Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(387)
- Faculty Publications (150)
- March 2004
- Case
L.L. Bean: A Search for Growth
By: Rajiv Lal, Walter J. Salmon and James Weber
In mid-2003, CEO Chris McCormick felt L.L. Bean was in a good position to begin to grow again. For nearly 90 years, the company sold clothing and gear for outdoor enthusiasts through its catalogs and a single retail store in Freeport, Maine. In the three decades prior... View Details
- February 2004 (Revised May 2005)
- Supplement
Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B)
A manager recounts his experience firing the person he was asked to replace and reflects on the challenges of the experience. Teaching Purpose: To role-play and reflect on tasks that entail harming other people to fulfill one's responsibility. View Details
Keywords: Resignation and Termination
- December 2003 (Revised August 2006)
- Case
Malden Mills (A)
By: Nitin Nohria, Thomas R. Piper and Bridget Gurtler
CEO Aaron Feuerstein of Malden Mills decided to pay idled workers after a massive fire at his mill in 1995. Focuses on the decisions made post-fire and the rebuilding process and eventual bankruptcy of the company. Also outlines creditors' struggle to decide whether to... View Details
- November 2003 (Revised October 2005)
- Case
Leading the Josie Esquivel Franchise (A)
By: Boris Groysberg and Laura Morgan Roberts
Reviews Josie Esquivel's career history, detailing how, through her personal attributes, skills, experiences, and organizational practices she has developed into a star analyst. Should Esquivel accept an offer to leave Lehman Brothers for Morgan Stanley? To make this... View Details
- March 2003 (Revised November 2005)
- Case
Bertelsmann AG
By: Bharat N. Anand, Michael G. Rukstad and Christoph Kostring
On July 28, 2002, Bertelsmann announced the firing of its CEO, Thomas Middelhoff, in a move that surprised industry observers, analysts, and many employees. Bertelsmann, a privately held company headquartered in Germany, was one of the largest global media... View Details
- February 2003 (Revised March 2003)
- Case
Large Scale Change at The WSSC
By: Amy C. Edmondson and Corey B. Hajim
Describes the organizational transformation occurring at the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC), a public utility. Faced with the possibility of privatization after decades of providing service in the absence of competition or performance pressures, the... View Details
- July 2002
- Case
Bradley Marquez: Reduction in Force (B)
By: Thomas J. DeLong and Vineeta Vijayaraghavan
Supplements the (A) case. View Details
- March 2002 (Revised May 2002)
- Case
Astel Manufacturing Company
By: Joseph L. Bower
The FBI indicates that three purchasing agents are suspected recipients of bribes. After an inconclusive investigation, the agents leave. The superiors are unsure what to do. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details
- August 2001
- Case
Charmed Technology
By: Youngme E. Moon
Charmed Technology, a California start-up known primarily for its high-profile fashion shows featuring "wearable" computers, has just released its first product. The "CharmIT" is being billed as the world's first affordable, wearable computer for consumers. The key... View Details
- July 2001
- Case
Paula Evans and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (A)
By: Linda A. Hill, Kristin Doughty and Ellen Pruyne
Paula Evans is in her second year as principal of the only high school in Cambridge, MA. Her mandate when she arrived was to redesign the high school so that long-standing inequities in academic achievement rates across race and socioeconomic class were removed. In her... View Details
- December 1999
- Article
Changes in the Work Environment for Creativity during Downsizing
By: T. M. Amabile and Regina Conti
This study examined the work environment for creativity at a large high-technology firm before, during, and after a major downsizing. Creativity and most creativity-supporting aspects of the perceived work environment declined significantly during the downsizing but... View Details
Keywords: Organizational Culture; Situation or Environment; Creativity; Resignation and Termination; Employees; Business or Company Management; Motivation and Incentives; Management Practices and Processes; Crisis Management; Groups and Teams; Communication; Announcements; Interpersonal Communication
- September 1999 (Revised May 2003)
- Case
Deloitte & Touche (A): A Hole in the Pipeline
By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Jane Roessner
Deloitte & Touche was losing talented women, and CEO Mike Cook wanted to stop the loss, especially as the accounting and consulting fields became more competitive. The firm commissioned an analysis of the situation; now it had to consider the results and develop a plan... View Details
- September 1999 (Revised May 2003)
- Case
Deloitte & Touche (B): Changing the Workplace
By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Jane Roessner
Deloitte & Touche women's initiative changed the workplace culture at the firm, solved retention problems, and brought external benefits. Now a new CEO must decide how to take this a step further as competition for talent was even stronger, young people had different... View Details
- August 1999
- Case
Leaving
By: David A. Thomas
A company supervisor listens to an employee, an African American woman, announce she is leaving the company and tries to understand the situation. View Details
- August 1999 (Revised October 2000)
- Case
Millennium Media, Inc. and John Voorenberg
By: David A. Thomas
Millenium Media's CEO reviews the company diversity report and considers the challenges of maintaining a diverse workforce in light of the news that three individuals, two of whom are people of color, are leaving for opportunities with a competitor. View Details
- April 1999 (Revised March 2002)
- Case
Gerald Weiss
By: Brian J. Hall and Carleen Madigan
Gerald Weiss left Wall Street for the promise of a CFO position at a well-established corporation. He was given a 10-year options package with a guaranteed floor of $12 million and unlimited upside. To ensure the entire package would be worth at least $12 million after... View Details
- April 1999 (Revised December 2003)
- Case
Al Dunlap at Sunbeam
By: Brian J. Hall, Rakesh Khurana and Carleen Madigan
Al Dunlap was one of the best-known corporate turnaround artists of the 1990s. In 1996, he was hired at Sunbeam to effect a restructuring, but was fired almost two years later when the company's financial performance and stock price began to decline. Many of the... View Details
- March 1999 (Revised June 2004)
- Case
Keurig
By: Paul W. Marshall and Jeremy Dann
Nick Lazaris becomes Keurig's third CEO in three years, after one founder was fired and the other decided to leave the company. He inherits a company that has made several abortive attempts to launch its new coffee brewing system. Now, problems with crucial suppliers... View Details
- March 1998 (Revised November 2004)
- Case
FAG Kugelfischer-A German Restructuring
By: Stuart C. Gilson
A large German manufacturer of ball bearings and precision machinery experiences severe financial difficulty brought on by poor management practices, an ill-conceived acquisition of a former East German ball-bearings company, and an industry recession. The company... View Details
Keywords: Accounting; Acquisition; Restructuring; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Machinery and Machining; Policy; Resignation and Termination; Management Practices and Processes; Performance Evaluation; Business and Shareholder Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Europe; Germany; United States
- February 1998
- Case
Lyondell Petrochemical Company
By: Jay W. Lorsch and Daniel P. Erikson
In August 1994, Lyondell Petrochemical Co.'s corporate parent and largest single shareholder effectively shed its stock, resulting in the resignation of 5 of its 11 directors. The remaining outside directors immediately acted to overhaul the executive compensation plan... View Details