Publications

17 May 2010
Research & Ideas

What Brazil Teaches About Investor Protection

disclosure of financial statements (for instance, they had to publish full financial statements two or four times a year), and they had to disclose executive compensation packages. There was some balance... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Banking; Financial Services

February 2000 (Revised December 2001)
Case

Kmart Inc. and Builders Square

In 1997, Kmart received an offer from retail buyout specialists Leonard Green & Partners for the purchase of its ailing 162-store home improvement chain, Builders Square. Green's offer included a $10 million cash payment, a warrant to purchase a 28% stake in the new... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Valuation; Leveraged Buyouts; Construction Industry; Retail Industry; United States

Research Summary

Governance and Accountability in Social Sector Organizations

This research examines governance in two types of organizations: international NGOs and socioeconomic hybrids.

First, over the past decade, many of the world's most prominent international nongovernmental organizations and networks (INGOs) ... View Details

August 2023
Case

Kariyer.net: Recruiting AI

By: Shunyuan Zhang, Fares Khrais and Namrata Arora

In 2017, Fatih Uysal (AMP 2021) became CEO of Kariyer.net. By then, the business was already the industry leading online job board in Turkey. However, faced with stalling growth, a turbulent macroenvironment, and growing competition from international players, Uysal... View Details

28 May 2008
First Look

First Look: May 28, 2008

salespeople to play timing games (behaviors that increase incentive payments without providing incremental benefits to the firm) with their order submissions. We find that lump-sum bonuses primarily motivate salespeople to work harder, a... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Research Summary

Career and Personal Renewal at Mid-Life

Carl S. Sloane has been studying mid- and late-life transitions in careers and life structures. Two central issues identified in his research, and reflected in the instructional materials for the executive education workshop Age of Options, are (1) the relationship... View Details

December 2004 (Revised February 2006)
Case

Executive Decision Making at General Motors

By: David A. Garvin and Lynne Levesque

Describes the evolution of General Motors' strategy, organizational structure, and management processes from its founding to the present day. Focuses on the role of GM's management committee—the senior-decision-making body at the company, now called the Automotive... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Structure; Competitive Strategy; Decision Making; Management Teams; Auto Industry

April 2006 (Revised May 2009)
Case

Inverness Medical Innovations - Born Global (A)

Ron Zwanziger has just started his third company, having just sold the last one for $1.3 billion to Johnson & Johnson. As part of the deal with J&J, certain assets were transferred to the new company, Inverness Medical Innovations, which, at the time of its creation,... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Mergers and Acquisitions; Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Corporate Finance; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Health Industry; Waltham

If you're not a numbers person, then balance sheets and financial jargon can be intimidating and easy to ignore. But if you want to advance in your career, it's crucial that you are able to make smart financial decisions and develop the confidence to... View Details

Robert Simons

Robert Simons is a Baker Foundation Professor at Harvard Business School. For over 35 years, Simons has taught accounting, management control, and strategy execution courses in both the Harvard MBA and Executive Education Programs. For 2024/25, he is teaching a... View Details

October 2012 (Revised April 2017)
Case

Brazil's Enigma: Sustaining Long-Term Growth

By: Laura Alfaro, Hilary White and Haviland Sheldahl-Thomason

Over the past decade, Brazil's future as a leading world economic power appeared certain. An expanding middle class and commodity boom had fueled economic growth, with GDP growth hitting a peak of 7.5% in 2010. However, the high cost of conducting business in Brazil,... View Details

Keywords: Capital Controls; Inflation; Exchange Rates; Stimulus; Competitiveness; Productivity Growth; Foreign Investment; Infrastructure; Inflation and Deflation; Currency Exchange Rate; Brazil

01 Jan 2003
News

March 2006 (Revised June 2006)
Case

The Speedway That Won't Slow Down

Dick Berggren, well-known FOXTV announcer for NASCAR races and executive editor of Speedway Illustrated magazine, considers how to grow the business he founded and balance his time, energy, and commitments to his wife. Explores the explosive growth of media businesses... View Details

Keywords: Work-Life Balance; Business Plan; Media; Sports; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United States

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October 2010 (Revised October 2011)
Case

Ken Langone: Member, GE Compensation Committee

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Lizzie Gomez

On September 2003, Richard Grasso stepped down as chairman and CEO of the New York Stock Exchange, following weeks of intense public criticism over the size of his $190 million compensation package. As chairman of the committee that oversaw Grasso's payout, Ken Langone... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Employee Stock Ownership Plan; Executive Compensation; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Labor and Management Relations; Wages; Change Management; Energy Industry; New York (city, NY)

January 2019 (Revised July 2019)
Case

New Balance: Managing Orders and Working Conditions

By: Michael W. Toffel, Eileen McNeely and Matthew Preble

New Balance Athletics, Inc., a major U.S.-based athletic footwear and apparel brand, sources most of its footwear products from independent suppliers whose factories are located in China, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Monica Gorman, vice president of responsible leadership... View Details

Keywords: Footwear; Athletic Footwear; Manufacturing; CSR; Sustainability; Quality Management; Supply Chains; Operations; Management; Production; Working Conditions; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Labor and Management Relations; Supply Chain Management; Supply Chain; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Consumer Products Industry

April 1998 (Revised October 1998)
Background Note

Indonesia's Pharmaceutical Industry in 1998

By: Carin-Isabel Knoop and Anthony St. George

This case describes the Indonesian pharmaceutical market in 1997 and the impact on the market of the Indonesian rupiah's 75% devaluation since July 1997. Major foreign and domestic players are described. It raises the issue of how the Indonesian pharmaceutical market... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Pharmaceutical Industry; Indonesia

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March 2003 (Revised January 2006)
Case

Threshold Sports

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Todd H Thedinga

Describes the sales, marketing, and operating issues facing Threshold Sports, a small cycling event management company that produces the Pro Cycling Tour. Examines the issues facing the company as it approaches breakeven and attempts to grow the business substantially.... View Details

Keywords: Growth Management; Bicycle Transportation; Service Delivery; Sports; Bicycle Industry; Service Industry

Dennis W. Campbell is currently the Dwight P. Robinson Jr. Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. His research and teaching activities focus broadly on how management control systems can be designed to balance short-term strategy execution... View Details

Keywords: financial services; service industry; hotels ＆ motels; consumer products; restaurant; manufacturing; professional services

2016
Book

The Three Box Solution: A Strategy for Leading Innovation

By: Vijay Govindarajan

How to Innovate and Execute. Leaders already know that innovation calls for a different set of activities, skills, methods, metrics, mind-sets, and leadership approaches. And it is well understood that creating a new business and optimizing an already existing one are... View Details

Keywords: Innovation Strategy; Innovation Leadership

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