Failure - Publications - Faculty & Research

Profile

Anja Anliker

I progressed through my career, I realized I needed to take a step back and analyze my successes and failures in a different way. I knew the case study method would force me to wrestle with decisions that are so hard to make in the... View Details

15 Apr 2011
News

Students Hear Wall St. Critics

cited the FCIC’s January report that found failures in financial regulations and enforcement, corporate governance, risk management, and accountability and ethics at all levels. Overarching this, Angelides said, is a climate in which “too... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Finance

06 Mar 2018
First Look

First Look at Research and Ideas, March 6, 2018

down as a result. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=54142 Mitigating Malicious Envy: Why Successful Individuals Should Reveal Their Failures By: Huang, Karen, Alison Wood Brooks, Ryan W. Buell, Brian... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

13 Oct 2003
Research & Ideas

How to Pick Managers for Disruptive Growth

managers can succeed for reasons not of their own making—and we often learn far more from our failures than our successes. Failure and bouncing back from failure can be... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Raynor

June 2015
Teaching Note

Quincy Apparel

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Lisa C. Mazzanti

Keywords: Retail; Online Retail; Women's Apparel; Internet and the Web; Failure; E-commerce; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Retail Industry

Citation

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04 Apr 2005
What Do You Think?

Can an Organization’s “Deep Smarts” Be Preserved?

workforce, a lot of companies have eliminated the accumulated wisdom of older workers." Saira Somani-Mendelin points to another possible cause: The failure to preserve deep smarts "... goes much deeper than the bottom line. It... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

01 Mar 2003
News

Books

to new product and service failure rates of 80 percent or more, Zaltman urges market researchers to challenge the status quo. “The sinking of the Titanic resulted from a failure to question two-and-a-half... View Details

Keywords: Deborah Blagg; Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

02 Jul 2001
What Do You Think?

Built to Last or Bought to Sell?

difficult-borne out by the high ratio of failures to successes in examples cited by the authors. Questions raised by the study include: (1) What happened to focus, loyalty, and trust—causes of "cultural lock-in"—as sources of... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

01 Jan 2011
News

Robert Kraft, MBA 1965

to mourn the loss of Myra Kraft, who succumbed to cancer in July. While Bob Kraft's remarkable successes in the paper and packaging business, as a sports team owner, and as a philanthropist have made him a beloved figure in the Boston community, he says it is his View Details

December 2016
Supplement

Ron Johnson: A Career in Retail

By: Ryan Raffaelli, Joshua D. Margolis and Das Narayandas

This is a video supplement, to be used when teaching the Ron Johnson case. See abstract:

In April 2013, Ron Johnson (HBS '84) stepped down after just 18 months as CEO of J.C. Penney. In his brief tenure, Johnson, an acclaimed retailer respected for his... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Leadership Development; Legal Industry; Procurement; Professional Service Firms; Pricing; Competition; Organizational Behavior; Change Management; Innovation Leadership; Situation or Environment; Failure; Management Teams; Brands and Branding; Retail Industry; United States

Citation

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January 2000 (Revised March 2000)
Case

Cachet Technologies

By: Paul A. Gompers and Howard Reitz

Describes the decision facing Danny Lewin, Jonathan Seelig, and Tom Leighton, the founders of Cachet Technologies, an MIT spin-out. The firm has done poorly in the annual MIT business plan competition and the founders have to decide whether to continue. View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Business Startups; Business Plan; Failure; Cooperative Ownership; Business Strategy; Financial Services Industry

Citation

Find at Harvard

July 1987 (Revised May 1993)
Case

Atlas Copco (A): Gaining and Building Distribution Channels

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

Atlas Copco, a Swedish company, holds the highest market share for air compressors worldwide. However, its attempts to enter U.S. markets have been unsuccessful. The case describes a series of strategic distribution maneuvers implemented by the company which enable it... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development; Marketing Channels; Market Entry and Exit; Market Participation; Distribution Channels; Failure; Industrial Products Industry; Sweden; United States

Citation

Educators

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01 Jun 2003
News

Portraits from the Class of 2003

Stacy Sonnenberg “I want to be brave enough to face failure with a shrug of the shoulder and a desire to try again.” Raised: suburban Chicago Calls Home: New York City Undergrad: MIT, civil engineering In High School and College: swing... View Details

Keywords: Finance

November 2023
Supplement

'Care in Every Drop': Ayala Corporation and Manila Water (B)

By: Debora L. Spar, Paul Healy, Tricia Peralta and Julia Comeau

Since 1834, eight generations of the Ayala family have used their conglomerate to fund nation-building projects in the Philippines, including investments in tramcars, telecommunications, hospitals, and schools. In 1997, Ayala’s subsidiary, Manila Water, took control of... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Economic Growth; Social Entrepreneurship; Climate Change; Natural Resources; Crisis Management; Failure; Privatization; Social Issues; Urban Development; Adaptation; Infrastructure; Utilities Industry; Philippines

Citation

Purchase

Web

1.1.1 MBA Program Guidance on HBS Community Values | MBA

the learning model, understand the impact they had on community member(s), and consider how to address any effects that may have resulted from their actions or speech. As is true for all Community Values matters at HBS, failure to... View Details

22 Jan 2025
Blog Post

Career Risks and Professional Growth: Finding a Fulfilling Career with Paige Arnof-Fenn (MBA 1991)

felt uncomfortable. The moments that seemed like failures at the time often turned out to be the most valuable. Each step, no matter how uncertain, brought me closer to finding my purpose. View Details

04 Mar 2015
What Do You Think?

Can a Laissez-Faire Approach Fix Labor Market Inequality?

power of unions, competition based on lower prices and costs, the failure of governments to take action—inequality appears to have increased over the past three decades in many parts of the world. A strong economic case can be made that... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Retail

16 Jun 2003
Research & Ideas

Researchers Contribute Globalization of Markets Papers

Twenty years has provided time to judge the success or failure of Theodore Levitt's predictions of a global economy populated by standardized products and marketing approaches. For the colloquium, a number of Harvard Business School and... View Details

Keywords: by Working Knowledge editors

01 Sep 2005
News

Predictable Surprises

in 1994 to turn an airplane into a missile aimed at the Eiffel Tower. And yet, post-9/11, then–national security advisor Condoleezza Rice talked about the impossibility of predicting that someone would use an airplane as a missile. So there was a communication View Details

Keywords: Deborah Blagg; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services

March 2004 (Revised June 2004)
Case

Blackout: August 14, 2003

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Ryland Matthew Willis

On August 14, 2003, an electricity blackout cascaded throughout the northeastern United States and Canada. Describes the structure, technology, and economics of the electric utility industry and how gradual deregulation beginning in the 1970s placed unprecedented, and... View Details