Publications

April 2015
Case

Accor: Designing an Asset-Right Business and Disclosure Strategy

By: Mozaffar Khan and George Serafeim

Sebastien Bazin was now in charge of Accor, the world's largest French hotelier, a CAC 40 company with 3,600 hotels in 92 countries and a market cap of €10 billion. Previously as the European head of Colony Capital, one of the largest private equity groups and the... View Details

January 2024 (Revised February 2024)
Case

OpenAI: Idealism Meets Capitalism

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Shweta Bagai

In November 2023, the board of OpenAI, one of the most successful companies in the history of technology, decided to fire Sam Altman, its charismatic and influential CEO. Their decision shocked the corporate world and had people wondering why OpenAI had designed a... View Details

Keywords: AI; AI and Machine Learning; Governing and Advisory Boards; Ethics; Strategy; Technological Innovation; Leadership

June 2012 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Best Buy in Crisis

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

In June 2012, Best Buy was in crisis. In 1996, Best Buy overtook Circuit City as the world's leader in consumer electronics retailing; however, 18 years later, Best Buy now found this position threatened. With $51 billion in revenues, it was still the biggest CE... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Decision Choices and Conditions; Forecasting and Prediction; Competitive Strategy; Ethics; Management Teams; Consumer Products Industry; Electronics Industry; Retail Industry

05 Jul 2023
HBS Case

What Kind of Leader Are You? How Three Action Orientations Can Help You Meet the Moment

While Johnson’s prescription might have been strategically correct, JCPenney wasn’t ready for such dramatic changes. Johnson never got the buy-in he needed from employees, requiring a more relational action orientation, and resigned after... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand

2012
Case

Qingdao TGOOD Electric Corporation

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Zheng Xiaoming, Chen Hao and Hong Zhang

Founded in 2004, TGOOD is now the largest specialized developer and producer of cubicle-type transformation and distribution equipment in China, with the main products of outdoor cubicle-type power equipment supplemented by indoor switchgear cabinets, offered mainly to... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Human Resource Management; Strategy; China; China

March 2015
Case

Clifford Chance: Women at Work

By: Boris Groysberg, Katherine Connolly and Stephanie Marton

It was October 2013, and global law firm Clifford Chance was coming under fire for the second time in less than a year for reputedly failing to provide a supportive work environment for its female associates. A memo entitled "Speaking Effectively" was just issued to... View Details

Keywords: Women; Law; Fairness; Employee Relationship Management; Retention; Human Capital; Organizational Culture; Performance Expectations; Work-Life Balance; Public Opinion; Problems and Challenges; Legal Services Industry; United States

2012
Teaching Note

Qingdao TGOOD Electric Corporation (TN)

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Zheng Xiaoming, Chen Hao and Hong Zhang

Founded in 2004, TGOOD is now the largest specialized developer and producer of cubicle-type transformation and distribution equipment in China, with the main products of outdoor cubicle-type power equipment supplemented by indoor switchgear cabinets, offered mainly to... View Details

Keywords: Human Resource Management; China; Entrepreneurship; Human Resources; Strategy; China

13 Mar 2023
Op-Ed

How Leaders Should Leave

Even the most loyal, long-serving employee may consider resigning from a job once or twice in a career in order to reboot or get ahead. Large organizations can offer more lateral opportunities to further your development, but the higher... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch

23 Jan 2024
Research & Ideas

How to Keep Employees Productive: Support Caregivers

caregiver-support benefits company Wellthy over an almost two-year period to arrive at the conclusions. Overall, he found fairly modest reductions in resignation and absentee rates yielded a very attractive return on investment for... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin

16 Nov 2021
HBS Case

How a Company Made Employees So Miserable, They Killed Themselves

In 2009, a 51-year-old man killed himself in Marseille, a city in southern France, leaving behind a suicide note that blamed his employer for “overwork” and “management by terror.” “I am committing suicide because of my work at France Télécom,” his note said. “That’s... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

October 2023
Teaching Note

Timnit Gebru: 'SILENCED No More' on AI Bias and The Harms of Large Language Models

By: Tsedal Neeley and Tim Englehart

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 422-085. Dr. Timnit Gebru—a leading artificial intelligence (AI) computer scientist and co-lead of Google’s Ethical AI team—was messaging with one of her colleagues when she saw the words: “Did you resign?? Megan sent an email saying that... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Employment; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Technological Innovation; AI and Machine Learning; Diversity; Prejudice and Bias; Technology Industry