Publications

October 2021
Case

Diversifying P&G's Supplier Base (A)

By: Kris Ferreira, Kym Lew Nelson, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Sarah Mehta

In February 2003, P&G hosted two meetings—one with its largest woman- and minority-owned suppliers and one with its largest non-minority-owned suppliers. Attendees in each meeting heard the same message: P&G was keen to grow its commitment to inclusive supply chains,... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Model; Business Organization; Family Business; Joint Ventures; Demographics; Diversity; Ethnicity; Race; Ethics; Fairness; Ownership; Supply Chain Management; Consumer Products Industry; Service Industry; United States; Ohio

26 Sep 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, September 26, 2017

worked are positively correlated with firm performance, and differences between family and non-family CEOs account for approximately 18% of the performance gap between family and non-family firms. We investigate the sources of the differences in CEO labor supply across... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2013 (Revised March 2013)
Case

Creating a Luxury Experience at Value Retail

By: Jose B. Alvarez and Matthew Preble

Value Retail PLC owned and managed a number of premium shopping destinations (Villages) across Europe. Soon the company would be moving into an entirely new market: China. The company's Villages had proven popular with both shoppers (many of whom were international... View Details

Keywords: Retailing; Tourism; Luxury; Brand Building; Brand Positioning; Real Estate; Brands and Branding; Human Resources; Retail Industry; Tourism Industry; Real Estate Industry; Europe; China

March 2018
Teaching Note

Twine Health

By: Robert S. Huckman and Ariel D. Stern

In late 2014, Dr. John Moore (CEO), Frank Moss (chairman), and Scott Gilroy (CTO) of Twine Health (Twine) had to resolve several challenges that threatened to restrict the widespread dissemination of its sole product, Twine. Twine was a cloud-based platform that... View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Chronic Disease; Digital Health; Health Acceleration Challenge; Strategy; Disease Management; Health; Health Care and Treatment; Information Technology; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Technology Adoption; Health Industry; United States; Massachusetts

2016
Book

Innovation Policy and the Economy, Volume 17

By: Shane Greenstein, Josh Lerner and Scott Stern

The seventeenth volume of the National Bureau of Economic Research’s Innovation Policy and the Economy provides an accessible forum for bringing the work of leading academic researchers to an audience of policymakers and those interested in the interaction... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Technological Innovation; Governance; Policy; Economy

26 Jun 2000
Research & Ideas

Presentation Round-Up

self-proclaimed "infrastructure guy," panelist Steve Papa (HBS MBA '99) of Optigrab.com speculated that the future of e-business services will be marked by the same pull toward uniformity that took place in industry consolidations a... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace & Kenneth Liss; Technology; Communications; Telecommunications

29 May 2006
Research & Ideas

Why CEOs Are Not Plug-and-Play

manager's skills. When the telecommunications industry was deregulated and challenged by new entrants, for instance, few former Bell Systems managers were able to successfully transition to the fast-moving, entrepreneurial,... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg, Andrew N. McLean & Nitin Nohria; Employment

June 2020
Case

MOD Pizza: A Winning Recipe? (Abridged)

By: Boris Groysberg, John D. Vaughan and Matthew Preble

This is an abridged version of “MOD Pizza: A Winning Recipe?” HBS Case No. 416-004. Scott and Ally Svenson, the founders of MOD Pizza, had to make a number of decisions in planning how to scale their small company. They wanted to grow MOD from 45 stores as of May 2015... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Employees; Employee Relationship Management; Selection and Staffing; Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing; Service Delivery; Organizational Culture; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Service Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

January 2024 (Revised May 2024)
Case

Pioneer Natural Resources: Enhancing the Capital Return Strategy with Variable Dividends

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Elisabeth Kempf and E. Scott Mayfield

In February 2021, Scott Sheffield, the CEO of Pioneer Natural Resources (an independent oil and gas company based in Texas), was considering the possibility of enhancing the firm’s capital return strategy by introducing a variable dividend tied to cash flows in... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Finance; Cash Flow; Financial Management; Financial Strategy; Value Creation; Decision Choices and Conditions; Investment Return; Profit; Policy; Business and Shareholder Relations; Energy Industry; United States; North America; Texas

2004
Book

Birth of a Salesman: The Transformation of Selling in America

By: Walter A. Friedman

This book chronicles the remarkable metamorphosis of the American salesman from itinerant amateur to trained expert. From the mid-nineteenth century to the eve of World War II, the development of sales management transformed an economy populated by peddlers and... View Details

Keywords: Sales; Employees; Transformation; United States

Find at Harvard

19 Sep 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, September 19

increased by 0.75 percentage points, increasing sales dispersion. Calibrating conventional inventory-ordering models, we show that to respond optimally to the observed increase in dispersion, the retailer would need to increase its cycle... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

16 Mar 2010
First Look

First Look: March 16

had full access to corporate archives and executives and provides us with a unique insight into the workings and strategies of one of the world's oldest and largest multinationals. Capitalism: Its Origins and Evolution As a System of Governance Author:Bruce R. View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

14 May 2013
First Look

First Look: May 14

of investing at home than those where external managers are involved. At the same time, SWFs with external managers tend to invest in lower P/E industries, which see an increase in the P/E ratios in the year after the investment. By way... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

13 Nov 2012
First Look

First Look: November 13

the paper: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1625503 The Determinants of National Competitiveness Authors:Mercedes Delgado, Christian Ketels, Michael E. Porter, and Scott Stern Abstract We define foundational competitiveness as the expected level... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

11 Sep 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, September 11, 2018

explains changing bond risks but only when risk premia change endogenously as predicted by the model. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=45672 Full Substitutability By: Hatfield, John William, View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

25 Jul 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas: July 25, 2017

forthcoming Journal of Political Economy Reserve Design: Unintended Consequences and the Demise of Boston's Walk Zones By: Dur, Umut, Scott Duke Kominers, Parag A. Pathak, and Tayfun Sönmez Abstract—Admissions policies often use reserves... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

August 2020
Case

Zoom Video Communications: Eric Yuan's Leadership During COVID-19

By: Scott Duke Kominers, Christopher Stanton, Andy Wu and George Gonzalez

In the first half of 2020, worldwide lockdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic brought explosive growth to the Zoom Video Communications platform, as people replaced in-person work and social events with videoconferencing. Months into the pandemic, CEO Eric Yuan... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Communication Technology; Customer Value and Value Chain; Values and Beliefs; Technological Innovation; Leadership; Crisis Management; Organizational Culture; Working Conditions; Strategy; Information Technology; Applications and Software; Technology Adoption; Health Pandemics; Technology Industry; United States; California