Publications

October 2013
Article

Consulting on the Cusp of Disruption

By: Clayton M. Christensen, Dina Wang and Derek C. M. van Bever

Consulting fundamental business model has not changed in more than 100 years: very smart outsiders go into organizations for a finite period of time and recommend solutions for the most difficult problems confronting their clients. But at traditional... View Details

Keywords: Disruptive Innovation; Consulting Industry

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2014
Working Paper

Team Scaffolds: How Meso-Level Structures Support Role-based Coordination in Temporary Groups

By: Melissa A. Valentine and Amy C. Edmondson

This paper shows how meso-level structures support effective coordination in temporary groups. Prior research on coordination in temporary groups describes how roles encode individual responsibilities so that coordination between relative strangers is possible. We... View Details

Keywords: Fluid Personnel; Team Scaffolds; Team Effectiveness; Role-based Coordination; Multi-method; Health Care and Treatment; Analytics and Data Science; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Organizational Structure; Outcome or Result; Performance Effectiveness; Groups and Teams; Networks; Behavior; Balance and Stability; Health Industry

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08 Mar 2011
First Look

First Look: March 8

shareholder value in concentrated industries. By contrast, non-delay provisions have an unambiguously negative relation with value, and more so in concentrated industries. Overall, our analysis suggests that there are governance trade-offs for shareholders, and View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

23 May 2018
News

Abigail P. Johnson, MBA 1988

serves 27 million individual customers Chairman and CEO, Fidelity Management and Research LLC The summer before college, Abby Johnson worked in the “wire room” at the family business, Fidelity Investments. She took calls from customers, wrote down View Details

Keywords: Susan Young

31 May 2004
Research & Ideas

How Team Leaders Show Support–or Not

the bottom. What were they doing differently? A: The Vision and Fusion teams presented a fascinating contrast, partly because they were in the same industry (chemicals) and were working on similar projects. The leader of the vision team,... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

22 Nov 2011
First Look

First Look: November 22

Compensation and Firm Performance Authors:Joanne Horton, Yuval Millo, and George Serafeim Publication:Journal of Business Finance and Accounting (forthcoming) Abstract Using a sample of 4,278 listed U.K. firms, we construct a social... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

July 2022 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Call of Fiduciary Duty: Microsoft Acquires Activision Blizzard

By: Jonas Heese, Joseph Pacelli and James Barnett

In January 2022, Microsoft announces its acquisition of the video game company Activision Blizzard, in a deal valued at $68.7 billion, which would make Microsoft the world’s third largest video game company. The deal came as Activision Blizzard faced gender pay... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Goodwill Accounting; Analysis; Decision Making; Talent and Talent Management; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Ethics; Leadership; Risk and Uncertainty; Mergers and Acquisitions; Lawsuits and Litigation; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; North America; California

August 2012
Case

Danshui Plant No. 2

By: William Bruns, Julie H. Hertenstein and Kelvin Liu

Danshui Plant No. 2 in southern China has a one-year contract with Apple Inc. to assemble 2.4 million iPhones. In the first three months of the contract, the plant is unable to assemble as many phones as expected and is operating at a loss. The plant manager must... View Details

Keywords: Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Production; Budgets and Budgeting; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; China

October 2012 (Revised July 2013)
Case

Olympus (A)

By: Jay W. Lorsch, Suraj Srinivasan and Kathleen Durante

As 2012 approached, the woes of the financial crisis seemed to be fading, companies were resuming business as usual, and some of the scrutiny on corporate governance practices began to recede as well. That is until another major financial scandal emerged in Japan in... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Corporate Governance; Electronics Industry; Electronics Industry; Japan

01 Jan 2014
News

To Spot Financial Trouble Early, Use Three Circles: A conversation with Blythe McGarvie of Harvard Business School

27 Mar 2012
First Look

First Look: March 27

headquarters to local plant managers in almost 4,000 firms in the United States, Europe, and Asia. We find that firms headquartered in high trust regions are more likely to decentralize, with trust accounting for about half of the... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

09 Aug 2016
First Look

August 9, 2016

spending in the United States, accounting for less than 1% of prescriptions filled but nearly 28% of drug spending. Whereas traditional (chemically synthesized, "small-molecule") drugs have historically faced price competition... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2023
Case

Ransomware Attack at Colonial Pipeline Company

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Li-Kuan Ni

On the morning of May 7, 2021, Colonial Pipeline Company became aware that the company had been the victim of a malicious ransomware attack that had stolen and locked up company data. The extortionists demanded 75 bitcoins (worth about $4.4 million at the time) in... View Details

09 Jan 2006
Research & Ideas

When Benchmarks Don’t Work

assembly plant could change its stamping presses from one model to another in eight minutes, compared with the eight hours GM plants spent to change over the same basic equipment. Clearly a deviation of this magnitude between its current performance on a critical... View Details

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan; Service

August 2000 (Revised September 2001)
Case

Bausch & Lomb, Inc. (A)

Bausch & Lomb (B&L) instituted an aggressive sales program in the final weeks of its 1993 fiscal year that pushed a large amount of inventories onto distributors. The company recognized revenues on these products when they were shipped. A rewritten version of an... View Details

Keywords: Revenue Recognition; Consumer Products Industry