Publications

2023
Book

The State and Capitalism in China

By: Meg Rithmire, Margaret M. Pearson and Kellee S. Tsai

This element explains China's political economic evolution from state socialist economy to a reform era state capitalism model to a more politicized, risk management approach we call "party-state capitalism." We emphasize the internal and external sources of perceived... View Details

Keywords: China's Political Economy; State Capitalism; State-business Relations; State Ownership; Economic Systems; Government and Politics; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business and Government Relations; China

2025
Working Paper

The Impact of Input Inaccuracy on Leveraging AI Tools: Evidence from Algorithmic Labor Scheduling

By: Caleb Kwon, Antonio Moreno and Ananth Raman

Problem Definition: Considerable academic and practitioner attention is placed on the value of ex-post interactions (i.e., overrides) in the human-AI interface. In contrast, relatively little attention has been paid to ex-ante human-AI interactions (e.g., the... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Employees; Performance Effectiveness

SSRN

16 Jan 2013
Research & Ideas

The Messy Link Between Slave Owners and Modern Management

evolution of modern management is usually associated with good old-fashioned intelligence and ingenuity—"a glorious parade of inventions that goes from textile looms to the computer," Rosenthal... View Details

Keywords: by Katie Johnston

July 1994 (Revised December 1994)
Case

CIGNA Corporation, Inc.: Managing and Institutionalizing Business Reengineering

Provides a longitudinal view of business reengineering at CIGNA Corp., a leading provider of insurance and related financial services throughout the United States and the world. CIGNA has been practicing business reengineering since 1989, completing over 20 projects.... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Business Processes; Financial Services Industry; Insurance Industry

Educators

June 2010
Article

Quality Management and Job Quality: How the ISO 9001 Standard for Quality Management Systems Affects Employees and Employers

By: David I. Levine and Michael W. Toffel

Several studies have examined how the ISO 9001 Quality Management System standard predicts changes in organizational outcomes such as profits. This is the first large-scale study to explore how employee outcomes such as employment, earnings, and health and safety... View Details

Keywords: Quality; Management; Standards; Employees; Wages; Organizations; Profit; Safety; Health; Policy

Teaching Interest

Harvard Business Analytics Program: Operations and Supply Chain Management

By: Dennis Campbell

Digital technologies and data analytics are radically changing the operating model of an organization and how it connects to its broader supply chain and ecosystem. This course emphasizes managing product availability, especially in a context of rapid product... View Details

Article

Formal Measures in Informal Management: Can a Balanced Scorecard Change a Culture?

By: Robert Gibbons and Robert S. Kaplan

Agency theorists, historically, have analyzed what kinds of performance measures should be used in formal incentive contracts. For example, after Kaplan-Norton proposed a balanced scorecard of both financial and non-financial measures, some envisioned its role only in... View Details

Keywords: Relational Contracts; Performance Measurement; Informal Management; Balanced Scorecard; Economics; Mathematical Methods

April 1996 (Revised May 2008)
Exercise

Adam Baxter Company/Local 190: 1985 Negotiation Baxter Management Confidential Information

By: Kathleen L. McGinn and Victoria Medvec

ncludes a series of three negotiation exercises portraying management/labor relations at ABC over a period of seven years. ABC, initially a family-owned business, had prided itself on its cooperative relationship with its union, Local 190. With the skyrocketing... View Details

Keywords: Inflation and Deflation; Compensation and Benefits; Wages; Working Conditions; Management; Negotiation Process; Labor and Management Relations

September 1980 (Revised April 1984)
Background Note

Note on Japanese Management and Employment Systems

By: Michael Beer

Keywords: Management; Employment

November 22, 2021
Article

Manage Your Talent Pipeline Like a Supply Chain

By: Joseph B. Fuller and Matthew Sigelman

In supply-chain management, you get what you plan for. Companies understand that principle when it comes to the goods that they consume and produce, but not when it comes to the people they hire and train. For decades, companies have adopted a short-term, ad hoc... View Details

Keywords: Talent Management; Talent and Talent Management; Labor; Strategic Planning

1991
Article

Job Satisfaction, Service Capability and Customer Satisfaction: An Examination of Linkages and Management Implications

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger and Jeffrey Zornitsky

Survey data from 1,277 employees and 4,269 customers of a personal lines insurance organization were analyzed with the following results: (a) employee perceptions of service quality are positively related to both job satisfaction and self-perceived service capability;... View Details

Keywords: Service Delivery; Satisfaction; Jobs and Positions; Customer Satisfaction

April 2010
Course Overview Note

Managing Human Capital

By: Boris Groysberg

Managing Human Capital, a second-year elective course at Harvard Business School, seeks to create business leaders who understand human resources practices essential to firm performance and who think strategically about managing their own careers. This Managing Human... View Details

Keywords: Human Resources; Human Capital; Management; Outcome or Result; Personal Development and Career

May 2021
Article

Making Doctors Effective Managers and Leaders: A Matter of Health and Well-Being

By: Lisa Rotenstein, Robert S. Huckman and Christine K. Cassel

The COVID-19 crisis has forced physicians to make daily decisions that require knowledge and skills they did not acquire as part of their biomedical training. Physicians are being called upon to be both managers—able to set processes and structures—and leaders—capable... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Management; Leadership; Health Pandemics; Health Industry

August 2015 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Bridj and the Business of Urban Mobility (A): Developing a New Model

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Daniel Fox

Bridj, a Boston startup that provides Big Data-powered, "pop-up" bus routes that respond to transportation demand, has been in operation for a little over a year and has recently launched service in Washington, D.C., its second market. Despite media acclaim and... View Details

Educators

September 2003
Module Note

Managing the Competing Goals of Work and Life

By: Leslie A. Perlow

Outlines how instructors can facilitate discussion within the Managing the Competing Goals of Work and Life module to encourage students to begin a process of self-assessment that focuses on personal values, career development needs, and workplace culture. View Details

Keywords: Working Conditions; Goals and Objectives; Organizational Culture; Work-Life Balance; Value

January 2011
Case

Clean Edge Razor: Splitting Hairs in Product Positioning

By: John A. Quelch and Heather Beckham

After three years of development, Paramount Health and Beauty Company is preparing to launch a new technologically advanced vibrating razor called Clean Edge. The innovative new design of Clean Edge provides superior performance by stimulating the hair follicles to... View Details

Keywords: Project Management; Interdepartmental Relations; Organizational Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leadership; Conflict Management; Product Positioning; Marketing Strategy; Relationships; Product Development; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry

Educators

December 2010
Article

Management and the Financial Crisis (We Have Met the Enemy and He Is Us...)

By: William A. Sahlman

The financial crisis of 2008-2009 has revealed that our broad model of corporate governance is broken, independent of the shortcomings in the regulatory system. Managers and boards of directors in scores of systemically important firms failed to protect employees,... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Human Capital; Ethics; Policy; Corporate Governance; Financial Crisis; Finance; Business and Shareholder Relations

Teaching Interest

Supply Chain Management

By: Kris Johnson Ferreira

The Supply Chain Management (SCM) course builds on aspects of the first-year Technology and Operations Management (RC TOM) course. However, whereas RC TOM focuses primarily on developing and producing products and services, SCM emphasizes managing... View Details

December 2008
Article

The Teaching of Strategy: From General Manager to Analyst and Back Again?

By: Joseph L. Bower

Courses in strategy are an outgrowth of the business policy course first taught at Harvard Business School in 1912. This article examines how the teaching of a course concerned with the development and implementation of the goals and policies of a firm changed during... View Details

Keywords: Business Education; Curriculum and Courses; Teaching; Policy; Business History; Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy