Small Companies - Publications - Faculty & Research

06 Jun 2008
What Do You Think?

Why Don’t Managers Think Deeply?

deeply—entrepreneurs Big companies are no place for big thinkers." Providing time to reflect, particularly in an era of multi-tasking and the tyranny of technology, was most frequently suggested as an antidote to the dearth of deep... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

26 May 2003
Research & Ideas

When Silence Spells Trouble at Work

employees in organizations ranging from small businesses to Fortune 500 corporations to government bureaucracies reveal that silence can exact a high psychological price on individuals, generating feelings of humiliation, pernicious... View Details

Keywords: by Leslie A. Perlow

01 Nov 2019
What Do You Think?

Should Non-Compete Clauses Be Abolished?

commented that, “When a non-compete clause is required it can signal a lack of trust If your ethics are being questioned the time of hire, question the company ethics.” This may help explain why RCD said that, “I have walked away from... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

07 May 2007
Research & Ideas

Rediscovering Schumpeter: The Power of Capitalism

it to evolution. The creative destruction can occur within a large innovative company (Toyota, GE, Microsoft), but it's much more likely to happen with start-ups, particularly since they now have so much access to venture capital.... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Education

02 Jan 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, January 3, 2018

if he develops product that can be monetized. O’Malley conducts tests in insurance cross-selling and small business lending, eventually launching a completely automated small business lending product. Rivers... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

08 Jul 2014
First Look

First Look: July 8

simply begin with the direction you want to go and take a small step. Thinking alone will never change your life-you must ACT. Then evaluate the lessons you learn from that first step, build on them, and take another step in your desired... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

09 Mar 2015
Research & Ideas

Why Entrepreneurs Should Go Work for Government

enforcement on air pollution controls. In California, OpenCounter streamlined registration for small businesses and provided zoning clearances in a fraction of the usual time. In New York, Mark43 is developing software to analyze crime... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

September 2019 (Revised July 2025)
Case

Keroche (A): Fighting for Share in the Kenyan Alcoholic Drinks Market

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Pippa Tubman Armerding

This case discusses the challenges faced by Kenyan alcoholic drinks producer Keroche Industries Limited in 2003, when the Kenyan government accused the company of manufacturing and selling substandard alcoholic drinks, revoked its liquor licenses, and shut down its... View Details

Keywords: Keroche; Alcohol; Wine; Manufacturing; Informal Market; Regulation; Illicit; Illegal; Shutdown; Factory; Low-income Consumers; Multinational; Local; Government; Allegations; Accusations; Negative Press; EABL; Tusker; Beer; SAB; Chang'aa; Naivasha; Rift Valley; East Africa; Lawsuit; Legal Battle; Business Ventures; Business Exit or Shutdown; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Startups; Production; Safety; Quality; Distribution; Small Business; Family Business; Crime and Corruption; Customer Focus and Relationships; Decisions; Income; Demographics; Geographic Scope; Geographic Location; Goods and Commodities; Government Legislation; Growth and Development; Business History; Lawsuits and Litigation; Laws and Statutes; Lawfulness; Goals and Objectives; Consumer Behavior; Market Entry and Exit; Problems and Challenges; Social Issues; Poverty; Strategy; Competition; Entrepreneurship; Manufacturing Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Kenya; Nairobi; Africa

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29 Aug 2023
News

Helping Consumers Decarbonize their Purchases

Subscribe on iTunes Subscribe on Spotify More Skydeck episodes Hi, this is Dan Morrell, host of Skydeck. In this episode, we’re going to be highlighting an episode of another HBS podcast: Climate Rising, which focuses on what businesses are doing, can do, and should do... View Details

16 Sep 2019
Research & Ideas

Crowdsourcing Is Helping Hollywood Reduce the Risk of Movie-Making

Wahlen of MIT Sloan—examine whether such “wisdom of the crowd” can beat the odds in predicting a blockbuster at a higher rate than the gut of an individual producer. "While some companies have used crowdsourcing as a way to make decisions... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Motion Pictures & Video

01 Sep 2006
What Do You Think?

Are We Ready for Self-Management?

as many cited obstacles to its implementation, chief among them management itself. Many respondents were enthusiastic. For example, Leeor Geva characterized self-management as a "win-win strategy." In Jonathan Narducci's words, "Any method that gets all... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

27 Oct 2002
Research & Ideas

Want a Happy Customer? Coordinate Sales and Marketing

even more difficult than in the past. Why the concern about coordination between sales and marketing? Every business exists for financial performance—making money. We know generally how to measure it across different companies and... View Details

Keywords: by Benson Shapiro

31 Jul 2019
Research & Ideas

Distressed Employees? Try Resilience Training

of choices, so they can pick the activities that appeal to them, she says. And if a business is going to spend money on a wellness strategy, the company should test it out with a small group of employees... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Health

01 Dec 2022
News

Singing to the Corn

his work. A paper he’d written, using game theory to explore the liberalization of telecoms, was the ticket to his first job at Metropolitan Fiber Systems; an early project involved analyzing the best stock exchange for the company to go... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; photographed by Vance Jacobs; Agriculture

01 Dec 2015
Blog Post

What is the HBS FIELD Program?

realized how different brand perceptions could be across various cultures and countries. Through multiple customer interactions, we synthesized our findings to develop real short term and long-term strategies for the company to pursue. My... View Details

14 Apr 2015
First Look

First Look: April 14

In 2013 Ning Tang, who in 2006 founded CreditEase as a broker of P2P loans to unbanked individuals and small businesses in China, confronts the challenges of rapid growth and expansion in a changing regulatory environment. CreditEase... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Web

Sexual Harassment - Race, Gender & Equity

13% “I was sexually assaulted by my client and my company stood by me. I had to take time off for that but not because of anything that happened within my company. I came back to work after 4 months and moved out of sales and into HR. The... View Details

19 Sep 2016
Research & Ideas

Why Isn't Business Research More Relevant to Business Practitioners?

Like many business leaders, Donovan Neale-May routinely seeks out information on business innovation and management trends. He reads reports from market analysis firms, white papers from companies in his field, and articles in online... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Education

20 Oct 2003
Research & Ideas

Gaps in the Historical Record: Development of the Electronics Industry

the late 1970s, taking with it a number of smaller U.S. enterprises. The latter were acquired by Japanese companies and Europe's Philips. In the same brief historical period, from the late 1960s to the late 1970s, the Japanese industry... View Details

Keywords: by Alfred D. Chandler Jr.; Consumer Products

09 Apr 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, April 9, 2019

business owners to understand their own cash flow and prospects. Now the fintech innovation cycle is at an inflection point—new streams of data have the power to illuminate the opaque nature of a small business’s finances. The playing... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

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