Publications

27 Sep 2021
Research & Ideas

Managers, Your Employees Don’t Want to Be Facebook ‘Friends’

colleagues and managers online, fearing that the connection could come with career risks, according to a recent study in the Academy of Management Journal. The study—OMG! My Boss Just Friended Me: How... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Kim Raczka

January 1990 (Revised September 1994)
Case

Cray Research, Inc.: Preparing for the 1990s

By: Francis Aguilar

Describes the major changes Cray Research faced from 1985 (the time of the original case) to 1990. The dramatic decision to divide the company into two separate firms sets the stage for an analysis of the major strategic and organizational challenges facing senior... View Details

Keywords: Policy; Management Systems; Change Management; Technology Adoption; Business Units; Organizational Structure; Business Strategy; Management Teams; Growth and Development Strategy; Information Technology

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Benson P. Shapiro is a well-known authority on marketing strategy and sales management with particular interests in pricing, product line planning, and marketing organization. He is also the Malcolm P. McNair Professor of Marketing Emeritus at the Harvard Business... View Details

22–23 Sep 2020
Virtual Programming

Driving Impact: A Dialogue on Capitalism, Climate, and Social Change

Join Professor Rebecca Henderson and Sir Ronald Cohen (MBA 1969) as they debate the theories of change. The conversation will compare and contrast the authors groundbreaking approaches to rethinking the role of business in driving impactone through the lens of... View Details

November 2017
Teaching Note

Reinventing Best Buy

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

Teaching Note for HBS No. 716-455. On March 1, 2017, Best Buy Company, Inc., North America’s largest retailer of consumer electronics and appliances, announced a third year of comparable-store sales increases and a 20.8% increase in domestic comparable online sales.... View Details

Keywords: Best Buy; Hubert Joly; Renew Blue; Showrooming; Webrooming; E-commerce; E-Commerce Strategy; Online Retail; Multichannel Retailing; Omnichannel; Marketplaces; Turnaround; Consumer Electronics; Consumer Electronics Accessories; Appliances; Stores-within-stores; Store Experience; Store Size; Store Pickup; Store Management; Delivery; Delivery Models; Amazon; Amazon.com; Pricing Strategy; Business Subsidiaries; Business Units; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Entertainment; Film Entertainment; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Music Entertainment; Television Entertainment; Theater Entertainment; Price; Profit; Revenue; Geographic Scope; Multinational Firms and Management; Business History; Cost; Selection and Staffing; Reports; Technological Innovation; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Human Capital; Leading Change; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Teams; Brands and Branding; Product Marketing; Consumer Behavior; Demand and Consumers; Media; Distribution; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Distribution Channels; Infrastructure; Product; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Public Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Programs; Groups and Teams; Sales; Salesforce Management; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Technology; Hardware; Information Technology; Internet; Mobile Technology; Online Technology; Search Technology; Software; Web; Web Sites; Wireless Technology; Resource Allocation; Computer Industry; Electronics Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Information Technology Industry; Retail Industry; Service Industry; Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Video Game Industry; United States; Minnesota; Minneapolis; Saint Paul; St. Paul

24 Oct 2017
News

The Best-Performing CEOs in the World 2017

16 May 2016
News

The Airplane As A Microcosm Of Class Divisions

October 2013 (Revised January 2017)
Case

Walmart around the World

By: Juan Alcácer, Abhishek Agrawal and Harshit Vaish

After reaching the limits of its successful expansion in the United States in the early 1990s, Walmart sought growth opportunities in markets abroad. This case describes Walmart's attempts to replicate its successful U.S. business model in Mexico, Canada, Brazil,... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Success; Globalized Markets and Industries; Expansion; Market Entry and Exit; Failure; Retail Industry; Germany; China; Argentina; South Korea; Canada; Japan; Brazil; Africa; United Kingdom; United States; Mexico

18 Apr 2000
Research & Ideas

Learning in Action

organizational boundaries, and attend to customer and competitive needs. In 1988, the Timken Company, America's leading manufacturer of tapered roller bearings, embarked on a bold project to revolutionize the production process for manufacturing customized bearings... View Details

Keywords: by David A. Garvin

July 2024
Article

The Passive-Ownership Share Is Double What You Think It Is

By: Alex Chinco and Marco Sammon

Each time a stock gets added to or dropped from a benchmark index, we ask: “How much money would have to be tracking that index to explain the huge spike in rebalancing volume we observe on reconstitution day?” While index funds held 16% of the US stock market in 2021,... View Details

