Publications

22 Mar 2017
Research & Ideas

What's the Ideal Frequency for a Sales Quota?

in Sweden. For decades, the company had compensated sales people with a base salary and a monthly quota. But anecdotes from regional managers indicated it might be time for a change—largely thanks to the weather. “In Sweden what happens... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

05 Dec 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, December 5, 2017

competitiveness fundamentals to productivity and prosperity outcomes. On these indicators Sweden is compared to a peer group of other advanced EU and OECD countries. The Scorecard finds Sweden's competitiveness to be solid overall,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

06 Aug 2024
Op-Ed

What the World Could Learn from America's Immigration Backlash—100 Years Ago

Sweden have received unprecedented support in national elections by running on anti-immigrant platforms. Yet, none of this is new. A century ago, mounting public pressure prompted Congress to pass the Immigration Act of 1924, which ended... View Details

Keywords: by Marco Tabellini

23 Jun 2016
Op-Ed

Brexit: Should Britain Stay or Go?

Europe is seething with nationalism and racism. There are large and growing extreme right wing parties from Sweden to Greece, many of which enjoy waving Nazi flags. Fascist parties are in power in Hungary and Poland. There is a huge... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey G. Jones & Dante Roscini

16 Jun 2009
First Look

First Look: June 16

privately owned health care provider in Sweden serving both public and private paying patients. In contrast to most providers in the country, GHP organized around specific service lines where it saw the potential to provide the most... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

03 Feb 2016
Research & Ideas

The State of Customer Service Leadership

Southwest Airlines, for instance, has continued as a legendary US-based service provider since its inception in 1971, IKEA of Sweden has evolved to teach the world’s retailers about the power of a well- defined and well-executed service... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner; Retail

May 2018
Other Article

A Cross-Country Comparison of Dynamics in the Large Firm Wage Premium

By: Emanuele Colonnelli, Joacim Tag, Michael Webb and Stefanie Wolter

We provide stylized facts on the existence and dynamics over time of the large firm wage premium for four countries. We examine matched employer-employee micro-data from Brazil, Germany, Sweden, and the UK, and find that the large firm premium exists in all these... View Details

Keywords: Large Firms; Wages; Global Range; Sweden; United Kingdom; Brazil; Germany

Find at Harvard

January 2019 (Revised March 2021)
Case

SoundCloud: Subscription Streaming?

By: Ashish Nanda, Eric Van den Steen, Andy Wu, Jeffrey Boyar and Bonnie Bennett Slater

Established in 2007, SoundCloud already boasted the second largest number of active music listeners among all streaming services and was recognized as the go-to platform for new artists by early 2014. Yet, its founders were questioning the robustness of the firm’s... View Details

January 2025
Supplement

A Winning Strategy (B): Innovation in Olympic Speed Skating

By: Rebecca Karp, Maria Roche, Maisie Wiltshire-Gordon and Tom Quinn

This case describes the aftermath of decisions made by two innovators in the Olympic sport of speed skating: the U.S. Men’s team, which devised a new approach to the team pursuit event; and Nils van der Poel, a Swedish skater who created a new training plan that defied... View Details

Keywords: Sports; Disruptive Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Knowledge Sharing; Performance Improvement; Sports Industry; United States; Sweden; Netherlands; Norway

January 2025
Case

A Winning Strategy (A): Innovation in Olympic Speed Skating

By: Rebecca Karp, Maria Roche, Maisie Wiltshire-Gordon and Tom Quinn

This case describes two innovators in the Olympic sport of speed skating: the U.S. Men’s team, which devised a new approach to the team pursuit event following their disappointing performance in the 2018 Winter Olympics; and Nils van der Poel, a Swedish skater who... View Details

Keywords: Sports; Disruptive Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Knowledge Sharing; Sports Industry; United States; Sweden; Netherlands; Norway

