Publications

September 2006 (Revised May 2007)
Case

GE's Jeff Immelt: The Voyage from MBA to CEO

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Andrew N. McLean

GE believes its ability to develop management talent is a core competency that represents a source of sustainable competitive advantage. Traces the development of a 25-year-old MBA named Jeff Immelt, who 18 years later is named as CEO of GE, arguably the biggest and... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Human Resources; Leadership Development; Leading Change; Business or Company Management; Energy Industry; Technology Industry

February 2011 (Revised December 2012)
Case

The Ford Fiesta

By: John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld

Executives at Ford wondered if social media could be the marketing solution for the launch of the youth-oriented 2010 Fiesta. But with social media came a ceding of control. Some at the company believed that if Ford was going to move beyond its conservative brand image... View Details

Keywords: Advertising Campaigns; Digital Marketing; Leadership; Goals and Objectives; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Market Entry and Exit; Standards; Auto Industry

Aug 03 2021
Testimonial

Progressing to a Better Future

10 Jan 2005
Research & Ideas

How to Put Meaning Back into Leading

Hill-Popper. Yet the focus on economic results usually gives a one-sided picture of what leaders can accomplish. For the well-being of business and society, the HBS scholars say, future research on leadership effectiveness should also look at leaders' View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

29 Nov 2022
Research & Ideas

Is There a Method to Musk’s Madness on Twitter?

and even foolhardy. Some in tech suggest there’s more of a “move fast, break things” strategy to it than perhaps meets the eye. How does it look to you? Wu: We shouldn’t be surprised by the management style that Musk is taking to Twitter.... View Details

Keywords: by Christina Pazzanese, Harvard Gazette; Technology

June 2014
Article

The Price of Wall Street's Power

By: Gautam Mukunda

Over and over again, executives make decisions that aren't in their companies' best interests, in response to pressure from Wall Street. Though many believe this happens because firms have a "fiduciary duty" to maximize shareholder returns, U.S. executives do not, as a... View Details

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July 1994 (Revised July 1995)
Case

VeriFone: The Transaction Automation Company (A)

By: Richard L. Nolan, Donna B. Stoddard and Hossam Galal

Describes VeriFone's new organizational model and its role in catapulting VeriFone to a market leadership position. Examines the impact of information technology and information access on the ability to leverage global resources, market responsiveness, and... View Details

Keywords: Leading Change; Leadership Development; Market Transactions; Information Technology; Organizational Design; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Organizational Structure; Information Management; Information Technology Industry

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March 2022 (Revised February 2024)
Case

Emeritus: Achieving Impact, Providing Access (A)

By: Ashish Nanda and Zack Kurtovich

In June 2019, Emeritus cofounders Ashwin Damera (HBS MBA 2005) and Chaitanya Kalipatnapu were thrilled with the rapid growth of Emeritus. Damera and Kalipatnapu believed that Emeritus, established in July 2015 to offer online executive education, was only in the early... View Details

Keywords: Education Technology; Professional Service Firm; Startup; Digital Strategy; Global Business; Global Firm; Platform Business; Business Startups; Growth and Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Executive Education; Strategy; Education Industry; India

July 2021 (Revised October 2021)
Case

Allianz Customer Centricity: Is Simplicity the Way Forward?

By: Eva Ascarza and Emilie Billaud

This case explores the tradeoffs between product personalization and simplicity as companies grow. The case presents an opportunity to understand whether and how each of these approaches enables and/or limits companies’ abilities to provide customer satisfaction while... View Details

Keywords: Simplicity; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customization and Personalization; Customer Satisfaction; Performance Efficiency; Strategy; Insurance Industry; Europe; Germany

February 2008 (Revised May 2009)
Case

The Center for Creative Leadership

By: Srikant M. Datar, David A. Garvin and Carin-Isabel Knoop

The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) was founded in 1970 on the notion that leadership was not innate but could be learned. CCL evolved into one of the world's top leadership development organizations, involved in both research and program design and delivery. This... View Details

Keywords: Competency and Skills; Learning; Training; Leadership Development; Personal Characteristics

23 Oct 2000
Research & Ideas

The Strategy-Focused Organization

share best practices across the business units and shared service units. The meeting was called the "Balanced Scorecard Conference," but, of course, the meeting was about the division's strategy and its execution. When the major meeting of the View Details

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan & David P. Norton

Benjamin C. Esty

Benjamin Esty is the Roy and Elizabeth Simmons Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. Over the years, he has taught a variety of courses ranging from advanced corporate finance and project finance to competitive strategy and leadership. He... View Details

Keywords: asset management; asset management; asset management; asset management; asset management; asset management; asset management

09 Jul 2021
News

Three Ways Employers Can Best Support Caregivers Returning To Work

April 14, 2017
Article

Companies Like United Need to Cultivate Good Judgment, and Free Their Employees to Use It

By: John A. Deighton

United Airlines has pledged to improve its training programs and empower its employees to put customers first in the wake of a video showing a passenger being dragged from a plane. Of all the U.S. air carriers, United should have known the power of social media and... View Details

Keywords: Crisis Management; Customer Focus and Relationships; Employees; Training; Air Transportation Industry

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April 2012
Article

Teamwork on the Fly

By: Amy C. Edmondson

In a fast-paced and ever-changing business environment, traditional teams aren't always practical. Instead, companies increasingly employ teaming: gathering experts in temporary groups to solve problems they may be encountering for the first and only time. This... View Details

Keywords: Teaming; Cross-functional Integration; Organizational Learning; Groups and Teams; Experience and Expertise; Interpersonal Communication; Projects; Social and Collaborative Networks; Competency and Skills; Learning

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Gary Pisano is the Harry E. Figgie, Jr. Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School where he has been on the faculty since 1988. From 2018-2023, Pisano was Harvard Business School’s Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Promotion and... View Details

Keywords: biotechnology; electronics; health care; manufacturing; pharmaceuticals

May 2014
Article

How to Outsmart Activist Investors

By: Bill George and Jay W. Lorsch

We offer opinions on how management and corporate boards of directors can best manage investor relations with activist stockholders such as hedge funds who are demanding major changes within a corporation to improve stockholder return. Beverage industry firm PepsiCo is... View Details

Keywords: Investment Activism

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November 2001 (Revised April 2003)
Case

Camp Dresser & McKee: Getting Incentives Right

By: Ashish Nanda

"If you try to use money to motivate behavior, you are in a powerful and dangerous place, especially with engineers and scientists," remarked Tom Furman, CEO of Camp Dresser & McKee, Inc. (CDM), a consulting environmental engineering firm. Historically, CDM had... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Compensation and Benefits; Service Industry