management skills - Publications - Faculty & Research

14 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

Restarting Under Uncertainty: Managerial Experiences from Around the World

As economies reopen after forced shutdowns caused by COVID-19, managers around the world are faced with a dual challenge: keep the workforce safe while preserving business viability in an evolving and volatile market. How should... View Details

Keywords: by Raffaella Sadun, Andrea Bertoni, Alexia Delfino, Giovanni Fassio, and Mariapaola Testa

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William R. Kerr | About

The Managing the Future of Work project considers the unprecedented set of challenges and opportunities presented to businesses, including rapid technological revolutions, shifting global product and labor markets, aging workforces, and... View Details

October 2024
Supplement

Hakluyt: from Corporate Intelligence to Trusted Advisors (B)

By: Joseph B. Fuller and Lena Duchene

This case is a continuation of an earlier study chronicling Hakluyt & Company (Hakluyt)’s transformation from an obscure boutique to a global corporate advisory firm with an outsized reputation. In August 2024, the firm faced a pivotal moment as managing partner Varun... View Details

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July 2022 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Call of Fiduciary Duty: Microsoft Acquires Activision Blizzard

By: Jonas Heese, Joseph Pacelli and James Barnett

In January 2022, Microsoft announces its acquisition of the video game company Activision Blizzard, in a deal valued at $68.7 billion, which would make Microsoft the world’s third largest video game company. The deal came as Activision Blizzard faced gender pay... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Goodwill Accounting; Analysis; Decision Making; Talent and Talent Management; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Ethics; Leadership; Risk and Uncertainty; Mergers and Acquisitions; Lawsuits and Litigation; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Video Game Industry; North America; California

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09 Aug 2021
Research & Ideas

OneTen: Creating a New Pathway for Black Talent

different people would tackle a job. Hiring managers would also benefit from thinking afresh in each case about which skills the job truly requires. Breaking down barriers to build talent All companies,... View Details

Keywords: by Rawi E. Abdelal, Katherine Connolly Baden, and Boris Groysberg

10 Sep 2020
Research & Ideas

The COVID Two-Step for Leaders: Protect and Pivot

[This is the fifth installment in a monthly series on management issues in the time of COVID-19.] We have asked approximately 600 CEOs to share with us the most pressing challenges that are keeping them awake at night in the midst of the... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Katherine Connolly Baden

11 Jun 2021
Blog Post

Saying “Race” Out Loud: Leading Conversations on Diversity in HBS Classrooms

As an organizational behavior scholar, diversity and identity expert, and an assistant professor of management at University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, Dr. Stephanie Creary has become a recognized thought leader in navigating the... View Details

01 Jun 2023
News

An Engine of Innovation

Innovation Labs. Previously, Joseph Lassiter, the Senator John Heinz Professor of Management Practice in Environmental Management, Retired, and Srikant Datar, the George F. Baker Professor of Administration and Dean of the Faculty, served... View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Gillespie

04 Jul 2005
What Do You Think?

How Can Business Schools Be Made More Relevant?

business school faculty, curricula, and research. Chuck Drobny commented, "If the institution places research-focused faculty or graduate students in front of students, and the students lack any perspective gained through experience, the outcome will do little to... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

01 Jan 2011
News

Karen Gordon Mills, MBA 1977

jobs." Mills's introduction to government service came while she was still working in New York but living in Brunswick, Maine, with her three sons and husband, Barry Mills, the president of Bowdoin College. In 2007, she was asked by Maine's then governor John Baldacci... View Details

01 Nov 2019
What Do You Think?

Should Non-Compete Clauses Be Abolished?

company has enough interest in the skill set that the individual brings in then they are limiting their talent pool when someone declines due to the NCA.” Edward Sixt contributed this argument against NCAs: “ it is not just or fair to... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

05 Feb 2019
News

The First Five Years: Karan Shah (MBA 2016)

I cherish and enjoy! My job involves bringing in new customers, retaining and growing business with current customers, leading new projects, developing new products, spearheading new technology drives, meeting investors and stakeholders, building a strong View Details

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McCollum Center | About

where he served as chairman from 1947 to 1972. Leonard McCollum (1902-1993) gained a reputation as a skilled oil industry leader during his early career with Standard Oil. He joined Continental Oil when it was a medium-sized company with... View Details

16 Dec 2021
Blog Post

African American Student Union Spotlight on STEM

the MBA program. Kareem Stanley (JD/MBA 2024) Where is your hometown? Queens, New York. What was your pre-MBA industry and role? I was in Energy in Project Management / Process Engineering. Post-MBA industry and role? Undecided. Why did... View Details

30 Oct 2017
Blog Post

How My Engineering and Manufacturing Background Prepared Me for an MBA

crucial skills that prepared me for the MBA experience: A structured and practical approach to problem solving The discipline I acquired to methodically think through problems has proved to be valuable. Breaking down complex problems... View Details

2009
Working Paper

Fluid Tasks and Fluid Teams: The Impact of Diversity in Experience and Team Familiarity on Team Performance

By: Robert S. Huckman and Bradley R. Staats

In this paper, we consider how the structures of tasks and teams interact to affect team performance. We study the effects of diversity in experience on a team's ability to respond to task changes, by separately examining interpersonal team diversity (i.e., differences... View Details

Keywords: Familiarity; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Groups and Teams; Projects; Experience and Expertise; Diversity; India

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22 Sep 2022
News

The Beauty Guide

Courtesy Michelle Freyre Courtesy Michelle Freyre When Michelle Freyre (MBA 1997) was a brand manager at Neutrogena, Michael McNamara, global president of the beauty brand at the time, asked what she wanted to do with her career. She... View Details

Keywords: Maureen Harmon

May–June 2021
Article

How to Close the Gender Gap

By: Colleen Ammerman and Boris Groysberg

Most companies say they’re committed to advancing women into leadership roles. What they may fail to recognize, though, is that systemic barriers are holding women back. As a result, women remain disadvantaged at every stage of their employment and underrepresented in... View Details

Keywords: Gender Discrimination; Employment; Gender; Prejudice and Bias; Talent and Talent Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation

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Frequently Asked Questions | HBS Online

and skills needed to craft successful business strategy. Economics for Managers was developed by leading Harvard Business School faculty and is delivered in an active learning environment based on the HBS... View Details

April 2025
Case

Pouring Oil on Troubled Waters: Vickers Oils and Resolving Family Conflict over Generations

By: Lauren Cohen, Octavian Graf Pilati and Sophia Pan

Will Vickers, a seventh-generation (G7) member of the Vickers Family, grappled with a pressing challenge: how to re-integrate family members into the firm to recover lost talent. His father, Peter Vickers, was the lone leader of the Vickers Oils—despite having stepped... View Details