Publications

March 2023
Teaching Note

Ransomware Attack at Colonial Pipeline Company

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Li-Kuan Ni

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 123-069. On the morning of May 7, 2021, Colonial Pipeline Company became aware that the company had been the victim of a malicious ransomware attack that had stolen and locked up company data. The extortionists demanded 75 bitcoins (worth... View Details

07 Mar 2016
HBS Seminar

Scott Stern, MIT Sloan School of Management

June 2022 (Revised August 2022)
Case

Sustainability Reporting at Dollar Tree, Inc.

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Li-Kuan Ni

The cases discusses the ESG strategy of Dollar Tree Inc., a U.S. Fortune 500 company in the deep discount retail industry and the and shareholder pressure faced by the company. In 2022, the company faced a shareholder resolution from a renowned shareholder advocacy... View Details

Keywords: ESG; Sustainability; Shareholder Activism; Dollar Tree; Sustainability Reporting; ESG Reporting; Board Of Directors; Shareholder Engagement; GHG; Environmental Accounting; Integrated Corporate Reporting; Trends; Communication; Announcements; Voting; Environmental Management; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; Values and Beliefs; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Disclosure; Corporate Governance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Reports; Business or Company Management; Risk Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Outcome or Result; Strategic Planning; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Situation or Environment; Opportunities; Civil Society or Community; Social Issues; Public Opinion; Strategy; Adaptation; Alignment; Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Value Creation; Retail Industry; United States; Virginia

Web

Student Spotlight: 2023 HCC Co-Presidents Reflect on Their Time at HBS and the Current Health Care Systems - Blog: Health Supplement

status. Both variables are related, reinforcing how social determinants of health play such a significant role in health outcome disparities for different populations. What industry of health care are you most interested in? I am most... View Details

September 2002 (Revised October 2002)
Case

Bank of America (A)

By: Stefan H. Thomke and Ashok Nimgade

Describes how Bank of America is creating a system for product and service innovation in its retail banking business. Emphasis is placed on the role of experimentation in some two-dozen real-life "laboratories" that serve as fully operating banking branches and as... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Problems and Challenges; Innovation and Management; Risk and Uncertainty; Change; Failure; Banks and Banking; Learning; Banking Industry

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Governance Controls; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Governing and Advisory Boards; Executive Compensation; Lawsuits and Litigation; Crisis Management; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Design; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Crime and Corruption; Business Organization; Business Model; Ethics; Corporate Accountability; Governance Compliance; Policy; Compensation and Benefits; Resignation and Termination; Laws and Statutes; Legal Liability; Business or Company Management; Risk Management; Business Processes; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Failure; Agency Theory; Business and Shareholder Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Risk and Uncertainty; Salesforce Management; Public Opinion; Banking Industry; North and Central America

11 Jul 2023
Blog Post

Second Life: Reflections on Complementing Success with an Encore Career

for the ’Base of the Pyramid’ the two-thirds of the world’s population who live on less than two dollars a day,” he says. “The experience had opened my eyes to the power of applying business skills to socially beneficial outcomes while... View Details

Web

Sustainable Investing Course | HBS Online

Finance, Financial Innovation for Social Change Introduction: Ford Foundation, the Other 95% Show Hide Details Concepts Pay for Success Leveraging the Entire Institution for Change The Evolution of Capitalism Featured Exercises Assess View Details

June 2017 (Revised September 2021)
Case

Sales Misconduct at Wells Fargo Community Bank

By: Suraj Srinivasan, Dennis W. Campbell, Susanna Gallani and Amram Migdal

Set in early 2017, this case examines widespread sales misconduct at Wells Fargo Community Bank. Wells Fargo's governance and controls are described in the lead up to the September 2016 announcement that Wells Fargo had settled with regulators for $185 million in... View Details

18 Nov 2013
Research & Ideas

Pulpit Bullies: Why Dominating Leaders Kill Teams

the field. Focusing on the health-care industry, they are experimenting with interventions to help improve outcomes in situations in which doctors—never known to be shy about exercising power—collaborate with medical colleagues in... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

07 Sep 2021
Research & Ideas

Who Pays For Wildfire and Hurricane Damage? Everyone.

New Mexico homeowners might think their inland location buffers them from the financial toll of climate change, but they’re still paying for climate-related property damage occurring in coastal states. New research finds that homeowners in New Mexico and other states... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Insurance

August 2011 (Revised November 2012)
Case

Mary Griffin at Derby Foods

By: Anthony J. Mayo and Joshua D. Margolis

Mary Griffin, Vice President of Consumer Products, must provide feedback to one of her direct reports, Simon York. York is a strong performer, but he has displayed some poor interpersonal skills in the manner in which he interacts with his team and the production... View Details

Keywords: Outcome or Result; Training; Interpersonal Communication; Labor and Management Relations; Management Skills; Management Style; Management Teams; Managerial Roles

12 Nov 2021
News

Alumni Business Leaders on Confronting the Climate Change Challenge

Business leaders around the world are currently focused on the discussions and negotiations taking place at the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow from October 31 to November 12. The outcome of these international... View Details

06 Feb 2013
What Do You Think?

Is ‘Conscious Capitalism’ an Antidote to Income Inequality?

with a new name The ideas are feel good and to be desired but will fail in the market place which gives capital the primary (and therefore only) stake in the outcome of social human enterprise." Jan Fersubg said, "Whole Foods (an example... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

23 Apr 2018
Research & Ideas

Sponsorship Programs Could Actually Widen the Gender Gap

that being personally chosen by a sponsor as a protégé could serve as an important vote of confidence; and two, the idea that sponsors’ compensation being linked to protégé outcomes might serve as further motivation for the protégé. They... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

2008
Book

Marketing Metaphoria: What Deep Metaphors Reveal About the Minds of Consumers

By: Gerald Zaltman and Lindsay Zaltman

Why do advertising campaigns and new products often fail? Why do consumers feel that companies don't understand their needs? Because marketers themselves don't think deeply about consumers' innermost thoughts and feelings. Marketing Metaphoria is a... View Details

Keywords: Advertising Campaigns; Nonverbal Communication; Customer Satisfaction; Books; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Consumer Behavior; Failure; Nonprofit Organizations; Behavior; Emotions

Find at Harvard

22 Feb 2022
News

Breaking News

issues impacts policy change—or not. We’re trying to figure out what we can measure and what we can look for both in the assessment phase and as we build our portfolios that will help us substantiate those impact outcomes that result from... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; illustration by Dana Smith; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; Information

Research Summary

Searching for a Corporate Savior: The Irrational Quest for Charismatic CEOs ( Princeton University Press, October 2002)

By: Rakesh Khurana

In this book, I argue that the external CEO labor market was born in a burst of rhetoric about wresting control of corporations away from a group of self-interested insiders, as senior managers in the era of managerial capitalism had come to be portrayed. The rationale... View Details

October 2023 (Revised May 2025)
Case

Nelson Mandela: Changing the World

By: Robert Simons and Shirley Sun

This case traces the rise of Nelson Mandela from his tribal home in South Africa to president of the country. Rejecting expectations that he would be a tribal leader, Mandela instead dedicates his life to fighting Apartheid. After peaceful approaches fail, he joins... View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Values and Beliefs; Power and Influence; Personal Characteristics; Leadership Style; Success; South Africa