Publications

November 2003 (Revised February 2011)
Case

Sanford C. Bernstein: The Fork in the Road (A)

By: Boris Groysberg and Anahita Hashemi

Soon after the death of the firm's legendary founder, the individuals then serving as chairman and as president--Lewis A. Sanders and Roger Hertog, respectively--talked about the future of their firm. Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., a private investment firm, had grown... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Performance Expectations; Competitive Advantage; Valuation

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March 2021
Article

Increasing the Level of Abstraction as a Strategy for Accelerating the Adoption of Complex Technologies

By: Willy C. Shih

Many new technologies are complex and embody high levels of technical sophistication, and applying them should require significant knowledge and experience. Yet, the rapid adoption and incorporation of these technologies into other innovations seems inconsistent with... View Details

Keywords: Abstraction; Technological And Scientific Innovation; Technological Progress; Diffusion Of Innovation; Technology Adoption; Technological Innovation; Complexity; Information Technology; Strategy

24 Oct 2006
First Look

First Look: October 24, 2006

Harvard Business School Case 807-029 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... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

28 May 2008
First Look

First Look: May 28, 2008

the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/08-096.pdf Shamed and Able: How Firms Respond to Being Rated (Revised May 2008) Authors:Aaron K. Chatterji and Michael W. Toffel Abstract We examine how firms... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

01 Apr 2013
Research & Ideas

First Minutes are Critical in New-Employee Orientation

experiment, the researchers divided batches of new call agents into an individual identity group, an organizational identity group, and a control group. The control group went through the traditional process, focused on View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Web Services; Service; Telecommunications

October 2016 (Revised January 2020)
Case

All Traffic Solutions

By: Rajiv Lal and Scott F. Johnson

All Traffic Solutions traditionally sold traffic signs that collected vehicle data to cities. In recent years, the firm connected their signs to the internet and began selling software that enabled cities to operate their signs remotely and collect data in a more... View Details

Keywords: IoT; Internet Of Things; Smart Connected Products; All Traffic Solutions; Traffic; Internet and the Web; Information Technology; Digital Platforms; Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Transportation; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Manufacturing Industry; Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; United States

12 Oct 2006
First Look

First Look: October 12, 2006

Strategic Value Advisors—predict environmental performance. We find that firms that have more KLD Environmental Concerns have slightly, but statistically significantly, more pollution and regulatory violations in later years than View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

19 Oct 2010
First Look

First Look: October 19, 2010

One explanation for these patterns is that U.S. firms are organized in a way that allows them to use new technologies more efficiently. A model of endogenously chosen organizational form and IT is developed... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

24 Sep 2018
News

How To Drive Digital Transformation In A Changing World

September 2013
Case

SafeBlend Fracturing

By: Benson P. Shapiro, Frank V. Cespedes and Alisa Zalosh

The CEO of SafeBlend Technologies must set a price for the company's environmentally friendly fracturing fluid additive. The firm is negotiating a new contract with its biggest client, Bristol Natural Gas. For the last two years, SafeBlend has been the sole provider of... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Customer Relationship Management; Price; Negotiation; Competitive Advantage; Environmental Sustainability; Energy Sources; Sales; Energy Industry

13 May 2019
Blog Post

The Many Facets of Becoming a Mother at HBS

Each student at HBS brings their own experiences, style, and perspective to every aspect of the MBA experience. Today, we are celebrating the unique perspectives of new mothers at HBS. Each of these women not only were pregnant during... View Details

Dennis Campbell

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

January 2014
Case

Emirates Airline: Connecting the Unconnected

By: Juan Alcacer and John Clayton

Narrates the story of Emirates, an airline founded in 1985 in Dubai that by 2013 was among the three largest commercial airlines in the world. The case emphasizes how Emirates capitalized on its location—a small city–state strategically located to reach ¾ of the world... View Details

Keywords: Sustainable Competitive Advantage; Airlines; Multinational; Location Strategies; Geographic Location; Multinational Firms and Management; Air Transportation; Competitive Advantage; Business Strategy; Air Transportation Industry; Middle East; Dubai

August 2023 (Revised January 2025)
Case

The Gift Card Swap

By: David G. Fubini, William Fubini, Patrick Sanguineti and Amy Chambers

In this short vignette on ethics in consulting, Brenda Thompson, a new Associate at a prestigious consulting firm, learns that a fellow Associate is using the firm's meal expense benefits to pocket the difference between the maximum daily allowance and his actual... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Decisions; Consulting Industry

April 2006
Case

Managing a Public Image: Cheri Mack

By: Robin J. Ely and Ingrid Vargas

Cheri Mack, an African-American woman, has just arrived at Harvard Business School after working for three years at a major consulting firm where she learned to adopt the demeanor of her male colleagues in order to fit in. Some of her male classmates are critical of... View Details

Keywords: Management Style; Race; Reputation; Personal Development and Career; Leadership Style; Gender; Massachusetts

Research Summary

Customer-Centricity as a Vehicle for Organic Growth

By: Ranjay Gulati

This body of work examines the mechanics of how firms grow profitably in commoditizing markets. Underlying the "customer-centricity" that many firms embrace today is a factor that will determine their success with this effort: enabling collaboration across... View Details

December 2008
Article

The Teaching of Strategy: From General Manager to Analyst and Back Again?

By: Joseph L. Bower

Courses in strategy are an outgrowth of the business policy course first taught at Harvard Business School in 1912. This article examines how the teaching of a course concerned with the development and implementation of the goals and policies of a firm changed during... View Details

Keywords: Business Education; Curriculum and Courses; Teaching; Policy; Business History; Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy

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January 1995 (Revised June 1995)
Case

Cybertech Project (A), The

Describes the development and exploitation of a radical new computer-integrated technology in the largely manual meat-processing industry. The technology has been developed by the meat industry's research organization over a period of 15 years and is now ready for... View Details

Keywords: Production; Animal-Based Agribusiness; Information Technology; Product Marketing; Manufacturing Industry; Information Technology Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry