Publications

14 May 2020
Research & Ideas

What Leaders Can Do to Fight the COVID Fog

“Having empathy in day-to-day interaction with employees, customers, vendors, investors, etc. is always an important leadership skill, but this empathy is dramatically heightened during a crisis that is impacting everyone personally and professionally. Keeping in View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Robin Abrahams

10 Oct 2016
Book

Why White-Collar Criminals Commit Their Crimes

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Financial Services

22 Sep 2016
Cold Call Podcast

Innovation Under Constraint: Constructing a Turnaround at Lego

Keywords: Re: Jan W. Rivkin & Stefan H. Thomke; Entertainment & Recreation

1 Aug 2002
Other Presentation

Australian Competitiveness

By: Michael E. Porter

Competitiveness presentation at the IIR Leading Minds conference in Sydney, Australia. View Details

Keywords: Economics; Australia

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13 Apr 2009
Research & Ideas

Kind of Blue: Pushing Boundaries with Miles Davis

Ask jazz fans the world over to name their favorite compilation, and chances are their response is Kind of Blue. With music that is sophisticated and sublime, spare yet complex, trumpeter and composer Miles Davis (1926-1991) reached dazzling new heights of creativity... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Music

05 Jun 2009
Research Event

Business Summit: Niall Ferguson and the Certainty of Uncertainty

a major financial crisis, they should consider history when developing their strategies, plans, and models, and should keep in mind that outlier events occur. When such events do occur, the consequences are often immediate and... View Details

Keywords: Re: John A. Quelch

07 Aug 2017
Research & Ideas

'Be Yourself (Within Reason)' and Other Job Search Survival Tips

Credit: iStock If you think looking for a job in your profession is difficult, try being an accounting PhD looking for work in academia. Harvard Business School Assistant Professor Ethan Rouen advises job hunters to start a physical exercise regimen to prepare, be... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Accounting; Education

November 1987 (Revised June 1988)
Case

ServiceMaster Industries, Inc.

By: James L. Heskett

The CEO of ServiceMaster Industries has convened an internal task force to come up with ideas for reorganizing the company to accommodate unusually fast growth. In developing both alternatives and criteria for appraising them, the task force has to keep in mind the... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Culture

04 Feb 2021
Research & Ideas

Inside CEOs' Pandemic Worries: Uncertainty, Employees, and Kids

Responding to COVID-19 in early 2020 was an exercise in crisis leadership. In 2021, the pandemic feels like a painful marathon that will never end. The rapidly spreading virus forced a precipitous shift to remote work at many companies, complicating matters for... View Details

Keywords: by Gamze D. Yucaoglu, Robin Abrahams, and Boris Groysberg

12 May 2003
Research & Ideas

How Hot is the “Hot Spot” Business?

Internet pioneers looked at everything from Wi-Fi "hot spots" to the future of broadband at a recent telecommunications conference at Harvard Business School. The issues were debated at the Bandwidth Explosion colloquium held April 23-25. Professors Robert D.... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne & Martha Lagace; Technology; Communications; Telecommunications

23 Jun 2003
Research & Ideas

Psychology, Pathology, and the CEO

In recent years, I have been inside nearly two dozen turnaround situations, in various stages of progress, in which new leaders were bringing distressed organizations back from the brink of failure and setting them on a healthier course. In every case, I saw—and agreed... View Details

Keywords: by Rosabeth Moss Kanter

January–February 2023
Article

Rethink Your Employee Value Proposition: Offer Your People More Than Just Flexibility

By: Mark Mortensen and Amy C. Edmondson

A lot of leaders believe that the formula for attracting and keeping talent is simple: Just ask people what they want and give it to them. The problem is, that approach tends to address only the material aspects of jobs that are top of employees’ minds at the moment,... View Details

Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Retention; Recruitment; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Culture; Satisfaction

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January 2005 (Revised July 2010)
Case

Anne Mulcahy: Leading Xerox through the Perfect Storm (A)

By: William W. George and Andrew N. McLean

In 2000, Xerox faces bankruptcy amid a liquidity crisis, collapsed profitability, and an expanding SEC investigation. Traces the career and leadership development of Anne Mulcahy, a former sales executive unexpectedly named COO of the beleaguered company as a last... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leadership; Financial Liquidity; Organizational Culture; Crisis Management; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Gender; Corporate Governance

December 1992 (Revised October 1993)
Case

BMW: The Ultimate Driving Machine Seeks to De-Yuppify Itself

By: Stephen A. Greyser and Wendy Smith Schille

Tracks changes in the luxury auto market during the 1980s and early 1990s. Shifts in target consumer behavior--particularly the yuppie lifestyle--serve as the basis for manufacturer modifications of product line, positioning, and advertising. The climax of the case is... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Change Management; Transformation; Brands and Branding; Product Positioning; Production; Luxury; Segmentation; Auto Industry

23 May 2017
First Look

First Look at New Ideas and Research: May 23, 2017

sustainability disclosure. We also document that sustainability information not identified by the accounting standard setting process is not associated with stock price synchronicity. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=52664 The 4... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

2014
Other Teaching and Training Material

Marketing Reading: Brand Positioning

By: Jill Avery and Sunil Gupta

This Reading addresses the principles of brand positioning and demonstrates how companies can strategically craft powerful, resonant, and unique brand positions to help products stand out amidst the cacophony of the marketplace. Strategic brand positioning provides... View Details

Keywords: Brand Positioning; Branding; Consumer Research; Defensive Strategies; Market Positioning; Marketing; Product Differentiation; Product Positioning; Strategic Positioning; Value Proposition; Customer Relationship Management; Organizational Structure; Customer Satisfaction; Brands and Branding

March 2014 (Revised September 2015)
Case

Clef Company: Turnover

By: Frank V. Cespedes

The Clef case focuses on the issue of turnover in a firm's sales force. Students must analyze the factors contributing to turnover as well as the role of the field sales force in Clef's profitable business strategy. Among other things, the Clef case illustrates that... View Details

Keywords: Sales; Marketing; Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Performance Evaluation; Retail Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States

April 2001 (Revised November 2001)
Case

AvantGo

By: Alan D. MacCormack and Kerry Herman

Richard Owen, CEO of AvantGo, is preparing for a meeting in which he will set the human resource policy for the firm going forward. It has been three months since the company's IPO, and given the tremendous cramp in hiring over the six months prior to the IPO, he knows... View Details

Keywords: Initial Public Offering; Management Teams; Selection and Staffing; Retention; Growth and Development Strategy; Performance Evaluation; Information Technology; Decisions; Information Technology Industry; Service Industry; United States