Publications

Program

Compensation Committees

programs. You will explore best practices for aligning executive pay to business strategy and company goals and for meeting shareholder expectations as the regulatory climate evolves. You may also be interested in the related program:... View Details

October 1996 (Revised January 1997)
Case

MacTemps: Building Commitment in the Interim Workforce

MacTemps is a provider of temporary workers skilled in computer graphics and database management. Unlike many temporary agencies that treat temps as a commodity, MacTemps has attempted to build relationships with temps through offering benefits and training. This case... View Details

Keywords: Selection and Staffing; Organizational Design; Personal Development and Career; Information Technology Industry; Employment Industry

February 2000 (Revised January 2008)
Case

Merrill Lynch: Integrated Choice

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Marie Bell

Merrill Lynch, a full-service brokerage firm with $1.5 trillion in client assets, is under attack from both discount and electronic brokerage firms. It responds with Integrated Choice, a suite of products designed to capture clients from the do-it-yourself investor who... View Details

Keywords: Distribution Channels; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Risk and Uncertainty; Financial Services Industry

March 2017 (Revised April 2017)
Case

OXXO's Turf War Against Extra (A)

By: Tatiana Sandino, Gerardo Pérez Cavazos and Annelena Lobb

In 2006, Mexican convenience store chain OXXO faced a threat from a formidable competitor, the rival convenience chain Extra. OXXO had embarked on an initiative to fortify its corporate culture and operating system, but the threat of Extra raised the question of... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Organizational Design; Competitive Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Retail Industry; Mexico

August 2017 (Revised January 2023)
Case

Enel: The Future of Energy

By: Mark R. Kramer and Bhanuteja Nadella

Enel has transformed from the Italian state-owned energy monopoly into a global leader in renewable energy and shared value creation. Through its open innovation model, the company has catapulted to the cutting edge of electric mobility and distributed power... View Details

Keywords: Energy Generation; Renewable Energy; Growth and Development Strategy; Strategic Planning; Energy Industry

09 Aug 2011
First Look

First Look: August 9

right questions—and work through the answers in ways that are right for you. By asking these questions, you can craft new strategies for staying on top of your game. Read the paper:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

28 Aug 2023
Research & Ideas

How Workplace Wellness Programs Can Give Employees the Energy Boost They Need

strategy to improve performance and drive bottom-line results. You Might Also Like: Your Best Employees Are Burning Out: A Framework for Retaining Talent Are Your Employees Passing Up Incentives? Try Promoting the Programs More Building... View Details

Keywords: by Hise Gibson

Deepak Malhotra

Deepak Malhotra's teaching, research and advisory work is focused on negotiation, deal-making and conflict resolution. In 2020, Deepak was named MBA Professor of the Year by Poets & Quants. He has won... View Details

May 2013
Case

Yammer (A)

By: Mikolaj J. Piskorski, Kerry Herman and Aaron Smith

In Spring 2012, Yammer was on track to become a highly successful standalone company. Yammer was a leading Enterprise Social Network (ESN), providing companies a private social network in which employees could collaborate securely and efficiently. However, later that... View Details

Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Opportunities; Applications and Software; Organizational Culture; Problems and Challenges; Management Teams; Integration; Decision Choices and Conditions; Social and Collaborative Networks; Acquisition; Information Technology Industry

15 Nov 2016
First Look

November 15, 2016

Case 517-021 Brand Portfolio Strategy and Brand Architecture While companies choose to brand their products and services in many different ways, there are some central tenets that help define an optimal brand portfolio and associated... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

02 Sep 2015
What Do You Think?

What's Wrong With Amazon’s Low-Retention HR Strategy?

This past month, a New York Times report on Amazon’s personnel strategies prompted several days of intense debate. A number of questions can be raised about the article itself, given the fact that much of it was based on interviews with... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Web Services; Retail; Apparel & Accessories; Consumer Products; Fashion

05 Jun 2007
First Look

First Look: June 5, 2007

supplement: http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=807158 Westin Hotels and Resorts: Operations of a Lifestyle Experience Harvard Business School Case 607-129 Westin Hotels and Resorts adopted a new "lifestyle" brand View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Article

Beyond Magic Bullets: True Innovation in Health Care

By: Vaibhav A. Narayan, Marco Mohwinckel, Gary Pisano, Michael Yang and Husseini Manji

The molecular medicine revolution—based on advances in fields such as genomics and network modeling in the decade since the human genome sequence was completed—has changed the way we think about, study, and approach the development of novel therapies. However, these... View Details

Keywords: Integration; Business Model; Organizational Structure; Health Care and Treatment; Innovation and Invention; Pharmaceutical Industry

March 1992 (Revised September 1996)
Case

ABB Deutschland (C1)

By: Hugo Uyterhoeven

ABB Germany faces some newly emerging strategic and organizational challenges resulting from Europe 1992 and German reunification. In terms of organization, ABB Germany has created a holding company and has separated operations and service activities into legally... View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Organizations; Outcome or Result; Problems and Challenges; Opportunities; Corporate Strategy; Germany

2009
Book

High Commitment, High Performance: How to Build a Resilient Organization for Sustained Advantage

By: Michael Beer

Integrating knowledge from strategic management, performance management, and organization design, strategic human resource expert and Harvard Business School Professor Michael Beer outlines what the high-commitment, high-performance organization looks like and provides... View Details

Keywords: Human Resources; Leadership; Management; Goals and Objectives; Organizational Culture; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Performance; Practice; Business Strategy; System

September 2005
Article

Managerial Foresight and Attempted Rent Appropriation: Insider Trading on Knowledge of Imminent Breakthroughs

By: Gautam Ahuja, Russell W. Coff and Peggy M. Lee

In order to establish a competitive advantage, firms must acquire or create resources at a price below their value in use. Absent pure luck, this requires managers to exercise foresight about a resource's future value and/or complementarities with pre-existing... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Knowledge Use and Leverage

September 2020 (Revised December 2020)
Case

Hot Wheels at Mattel: Reinventing the Wheel

By: Elie Ofek, Andres Terech and Nicole Tempest Keller

In 2017, Chris Down, Global Brand General Manager for Hot Wheels, and his team from the Advanced Play Group within Mattel, Inc., were considering which innovation path to pursue in order to "future proof" the Hot Wheels franchise going forward. Hot Wheels was the... View Details

Keywords: Toys; Industry Evolution; Innovation Strategy; Product Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Technological Innovation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Decision Making; Digital Transformation

September 1989 (Revised July 1991)
Case

Caterpillar, Inc.: George Schaefer Takes Charge

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

For over half a century, Caterpillar, Inc. (CAT) had been a world leader in the manufacture of earthmoving and construction machinery. In 1982, just months after it recorded the highest sales and profits in its history, CAT experienced its greatest crisis. Demand fell... View Details

Keywords: Machinery and Machining; Crisis Management; Labor Unions; Demand and Consumers; Management Teams; Problems and Challenges; Competitive Strategy; Business Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Manufacturing Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Industrial Products Industry

Sep 2007 - 2007
Conference Presentation

Antecedents of Boundary Spanning in Cross-functional NPD Teams

By: James R. Dillon, Shikhar Sarin and Amy C. Edmondson

Boundary spanning has been shown in prior research to enhance innovativeness and performance of product development teams. In this study, we examine team conditions that foster boundary spanning behavior. We analyze survey data from 207 members of 54 cross-functional... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Innovation and Invention; Groups and Teams; Behavior; Performance Improvement; Boundaries; Leadership Style; Product; Complexity; Integration; Power and Influence