Keywords: Indexing; Passive Investing; Exchange-traded Funds (ETFs); Russell Reconstitution Day; Trading Volume; Information-based Asset Pricing; Investment Funds; Asset Pricing

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19 Aug 2020
News

Krispy Kreme: Top-Line Up Double Digits Thru Pandemic (Podcast)

November 1998 (Revised February 1999)
Case

Microsoft Office: Finding the Suite Spot

By: Stefan H. Thomke and Steven Sinofsky

Describes a key decision-making process within Microsoft's Office products division. At a time when the PC software business has a great deal of uncertainty, Microsoft's management has to make a key decision regarding the future of software suites. A strengthening of... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Applications and Software; Strategic Planning; Organizational Design; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Product Development; Managerial Roles; Growth and Development Strategy; Risk and Uncertainty; Goals and Objectives; Digital Platforms; Innovation and Management; Computer Industry; Information Technology Industry

September 2013
Case

United Rentals (A)

By: Jay W. Lorsch, Kathleen Durante and Emily McTague

In December 1997 United Rentals (URI) went public on the NYSE. Ten years later, during the peak of the economic meltdown, the company's performance was in decline. United Rentals had experienced its share of problems in the prior years and was still struggling to... View Details

Keywords: Board Of Directors; Board Dynamics; Accounting Fraud; Governance; Board Committees; Merger; Corporate Governance; Construction Industry; United States

Jon M. Jachimowicz is an Assistant Professor of Business Administration in the Organizational Behavior Unit at Harvard Business School, where he teaches the Leadership and Organizational Behavior course (LEAD) in the Required Curriculum. He studies... View Details

November 1993 (Revised September 2018)
Case

Rudi Gassner and the Executive Committee of BMG International (A)

By: Linda Hill and Katherine Seger Weber

Explores the roles of CEO Rudi Gassner and the 9-person executive committee in leading BMG International. BMG International is the international music subsidiary of Bertlesmann, a German company that is the second-largest media conglomerate in the world. Describes a... View Details

Keywords: Managerial Roles; Management Teams; Decision Making; Business Plan; Growth and Development Strategy; Global Strategy; Leadership Style; Organizational Culture; Business Subsidiaries; Business Conglomerates; Cost Management; Change Management; Music Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Germany

2020
Working Paper

Working (From Home) During a Crisis: Online Social Contributions by Workers During the Coronavirus Shock

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury, Wesley W. Koo and Xina Li

Prior research has documented that during mortality-related crises workers face psychic costs and are motivated to make social contributions. In addition, management practices that encourage workers to make social contributions during a crisis create value for firms.... View Details

Keywords: Crisis; Social Contributions; Work From Home (WFH); Cannot Work From Home (CWFH); Social Distancing; Online Communities; Coronavirus; COVID-19; Health Pandemics; Employees; Working Conditions; Internet and the Web; Crisis Management

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January 2006
Case

Ron Perez (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine

The division human resources officer must decide whether to discipline a long-time employee for misusing company time and for improperly filling out time cards for his work on government contracts. Intended to focus on the various factors relevant to disciplining... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Moral Sensibility; Employees; Business or Company Management; Management Practices and Processes; Organizations; Crime and Corruption

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Article

Creating Firm Disclosures

By: Amir Amel-Zadeh, Alexandra Scherf and Eugene F. Soltes

Managers expend significant time and effort preparing disclosures about firm performance and strategy. Although prior literature has explored how variation in the style and presentation of disclosures impacts investors' perceptions of firms, little is known about how... View Details

Keywords: Disclosure; Earnings Conference Call; Field Study; MD＆A; Textual Analysis; Corporate Disclosure

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October 2023
Case

Hey Jane: Delivering Abortion Pills to the Doorstep

By: Rembrand Koning, Geraldine Pena-Galea and Sarah Mehta

This case tells the story of Hey Jane, a telehealth clinic founded in 2020 that provides virtual medication abortion services to eligible patients in nine U.S. states. By January 2023, the company had served more than 20,000 patients and raised nearly $10 million in... View Details

Keywords: Operations; Business Startups; Health Care and Treatment; Growth and Development Strategy; Health Industry; Technology Industry; United States