Publications

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January 2016
Case

COFCO

By: David E. Bell and Natalie Kindred

In 2015, COFCO, China's state-owned agribusiness giant, was working to protect China's food security (a key national security priority) by extending its control of the global food system through overseas acquisitions. At the same time, COFCO sought to grow its market... View Details

January 2009 (Revised May 2011)
Case

China Mobile's Rural Communications Strategy

By: William C. Kirby, F. Warren McFarlan, G.A. Donovan and Tracy Manty

China Mobile was the world's leading mobile communications service provider with over 400 million customers. In some cities, its penetration rate was over 100%. With such huge successes, Chairman Wang Jianzhou was exploring ways to expand its customer base. Nearly... View Details

Keywords: Communication Technology; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Investment; Rural Scope; Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Government Relations; Telecommunications Industry; China

20 Oct 2023
News

Highlights from the Fall 2023 Alumni Board Meeting

On the evening of Wednesday, October 11, Alumni Board members joined with current HBS students in the Spangler Center for "A Conversation about Life Lessons", which was led by Leslie Perlow, the Konosuke Matsushita Professor of Leadership. This October, more than 75... View Details

March 2019 (Revised June 2019)
Case

Global Sourcing at Nike

By: Nien-hê Hsieh, Michael W. Toffel and Olivia Hull

This case explores the evolution of Nike’s global product sourcing strategy, in particular ongoing efforts to improve working conditions at its suppliers’ factories. When the case opens in July 2018, Vice President of Sourcing Amanda Tucker and her colleagues in Nike’s... View Details

2017
Simulation

Global Collaboration Simulation: Tip of the Iceberg

By: Tsedal Neeley

This online simulation teaches students about the difficulties in cross-cultural communication and managing global teams. Communicating via chat, teams of 4 or 5 students race against the clock to prepare a VC presentation. Students are assigned the role of a native... View Details

Keywords: Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Interpersonal Communication; Groups and Teams; Social and Collaborative Networks

01 May 2020
Blog Post

5 Reasons to Join a Club at HBS

summer and introducing RCs (first-year students). Connected by our identities, PRIDE became more than a community on campus for me: it became my family. PRIDE members often lean on each other for help with everything from navigating View Details

29 Aug 2022
Op-Ed

Income Inequality Is Rising. Are We Even Measuring It Correctly?

more information about the relationship to societal outcomes than the Gini coefficient. For instance, consider the connection between inequality and obesity. In studying our data, we find no significant correlation between inequality and... View Details

Keywords: by Jon M. Jachimowicz, Kristin Blesch, and Oliver P. Hauser

20 Jan 2022
Op-Ed

3 Steps to Help Companies Rebuild Trust During the Pandemic

business leaders made during the pandemic fractured their relationship with employees, we recommend managers take these three steps to rebuild trust and, ultimately, loyalty: 1. Take responsibility. First, companies need to acknowledge... View Details

Keywords: by Sandra J. Sucher and Shalene Gupta

18 Aug 2003
Research & Ideas

How New Managers Become Great Managers

socialization (personal integrity, high energy level, and a drive to lead), much of leadership is learned.2 Management is primarily learned from on-the-job experiences—by doing, observing, and interacting with others. As unsettling as it... View Details

Keywords: by Linda Hill

06 Jun 2023
Cold Call Podcast

The Opioid Crisis, CEO Pay, and Shareholder Activism

Keywords: Re: Suraj Srinivasan; Health; Pharmaceutical; Distribution

September 2009
Module Note

Leading Teams Note

By: Jeffrey T. Polzer

This note, which describes the architecture and processes that characterize effective teams, begins by detailing the steps involved in designing a team, from diagnosing the complexity, interdependence, and objectives of the task to harnessing the key resources teams... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Experience and Expertise; Decision Choices and Conditions; Knowledge Sharing; Leadership; Business Processes; Groups and Teams

07 Jul 2003
Research & Ideas

4+2 = Sustained Business Success

research effort in which we carefully examined more than 200 well-established management practices as they were employed over a ten-year period by 160 companies. Our findings took us quite by surprise. Most of the management tools and techniques we studied had no... View Details

Keywords: by Nitin Nohria, William Joyce & Bruce Roberson

20 Oct 2008
Research & Ideas

The Seven Things That Surprise New CEOs

released On Competition, Porter collects his most influential articles from HBR, and adds new work on health care, philanthropy, social responsibility, and leadership. This excerpt, coauthored with Harvard Business School professors Jay... View Details

Keywords: by Michael E. Porter, Jay W. Lorsch & Nitin Nohria

15 Nov 2018
Book

Can the Global Food Industry Overcome Public Distrust?

JamesBrey Food is the largest segment of the global economy. It is also widely recognized as more critical for human health than any pharmaceutical drug on the planet. But significant changes in the industry are making people lose trust in many institutions involved in... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Agriculture & Agribusiness

2012
Other Unpublished Work

Strategic responses to collective activism in the U.S. biomass sector

By: Shon R. Hiatt

Almost all companies face constraints and pressure from collective activists. Using tactics such as protests, boycotts, and lobbying, social movement organizations and collective actors can draw significant media attention to issues facing industries and organizations,... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Business and Community Relations; Social and Collaborative Networks; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Identity; Forest Products Industry; United States

2015
Working Paper

Online Word of Mouth and Product Review Disagreement

By: Frank Nagle and Christoph Riedl

Studies of online word of mouth have frequently posited―but never systematically conceptualized and explored―that the level of disagreement between existing product reviews can impact the volume and the valence of future reviews. In this study we develop a theoretical... View Details

Keywords: Online Word Of Mouth; Online Communities; Viral Marketing; Online Product Reviews; Quality; Internet and the Web; Consumer Behavior; Marketing Reference Programs; Social and Collaborative Networks; Digital Marketing; Analytics and Data Science

SSRN

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April 2004 (Revised May 2010)
Case

Columbia's Final Mission

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer, Amy C. Edmondson, Michael Roberto, Laura Feldman and Erika Ferlins

Describes the 16-day final mission of the space shuttle Columbia in January 2003 in which seven astronauts died. Includes background on NASA and the creation of the human space flight program, including the 1970 Apollo 13 crisis and 1986 Challenger disaster. Examines... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Crisis Management; Management Skills; Organizational Culture; Groups and Teams; Behavior; Aerospace Industry