Publications

10 Nov 2022
Research & Ideas

Too Nice to Lead? Unpacking the Gender Stereotype That Holds Women Back

However, she does have concrete advice for hiring managers and supervisors: Hold male and female employees to the same standards. If an employee seems to miss the mark on an assignment, “it’s possible that we might get unfairly upset... View Details

Keywords: by Shalene Gupta

08 Oct 2020
News

Sales Calls Have Gone Virtual, and AI Is Listening In

Career Coach

Cathy Hutchinson

Cathy (Kellogg '01) is a member of the Career & Professional Development team and coaches students and alumni interested in entertainment/ media & technology career paths. In addition to managing... View Details

Keywords: Entertainment / Media; Sports; Telecommunications; Technology

October 1991 (Revised June 1992)
Case

Nigel Andrews and General Electric Plastics (A)

Describes some critical challenges involved in creating employee empowerment. In the context of General Electric's efforts to debureaucratise the company, employees were encouraged to become more "self-confident". This effort, called "Workout," was introduced all over... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Organizational Culture; Employees; Manufacturing Industry; United States

March 2011
Case

Insight Communications

By: Rajiv Lal and Natalie Kindred

After undertaking a multi-year, metrics-driven operational and cultural overhaul, in April 2010 Insight Communications was planning the next phase of its development. Insight was a New York-based provider of cable, landline phone, and high-speed Internet service to... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Competitive Strategy; Management Practices and Processes; Performance Improvement; Growth Management; Management Systems; Business Processes; Measurement and Metrics; Employees; Telecommunications Industry; New York (state, US)

14 Feb 2012
First Look

First Look: February 14

characterized by some boundary conditions (Study 6). We discuss the theoretical contribution of this work to research on moral regulation and ethical behavior. "CEO Relational Leadership and Strategic Decision Quality in Top View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

18 Feb 2021
Interview

Amy Edmondson: Are You Missing One of Your Most Important Jobs as a Manager?

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Chris Clearfield

During our conversation, we talked about:

• The renewed interest in the concept of psychological safety
• J.D. Thompson’s notion of “reciprocal coordination needs”
• How knowledge work does not produce objective or mechanical... View Details

Keywords: Psychological Safety; Management Skills; Management Style; Interpersonal Communication

Nancy F. Koehn is a historian at the Harvard Business School where she holds the James E. Robison chair of Business Administration. Koehn's research focuses on crisis leadership and how leaders and their teams rise to the challenges of high-stakes situations. Her... View Details

Keywords: beauty products; clothing; consumer products; entertainment; fashion; marketing industry; retailing; health care; advertising; media

December 2022 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Akooda: Charging Toward Operational Intelligence

By: Christopher Stanton and Mel Martin

The Akooda case describes the challenges confronting founder and CEO Yuval Gonczarowski (MBA ‘17) in 2022 as he attempts to boost sales. Launched in November 2020, Akooda was an AI company that mined 20 different sources of digital data, from tools like Slack, Google... View Details

Keywords: Data Mining; Productivity; Monitoring; Data Analysis; AI and Machine Learning; Knowledge Management; Operations; Problems and Challenges; Employee Relationship Management; Information Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Information Industry; Boston; Israel

August 2017 (Revised November 2017)
Case

Accounting for Political Risk at AES

By: Gerardo Pérez Cavazos and Suraj Srinivasan

As a global energy generating company, AES frequently faces challenges from political changes and instability. This is exacerbated by the fact that in many instances AES' primary customer is the government, which is also in charge of law-making. For example, AES'... View Details

Keywords: Political Risk; Asset Impairment; Risk Factors; Fair Value; Fair Value Accounting; Financial Reporting; Financial Statements; Energy Industry; Bulgaria; Dominican Republic; United States; Venezuela

August 2016
Teaching Note

Mahindra Lifespace Developers' Venture into Affordable Housing

By: Joseph B. Fuller and Monica Baraldi

Mahindra Lifespace Developers Limited (MLDL) was the infrastructure and real estate arm of the Mahindra Group, an Indian conglomerate with revenues of $16.5 billion in 2014. Employing 400 experts in land acquisition, design, project management, sales and marketing, and... View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Business Startups; Development Economics; Developing Countries and Economies; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Social Entrepreneurship; Housing; Emerging Markets; Business and Government Relations; Human Needs; Social Issues; Urban Development; Real Estate Industry; India

April 2007
Case

Schibsted

By: Bharat N. Anand and Sophie Hood

In 2006, newspaper firms in developed markets were severely threatened on three fronts: the growth of online news, online classified advertising, and free newspapers. Schibsted, however, had managed to cope with these challenges successfully, and had become something... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Product Launch; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Adaptation; Competitive Advantage; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Scandinavia

December 2016
Case

thredUP: Think Secondhand First

By: Thomas Eisenmann, Allison Ciechanover and Jeff Huizinga

In the fall of 2016, the management team at thredUP, the largest U.S. online retailer of second hand clothing, is deciding whether to expand into international markets. Over the past 12 months the 7-year-old startup, which had raised over $130 million in venture... View Details

Keywords: Scaling Start-ups; International Expansion; Online Consignment; Apparel; Internet and the Web; Expansion; Entrepreneurship; Global Strategy; Business Startups; E-commerce; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Retail Industry; San Francisco

February 2007
Case

Orientation for Viewing "Startup.com"

By: Noam T. Wasserman

Introduces founders Kaleil Isaza Tuzman and Tom Herman as they start and grow govWorks.com. The movie "Startup.com" documents the challenges that these founders face in building their company while dealing with tensions within the founding team and managing a demanding... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Corporate Governance; Management Teams; Relationships; Familiarity

January 2014 (Revised March 2015)
Case

Google Car

By: Karim R. Lakhani, James Weber and Christine Snively

By 2013, Google, while not a traditional manufacturer of automobiles, had invested millions of dollars in its self-driving cars which had logged over 500,000 miles of testing. The Google management team faced several questions. Should Google continue to invest in the... View Details

Keywords: Digital Services; Innovation; Technology; Technological Innovation; Internet and the Web; Market Entry and Exit; Transportation; Auto Industry; United States

20 May 2013
News

HBS Hosts Global Health Competition

07 Mar 2022
News

Risks to the Brain

August 2019 (Revised March 2022)
Case

Lemonade: Disrupting Insurance with Instant Everything, Killer Prices, and a Big Heart

By: Elie Ofek and Danielle Golan

Launching its first products in the fall of 2016 in New York, insurtech startup Lemonade was on a mission to disrupt the insurance market by using AI and behavioral economics principles. The company offered renters, homeowners, and condo insurance and mainly targeted... View Details

Keywords: AI; Business Startups; Insurance; Technological Innovation; Business Model; Disruption; Brands and Branding; Growth and Development Strategy; Global Strategy; Decision Making; Insurance Industry; Technology Industry