Publications

October 2005 (Revised August 2006)
Case

Perelson Weiner LLP

By: Thomas J. Steenburgh and Das Narayandas

Perelson Weiner LLP, a successful accounting firm in New York City, is re-evaluating its incentive strategy as it makes plans to grow its business. View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Growth and Development; Compensation and Benefits; Management; Planning; Sales; Motivation and Incentives; Corporate Strategy; Accounting Industry; New York (city, NY)

Forthcoming
Article

On the Limits of Anonymization for Promoting Diversity in Organizations

By: Linda W. Chang and Edward H. Chang

Anonymization of job applicant resumes is a recommended strategy to increase diversity in organizations, but large-scale tests have shown mixed results. We consider decision-makers’ social dominance orientation (SDO), a measure of anti-egalitarianism/endorsement of... View Details

Keywords: Diversity; Selection and Staffing; Rank and Position

2017
Working Paper

Cross-Boundary Teaming for Innovation: Integrating Research on Teams and Knowledge in Organizations

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Jean-François Harvey

Cross-boundary teaming, within and across organizations, is an increasingly popular strategy for innovation. Knowledge diversity is seen to expand the range of views and ideas that teams can draw upon to innovate. Yet, case studies of practice reveal that teaming... View Details

Keywords: Teams; Knowledge; Innovation; Groups and Teams; Collaborative Innovation and Invention

SSRN

September 2012 (Revised September 2012)
Case

Inkaterra

By: Diego Comin, Rohan Gopaldas and Diego Rehder

The case presents the unique business model of Inkaterra, a leading eco-tourism organization in Peru, and the different strategies the company can pursue to grow. Through the experience of Inkaterra the case studies two general issues. First, it discusses the potential... View Details

Keywords: Inkaterra; Ecotourism; Tourism; Environment; Peru; Informal Sector; Regulation; Economic Development; Bottom Of The Pyramid; Technology Diffusion; Competitiveness; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Natural Environment; Market Entry and Exit; Conflict Management; Tourism Industry; Peru

Article

Optimizing Organic Waste to Energy Operations

By: Baris Ata, Deishin Lee and Mustafa H. Tongarlak

A waste-to-energy firm that recycles organic waste with energy recovery performs two environmentally beneficial functions: it diverts waste from landfill and it produces renewable energy. At the same time, the waste-to-energy firm serves and collects revenue from two... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Energy Generation; Renewable Energy; Revenue; Customers; Strategy; Corporate Governance; Wastes and Waste Processing; Environmental Sustainability; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Cost Management; Urban Scope

Find at Harvard

2020
Case

Building Transparency within the Sustainable Apparel Coalition: The Road to Successful Pre-Competitive Collaboration

By: Andrew J. Hoffman

The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) was founded in 2010 to develop a common set of sustainability standards for the apparel, footwear, and home textile industries. The organization was an example of pre-competitive collaboration, a strategy in which companies... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Cooperation; Social Issues; Governing and Advisory Boards; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Performance Evaluation; Apparel and Accessories Industry

18 Apr 2022
HBS Case

Dick’s Sporting Goods Followed Its Conscience on Guns—and It Paid Off

cases entitled “Dick’s Sporting Goods: Getting Out of the Gun Business.” “Standing on the societal sidelines is increasingly becoming less of an option for companies and business leaders.” Riedel stresses that no two companies are the same. Other firms looking to take... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald

29 May 2014
Research & Ideas

Research Symposium 2014

Speaking up at work; a manager's responsibility to capitalism; a strategy to fix the health care system. These were the presentation topics at the 2014 Faculty Research Symposium. At first blush, they may sound a bit disjointed. But a... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Accounting; Health

24 Feb 2015
First Look

First Look: February 24

definition of profit by changing accounting rules. On one level, this corporate behavior embodies the capitalist spirit articulated by Milton Friedman: "The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits." But the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

17 Apr 2012
First Look

First Look: April 17

http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/12-090.pdf Why Every Company Needs a CSR Strategy and How to Build It Authors:Kash Rangan, Lisa A. Chase, and Sohel Karim Abstract The authors argue for a strategic and pragmatic, rather than ideological,... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

August 2019 (Revised March 2023)
Case

Rand Fishkin at Moz (A)

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann

In 2016, senior management at Moz, a venture capital–backed startup providing software tools for digital marketing professionals, must decide how to address a looming cash flow crisis precipitated by failed efforts to broaden its product line. Seattle-based Moz had... View Details

Keywords: Startups; Scaling; Entrepreneurship; Failure; Business Startups; Diversification; Growth Management; Technology Industry

February 2016 (Revised June 2016)
Case

Janalakshmi Financial Services' HR Dilemma

By: Doug J. Chung and Radhika Kak

Janalakshmi Financial Services (JFS), an Indian microfinance institution, had grown rapidly by providing financial products to its main customer base, the urban poor. However, the company was facing several challenges. JFS’s productivity was declining, and it was... View Details

Keywords: Microfinance; Salesforce Management; Compensation and Benefits; Sales; Strategy; Financial Services Industry

29 Aug 2017
Blog Post

3 Insights from My First Year at HBS

It’s hard to believe how quickly a year can fly by. When I first started my RC year at Harvard Business School, I grossly underestimated the advice, "business school is a constant struggle to balance your social life, academics, and... View Details

Spring 2021
Article

Building Cities' Collaborative Muscle

By: Jorrit De Jong, Amy C. Edmondson, Mark Moore, Hannah Riley-Bowles, Jan Rivkin, Eva Flavia Martínez Orbegozo and Santiago Pulido-Gomez

The most pressing social problems facing cities today require multiagency and cross-sector solutions. We offer tools and techniques to facilitate the process of diagnosing and solving problems by breaking down silos to build up cities. View Details

Keywords: Collaboration; Cross-sector Collaboration; City; Governance; Problems and Challenges; Cooperation

March 2018 (Revised April 2018)
Case

Morgan Stanley: Building Long-Term Sustainability

By: Vikram S. Gandhi and Lynn Schenk

This case focuses on the 10-year journey of one of the world's largest global financial institutions developing a sustainability strategy and integrating it across all of its business units. The case provides a deep dive into the challenges and successes of trying to... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Sustainability; Green Bonds; ESG; Environmental Sustainability; Strategy; Business Units; Integration; Financial Institutions

March 2019 (Revised April 2019)
Case

Measuring Impact at JUST Capital

By: Ethan C. Rouen and Charles C.Y. Wang

JUST Capital is a nonprofit organization that seeks to make public companies more "just" by measuring and ranking their overall impact on society, based on the priorities most important to the average American. This case examines JUST’s strategy for influencing... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Social Issues; Performance Evaluation

August 2006 (Revised October 2012)
Case

Natura: Global Beauty Made in Brazil

By: Geoffrey G. Jones and Ricardo Reisen de Pinho

Explores the globalization strategies of Natura, Brazil's largest cosmetics company. Founded in 1969, Natura grew using a direct selling model. Led by its three founders, the firm made distinctive use of Brazil's diversity and became characterized by high ethical and... View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Globalized Firms and Management; Globalized Markets and Industries; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Brazil

2021
Book

Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World That Never Stops Changing

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Selling is changing, but the impact on sales of megatrends like ecommerce, big data, and AI is often misunderstood and not supported by empirical data. Managers who fail to separate fact from hype will make decisions based on bad assumptions and, in a competitive... View Details

Keywords: Sales; Strategy; Salesforce Management; Change; Adaptation