Publications

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15 Feb 2000
Research & Ideas

Growing Pains: Prescriptions for U.S. Health Care

has become adept at handling complex medical problems (the market's high-end need) but is no longer able to treat simple conditions (low-end need) with any semblance of cost-effectiveness. Enter managed care, a disruptive technology that... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Health

August 2023
Technical Note

Two Ways of Pursuing a Calling

By: Leslie Perlow and Hannah Weisman

Work can be a means to a financial end, a stepping stone to higher-level jobs, or a meaningful end in itself: a calling. The technical note provides an overview of two different ways people can pursue a calling: with an internal focus or external focus. View Details

Keywords: Personal Development and Career; Job Search; Job Design and Levels; Happiness; Identity; Well-being; Motivation and Incentives; Human Needs; Satisfaction; Mission and Purpose; Health Industry; Music Industry; Education Industry; Fine Arts Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry

29 Jun 2015
HBS Case

Consumer-centered Health Care Depends on Accessible Medical Records

trusted by consumers," Quelch says. "Can a health insurer counter out of the mold and break the standard prejudice against trusting insurers to develop a closer relationship with the end consumer?" Device companies: Device... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Health; Technology

03 Dec 2012
HBS Case

HBS Cases: Against the Grain

(it has a reputation for the latter). It's a quandary for Jim's employer, of course, but withdrawing investment at the 11th hour would also put many poor farmers' livelihoods in jeopardy. Like many case studies prepared for classroom discussion, "Against the... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Food & Beverage

January 2000
Case

Talbots - A Classic

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Marie Bell

This case traces why the $1 billion women's clothing retailer decided to attract younger customers, what went wrong, and the actions taken to recover. By the end of 1999, the company has reestablished itself and faces several growth opportunities and must decide on the... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Decisions; Crisis Management; Product Positioning; Problems and Challenges; Segmentation; Fashion Industry

December 2001
Case

Alibaba.com (B)

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Fred Young

The challenges the largest Chinese electronic commerce company faces many challenges at the end of 2001. This case describes how it has completely reoriented its strategy in the past 12 months to become a B-to-B company. The key question is: Will it work and what... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Business Strategy; Internet and the Web; Problems and Challenges; Information Technology Industry; China; United States

August 2008 (Revised July 2009)
Case

Gazprom (A): Energy and Strategy in Russian History

By: Rawi E. Abdelal, Sogomon Tarontsi and Alexander Jorov

Critics have accused Gazprom, the world's largest natural gas producer, of eschewing market principles in favor of the foreign policy priorities of the Russian government, ever since the energy giant cut off the supply to Ukraine in January of 2006. The purported... View Details

Keywords: History; International Relations; Trade; Energy Industry; Russia; Soviet Union; Ukraine; Europe

02 Sep 2013
Research & Ideas

The Curse of Double-Digit Growth

after the country's civil war ended in 2002. Still, Werker says, Angola is one of the world's most poorly run governments, with its ruling power controlling most of its resources. Although Nigeria's oil boom from 1968 to 1976 created many... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard

04 Jul 2016
Research & Ideas

Is Your Org Chart Stuck in a Rut? Try a Scientific Experiment

organizations that really ends up with no trend line” “For decades, we’ve been in this cycle where an organization hires a consulting firm to help design and execute a restructuring, and then, as soon as they’re done, they start that... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

25 Apr 2019
Research & Ideas

Incubators Take Notice: Your Entrepreneurs Are Networking with the Wrong People

another potential peril of referral-based hiring. Beyond ending up with a homogenous workforce, managers who hire candidates who already know other employees might have to work harder to get these candidates to collaborate with people... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

08 Oct 2021
Research & Ideas

How Newspaper Closures Open the Door to Corporate Crime

Professor Jonas Heese. When local newspapers shutter, some businesses evidently treat the lack of press coverage as permission to act badly and end up committing more illegal violations, including pollution, workplace safety infractions,... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

December 2023
Case

Santa Elena: Table Grape Production in Chile’s Water-Challenged Regions

By: Forest Reinhardt, Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago and Mariana Cal

In the fiscal year ending in September 2022, Santa Elena, Chile’s fifth-ranking table grape exporter, a grape producer and exporter since 1980, had exported around 3.5 million boxes (18-pound each). But, due to a 13-year-long drought that plagued table grape-growing... View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Climate Change; Environmental Regulation; Environmental Sustainability; Natural Resources; Food; Environmental Law; Problems and Challenges; Weather; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Chile; South America; Latin America

10 Sep 2007
Research & Ideas

High Note: Managing the Medici String Quartet

they would feel compelled to execute against. Q: Another aspect of collaboration that Robertson discusses in the case is interpersonal harmony. Why was it complicated to get along? A: In business we have the notion that we can create a healthy innovation dynamic where... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Music

17 Apr 2006
Research & Ideas

Resisting the Seductions of Success

accomplishments. But when she tries to get him to talk about his life and what makes him happy, all she gets are clichés—that he likes to make her happy and still finds her the "cutest creature in the world."4 Lee View Details

Keywords: by Joseph L. Badaracco Jr.; Entertainment & Recreation; Information; Publishing

April 2008
Case

A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products

By: Larry E. Greiner and Elizabeth Collins

Alex Sander is a new product manager whose drive and talents are attractive to management, but whose intolerant style has alienated employees. This tension is presented against the backdrop of a 360° performance review process. Sander works in the Toiletries Division... View Details

Keywords: Management Style; Conflict Management; Behavior; Management Practices and Processes; Talent and Talent Management; Mergers and Acquisitions; Problems and Challenges; Consumer Products Industry; United States; Europe

May 1996
Background Note

The GM's Operational Challenge: Managing Through People

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Ashish Nanda

Highlights and explores how a general manager adds value to the firm at the operational level by managing through people. Discusses how assumptions about human motivation influence the employment contract that the general manager implicitly enters into with the workers... View Details

Keywords: Employee Relationship Management; Selection and Staffing; Contracts; Managerial Roles; Operations; Problems and Challenges; Labor and Management Relations; Motivation and Incentives; Value

19 Feb 2013
First Look

First Look: Feb. 19

markets, such as the one for patents, generally create profit opportunities for intermediaries. We begin with an overview of the problems that arise in patent markets, and how traditional institutions like patent brokers, patent pools,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

August 2019 (Revised April 2021)
Case

Unifying Divisions: Joro's Mission to Preserve the Planet

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Marilyn Morgan Westner

The case focuses on the initial startup team and Founders’ agreements. In March 2018, Sanchali Pal proposed renegotiating the informal founders’ agreement and equity split she and her co-founders had drafted the previous spring. They had been working together for over... View Details

Keywords: Founders' Agreements; Business Startups; Climate Change; Agreements and Arrangements; Conflict Management