Defensive Strategies - Publications - Faculty & Research

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HBS - The year in Review

experienced colleagues. Assistant Professors Anjali M. Bhatt Organizational Behavior Julian De Freitas Marketing Summer R. Jackson Organizational Behavior Jung Koo Kang Accounting & Management Rebecca A. Karp Strategy Shirley Lu... View Details

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Leadership - Faculty & Research

of “David vs. Goliath” battle included BlueBell Capital successfully removing Danone’s CEO in March 2021 and Engine No. 1 winning three board seats at ExxonMobil in May 2021. Keywords: Corporate Finance ; Capital Budgeting ; Corporate Governance ; Competitive Advantage... View Details

06 Jul 2023
News

Lessons from Major League Baseball's Game-Changing Innovations

numbers, and—in most games—umpires don't miss any calls on the field. And today, that expanded instant replay system is only employed once every other game. "We designed the system based on the data and not based on the perception," Marinak says. Marinak is now the... View Details

31 Oct 2018
What Do You Think?

What is the Function of Fear in Leadership?

leader’s role should involve reducing fear among associates to a minimum. Beatriz commented that, “quite often, team members paralyze due to fear and start delegating upward New KPIs, action plans, and strategies that don’t decipher the... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

19 Mar 2014
Research & Ideas

A Brand Manager’s Guide to Losing Control

charge of public discussions about the brands they use. And while marketers have tried to take part, they've had to face the fact that social media platforms are primarily meant for conversations among consumers, not for one-way brand messages that feel like... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Advertising

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Your Alumni Community - Alumni

Careers Your Alumni Community Careers Your Alumni Community Learn more about what your fellow HBS alumni have been up to and explore the various ways to connect. Featured Alumni Stories Utah Club Dives into Great Salt Lake’s Challenges; Colorado Alumni Talk View Details

13 Feb 2020
Book

Open Your Organization to Honest Conversations

underlying reason why: Leaders often get stuck in echo chambers that merely reinforce their own ideas, says Harvard Business School Professor Michael Beer. Meanwhile, lower-level employees are often fully aware of the problems that plague a company or the reasons a... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

09 May 2017
What Do You Think?

Should Management Be Primarily Responsible to Shareholders?

align managers’ interests with those of shareholders), a reduction in the defenses against hostile takeovers (that typically increase short-term value for owners of the acquired company), increased merger and acquisition activity,... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

06 Sep 2004
Research & Ideas

The Innovator’s Battle Plan

asymmetric battles often is the seemingly sudden end of a great firm. From the incumbent's perspective, every action it takes is rational. But the outcome is devastating. Disruption is the strategy that creates and capitalizes on... View Details

Keywords: by Clayton M. Christensen, Scott D. Anthony & Erik A. Roth

04 Mar 2019
What Do You Think?

What’s the Antidote to Surveillance Capitalism?

user as the customer to the user as the product. The best defense against any form of totalitarianism is, as Zuboff puts it, “naming and taming.” Her book does the naming. She believes it’s up to each of us, our children, and their... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Advertising; Consumer Products

18 Sep 2017
Research & Ideas

'Likes' Lead to Nothing—and Other Hard-Learned Lessons of Social Media Marketing

plenty of die-hard fans willing to push back when a consumer issues an online attack, Avery says. “The best defense against people who are speaking badly about you on social media is to have an incredibly loyal relationship with your... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Advertising; Technology

10 Aug 2009
Research & Ideas

High Commitment, High Performance Management

employed change strategies that focused on both commitment and performance. As ASDA's CEO, Archie Norman, tells it, the new leader has to set a general direction, but must listen and engage people to identify and solve problems. Top-down... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

06 Dec 2017
What Do You Think?

Is It Time To Break Up Amazon, Apple, Facebook, or Google?

Can a Platform-Based Tech Giant Be Broken Up? The answer to this month’s question of whether platform-based tech giants Amazon, Apple, Facebook, or Google should be broken up was a resounding “no.” “TD in FL” put it succinctly with one of the age-old View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Technology; Web Services

28 Sep 2020
Research & Ideas

How Leaders Can Navigate Politicized Conversations and Inspire Collaboration

Getting defensive or staying silent are two common ways that people tend to react when faced with conflict or thorny topics that elicit ardently opposing views. These studies in conversational psychology suggest that engaging in tough... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

10 Oct 2011
Research & Ideas

Retailing Revolution: Category Killers on the Brink

two-day shipping for Prime members help Amazon to shrink the immediacy gap, there are still many items or occasions when a customer feels the need to have a product instantly. Convenience will thus become a key defense against e-commerce... View Details

Keywords: by Rajiv Lal & Jose B. Alvarez; Retail

14 Jan 2014
First Look

First Look: January 14

http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/14-040_96933ceb-3097-4432-97d1-0b32625889f9.pdf January 2014 Harvard Business Review Building a Game-Changing Talent Strategy By: Ready, Douglas A., Linda A. Hill, and Robert J. Thomas... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

27 Feb 2017
Research & Ideas

Reputation is Vital to Survival in Turbulent Markets

Jones: The theoretical contribution is to elaborate how a favorable reputation allows a firm to overcome and capitalize on the transaction uncertainty created by institutional voids. A unique aspect of the theory is that we highlight how reputation has both offensive... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

28 Apr 2003
Research & Ideas

Supply Chain Risk: Deal With It

risks being caused by high-profile events such as the attacks of 9/11. Based on statistical probabilities, risk managers view 9/11 as an "outlier" or exceptional event; but even so, it has spurred a host of defensive reactions.... View Details

Keywords: by David Stauffer

09 Nov 2010
First Look

First Look: November 9, 2010

assumptions, difficult choices, and, ultimately, action plans. You and they must be able to give clear, consistent answers to the seven questions if you want to be sure that your strategy is firmly on track. Read the paper:... View Details