Publications

Research Summary

Board Governance

By: Paul M. Healy

I examine how the internal operations of boards, including how they select new directors, how they interact with each other and the CEO, and how they review their performance, affect their governance effectiveness View Details

Keywords: Board Of Directors

October 2013 (Revised April 2018)
Technical Note

Non-Equity Financing for Entrepreneurial Ventures

By: Joan Farre-Mensa, Ramana Nanda and Piyush Jain

Young, and particularly high-growth ventures often need to raise significant external finance, since their internal cash flow is usually insufficient to support the investments needed to grow. Although raising equity from venture capital or angel investors is the... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Finance; Entrepreneurship; Finance; Financial Services Industry

May 1997 (Revised July 1997)
Case

Vermeer Technologies (B): Realizing the Dream

By: Ashish Nanda

The Vermeer team works day and night to develop its software offering, unforeseen difficulties and internal tensions notwithstanding. In less than a year, the product is ready. The Vermeer team waits anxiously for the market to pronounce its verdict. View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Applications and Software; Business Startups; Product Development; Information Technology Industry

14 Nov 2019
Video

Health Minute: Can Non-traditional Health Care Companies Impact the Health Sector?

November 2020 (Revised February 2021)
Case

Integrating Beam Suntory (A)

By: David G. Fubini, Rawi Abdelal and David Lane

The spring 2014 acquisition of U.S. alcoholic spirits maker Beam Inc. by Japan’s Suntory Holdings vaulted Suntory from 15th to third-largest international spirits company in the world. Yet Suntory had borrowed nearly the entire $16 billion purchase price, and relied on... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Communication; Borrowing and Debt; Globalization; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Retention; Leadership; Supply Chain; Organizational Structure; Ownership; Relationships; Conflict and Resolution; Integration; Value Creation; Food and Beverage Industry; Japan; United States; Chicago

30 Aug 2021
News

The World Is Still Short of Everything. Get Used to It.

April 1993 (Revised October 1996)
Case

ABB Deutschland (C)

By: Hugo Uyterhoeven

Addresses the results and the lessons from the German restructuring effort by focusing in detail on the relationship with the works council and the actions taken for power plants and power transformers, and the sales organization. Closes with a "second wave" of cost... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Trade; Cost Management; Leadership Style; Management Skills; Time Management; Relationships; Salesforce Management

2023
Working Paper

Data Governance, Interoperability and Standardization: Organizational Adaptation to Privacy Regulation

By: Sam (Ruiqing) Cao and Marco Iansiti

The increasing availability of data can afford dynamic competitive advantages among data-intensive corporations, but governance bottlenecks hinder data-driven value creation and increase regulatory risks. We analyze the role of two technological features of data... View Details

Keywords: Organizations; Information Technology; Performance Productivity; Growth and Development; Transformation

SSRN

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2012
Working Paper

Level II Negotiations: Helping the Other Side Meet Its 'Behind the Table' Challenges

By: James K. Sebenius

A long analytic tradition explores the challenge of productively synchronizing "internal" with "external" negotiations, especially focusing on how each side can best manage internal opposition to agreements negotiated "at the table." Implicit in much of this work is... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Conflict Management; Agreements and Arrangements; Government and Politics; Mathematical Methods; United States; Germany

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26 Oct 2011
News

Shih Says IBM Executives Have `Strong Team Dynamic'

Career Coach

Sarah Zia

Sarah is a veteran of the media & entertainment / tech industry (corporate and content strategy) and a career switcher (finance). She is particularly well-equipped to help students interested in tech / media strategy, finance, or who are still unsure what they want... View Details

Career Coach

Imam Akinlade

Imam wants to help students think critically about their career paths and what really maters most to them, Having gained significant experience in consulting, impact investing and clean energy before HBS; and exploring several career paths while at HBS including... View Details

2006
Article

The End of Nationality? Global Firms and 'Borderless Worlds'

By: G. Jones

This article provides a historical perspective to current debates whether large global firms are becoming "stateless" and whether this is a historically new phenomenon. It shows that a great deal of international business in the nineteenth century was not easily fitted... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Multinational Firms and Management; Trade; Ownership; International Finance; Economic Systems; International Accounting; Globalized Economies and Regions; Geographic Location; Nationality; Boundaries; Global Strategy

Find at Harvard

Program

Risk Management for Corporate Leaders—Virtual

Summary All organizations—even those with sophisticated models of risk exposure—are vulnerable to disaster. In most organizations, risk management attempts to avoid disasters by emphasizing compliance, internal controls, and conformance... View Details

December 2020 (Revised December 2021)
Case

Komatsu and Smart Construction

By: Rajiv Lal, David J. Collis and Akiko Saito

Komatsu, Japan's leading construction equipment manufacturer, is considering investing in a digital platform "Smart Construction" that will digitise the entire work process on a construction site, allowing for substantial reductions in cost and time while improving... View Details

Keywords: Platform; Digital Business; Construction; Business Model; Strategy; Technology Adoption; Internet and the Web; Digital Platforms; Construction Industry; Japan

This book provides a framework for business analysis and has been used by business schools throughout the world. It provides a foundation for analysis using four key steps: 1) Strategy analysis: Identifying a firm's strategy and understanding sources of its competitive... View Details

July 2018 (Revised November 2018)
Case

The Robin Hood Army

By: Susanna Gallani

In 2014, Neel Ghose and a handful of friends spent one evening distributing excess food they had collected from local restaurants to the less fortunate people living under the Hauz Khas flyover in South Delhi. Four years later, this initiative had developed into The... View Details

Keywords: Volunteer-based Organization; Food Redistribution; Nonprofit Organizations; Food; Human Needs; Expansion; Global Range; Growth and Development

May 2018
Supplement

Abe on Womenomics, part 1: Introductions & Japan's Corporate Culture: Excerpt from Opening Address to the World Assembly of Women, Tokyo, August 28, 2015

By: Boris Groysberg

This video supplement part one of a lightly edited 2015 speech by Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe in which he describes Womenomics--policies and aspirations to promote greater economic participation by Japan's women, thereby promoting economic growth, greater... View Details