Publications

20 Jul 2021
News

How to Spot the Warning Signs of an Insecure Leader (and How to Work With One)

02 Jun 2014
News

When to Resign, and When to Clean Up the Mess

March 2012
Case

The Agnellis and Fiat: Family Business Governance in a Crisis (A)

By: John A. Davis, Bernardo Bertoldi and Roberto Quaglia

After the death of Umberto Agnelli in 2004, the Agnelli family, led by John Elkann, needs to decide whether to keep Fiat CEO Giuseppe Morchio. The Fiat Group is in a delicate financial position, and John Elkann, the new family leader, is untested in this role. The... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Family Ownership; Management Teams; Leadership; Corporate Governance; Crisis Management; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Italy

02 Aug 2021
Blog Post

ALUMNI WORK TO REVERSE BIAS THROUGH PHILANTHROPY

Thought, one of the organizations that has received a grant from the New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund. Photo by Noelia Castillo/Elevated Thought The high-profile deaths last year of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor,... View Details

January 2020
Article

The Impact of Mass Shootings on Gun Policy

By: Michael Luca, Deepak Malhotra and Christopher Poliquin

There have been dozens of high-profile mass shootings in recent decades. This paper presents three main findings about the impact of mass shootings on gun policy. First, mass shootings evoke large policy responses. A single mass shooting leads to a 15% increase in the... View Details

Keywords: Gun Violence; Gun Policy; Crime and Corruption; Governance; Policy; United States

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2025
Working Paper

Why Companies Thrive Or Die: Ownership and the Path to Perpetuation

By: Josh Baron

Why do some companies continue to thrive for decades and others die after an initial run of success? Much like an airplane accident, company failure is generally the consequence of cascading effects that combine together to overwhelm a previously effective strategy.... View Details

Keywords: Ownership Type; Outcome or Result

May 2005 (Revised December 2022)
Case

Aristotle Onassis and the Greek Shipping Industry

By: Geoffrey Jones and Paul Gomopoulos

Examines the career of Aristotle Onassis and his creation of one of the world's largest shipping companies between 1945 and 1973. Explores the role of ethnic and family networks in Greek shipping and how Onassis was able to penetrate this system despite being an... View Details

Keywords: Networks; Ethnicity; Family Business; Innovation Strategy; Management Succession; Competitive Advantage; Personal Development and Career; Entrepreneurship; Shipping Industry; Greece

February 21, 2025
Article

How a Company’s Ownership Model Shapes the Mistakes It Makes

By: Josh Baron

Why do some companies continue to thrive for decades and others die after an initial run of success? Like many kinds of accidents, company failure is generally the consequence of cascading effects that combine to overwhelm a previously effective strategy. But the... View Details

Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown; Failure; Ownership

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Article

Health as a Way of Doing Business

By: Howard Koh, Sara J. Singer and Amy C. Edmondson

For too long, the worlds of business and health have been mired in a checkered, sometimes contentious, history. Millions of deaths worldwide can be attributed to risk factors including tobacco use, alcohol and drug misuse, and suboptimal dietary intake linked to... View Details

Keywords: Health; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Public Opinion

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05 Sep 2020
News

Piercing the Fog of Zoom

October 2013 (Revised February 2016)
Supplement

Cynthia Carroll at Anglo American (B)

By: Gautam Mukunda, Lisa Mazzanti and Aldo Sesia

In 2007, Cynthia Carroll, the newly-appointed chief executive of mining giant Anglo American, ordered the temporary shutdown of Anglo American Platinum's Rustenburg, South Africa mines in response to a spate of deaths at the operations. The case lays out Carroll's... View Details

Keywords: Safety; Ethics; Mining; Mining Industry; South Africa

April 1990 (Revised April 1993)
Case

Bridgeton Industries: Automotive Component & Fabrication Plant

Bridgeton Industries was experiencing reduced sales. To become more competitive it introduced a classification procedure for products based upon their productivity and other factors. Products were classified into three groups: world class, potentially world class, and... View Details

Keywords: Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Competition; Cost Management; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry

June 2010 (Revised June 2011)
Case

U.S. Department of Energy & Recovery Act Funding: Bridging the "Valley of Death"

By: Michael J. Roberts, Joseph B. Lassiter III and Ramana Nanda

The case focuses on the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the $38 billion of stimulus funding the DOE received to encourage clean tech. They focus on "bridging the valley of death" (i.e., helping young, innovative companies finance technically risky and very capital... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Government and Politics; Innovation and Invention; Programs; Business and Government Relations; Climate Change; Energy Industry; Green Technology Industry

April 12, 2022
Article

Evaluation of Individual and Ensemble Probabilistic Forecasts of COVID-19 Mortality in the United States

By: Estee Y. Cramer, Evan L. Ray, Velma K. Lopez, Johannes Bracher, Andrea Brennen, Alvaro J. Castro Rivadeneira, Michael Lingzhi Li and et al.

Short-term probabilistic forecasts of the trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States have served as a visible and important communication channel between the scientific modeling community and both the general public and decision-makers. Forecasting models... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Forecasting and Prediction; Health Pandemics; Mathematical Methods; Partners and Partnerships

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April 2013
Case

The Walt Disney Company: The Entertainment King (Abridged)

By: Michael G. Rukstad and David J. Collis

The first ten pages of this case are comprised of the company's history, from 1923 to 2001. The Walt years are described, as is the company's decline after his death and its resurgence under Eisner. The last five pages are devoted to Eisner's strategic challenges in... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Advantage; Vertical Integration; Corporate Strategy; Boundaries; Brands and Branding; Entertainment and Recreation Industry