Publications

January 2004
Supplement

Jack Welch General Electric-The People Factory at work: Picking My Successor at GE

By: Joseph L. Bower

Jack Welch describes the process by which Jeff Immelt was chosen. In doing so, he describes General Electric's People Factory. View Details

Keywords: Human Resources; Leadership Development; Management; Management Succession

Web

HBS - The year in Review

Faculty Brian K. Baik Accounting & Management Sebastian Hillenbrand Finance Ebehi Iyoha Entrepreneurial Management Elisabeth Kempf Finance Jacqueline Ng Lane Technology & Operations Management Joseph Pacelli Accounting & Management... View Details

Web

AASU50 - Alumni

HBS and worked with the Administration to conduct an outreach program to a number of undergraduate colleges including Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The number of black graduates increased from 5 in 1969 to 27 in 1970 to 57 in 1971. Lillian View Details

October 1990 (Revised April 1991)
Case

RU 486 (A)

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr.

Describes the factors faced by Roussel UCLAF, a French drug company, in deciding whether and how to market a controversial new drug, RU 486, which is often called "the French abortion pill." Roussel's decision involved its relations with the French government, its... View Details

Keywords: Judgments; Ethics; Product Launch; Negotiation; Outcome or Result; Performance; Business and Government Relations; Health Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; France; Germany; United States

March 2013 (Revised March 2015)
Case

iMatari

By: Joseph L. Badaracco and Matthew Preble

In late 2012, recent Harvard Business School graduate Hannah Lopez is given the opportunity to lead entry into a new market for Plámo, a company that created startup companies in Europe and emerging markets based upon existing successful business models. She had only... View Details

Keywords: Ethical Behavior; Ethical Judgment; Entrepreneurship; Imitation; Ethics; Moral Sensibility; Values and Beliefs; Europe; Middle East

01 Dec 2023
News

A Continuum of Innovation

Administration. In this conversation, Weinzierl, the Joseph and Jacqueline Elbling Professor of Business Administration, highlights some of the ways the School has strengthened the MBA curriculum in recent years View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Gillespie

August 2004 (Revised July 2005)
Case

Allianz (D1): The Turnaround

By: Joseph L. Bower, Anders Sjoman and Sonja Ellingson Hout

Examines the acquisition of Dresdner Bank by Allianz--the deal of the year in 2002. Examines some of the challenges posed by the turnaround of Dresdner as seen by Michael Diekmann, the new CEO of Allianz. In working with Dresdner, Allianz needed to figure out what it... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Financial Institutions; Investment Banking; Brands and Branding; Product Development; Organizational Structure; Problems and Challenges

August 2024
Background Note

Your True Moral Compass

By: Joseph L. Badaracco

This note explores the concept of a "moral compass" for making difficult decisions in leadership roles. It argues that the standard view of a moral compass as a simple, internal guide is inadequate for complex situations. Instead, it proposes that our true moral... View Details

Keywords: Moral Sensibility; Decision Choices and Conditions

August 2000 (Revised August 2018)
Case

The Atchison Corporation (A)

By: Joseph L. Bower

A new general manager uses a profit-center-based system to shake up an old line company. He then faces the task of placating a board member upset by the human consequences. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Profit; Human Resources; Change Management; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Organizational Design

01 Dec 2001
News

Effective Leadership and Decision-Making

elements that make this approach successful: fostering constructive, not personal, conflict; giving each viewpoint serious consideration; and knowing when to close deliberations. In "We Don't Need Another Hero," Professor Joseph View Details

Keywords: Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

September 2013 (Revised December 2015)
Case

PepsiCo, Profits, and Food: The Belt Tightens

By: Joseph L. Badaracco and Matthew Preble

The case describes the issues facing Indra Nooyi after five years of PepsiCo's new and controversial nutrition strategy. View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Ethics; Leadership; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

December 2014 (Revised December 2020)
Course Overview Note

The Basic LCA Framework

By: Joseph L. Badaracco and Rebecca Henderson

Keywords: Leadership & Corporate Accountability; Values; Responsibility; Leadership; Corporate Accountability; Values and Beliefs

Web

Social Enterprise - Faculty & Research

S. Kaplan and Constance Spitzer April 2025 (Revised June 2025) Case Governing Sustainability in a Shifting Context (A) By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz 2020 Book Capitalism at Risk: How Business Can Lead By: Joseph View Details

01 Dec 2016
News

Takeaways

whatever you decide.” —Professor Joseph L. Badaracco (MBA 1978, DBA 1981), Managing in the Gray Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli photo by Allison Shelley... View Details

02 Nov 2016
News

When You Feel Pressured to Do the Wrong Thing at Work

February 2015
Supplement

The Affordable Care Act (B): Industry Negotiations

By: Joseph L. Bower and Michael Norris

In 2009, the Obama administration and Senator Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee enter into talks with industry groups that will be affected by the health reform that the Congress is working on. View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Health Care Policy; Health; Health Industry; United States

October 2000 (Revised November 2000)
Case

New Economy Ethics: YouKnowIt.com

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr. and Kim Slack

Entrepreneur Janice Schwartz is hoping to grow her start-up company by creating a technical advisory board and compensating members with discounted company stock. Schwartz is considering six candidates that can help her online education company in a variety of ways: as... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Crime and Corruption; Customers; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Governing and Advisory Boards; Media; Networks; Internet

September 2006
Supplement

Brainard, Bennis & Farrell (B)

By: Joseph L. Bower

Brainard, Bennis and Farrel is a short case designed to explore the challenge of establishing appropriate compensation from a general management/CEO perspective. Brainard (B) is a one-page handout that is designed to show how an already difficult problem is made more... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Compensation and Benefits; Executive Compensation; Relationships; Strategy

October 1999
Case

CIBC Corporate and Investment Banking (C): 1997-1999

By: Joseph L. Bower and Michael Raynor

By 1997 the turnaround of CIBC's troubled investment bank, Wood Gundy, and its integration with corporate banking activities was complete. Marketplace results were encouraging, but scuttled mergers and tumultuous succession issues made the future uncertain. View Details

Keywords: Integration; Investment Banking; Success; Risk and Uncertainty; Management Succession; Mergers and Acquisitions; Financial Services Industry