Publications

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From C-Suite to CEO - Alumni

that clarity and offer alternative paths forward better suited for your skills and interests. Examples include adding new dimensions to your current role or making a lateral move to another company. External Assessment To better... View Details

May 2018
Article

Managing the Family Firm: Evidence from CEOs at Work

By: Oriana Bandiera, Renata Lemos, Andrea Prat and Raffaella Sadun

We present evidence on the labor supply of CEOs and on whether family and professional CEOs differ on this dimension. We do so through a new survey instrument that allows us to codify CEOs’ diaries in a detailed and comparable fashion and to build a bottom-up measure... View Details

Keywords: Performance Productivity; Family Ownership; Management

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01 Mar 2007
News

Avon CEO Jung on Leadership

Jung Andrea Jung, chairman and CEO of Avon Products, Inc., knows a thing or two about reinvention. After taking over the venerable beauty-products firm in 1999, she helped it shed the last vestiges of its “Ding-dong, Avon calling” image... View Details

Keywords: makeup; grooming; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management; Health and Personal Care Stores; Retail Trade

April 2002 (Revised June 2003)
Case

News Corporation

By: Bharat N. Anand and Kate Attea

In 2001, News Corp. is the smallest of the major media and entertainment conglomerates, but it has the broadest global presence. In an effort to establish a major distribution presence in the United States, News Corp. had looked to acquire DirecTV, the largest U.S.... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Business Conglomerates; Globalization; Distribution; Organizational Culture; Family Ownership; Competition; Consolidation; Corporate Strategy; Journalism and News Industry; Journalism and News Industry; United States; Australia

May 2006 (Revised February 2012)
Case

General Electric's 20th Century CEOs (Abridged)

By: Nitin Nohria, Anthony J. Mayo and Mark Benson

General Electric thrived in every decade of the 20th century. Since its founding in 1892, GE has placed a high value on picking and training the best people. Staff members worked with other scientists in the company's research lab to design and manufacture new and... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Leadership Style; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Style

November 2018 (Revised August 2020)
Case

The Reinvention of Kodak

By: Ryan Raffaelli and Christine Snively

The Eastman Kodak Company (Kodak) was a name familiar to most Americans. The company had dominated the film and photography industry through most of the 20th Century and was known for making affordable cameras (and the “Kodak Moment”) and supplying the movie industry... View Details

Keywords: CEO; Leadership; Asset Management; Transformation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Competitive Strategy

October 25, 2023
Article

How to Bring an Outside CEO into the Family Business

By: Christina R. Wing and Rohit K. Gera

One of the challenges for a family-owned business is the transition to a non-family member as CEO — a transition most multigenerational businesses eventually face. Onboarding the new CEO is one piece of this challenge. To help make the onboarding successful, use a... View Details

Keywords: Family Ownership; Management Succession; Transition

13 Mar 2014
News

When Companies Should—and Shouldn’t—Hire Outside CEOs

August 2016
Supplement

CEO Succession at Cisco (C): Chuck Robbins' First 100 Days

By: Boris Groysberg, J. Yo-Jud Cheng and Annelena Lobb

Supplements the (A) case (417-031). This case supplement describes new CEO Chuck Robbins’ earliest days after being announced as Cisco’s new chief executive. During this time, Robbins focused on building a leadership team featuring people with complementary skills... View Details

Keywords: Management Succession; Technology Industry

01 Apr 1998
News

Snapshot: Gary DiCamillo, Polaroid's CEO

Gary T. DiCamillo (MBA '75) was second in command at Black & Decker Corporation and leading a turnaround of that company's power tools division when Polaroid snapped him up in late 1995. The world-famous instant-imaging company made him the first noninsider View Details

Keywords: Nancy O. Perry

06 Feb 2006
What Do You Think?

Should CEOs of Public Companies Offer Earnings Guidance?

Summing Up Based on some of the most thoughtful comments to any of these columns, one might conclude that acceptable earnings guidance by CEOs should take on new forms. Let's first consider the pros and... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Financial Services

01 Aug 2005
What Do You Think?

Is There an “Efficient Market” in CEO Compensation?

the number of candidates willing to consider such CEO positions, even though their willingness might be an indicator of potential success in these jobs. Taking the matter to an extreme, shareholders more frequently might vote not to... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

24 Nov 2015
Research & Ideas

Developing Your Next CEO for the Family Business

A good book on CEO succession is The CEO Within by my Harvard Business School colleague Joe Bower. Bower studied how companies perform after hiring a new CEO, noting whether... View Details

Keywords: Retail; Auto

01 Oct 2008
Research & Ideas

How Much Time Should CEOs Devote to Customers?

they must be specific to the strategy of the business. Company scores on these metrics may be benchmarked against direct competitors and/or outstanding companies in other industries. Second, CEOs must ensure an adequate pipeline of View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch

03 Jul 2018
What Do You Think?

Should CEO Satya Nadella Cancel Microsoft’s Contract with ICE?

Madrolly When Should a Board Encourage a Triple Bottom Line Philosophy? Respondents to this month’s column provided a resounding “no” to the question of whether CEO Satya Nadella should accede to the wishes of a vocal minority of... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Computer; Technology

25 Apr 2011
News

Why CEOs Should Watch the Royal Wedding

22 Sep 2011
News

Critics Fault H-P's Board, Not Just CEO

July 2021
Teaching Note

Digital Transformation 2.0: CEO Elie Girard at Atos

By: Tsedal Neeley

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 421-024. Elie Girard has taken the helm as CEO of multinational IT giant Atos to lead the company into the next era of digital transformation. Noticing that customers’ digital needs were evolving to become even more specialized and global... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Leading Change; Mergers and Acquisitions; Environmental Sustainability; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Digital Transformation; Information Technology Industry