Business Goals - Publications - Faculty & Research

03 Jun 2014
First Look

First Look: June 3

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/download.aspx?name=14-113.pdf Cases & Course Materials Harvard Business School Case 814-010 Experience! The Finger Lakes: The Groupon Partnership Decision In 2010, Experience! The Finger Lakes... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

16 Jan 2014
Research & Ideas

Resolving Patent Disputes that Impede Innovation

In the high-tech industry, it's common practice for a governing body to develop technical standards for any given technology. The goal is to promote widespread adoption and compatibility among various devices. The Bluetooth standard lets... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Technology; Legal Services

06 Mar 2013
What Do You Think?

Who Should Manage Our Work Time?

afternoon nap to adequate vacation, to be more productive. Then Carson Tate suggests ways of reducing time spent in meetings, such things as advance agendas, clear understanding of the results to be achieved, and even eliminating chairs, in order to increase personal... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

30 Sep 2013
Research & Ideas

Do Mergers Hurt Product Quality?

according to a recent study by Harvard Business School Assistant Professor Albert W. Sheen. In The Real Product Impact of Mergers, Sheen finds that mergers generally have little effect on product quality over time, even while product... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Consumer Products

22 Jul 2014
First Look

First Look: July 22

company with a strong commitment to the goals of improving the safety of its products and the reliability of its supply chain, the authors of this article suggest that companies have the ability and the means to change their investor base... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2004 (Revised September 2019)
Background Note

The U.S. Health Club Industry in 2004

By: John R. Wells, Gabriel Ellsworth and Benjamin Weinstock

In 2004, the $16.8 billion U.S. health club industry continued its strong record of growth. There were almost 27,000 health clubs in the United States, up from 6,700 two decades earlier, and these clubs claimed 41 million members, over 14% of the U.S. population.... View Details

Keywords: Health Clubs; Fitness; Gyms; Chain; Weight Loss; Obesity; Exercise; Personal Training; Bally Total Fitness; 24 Hour Fitness; YMCA; Gold's Gym; Curves; Franchise; Franchising; Subscription; Promotional Sales; Promotions; Fixed Costs; Body; Accrual Accounting; Revenue Recognition; Buildings and Facilities; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Trends; Customers; Demographics; Age; Income; Private Equity; Financing and Loans; Profit; Revenue; Geographic Scope; Multinational Firms and Management; Health; Nutrition; Business History; Employees; Retention; Human Capital; Working Conditions; Contracts; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Markets; Demand and Consumers; Supply and Industry; Industry Growth; Industry Structures; Operations; Service Operations; Franchise Ownership; Private Ownership; Public Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Sales; Salesforce Management; Situation or Environment; Opportunities; Nonprofit Organizations; Welfare; Sports; Strategy; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Consolidation; Corporate Strategy; Customization and Personalization; Expansion; Segmentation; Hardware; Health Industry; United States

Citation

Educators

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26 Mar 2014
Research & Ideas

How Electronic Patient Records Can Slow Doctor Productivity

subtle way that you might be changing existing communication patterns among staff," says Harvard Business School Professor Robert S. Huckman, who recently cowrote The Impact of Electronic Health Record Use on Physician Productivity with... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Health

21 Jan 2020
Research & Ideas

Lessons for Retailers from the Rebirth of Indie Bookstores

Raffaelli, a professor in the Organizational Behavior Unit at Harvard Business School. “All the ingredients were there for the independent sector to see the end of its days.” Something miraculous started happening in 2009, however. After... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Entertainment & Recreation

03 Apr 2012
First Look

First Look: April 3

goal of residency training. The Confederacy of Heterogeneous Software Organizations and Heterogeneous Developers: Field Experimental Evidence on Sorting and Worker Effort Authors:Kevin J. Boudreau and Karim R. Lakhani Publication:In The... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

19 Dec 2014
Research & Ideas

China’s Complicated Relationship With Mother Nature

Despite its name, the Great Wall of China began as a series of smaller, isolated defensive fortifications. Those structures grew and were later unified into the imposing structure that exists today. The Great Wall is a great metaphor for the Chinese economy. By... View Details

Keywords: Re: William C. Kirby; Manufacturing

10 Feb 2014
HBS Case

Stressing Safety in South Africa’s Platinum Mines

than a meter. "The students wanted to get out right away," recalls Mukunda, an assistant professor in the Organizational Behavior unit at Harvard Business School. "But I said, no! (Luckily I have a loud voice.) And I told... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Manufacturing

16 Jun 2014
Research & Ideas

The Unfulfilled Promise of Educational Technology

inventory without the use of technology," says John Jong-Hyun Kim, a senior lecturer and William Henry Bloomberg fellow at Harvard Business School. "And yet, schools have been slow to adopt and integrate technology in the... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Education

06 Aug 2014
Research & Ideas

Climbing Down from the Ivory Tower

creating the final versions. Some companies even base their business model on co-production; Build-a-Bear stores allow consumers to create personalized teddy bears. "With the growth of customizable technology, there is an appreciation of... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Education; Health

29 Apr 2020
Book

The Key to Powerful Social Change: Small Villages

Who will solve the great problems facing humanity, a list of critical issues that only begins with the current pandemic? In the interview below, Rosabeth Moss Kanter discusses her recent book, Think Outside the Building, and her view that solutions are most likely to... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

18 May 2010
First Look

First Look: May 18

executives at a major multinational corporation, and with participants in an open-enrollment program at a major business school. Student course feedback and a follow-up survey administered about one year after the course suggest that the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

06 Aug 2014
What Do You Think?

What Is Warren Bennis’s Legacy?

standards for the practice. He also put into practice what he preached, advising many well-known leaders in both business and government and serving as president of a large university for a time. In his later years, Bennis served as the... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Education

10 Jun 2002
Research & Ideas

Reinventing the Industrial Giant

Xerox, IBM, and Kodak. These industrial giants are trying to combine their industrial heritage with products, services, and business practices more closely associated with the new economy. Their basic product does not change—GM is still... View Details

Keywords: by Nitin Nohria, Davis Dyer & Frederick Dalzell; Manufacturing

17 Jun 2002
Research & Ideas

A Litmus Test for Entrepreneurs

Kuemmerle, who has studied more than fifty start-ups in twenty countries, says entrepreneurs today should take a litmus test of five questions (See sidebar). In this excerpt from Harvard Business Review, Kuemmerle discusses two of the... View Details

Keywords: by Walter Kuemmerle

12 Jan 2015
Research & Ideas

Regulators Ease Up on Companies Generating Political Benefits

because of what they did, but because of what they are? That's the question that intrigued Jonas Heese, who recently joined Harvard Business School as an assistant professor in the Accounting and Management unit. While earning his PhD in... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

May 2018
Case

The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation's Answer Fund

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Matthew G. Preble