Publications

May 2024
Supplement

DRSi (B)

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Pre-Abstract: Instructors should consider the timing of making videos available to students, as they may reveal key case details.

Abstract: In March of 2019, Jen Ransom Fuller purchased DRSi. DRSi, located in Bellevue, Washington, printed and reproduced... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Small Business; Cost vs Benefits; Decisions; Business Education; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Leadership Style; Leading Change; Business or Company Management; Problems and Challenges; Health Pandemics; Selection and Staffing; Employee Relationship Management; Production; Logistics; Safety; Washington (state, US); United States

28 Nov 2016
Blog Post

Why We Recruit: Wayfair

having students visit our office so they can meet a wide range of employees - from executives, to recent MBA grads, to people right out of college - and experience our culture up close. Give us your elevator pitch – what is the one thing... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Products / Retail

October 2002 (Revised February 2011)
Case

Union Corrugating Company (A)

By: Paul W. Marshall and Julia Stevens

Lauri Union graduates from Harvard Business School and takes over her family's steel-corrugated roofing and siding manufacturing firm, which her mother has most recently run. The industry is mature, entry barriers to competitors are low, and the company is over 50... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leading Change; Family Business; Entrepreneurship; Organizational Culture; Family Ownership; Gender; Manufacturing Industry; Steel Industry; Industrial Products Industry

06 May 2024
Research & Ideas

The Critical Minutes After a Virtual Meeting That Can Build Up or Tear Down Teams

mask, and what do you unveil?” In studying backstage interactions among employees working for a global company in the United States and China, Perlow found that team members in the two locations often interpreted what happened on the... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

June 16, 2014
Article

Working With Your In-Laws Isn't Always a Terrible Idea

By: Josh Baron and Rob Lachenauer

This article delves into the complex dynamics involving in-laws within family-owned enterprises. In-laws often face a challenging dual role as they must conform to the same professional standards as non-family employees while concurrently grappling with perceptions of... View Details

Keywords: Family and Family Relationships; Family Ownership; Employees

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October 2000 (Revised January 2002)
Case

Rob Waldron at SCORE! Educational Centers (Abridged)

By: David A. Thomas and Stephanie L. Woerner

Describes Rob Waldron's actions upon assuming leadership of SCORE! Educational Centers, an after-school tutoring enterprise. Examines the issue of acquiring and growing a small, privately-owned company into a professional organization, especially regarding corporate... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Business Growth and Maturation; Decision Making; Education; Human Resources; Recruitment; Leadership; Organizational Culture; Private Ownership; Education Industry

11 Mar 2014
First Look

First Look: March 11

exploit a natural experiment where the assignment of managers for newly hired college graduates is mandated by rigid HR rules and is uncorrelated to observable characteristics of the graduates. Given this assignment protocol, I find that local View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 1994 (Revised April 1995)
Case

Visionary Design Systems: Are Incentives Enough?

By: George P. Baker III and Karin B Monsler

A compensation case about Visionary Design Systems (VDS), a small, high-tech full service systems integration firm based in Silicon Valley with eleven offices throughout the country. All employees, including engineers, administrators, and receptionists, received a... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Cost vs Benefits; Compensation and Benefits; Employee Stock Ownership Plan; San Francisco

Article

Family Control of Firms and Industries

We test what explains family control of firms and industries and find that the explanation is largely contingent on the identity of families and individual blockholders. Founders and their families are more likely to retain control when doing so gives the firm a... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Cost vs Benefits; Governance Controls; Family Ownership; Business and Shareholder Relations; Competitive Advantage

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12 Feb 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, February 12, 2019

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=55599 forthcoming International Journal of Human Resource Management Improving Resilience Among Employees High in Depression, Anxiety, and Workplace Distress By: Williams, Allison L., Acacia... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

August 2000
Case

Manila Water Company (A)

By: Michael Beer and Elizabeth Weldon

On February 3, 1997, the east zone of the Manila Metropolitan Water and Sewerage System (MWSS) was taken over by the Manila Water Co. (MWC), a newly created joint venture between the Ayala Corp., a large Filipino conglomerate; Bechtel Enterprises, Inc., an American... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Horizontal Integration; Privatization; Problems and Challenges; Utilities Industry

December 1998 (Revised June 1999)
Case

STT Aerospace

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Jeremy Dann

Experienced entrepreneur Charles Damon conducted a "roll-up" from 1987-1994 within the commercial airliner interior products industry. Damon's company, STT Aerospace, took advantage of an industry-wide recession in the early 1990s by buying when asset prices were low.... View Details

Keywords: Retention; Business Strategy; Selection and Staffing; Entrepreneurship; Financial Crisis; Growth and Development Strategy; Compensation and Benefits; Employee Stock Ownership Plan; Acquisition; Product Development; Aerospace Industry

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31 Jan 2022
Research & Ideas

Where Can Digital Transformation Take You? Insights from 1,700 Leaders

their environmental practices. Moreover, the accelerating pace of technological development and global interconnectivity can erode a company’s competitive edge faster than ever. [div class=infogram-embed data-id=_/VtW2NjCnpFbo7os9Uvha][/div] New View Details

Keywords: by Linda A. Hill, Ann Le Cam, Sunand Menon, and Emily Tedards

November 2010 (Revised January 2012)
Case

CNOOC: Building a World-Class Energy Company

By: Joseph L. Bower, Nancy Hua Dai and Michael Shih-ta Chen

Fu Chengyu is the fifth CEO to lead China National Offshore Oil Company - an SOE founded in 1982 to exploit Chinese offshore deposits. In 2010 he is trying to decide how to drive further growth in a company that has grown 556 times in less than 30 years, with profits... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Leadership Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Resource Allocation; Organizational Culture; State Ownership; Competitive Strategy; Energy Industry; China