Publications

February 2021 (Revised June 2023)
Case

Henry Ford: Changing the World

By: Robert Simons and Max Saffer

This case traces the rise of Henry Ford from a small farm in Michigan to the controlling shareholder of the Ford Motor Company. The case describes how Ford, as young man, acquired engineering skills and the risks he took as he built and marketed one of the first... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Entrepreneurship; Personal Characteristics; Business Startups; Management; Success; Values and Beliefs; Technological Innovation; Personal Development and Career; Auto Industry; United States; Michigan

December 2023
Case

Robert McNamara: Changing the World

By: Robert Simons and Shirley Sun

This case traces the life of Robert McNamara from Harvard Business School to Ford Motor Company to the U.S. Department of Defense. McNamara excelled in every job along the way: becoming the youngest-ever professor at Harvard Business School, the first non-family... View Details

Keywords: Performance Measurement; Military; Leadership Development; Values and Beliefs; Personal Characteristics; Leadership Style; Success; Business and Government Relations; Power and Influence; Business Education; War

2009
Comment

Testimony on 'The World Bank's Disclosure Policy Review, and the Role of Democratic Participatory Processes in Achieving Successful Development Outcomes'

By: Alnoor Ebrahim

Keywords: Banks and Banking; Policy; Success; Growth and Development; Outcome or Result

Read Now

January 2024 (Revised May 2024)
Case

Generation Investment Management

By: Vikram S. Gandhi, Michael Norris and David Allen

In September 2021, the sustainable investment firm Generation Investment Management (Generation) considered whether to add Schneider Electric to the focus list of companies in which it was prepared to invest. Dedicated to promoting a sustainable world through its... View Details

Keywords: Sustainable Investing; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; Governance; Private Equity; Public Equity; Financial Markets; Investment Return; Investment Activism; Investment Funds; Investment Portfolio; Institutional Investing; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Financial Services Industry; United Kingdom; England; London

November 2017
Teaching Note

Facebook Fake News in the Post-Truth World

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

Teaching Note for HBS No. 717-473. In January 2017, Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, was surrounded by controversy. The election of Donald Trump as the next president of the United States in November 2016 had triggered a national storm of protests, and... View Details

Keywords: Facebook; Fake News; Mark Zuckerberg; Donald Trump; Algorithms; Social Networking; Social Networks; Partisanship; Social Media; App Development; Instagram; WhatsApp; Smartphone; Silicon Valley; Office Space; Digital Strategy; Democracy; Entry Barriers; Online Platforms; Controversy; Tencent; Agility; Gaming; Gaming Industry; Computer Games; Mobile Gaming; Messaging; Monetization Strategy; Advertising; Digital Marketing; Business Ventures; Acquisition; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Headquarters; Business Organization; For-Profit Firms; Trends; Advertising Industry; Communications Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Information Industry; Information Technology Industry; Journalism and News Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Service Industry; Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Video Game Industry; United States; California; Sunnyvale; Russia

24 Oct 2013
News

Engineering a More Secure World

Anthony Harris Photo courtesy of Anthony Harris by Francis Storrs On April 14, 2013, a sheriff's deputy pulled over a truck cruising down Interstate 55 in Mississippi. What started as a routine traffic stop became more serious when the deputy noticed scratches around... View Details

Keywords: Francis Storrs; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

September 1992 (Revised March 1998)
Case

Japan Confronts an Interdependent World

By: George C. Lodge

Traces the evolution of Japan's economic strategy from 1972 to 1992. Describes the collapse of the Japanese stock market in the spring of 1992, raising the question: Is this the end of Japan's miraculous growth? To help students consider that question, the case... View Details

Keywords: Policy; Financial Markets; Information Technology; System Shocks; Borrowing and Debt; Financial Crisis; Government and Politics; Growth and Development; Situation or Environment; Japan; United States

16 Feb 2004
Research & Ideas

Marketing Wine to the World

program, I had the opportunity to write a new case about Robert Mondavi. As I conducted the research for the case, I became more fascinated with the changes taking place in the industry globally, as well as the marked differences between the industry in the Old View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls; Consumer Products; Entertainment & Recreation; Food & Beverage

12 Nov 2001
Research & Ideas

Facing the New World Order

developing world. That will require new efforts to strengthen and expand the global trading system. This may be the time, as we argue in our introduction, to really make a new WTO round begin. Because that would be a very important... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

October 2004
Case

World Wide Licenses Ltd.: From Disney to Polaroid

World Wide Licenses (WWL) was a low-technology firm that licensed famous brands, which it then applied to timepieces, stationery, and back-to-school products. It transformed into a digital imaging company and landed worldwide rights to the Polaroid brand name. Explores... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leadership Development; Brands and Branding; Technology Adoption; Technological Innovation; Transformation

07 Apr 2003
Research & Ideas

How the U.S. Army Develops Leaders

knowledge (KNOW) and skills (DO) are highly perishable. If you don't use them today, they're gone tomorrow. And, with the world changing at breakneck speed, the knowledge and skills we learn today may be irrelevant tomorrow. Hence, our... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

15 Jul 2012
News

Using research to solve real world problems

October 2009
Article

Managing Risk in the New World

By: Robert S. Kaplan, Anette Mikes, Robert Simons, Peter Tufano and Michael Hofmann Jr.

Five experts gathered recently to discuss the future of enterprise risk management: Kaplan, the Baker Foundation Professor at Harvard Business School, who with his colleague David Norton developed the balanced scorecard; Mikes, an assistant professor at HBS who studies... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Financial Crisis; Capital Structure; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Risk Management

February 2021 (Revised September 2022)
Case

Marie Curie: Changing the World

By: Robert Simons and Shirley Sun

This case describes the rise of Marie Curie from a poor family in Poland to the pinnacle of scientific fame. The case describes how Curie, as a young woman interested in science, found a way to earn a doctorate at the Sorbonne and perform pathbreaking research on... View Details

Keywords: Legacy; Impact; Science; Research; Personal Characteristics; Mission and Purpose; Success; Work-Life Balance; Higher Education; Personal Development and Career

May 1983
Case

Brazil and the World Economy

By: Dennis J. Encarnation III and Richard H.K. Vietor

Keywords: Development Economics; Business and Government Relations; Banks and Banking; Brazil