Publications

January 2007 (Revised December 2007)
Case

PSI: Social Marketing Clean Water

By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Nava Ashraf and Marie Bell

Senior management at PSI, arguably the world's largest and most successful social marketer with impressive achievements in the field of family planning, HIV/AIDS, and malaria prevention must determine what to do about their slow-to-take-off clean water initiative.... View Details

Keywords: Investment Funds; Health Care and Treatment; Social Marketing; Natural Environment; Social Enterprise; Business Strategy

Video

Jamie Dimon: Address to HBS MBA Class of 2009, Class Day June 21, 2009

2013
Working Paper

Managing Firms in an Emerging Economy: Evidence from the Time Use of Indian CEOs

By: Raffaella Sadun

The success or failure of a company is often ascribed to the behavior of its CEO. Yet little is known about what top managers actually do, whether this matters for firm performance, and why it differs across firms. We provide some answers by developing a new survey... View Details

Keywords: Management Style; Performance; Outcome or Result; Management Teams; Manufacturing Industry; India

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02 Jan 2024
Research & Ideas

10 Trends to Watch in 2024

The lightning-fast ascent of generative AI isn’t the only sea change on the horizon for businesses in the new year. The global economy is in flux as war, climate change, trade issues, and infrastructure problems demand attention. Many companies continue to struggle to... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

November 2016 (Revised February 2017)
Case

BrightStar Care: The Evolution of a Leadership Team

By: Boris Groysberg, Colleen Ammerman and John D. Vaughan

BrightStar Care was a rapidly growing franchise of home health care agencies. Founded by husband and wife team JD and Shelly Sun as a single agency near Chicago in 2002, BrightStar had opened nearly 300 franchises across the United States by 2016, generating over $300... View Details

Keywords: Health Care Services; Entrepreneurs; Board Of Directors; Boards Of Directors; Health Care Industry; Growth Strategy; Organizational Change; Brand Positioning; Entrepreneurial Organizations; Entrepreneurial Management; Franchising; Family-owned Business; Home Health Care; Managing Growth; Management Styles; Organizational Development; Talent Management; Women Executives; Women And Leadership; Business Startups; Family Business; Small Business; Talent and Talent Management; Governing and Advisory Boards; Health Care and Treatment; Human Capital; Leadership Development; Leadership Style; Business or Company Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Management Skills; Management Style; Management Succession; Management Systems; Management Teams; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Strategy

November 2023
Case

Nourishing Communities: Brighter Bites Approach to Childhood Nutrition

By: David E. Bell, Forest Reinhardt and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

In September 2023, Brighter Bites, a Houston-based non-profit that distributed fresh produce and nutrition education in underserved communities across 11 cities and 5 states, grappled with identifying the best path forward for continued growth. Brighter Bites proved... View Details

Keywords: Nutrition; Growth and Development Strategy; Logistics; Nonprofit Organizations; Human Needs; Poverty; Houston

26 Sep 2024
Blog Post

HBS Latino Student Association Spotlight: Austin Regalado (MBA 2026)

beyond the food I eat, the music I listen to, or the coffee I drink. The Hispanic heritage of my family is one rife with change, upheaval, and loss. My grandparents were patriots living in a county that... View Details

Research Summary

The Value of Family Ownership, Control, and Management

In collaboration with Professor Raphael Amit of Wharton, Belén Villalonga is investigating how family ownership, control, and management affect firm value. Their forthcoming Journal of Financial... View Details

15 Oct 2021
News

Three Rules for Better Work-Life Balance

08 Aug 2019
News

The story of how you came to buy that car

14 Sep 2021
News

Visionary, Criminal, or Both?

November 1996
Case

Del Webb Corporation (A), The

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Samanta Graff

Begins with a company history, tracing the tenures of founder Del E. Webb and his successor as chairman and CEO, Robert H. Johnson. Johnson inherited a diversified company that was involved in construction, real estate development (including the famous Sun City), and... View Details

Keywords: Management Style; Conflict Management; Governing and Advisory Boards; Management Succession; Crisis Management

May 1999 (Revised August 1999)
Case

Victory Supermarkets: Expansion Strategy?

By: David E. Bell and Ann Leamon

Jay DiGeronimo, president of a 16-store supermarket chain, is trying to decide the timing and method for expanding his chain. The family-owned company could continue in a maintenance mode, with each family member running one store. It could expand slowly using a new... View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Cost vs Benefits; Trade; Investment; Market Entry and Exit; Supply Chain Management; Private Ownership; Competition; Expansion; Retail Industry

Ethan Bernstein (@ethanbernstein) is an associate professor in the Organizational Behavior unit at Harvard Business School. He has spent his career researching novel talent management practices and their effect on employee behavior, collaboration, and performance.... View Details

22 Nov 2024
News

Know Your HBS Staff: Anthony DeAlmeida

March–April 2017
Article

What's the Value of a Like?: Social Media Endorsements Don't Work the Way You Might Think

By: Leslie John, Daniel Mochon, Oliver Emrich and Janet Schwartz

Brands spend billions of dollars a year on lavish efforts to establish and maintain a social media presence. But do those campaigns actually increase revenue? New research provides an answer to this question, which has vexed marketers ever since social media burst upon... View Details

Keywords: Social and Collaborative Networks; Consumer Behavior; Marketing Strategy; Digital Marketing; Social Media

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November 2010 (Revised April 2011)
Case

Magna International, Inc. (A)

By: Timothy A. Luehrman and Yuhai Xuan

Magna International, Inc., a Canadian-based automotive parts manufacturer, is considering whether and how to unwind its dual-class ownership structure. A family trust controlled by the founder owns a 0.65% economic interest in the company but has 66% of the votes via a... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Restructuring; Cost vs Benefits; Governance Controls; Ownership Stake; Family Ownership; Auto Industry; Canada

2024
Book

The Ritual Effect: From Habit to Ritual, Harness the Surprising Power of Everyday Actions

By: Michael Norton

Our lives are filled with repetitive tasks meant to keep us on track—what we come to know as habits. Over time, these routines (for example, brushing your teeth or putting on your right sock first) tend to be performed automatically. But when we’re more mindful about... View Details

Keywords: Behavior; Happiness; Performance Productivity; Attitudes