Publications

26 Oct 2010
Working Paper Summaries

When Does a Platform Create Value by Limiting Choice?

Keywords: by Ramon Casadesus-Masanell & Hanna W. Halaburda; Entertainment & Recreation; Technology

May 3, 2023
Article

What Top-Performing Sales Managers Do Differently

By: Mike Schultz and Frank V. Cespedes

Sales managers hire reps, influence their training, provide (we hope) feedback and so reinforce good selling behaviors, and are key in the execution of growth and change initiatives. In a study of more than 1,000 sales managers and sellers across industries, we found... View Details

Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Sales; Performance Effectiveness

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14 Nov 2011
Research & Ideas

Creating a Global Business Code

performance perspective on conduct as opposed to a compliance mentality, Margolis says. "It's not just about thou shalt not, it's about taking a path of continual improvement." View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

February 2003 (Revised April 2003)
Case

Roman Catholic Diocese of San Jose, The

By: Allen S. Grossman and Christina Darwall

Patrick J. McGrath, the bishop of the healthy and growing San Jose diocese, is pioneering the use of long-term, business-like strategic planning to better deliver on his churches' core mission. The adopted plan addresses issues at the heart of how the diocese is... View Details

Keywords: Financial Management; Innovation Strategy; Leadership; Growth Management; Success; Performance Effectiveness; Strategic Planning; Problems and Challenges

February 2003
Background Note

Identity Issues in Teams

By: Jeffrey T. Polzer and Hillary Anger Elfenbein

This note explains how identity dynamics underlie many of the observable interpersonal problems that team members encounter, ranging from lack of participation and low involvement to misunderstandings and dysfunctional emotional conflict. It provides a framework for... View Details

Keywords: Framework; Managerial Roles; Outcome or Result; Performance Effectiveness; Groups and Teams; Conflict and Resolution; Emotions; Identity

06 Jan 2011
What Do You Think?

How Should Management Deal With “Anonymous”?

Summing Up The title of this wrap-up and the one that accompanied this month's original column basically just deletes "Wikileaks." The original title was my mistake. The intent was not to direct attention to Wikileaks in a manner that Dan Quizal rightly... View Details

Keywords: by James L. Heskett

2009
Report

Breakthroughs in Shared Measurement

By: Mark R. Kramer, Marcie Parkhurst and Lalitha Vaidyanathan

The traditional approach to measuring each individual grant and nonprofit initiative separately prevents learning and improvement, because no 2 efforts can be compared on a consistent basis. This research highlights 20 social enterprises that developed innovative... View Details

Keywords: Impact Evaluation; Impact Measurement; Social Enterprise; Organizations; Performance Effectiveness; Measurement and Metrics

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2003
Introduction

Getting the Best from Best Practices

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter

Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Practice; Performance Effectiveness

February 2009 (Revised September 2009)
Case

Investing in Early Learning as Economic Development at the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank

By: Stacey M. Childress and Geoff Eckman Marietta

In his role as Senior Vice President and Director of Research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis (Minneapolis Fed), Art Rolnick and his colleague, Rob Grunewald, had written "Early Childhood Development: Economic Development with a High Public Return." The... View Details

Keywords: Development Economics; Early Childhood Education; Investment Return; Demand and Consumers; Supply and Industry; Performance Effectiveness; Nonprofit Organizations; Minneapolis; Saint Paul

Article

A Blueprint for Pharmacy Benefits Managers to Increase Value

By: William Shrank, Michael E. Porter, Sachin H. Jain and Niteesh K. Choudhary

Pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs) have a unique opportunity to promote public health and generate value in the healthcare system. However, PBMs are largely evaluated on their ability to control costs rather than improve health. PBMs should be evaluated along three... View Details

Keywords: Opportunities; Health; System; Cost Management; Partners and Partnerships; Motivation and Incentives; Value; Innovation and Invention; Performance Effectiveness; Health Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

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May 1998 (Revised October 2001)
Case

Taco Bell Inc. (1983-1994)

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Leonard A. Schlesinger and Dave DeLong

Details the actions of John Martin, newly named CEO, as he leads Taco Bell through a decade of incremental and radical changes. By the end of the case, total system sales within Taco Bell, a Mexican style fast-food restaurant chain and a division of PepsiCo, have grown... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Transformation; Economic Growth; Food; Leadership Style; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Design; Performance Effectiveness; Food and Beverage Industry; Service Industry; Mexico

April 2006 (Revised October 2006)
Case

Chrysanthemum and Dragon: JAFCO Asia in China

By: Rawi E. Abdelal and David Lane

In the autumn of 2002, JAFCO Asia, a subsidiary of JAFCO Co., Ltd., became the first foreign private equity firm to open an office in Beijing's Haidian Science Park. JAFCO was the only Japanese private equity firm operating in China. As such, Managing Director Vincent... View Details

Keywords: History; International Relations; Business and Shareholder Relations; Business and Government Relations; Expansion; Market Entry and Exit; Performance Effectiveness; Foreign Direct Investment; Business Strategy; Financial Services Industry; China; Beijing; Japan

02 Oct 2013
What Do You Think?

Is Leadership an Increasingly Difficult Balancing Act?

Summing Up What's the Future of the Authority Figure In Leadership? Leadership involves the effective management of tensions characteristic of all organizations. Are such tensions exacerbated by today's need for increasing speed and... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

August 2004 (Revised July 2006)
Case

PROPECIA TM: Helping Make Hair Loss History

By: Marta Wosinska and Youngme E. Moon

In late 1997, Tom Casola, brand manager for Propecia, debates the best approach to market this breakthrough one-a-day pill for hair loss. This launch would be atypical for a prescription drug because of the key position of the consumer. As a result, the team's... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Communication Strategy; Customers; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Product; Performance Effectiveness; Problems and Challenges; Quality; Pharmaceutical Industry

March 1999
Case

Australia's Telstra Corporation (A): Going Public

By: W. Earl Sasser, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Cate Reavis

Frank Blount is named CEO of Telstra, Australia's state-owned telecommunications giant. In preparation for its 1997 IPO, he must reorganize the company from an inefficient public entity into a lean, customer-driven organization. View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Initial Public Offering; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Customer Focus and Relationships; State Ownership; Performance Effectiveness; Privatization; Telecommunications Industry; Australia

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01 Jul 2019
What Do You Think?

Are Super Stretch Goals Only for the Very Young?

abandon their ethics to get it.” When applied to individuals, the question prompted an interesting exchange between Sandeep and Phillippe Gouamba regarding the effect of wealth and poverty on the tendency of managers to employ super... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

04 Nov 2002
Research & Ideas

From Lone Star to Team Player

When does a star performer become a corporate nightmare? And what can you do about it? HBS Working Knowledge's Mallory Stark conducted this e-mail interview with Morten Hansen.Stark: Can you describe what you mean by "lone... View Details

Keywords: by Mallory Stark

November 2000
Case

WARDA: Leading a Rice Revolution in West Africa

By: Ray A. Goldberg, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Cate Reavis

The West Africa Rice Development Association, along with various national and international partners, was developing and transferring new rice technologies to farmers throughout West and Central Africa. While production in West Africa was growing faster than any other... View Details

Keywords: Private Sector; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Government and Politics; Technological Innovation; Leadership; Performance Effectiveness; Problems and Challenges; Research and Development; Nonprofit Organizations; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Africa