Publications

In this article, we examine a case of task segregation—when a group of workers is disproportionately allocated, relative to other groups, to spend more time on specific tasks in a given job—and argue that such segregation is a potential mechanism for generating... View Details

27 Jan 2009
First Look

First Look: January 27, 2009

automatically consider the potentially dubious motives of agents who cause harm indirectly. Experiment 4 demonstrates an effect of indirect agency on purchase intentions. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/09-012.pdf Product-Market Competition and... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

October 2020 (Revised February 2025)
Technical Note

Reinvention

By: Ryan Raffaelli

This note is designed to introduce students to the fundamental concepts of leading innovation in established organizations. Reinvention is a process whereby organizations respond to changes in the environment that threaten their core business model, technologies,... View Details

Keywords: Innovation And Strategy; Leadership And Change Management; Organizational Ambidexterity; Exploration And Exploitation; Innovation and Management; Innovation Leadership; Leading Change; Technology Adoption; Change Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation

February 2022
Technical Note

Ethical Analysis: Fairness

By: Nien-hê Hsieh

Concerns about fairness can arise across a wide range of contexts. They include the treatment of others, how much things cost, how much workers are paid, the outcome of a decision, and how we assign benefits and burdens across individuals. What counts as fair in a... View Details

Keywords: Fairness; Management Practices and Processes; Decision Choices and Conditions

2019
Working Paper

Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 9 Organizing to Rationalize

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

The purpose of this chapter is to explain what the technologies of flow production with stochastic bottlenecks require and reward in organizations. I argue that organizations successfully implementing these technologies are likely to have unified governance and... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Organizational Design; Management Teams; Business History

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Research Summary

Corporate Governance and International Competitiveness

By: W. Carl Kester

W. Carl Kester's research involves comparisons of national or broad regional systems of corporate governance (e.g., German, Japanese, Anglo-American), and the influence these systems exert on corporate investment and international competitiveness. Kester has found... View Details

16 Jun 2015
First Look

First Look: June 16, 2015

Publications June 2015 Review of Accounting Studies Speaking of the Short-Term: Disclosure Horizon and Managerial Myopia By: Brochet, Francois, Maria Loumioti, and George Serafeim Abstract—We study conference calls as a voluntary... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2003 (Revised February 2006)
Background Note

Use and Abuse of Analogies, The

By: Giovanni M. Gavetti and Jan W. Rivkin

Examines how managers use, and sometimes misuse, analogical reasoning as they formulate their strategies. Suggests a process that managers can employ to use analogies productivity. View Details

Keywords: Managerial Roles; Performance Productivity; Strategy

14 Sep 2021
Blog Post

How to Support Your Employees’ Career Development

be shared with your managerial team. Open Lines of Communication First and foremost, the career development conversation should not be reserved for the annual review. Instead, it should happen at regular intervals and involve the right... View Details

Keywords: All Industries

2007
Book

When Professionals Have to Lead: A New Model for High Performance

By: Thomas J. DeLong, John J. Gabarro and Robert Lees

For too long, professional services firms (PSFs) have relied on the "producer-manager" model, which works well in uncomplicated business environments. However, today's managing directors must balance conflicting roles, more demanding clients, tougher competitors, and... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Management Practices and Processes; Service Operations; Performance Effectiveness; Strategy

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October 2002 (Revised November 2002)
Case

The EU's 13th Directive on Takeover Bids: Unlucky for Some?

By: Huw Pill and Ingrid Vogel

In the late 1990s, the United States boomed in the context of the so-called New Economy. The countries of the European Union--despite their progress with integration in the form of the Single Market 1992 program and the adoption of a single currency in January... View Details

Keywords: Horizontal Integration; Corporate Governance; Germany; European Union

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August 2014
Case

Opening the Valve: From Software to Hardware (A)

By: Ethan Bernstein, Francesca Gino and Bradley Staats

Valve, one of the world's top video game software companies, has also become an iconic example of an organization with virtually no hierarchy. A 400-person organization, Valve's unique organizational form (described in detail in the case and accompanying employee... View Details

10 Jul 2000
Research & Ideas

Cable TV: From Community Antennas to Wired Cities

renewal of existing franchises. 16 With new rules in place improving their access to programming and capping franchise fees, cable operators rushed to develop urban markets. They encountered a chaotic and sometimes corrupt process as they... View Details

Keywords: by Thomas R. Eisenmann; Media & Broadcasting; Consumer Products; Entertainment & Recreation

Contextual Intelligence

I have come to a conclusion that may surprise you: trying to apply management practices... View Details

Monique Burns Thompson

Monique Burns Thompson is an accomplished social entrepreneur who returns to HBS (class of 1993) and brings her twenty years of successful start-up and organizational leadership experience to her research and teaching at HBS. She has led as a co-founder, President,... View Details

2010
Working Paper

Making the Numbers? 'Short Termism' and the Puzzle of Only Occasional Disaster

By: Nelson P. Repenning and Rebecca Henderson

Much recent work in strategy and popular discussion suggests that an excessive focus on "managing the numbers"—delivering quarterly earnings at the expense of longer-term investments—makes it difficult for firms to make the investments necessary to build competitive... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Performance Improvement; Competitive Advantage; Earnings Management; Management Practices and Processes; Revenue; Quality; Competency and Skills; Motivation and Incentives; Auto Industry; United States

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From HBSP: " Companies have always found it hard to balance pressing operational concerns with long-term strategic priorities. The tension is critical: World-class processes won't lead to success without the right strategic direction, and... View Details

2015
Other Teaching and Training Material

Entrepreneurship Reading: Launching Global Ventures

By: William R. Kerr

Core Curriculum in Entrepreneurship is a series of Readings that cover fundamental course material in Entrepreneurship. Readings include Interactive Illustrations which help students master complex concepts quickly.
Global ventures are those that weave... View Details