March 2004 (Revised May 2005)
Case

Shurgard Self-Storage: Expansion to Europe

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Indra Reinbergs

Shurgard, a U.S.-based firm that rents storage facilities to consumers and small businesses, is considering financing options for rapid expansion of its European operations. Five years after entering Europe, Shurgard Europe has opened 17 facilities in Belgium, France,... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Valuation; Business Model; Governing and Advisory Boards; Entrepreneurship; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Service Industry; Belgium; France; Sweden; United States; Europe

15 Dec 2015
First Look

December 15, 2015

into a seven-year journey of research and development, including raising over $10 million of venture capital. The product had been granted Europe's CE certification in 2011 and had been launched simultaneously in Sweden and Norway. Yet, a... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

14 May 2013
First Look

First Look: May 14

Sweden compared with the United States. In particular, a later development of financial markets and a heavier tax burden for entrepreneurs have played a key role. Publisher's link:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

August 2023 (Revised March 2024)
Case

Arla Foods: Data-Driven Decarbonization (A)

By: Michael Parzen, Michael W. Toffel, Susan Pinckney and Amram Migdal

The case describes Arla’s history, in particular its climate change mitigation efforts, and how it implemented a price incentive system to motivate individual farms to implement scope 1 greenhouse gas emissions mitigation measures and receive a higher milk price. The... View Details

August 2023 (Revised January 2024)
Supplement

Arla Foods: Data-Driven Decarbonization (A)

By: Michael Parzen, Michael W. Toffel, Amram Migdal and Susan Pinckney

Arla implemented a data-based price incentive system to measure, track, and influence climate friendly changes to reduce CO2 emissions across the world’s fourth largest dairy cooperative. View Details

Keywords: Dairy Industry; Business Earnings; Earnings Management; Environmental Accounting; Agribusiness; Animal-Based Agribusiness; Acquisition; Mergers and Acquisitions; Decision Making; Decisions; Voting; Environmental Management; Climate Change; Environmental Regulation; Environmental Sustainability; Green Technology; Pollution; Moral Sensibility; Values and Beliefs; Financial Strategy; Price; Profit; Revenue; Food; Geopolitical Units; Global Strategy; Ownership Type; Cooperative Ownership; Performance Efficiency; Performance Evaluation; Problems and Challenges; Natural Environment; Science-Based Business; Business Strategy; Commercialization; Cooperation; Corporate Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Europe; United Kingdom; European Union; Germany; Denmark; Sweden; Luxembourg; Belgium

April 2025
Supplement

Arla Foods: Data-Driven Decarbonization (A) and (B) PowerPoint Supplement

By: Michael Parzen, Michael W. Toffel and Susan Pinckney

Arla implemented a data based price incentive systems to measure, track, and influence climate friendly changes to reduce CO2 emissions across the world’s fourth largest dairy cooperative. View Details

Keywords: Dairy Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Europe; European Union; United Kingdom; Germany; Denmark; Sweden; Netherlands; Luxembourg; Belgium

15 Sep 2011
Research & Ideas

High Ambition Leadership

employees in Sweden were. Russ Fradin, of Hewitt Associates, said that early in his tenure he spent three-quarters of his time going around. I think he met with 72 clients in the first 100 days, just hearing what they had to say. Making... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

08 Jun 2010
First Look

First Look: June 8

County Hospital: Gastroenterology Care in Sweden Michael E. Porter, Jennifer F. Baron, and Martin RejlerHarvard Business School Case 710-469 Sweden's Highland District County Hospital, similar to a community hospital in the U.S.,... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Article

Does Management Matter in Schools?

By: Nicholas Bloom, Renata Lemos, Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen

We collect data on operations, targets and human resources management practices in over 1,800 schools educating 15-year-olds in eight countries. Overall, we show that higher management quality is strongly associated with better educational outcomes. The UK, Sweden,... View Details

Keywords: Management; Education; Business Strategy; Education Industry; Germany; Sweden; India; Canada; Italy; Brazil; United Kingdom; United States