Publications

March–April 2019
Article

Operational Transparency: Make Your Processes Visible to Customers and Your Customers Visible to Employees

By: Ryan W. Buell

Conventional wisdom holds that the more contact an operation has with its customers, the less efficiently it will run. But when customers are partitioned away from the operation, they are less likely to fully understand and appreciate the work going on behind the... View Details

Keywords: Operational Transparency; Customers; Services; Operations; Customer Focus and Relationships; Employees; Customer Satisfaction; Behavior; Service Industry

Program

Senior Executive Leadership Program—India

take your leadership skills and your career to the next level. You will become a stronger leader who can design competitive strategies in a global context, promote continuous innovation, and overcome obstacles to growth. Key Benefits... View Details

April 1993 (Revised May 1994)
Case

General Dynamics and Computer Sciences Corporation: Outsourcing the IS Function (A)

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Katherine Seger

Designed to generate discussion on the issues of outsourcing from the perspective of a firm thinking about turning over its IS activities to a third-party vendor. View Details

Keywords: Management Systems; Management Style; Information Technology; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Business Strategy; Economic Systems; Business or Company Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business Processes; Employment; Emerging Markets; Activity Based Costing and Management; Information Technology Industry; Consulting Industry

12 Feb 2025
Blog Post

How risk can be the key to a sustainable future with Sophie Levin (MS/MBA: Engineering Sciences 2022

What were you doing prior to HBS? What made you decide to go to HBS? Before HBS, I worked at Tesla as a design engineer and project manager. I had the opportunity to work on groundbreaking products alongside some of the smartest and most... View Details

19 Nov 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Do Bonuses Enhance Sales Productivity? A Dynamic Structural Analysis of Bonus-Based Compensation Plans

Keywords: by Doug J. Chung, Thomas Steenburgh & K. Sudhir

July 1993 (Revised September 1995)
Supplement

Block 16: Environmental Groups' Perspectives

By: Malcolm S. Salter and Susan E.A. Hall

Supplements Block 16: Conoco's Green Oil Strategy (A). Provides the environmental groups' perspective on Conoco's Ecuadorian strategy. Designed to be distributed to students who will be playing the role of Ecuadorian environmentalists. View Details

Keywords: Resource Allocation; Marketing Strategy; Natural Environment; Environmental Sustainability; Perspective; Corporate Strategy

2024
Book

Deals: The Economic Structure of Business Transactions

By: Guhan Subramanian and Michael Klausner

Drawing on real-life cases from a wide range of industries, two acclaimed experts offer a sophisticated but accessible guide to business deals, designed to maximize value for your side.

Business transactions take widely varying forms—from multibillion-dollar... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Contracts

June 2013
Supplement

Elasto Therm: The Next Step (Video Supplement)

By: Jim Sharpe

This is the Video Supplement for Elasto Therm: The Next Step (HBS Case #813030). View Details

Eugene Soltes is a Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School where his work focuses on corporate integrity and risk management. His research utilizes data analytics to identify organizational cultures and compliance systems that can effectively... View Details

DJ DiDonna

Dennis “DJ” DiDonna has dedicated his career to commercializing social science research to create organizations which positively impact the world.

He is a Senior Lecturer in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at Harvard Business School where he teaches the... View Details

March 2018
Case

GiveDirectly

By: John Beshears, Joshua Schwartzstein, Tiffany Y. Chang and Brian J. Hall

How should nonprofits design compensation systems to attract and retain talent? GiveDirectly is a respected charitable organization with an unconventional approach. Instead of spending on traditional aid programs in areas such as health care and food access in... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofits; Charity; Effective Altruism; International Aid; Compensation; Goals; Bonuses; Incentives; GiveDirectly; Compensation and Benefits; Motivation and Incentives; Goals and Objectives; Recruitment; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving

Article

Workplace Stressors & Health Outcomes: Health Policy for the Workplace

By: Joel Goh, Jeffrey Pfeffer and Stefanos A. Zenios

Extensive research focuses on the causes of workplace-induced stress. However, policy efforts to tackle the ever-increasing health costs and poor health outcomes in the United States have largely ignored the health effects of psychosocial workplace stressors such as... View Details

Keywords: Occupational Health; Mortality; Stress; Meta-analysis; Health

Read Now

January 2021 (Revised March 2021)
Case

THE YES: Reimagining the Future of E-Commerce with Artificial Intelligence (AI)

By: Jill Avery, Ayelet Israeli and Emma von Maur

THE YES, a multi-brand shopping app launched in May 2020 offered a new type of buying experience for women’s fashion, driven by a sophisticated algorithm that used data science and machine learning to create and deliver a personalized store for every shopper, based on... View Details

Keywords: Data; Data Analytics; Artificial Intelligence; AI; AI Algorithms; AI Creativity; Fashion; Retail; Retail Analytics; E-Commerce Strategy; Platform; Platforms; Big Data; Preference Elicitation; Preference Prediction; Predictive Analytics; App Development; ＂Marketing Analytics＂; Advertising; Mobile App; Mobile Marketing; Apparel; Online Advertising; Referral Rewards; Referrals; Female Ceo; Female Entrepreneur; Female Protagonist; Analytics and Data Science; Analysis; Creativity; Marketing Strategy; Brands and Branding; Consumer Behavior; Demand and Consumers; Forecasting and Prediction; Marketing Channels; Digital Marketing; Internet and the Web; Mobile and Wireless Technology; AI and Machine Learning; E-commerce; Digital Platforms; Fashion Industry; Retail Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States

Thomas J. DeLong is a Baker Foundation Professor of Management Practice and the former Philip J. Stomberg Professor of Management Practice in the Organizational Behavior Department at the Harvard Business School. He is an expert in leader development, organizational... View Details

06 Jun 2018
Video

Jayon Wang, Blavatnik Fellow 2018-2019

June 2014
Case

Making Progress at IDEO

By: Teresa M. Amabile and Katrina Flanagan

This case focuses on different types of client relationships at IDEO, the value of these relationships for IDEO and clients, and the implications for IDEO designers' everyday experience of work. As new types of client work have shifted away from the more classic design... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Motivation and Incentives; Employees; Customer Focus and Relationships; Service Industry

20 Feb 2020
News

Productive Innovation: Building a Culture of Experimentation

1989
Article

The Creative Environment Scales: The Work Environment Inventory

By: T. M. Amabile and N. Gryskiewicz

The Creative Environment Scales Work Environment Inventory (WEI) is a new paper-and-pencil instrument designed to assess stimulants and obstacles to creativity in the work environment. Unlike many instruments that are designed as comprehensive descriptions of the work... View Details

Keywords: Creativity; Innovation and Invention; Working Conditions; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques