Publications

2023
Working Paper

Trusting Talent: Cross-Country Differences in Hiring

By: Letian Zhang and Shinan Wang

This article argues that a society’s social trust influences employers’ hiring strategies. In selecting workers, employers could either focus on applicants’ potential and select on foundational skills (e.g., social skills, math skills) or focus on their readiness and... View Details

Keywords: Selection and Staffing; Trust; Competency and Skills; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; European Union

December 2004 (Revised April 2014)
Case

Stan Lapidus: Profile of a Medical Entrepreneur

By: Robert F. Higgins and Sophie LaMontagne

Describes the career path and insights of Stanley Lapidus, a successful serial entrepreneur in the medical and life sciences industry. Lapidus is the founder of Cytyc Corp. (NASDAQ: CYTC) and EXACT Sciences (NASDAQ: EXAS) and is currently the CEO of his third start-up,... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Experience and Expertise; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Managerial Roles; Health Industry

16 Dec 2015
Research & Ideas

What Happens When Zambian Schoolgirls Receive Negotiation Training

2009, Harvard Business School Professor Kathleen McGinn has developed keen insight into the exigent nature of such challenges. Her experiences there prompted her to study how teaching communication and negotiation skills at critical... View Details

Keywords: Re: Kathleen L. McGinn

April 2000 (Revised May 2000)
Case

Capital One Financial Corporation

By: Bharat N. Anand, Michael G. Rukstad and Christopher Paige

Designed to explore the structure, implementation, and sustainability of an information-based strategy (IBS) undertaken by Capital One during the 1990s. Particular issues of interest are the impact of mass customization on industry structure, the ability to transfer... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Customization and Personalization; Industry Structures; Internet and the Web; Innovation Strategy; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Financial Services Industry; United States

Article

Is a VC Partnership Greater Than the Sum of Its Partners?

By: Michael Ewens and Matthew Rhodes-Kropf

This paper investigates whether individual venture capitalists have repeatable investment skill and to what extent their skill is impacted by the VC firm where they work. We examine a unique dataset that tracks the performance of individual venture capitalists'... View Details

Find at Harvard

2018
Working Paper

Executive Education in the Digital Matrix: The Disruption of the Supply Landscape

By: Mihnea Moldoveanu and Das Narayandas

Even as the demand for managerial skills continues to grow, executive education worldwide has entered a period of disruption caused by the digitalization of content, connectivity, and communication. The current offerings of many executive education program providers... View Details

Keywords: Executive Education; Internet and the Web; Disruption; Competency and Skills; Leadership Development

22 Jan 2014
Research & Ideas

High-Tech Immigrant Workers Don’t Cost US Jobs

Many high-tech companies in the United States look overseas to fill talent gaps in their employment ranks by hiring skilled immigrants, often sponsoring the visas these workers need to live in this country. Critics say this can create an... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Computer; Financial Services

January 2021
Case

Leading Culture Change at SEB

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Elena Corsi

The Risk organization at SEB, a leading Nordic financial services group founded in 1856, undertook a culture change program focused on psychological safety, empathic listening, and strategic framing. The program enabled risk organization teams to make progress on... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Risk Management; Leading Change; Organizational Culture; Decision Making; Banking Industry; Sweden

2019
Working Paper

From Know-It-Alls to Learn-It-Alls: Executive Development in the Era of Self-Refining Algorithms, Collaborative Filtering and Wearable Computing

By: Mihnea Moldoveanu and Das Narayandas

We examine the future of executive education on a technological and cultural landscape that is imminent but different to the one we are accustomed to. We show how the contextualization, socialization and personalization of learning—avowed but distal goals of current... View Details

Keywords: Executive Education; Leadership Development; Technological Innovation; Customization and Personalization; Management Skills; Knowledge Acquisition; Knowledge Sharing

October 1988 (Revised October 1989)
Background Note

Aspects of Marketing Organization: An Introduction

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Discusses the typical strengths, vulnerabilities, and key management skills associated with three common forms of marketing organization: a product-focused organization, a market-focused organization, and a functionally-focused organization. It considers how the nature... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy

04 Mar 2014
Sharpening Your Skills

Sharpening Your Skills: Managing Innovation

Skills that Distinguish Great Innovators Clay Christensen on "The Innovator's DNA." WORKING PAPERS Leading Innovation in Good Times and Bad Innovation is not a side business, says Lynda Applegate. Mechanisms of Technology Re-Emergence and... View Details

Keywords: Re: Multiple Faculty

04 Aug 2003
What Do You Think?

Are We Facing an Attitude Shortage?

pointed out that "So many managers are afraid that attitude is too soft, too difficult to assess and to use as a key hiring criteria." Saurabh Dwivedy commented that "...attitude, morals, ethics, and leadership skills are... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

18 Apr 2005
Lessons from the Classroom

NFL Players Touch Down at HBS

Jones. That's why he and twenty-nine fellow players from around the National Football League have exchanged play books for business books this spring at Harvard Business School, where they were immersed in a three-day program to learn View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Sports

September 2007
Case

Nonverbal Communication: Distinguishing Truth and Lies

By: Michael A. Wheeler

This video-based coursework illuminates the importance--and difficulty--of judging whether people are trustworthy. Students can test their skills at assessing whether contestants in a high-stakes game show will cooperate or defect. View Details

Keywords: Nonverbal Communication; Competency and Skills; Moral Sensibility; Emotions; Trust

19 Dec 2005
Research & Ideas

Public Education Goes to School

Can the art and science of management help public schools improve student performance? In the fall of 2001, faculty and staff from the Harvard Business School (HBS) and the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) began to discuss how they might work together on the... View Details

Keywords: by Mallory Stark; Education

2014
Tool

Girls Arise! Working Together for a Better Future: Negotiation Curriculum

By: Kathleen McGinn, Corinne Low and Nava Ashraf

This negotiation curriculum provides a reference guide to train Zambian girls to adopt the communication skills needed to negotiate health and education decisions with power figures in their lives. View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Communication; Competency and Skills; Gender; Age; Training

26 Aug 2013
Lessons from the Classroom

Built for Global Competition from the Start

Thanks to the Internet, entrepreneurs are no longer confined to a local geography when building a new business—the world can be their market from day one. But building a startup as a global business requires managers with skills and... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard; Education

October 7, 2021
Article

How to Resolve America's Hidden-Worker Problem

By: Joseph B. Fuller

Most companies rely on recruiting systems that are superficially efficient but consistently ineffective at closing their chronic skills gaps. Is there a dearth of workers or are employers looking for talent in a self-limiting way? View Details

Keywords: Talent Acquisition; HR; Talent and Talent Management; Recruitment; Leadership; Human Resources