in today’s volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous environment, they need different leadership skills and organizational capabilities from those that... View Details

January 2010
Case

The Future of Financial Reporting

By: Karthik Ramanna

Multimedia/video case on the SEC's work on improvements to financial reporting. Students review topical audio and video from various sources including SEC footage, and interviews with others involved, such as Bob Pozen, (past head of Fidelity and chairman of the SEC's... View Details

Keywords: Fair Value Accounting; Financial Reporting; Financial Management; Performance Improvement

25 Oct 2019
HBS Seminar

SBBI Seminar: Some Executive Views of Technology on the Future of Work

8 AM – 8 PM MDT, 18 May 2018
HBS Alumni Events

HBS Hacks: Solving For The Future of Work in San Francisco

Collaborate with fellow HBS alumni to create the actionable solutions to one of societys most vexing challenges. View Details

July 2019
Teaching Note

AT&T, Retraining, and the Workforce of Tomorrow

By: William R. Kerr and Carl Kreitzberg

A Teaching Note for the "AT&T, Retraining, and the Workforce of Tomorrow" case study (HBS#820-017). The case describes how AT&T designed and implemented a program to retrain 100,000 of its workers. The case first reviews the technological forces that compelled AT&T to... View Details

14 Jun 2021
News

A New Leadership Model for the Future of Business and Work

April 2023 (Revised September 2023)
Case

Levels: The Remote, Asynchronous, Deep Work Management System

By: Joseph B. Fuller and George Gonzalez

Levels is a highly innovative startup in the health care space. They intend to revolutionize health by linking behavior—eating, exercise, sleeping, etc.—to changes in metabolism. They believe metabolic health can be managed through careful monitoring of changes in... View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Business Startups; Organizational Culture; Management Style; Technology Industry; United States