Publications

August 2009
Case

Life Stories of Recent MBAs: Coping with Crucibles

By: Nitin Nohria, Daisy A Wademan Dowling and Matthew D. Breitfelder

Keywords: Business Education; Leadership

2011
Book

Detour: My Unexpected, Amazing, Life Changing Journey With OnStar

By: Chet Huber

Detour is the story behind the launch of OnStar’s now well known blue button, as told through the eyes of its founder and CEO of over fourteen years, Chet Huber. It’s a personal narrative that describes the events that led up to General Motors’ unexpected choice... View Details

Keywords: General Motors; OnStar; Technological Innovation; Business Startups; Transportation; Safety; Personal Development and Career; Creativity; Success; Business History; Auto Industry

January 2017 (Revised December 2017)
Case

Carmichael Roberts: To Create a Private Equity Firm?

By: Steven Rogers and Kenneth J. Cooper

Carmichael Roberts, a rare African-American venture capitalist, considered leaving his general partnership in a private equity firm near Boston and setting up his own in 2015. He weighed whether the timing was right, with the economy still not fully recovered from the... View Details

August 2009
Case

Life Stories of Recent MBAs: Losing Their Way

By: Nitin Nohria, Daisy A Wademan Dowling and Matthew D. Breitfelder

Keywords: Business Education

August 2009
Case

Jaime Irick: Life Story of a Recent MBA

By: Nitin Nohria, Matthew D. Breitfelder and Daisy A Wademan Dowling

Keywords: Business Education; Leadership

August 2009
Case

Ann Gildroy: Life Story of a Recent MBA

By: Nitin Nohria, Daisy A Wademan Dowling and Matthew D. Breitfelder

Keywords: Business Education; Leadership

August 2009
Case

Monica Chi: Life Story of a Recent MBA

By: Nitin Nohria, Matthew D. Breitfelder and Daisy A Wademan Dowling

Keywords: Business Education; Leadership

2025
Book

Talk: The Science of Conversation and the Art of Being Ourselves

By: Alison Wood Brooks

We all struggle with difficult conversations, but we're often not very good at easy ones either. Though we do it all the time, conversation is one of the most complex, demanding, and delicate of all human tasks, rife with possibilities for misinterpretation and... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication

March 2017 (Revised February 2025)
Case

Edwin Land: The Art and Science of Innovation

By: Tom Nicholas, Christopher T. Stanton and Matthew G. Preble

Throughout the second half of the 20th century, Polaroid first invented—and then continuously reinvented—the field of instant photography. Under the leadership of its mercurial founder Edwin Land, the company regularly released new instant cameras and films, often... View Details

Keywords: Instant Photography; Company History; Change Management; Disruption; Forecasting and Prediction; Entrepreneurship; Business History; Innovation Strategy; Disruptive Innovation; Innovation and Management; Intellectual Property; Patents; Product Marketing; Brands and Branding; Product Launch; Product Development; Chemical Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States

1998
Chapter

Resource Configurations Over the Life Cycle of Ventures

By: M. M. Hart, C. Brush and P. Greene

Keywords: Business Ventures; Resource Allocation

Fall 2020
Article

Climate in the Boardroom: Struggling to Reconcile Business as Usual and the End of the World as We Know It

By: Rebecca Henderson

How does one witness to businesspeople about climate change? Climate change is a problem for the collective and the long term, whereas business often requires a ruthless focus on the individual and the quarter. Climate change is an ethical catastrophe whose solution... View Details

Keywords: Sustainable Business; Climate Change; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability

Read Now

Simulation

The Heinz Endowments: Bringing the Arts to Life

By: Gerald Zaltman

Keywords: Arts; Business and Community Relations; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving

August 2009
Case

Life Stories of Recent MBAs: Values and Ethical Challenges

By: Nitin Nohria, Matthew D. Breitfelder and Daisy A Wademan Dowling

Keywords: Business Education; Values and Beliefs; Ethics

23 Jun 2023
HBS Case

This Company Lets Employees Take Charge—Even with Life and Death Decisions

Is it possible to truly empower employees to make their own decisions—even when those decisions could mean life or death? That is the question posed by Dutch home healthcare organization Buurtzorg, which has radically avoided almost all... View Details

Keywords: by Annelena Lobb; Health

March 27, 2013
Article

Downton Abbey: Real Life Lessons for Trust & Estate Advisors

By: Josh Baron and Devin Bird

The article discusses how the TV series "Downton Abbey" reflects challenges and opportunities faced by business families. The show's storyline, centered around the aristocratic Crawley family and their estate, parallels real-world situations where business families... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Family and Family Relationships; Management Succession; Family Ownership; Adaptation; Transition

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07 Nov 2017
Working Paper Summaries

Business and Sustainability: New Business History Perspectives

Keywords: by Ann-Kristin Bergquist

2017
Working Paper

Business and Sustainability: New Business History Perspectives

By: Ann-Kristin Bergquist

This working paper provides a long-term business history perspective on environmental sustainability. For a long time, the central issues addressed in the discipline of business history concerned how business enterprises innovated and created wealth, as well as... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Business History; Perspective

SSRN

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27 Aug 2008
Research & Ideas

Creating Leaders for Science-Based Businesses

other business practitioners. Much of the science discussed will unfold in the Allston complex's four buildings, which will house Harvard's initiatives in stem cells, bio-inspired engineering, systems... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons; Biotechnology; Health

December 2005 (Revised October 2013)
Case

Fred Khosravi and AccessClosure (A)

By: Richard Hamermesh and Liz Kind

Fred Khosravi is a serial medical device entrepreneur. In his latest venture, he must decide whether to sell now or continue to develop his current product and whether to market it, sell the company, or IPO. View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Medical Devices; Venture Capital; Life Sciences; Health Care Industry; Healthcare Technology; Healthcare Ventures; Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States