Publications

01 Nov 2024
In Practice

Layoffs Surging in a Strong Economy? Advice for Navigating Uncertain Times

availability risk during economic downturns During economic downturns or periods of high unemployment, capital may be scarce. Support structures typically needed to grow a business—like financing and mentorship—might not be as readily... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Technology; Information Technology

28 Aug 2012
First Look

First Look: August 28

rich-world domination over the poorer South or as a neutral mediator facilitating a tariff-free world of economic prosperity. This article instead analyses how the WTO has sought legitimacy for itself and for the underlying institution of free trade in the midst of... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

25 Jan 2011
First Look

First Look: Jan. 25

Organizational Learning from Error Authors:Lucy H. MacPhail and Amy C. Edmondson Publication:In Errors in Organizations, edited by D. Hoffman and M. Frese. Routledge, forthcoming An abstract is not available at this time. Publisher's... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

10 Apr 2012
First Look

First Look: April 10

different functions, divisions, and cultures. Several project management principles-scoping out the challenge, structuring the boundaries, and sorting tasks for execution-help leaders facilitate effective teaming. Leaders can also foster... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

05 Aug 2008
First Look

First Look: August 5, 2008

additional mediator, beyond structure and responsibilities, that can affect organizational outcomes. Thus, organizations may be capable of integration while different functions retain different incentives to... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

April 2025
Case

Pouring Oil on Troubled Waters: Vickers Oils and Resolving Family Conflict over Generations

By: Lauren Cohen, Octavian Graf Pilati and Sophia Pan

Will Vickers, a seventh-generation (G7) member of the Vickers Family, grappled with a pressing challenge: how to re-integrate family members into the firm to recover lost talent. His father, Peter Vickers, was the lone leader of the Vickers Oils—despite having stepped... View Details

Keywords: Shareholder; Involvement; Family Office; Family Firms; Family Business; Business Growth and Maturation; Experience and Expertise; Retention; Leadership Development; Business or Company Management; Management Succession; Organizational Structure; Family Ownership; Family and Family Relationships; Diversification; Conflict and Resolution; Consumer Products Industry; United Kingdom

03 Oct 2017
First Look

First Look at Research and Ideas, October 3, 2017

powerful insights and practical guidelines that allow managers to bridge professional divides and organizational boundaries in order to work together effectively, this is a new exploration of the challenges involved in today's global... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

December 2019 (Revised June 2024)
Supplement

The Dutch East India Company in 1612 (B)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Giuseppe Dari-Mattiacci

The case relates the decision made in the A case and what happened in the aftermath. View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Globalized Firms and Management; Organizational Structure; Laws and Statutes; Financial Markets; Business and Shareholder Relations; Business and Government Relations; Business History; Shipping Industry; Netherlands

December 2019 (Revised June 2024)
Case

The Dutch East India Company in 1612 (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Giuseppe Dari-Mattiacci

The Dutch East India Company’s board of directors must decide what to do about an impending legal requirement to liquidate the company’s assets and return to shareholders their capital and any profits earned during a ten-year lock-up period. The charter granted to the... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Globalized Firms and Management; Organizational Structure; Laws and Statutes; Financial Markets; Business and Shareholder Relations; Business and Government Relations; Business History; Shipping Industry; Netherlands

January 1985 (Revised June 1993)
Case

Turner Construction Co.

By: Frank V. Cespedes

In June, 1984, a vice president at Turner Construction Co. must decide whether to approve a construction project being considered by one of Turner's territorial offices and how to manage that territory general manager's apparent reluctance to pursue another account... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Structure; Projects; Market Entry and Exit; Integration; Contracts; Marketing Strategy; Sales; Business or Company Management; Business Offices; Geographic Location; Construction Industry

22 Feb 2011
Research & Ideas

The Most Important Management Trends of the (Still Young) Twenty-First Century

strategy and organizational management. Products are being developed through open innovation, with input from people connected to each other and the company only through a common interest—and electronic media. Virtually every company on... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

22 Feb 2011
Research & Ideas

Most Popular Articles, Papers of the Decade

of these structural changes to compete "differently" and innovate in their business models. However, there is not yet agreement on what are the distinctive features of superior business models. This dispute may have arisen, in... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

14 Apr 2009
First Look

First Look: April 14, 2009

Working Papers The Investment Strategies of Sovereign Wealth Funds Authors: Shai Bernstein, Josh Lerner, and Antoinette Schoar Abstract This paper examines the direct private equity investment strategies across sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) and their relationship to... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

16 Dec 2008
First Look

First Look: December 16, 2008

Working PapersSilent Saboteurs: How Implicit Theories of Voice Inhibit the Upward Flow of Knowledge in Organizations Authors:James R. Detert and Amy C. Edmondson Abstract This article examines, in a series of three studies, how people working in View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

18 Mar 2008
First Look

First Look: March 18, 2008

Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/08-084.pdf Exploring the Duality between Product and Organizational Architectures: A Test of the Mirroring Hypothesis Authors:Alan D. MacCormack, John Rusnak, and Carliss Y. Baldwin... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

16 Sep 2008
First Look

First Look: September 16, 2008

platform and its evolution. We describe three ways of representing platform architectures: network graphs, design structure matrices, and layer maps. We conclude by addressing a number of fundamental strategic questions suggested by a... View Details

03 Aug 2016
What Do You Think?

How Can We Hold the “Leadership Industry” Accountable?

example, Pilgrim commented that the need for leadership is highly overrated. “We build structures with a slot at the top and the result is an implied need for leadership.” If our organizations were more fashioned like a networks,... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Education

July 1991 (Revised June 1993)
Background Note

Conflicting Responsibilities

By: Joseph L. Badaracco

Presents a framework for resolving issues in which managers' responsibilities--to shareholders, employees, other stakeholder groups, and to their own values and commitments in life--conflict with each other. The framework analyzes these issues in terms of duties,... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Employees; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Structure; Personal Development and Career; Business and Shareholder Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations