Publications

2014
Article

Notes from the Search for Deep Indicators in Services

By: James L. Heskett

Much of the research in the service sector over the last four decades has concerned itself with the search for deep indicators that explain service performance. This paper provides a brief retrospective of some of this research and illustrates the directions that this... View Details

Keywords: Service Delivery; Organizational Culture; Performance; Service Industry

July 2000 (Revised July 2001)
Case

Sycamore Networks

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and Daniel J. Green

Founders Desh Deshpande and Dan Smith reflect on Sycamore's sales strategies and consider how going public might affect the morale of its key employees. In the optical networking sector, technological change and exploding demand has created a market for talent in which... View Details

Keywords: Applied Optics; Entrepreneurship; Sales; Business Strategy; Initial Public Offering; Retention; Employees; Communication Technology; Technological Innovation; Communications Industry; Telecommunications Industry

January 1992 (Revised December 1994)
Background Note

Note on E-Mail and Privacy: U.S. Law and Company Policies

By: Lynn S. Paine

Describes the legal landscape of employee privacy as it applies to e-mail interception: the various legal theories on which a privacy claim might be based and proposed federal legislation relevant to the subject. Also describes the policies companies like UPS,... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Information; Rights; Government Legislation; Internet and the Web; Interpersonal Communication; Ethics; Theory; Policy; Employees

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April 2010 (Revised May 2010)
Supplement

George Martin at The Boston Consulting Group (C)

By: Leslie A. Perlow and Kerry Herman

George Martin, managing partner at The Boston Consulting Group, is worried as some of his best performers have recently pulled him aside to discuss the challenges they face managing the demands of their work lives with their desire for more predictable time with their... View Details

Keywords: Work-Life Balance; Problems and Challenges; Employees

10 Oct 2017
News

Radical Transparency Can Reduce Bias — but Only If It’s Done Right

26 Aug 2020
News

Getting Smarter About Smart Buildings

September 2017
Case

Dr. William Carson— Intrapreneurial Innovation in the Pharmaceutical Industry

By: Steven Rogers and Alyssa Haywoode

Dr. William Carson, an African-American alum of Harvard University became the President and CEO of a multi billion dollar division of Otsuka, a Japan based pharmaceutical company. His ascension to this leadership position followed a thriving career in academic medicine... View Details

Keywords: Dr. Williams Carson; Otsuka America Pharmaceutical; Harvard; Abilify; Aripiprazole; Health Testing and Trials; Globalized Firms and Management; Globalized Markets and Industries; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Decision Choices and Conditions; Pharmaceutical Industry; Japan

Article

Managing Perceptions of Distress at Work: Reframing Emotion as Passion

By: Elizabeth Baily Wolf, Jooa Julia Lee, Sunita Sah and Alison Wood Brooks

Expressing distress at work can have negative consequences for employees: observers perceive employees who express distress as less competent than employees who do not. Across five experiments, we explore how reframing a socially inappropriate emotional expression... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Emotions; Perception

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Read Now

09 Apr 2024
Book

Why Work Rituals Bring Teams Together and Create More Meaning

them to change our emotional states in many different ways.” With a 2023 Gallup survey showing that US employees are less satisfied with their jobs and less likely to feel that someone at work cares about them than four years ago, Norton... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

26 Feb 2013
First Look

First Look: Feb. 26

value-reducing. Our findings have implications for the long-standing policy debate on the desirability of staggered boards. Download the paper: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2141410 The Dirty Laundry of Employee Award Programs: Evidence from... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 2021
Teaching Note

From Globalization to Dual Digital Transformation: CEO Thierry Breton Leading Atos Into 'Digital Shockwaves'

By: Tsedal Neeley

Teaching Note for HBS Case Nos. 419-027 and 419-046. Thierry Breton, chairman and CEO of IT company Atos, faces a pivotal juncture. After spending eight intense years scaling the company globally to over 100,000 employees in 70 countries, he sees digital shockwaves... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Transformation; Strategy; Disruption; Employees; Competency and Skills; Training; Organizational Culture; Digital Transformation; Information Technology Industry

February 1997 (Revised December 2012)
Case

Jim Sharpe: Extrusion Technology, Inc. (A)

By: H. Kent Bowen and Barbara Feinberg

Jim Sharpe, 11 years after receiving his MBA from Harvard and working for others, has finally become his own boss and 100% owner of manufacturer of aluminum extrusions. After 10 months of an unfunded search, he acquires the business in an LBO and prepares to face his... View Details

Keywords: Acquisitions; Search Funds; Entrepreneurial Management; Entrepreneurs; Turnarounds; Bank Loan; Manufacturing; Metals Processing; Entrepreneurial Finance; Leveraged Buyouts; Labor Unions; Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Crisis Management; Management Skills; Experience and Expertise; Borrowing and Debt; Manufacturing Industry

14 Aug 2014
News

The store of two kings: Market Basket's millions and two men named Arthur

25 Jun 2012
News

Complexity Kills: Keeping Customer Service Simple

July 1991 (Revised August 2000)
Case

California PERS (A)

By: Jay O. Light, Jay W. Lorsch and James O. Sailer

Examines California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS), the world's fourth largest pension fund. Dale Hanson, CEO of CalPERS, has a problem; how does he use CalPERS' influence as the holder of a small percentage of 1,300 American companies to put pressure on... View Details

Keywords: Employees; Retirement; System; Asset Pricing; Performance Improvement; Corporate Governance; Investment Funds; Investment Return; California

August 1988 (Revised July 1996)
Case

Colt Industries

Colt Industries is a conglomerate that is considering undertaking a leveraged recapitalization. The deal would involve a large one-time dividend to stockholders, which would be financed by over $1 billion in new debt. Unlike in an leveraged buyout, however, public... View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Equity; Economic Growth; Ownership Stake; Stocks; Borrowing and Debt; Employee Stock Ownership Plan; Financial Strategy

2007
Working Paper

Interpersonal Authority in a Theory of the Firm

By: Eric J. Van den Steen

This paper develops a theory of the firm in which a firm's centralized asset ownership and low-powered incentives give a manager 'interpersonal authority' over employees (in a world with differing priors). The paper derives such interpersonal authority as... View Details

Keywords: Governance Controls; Employee Relationship Management; Managerial Roles; Motivation and Incentives; Boundaries; Theory

SSRN

January 2004 (Revised November 2006)
Case

Fleet Managed Assets Division (A)

By: Paul W. Marshall and Todd H Thedinga

Paul Kennedy, executive director of Fleet's Managed Asset Division, must decide whether to extend further credit to Polaroid Corp. in the fall of 2001. Polaroid's credit rating had been declining rapidly, but it was a major employer in the Boston area with many... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Credit; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry; Boston