Publications

February 2009 (Revised September 2009)
Case

Investing in Early Learning as Economic Development at the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank

By: Stacey M. Childress and Geoff Eckman Marietta

In his role as Senior Vice President and Director of Research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis (Minneapolis Fed), Art Rolnick and his colleague, Rob Grunewald, had written "Early Childhood Development: Economic Development with a High Public Return." The... View Details

Keywords: Development Economics; Early Childhood Education; Investment Return; Demand and Consumers; Supply and Industry; Performance Effectiveness; Nonprofit Organizations; Minneapolis; Saint Paul

Article

A Blueprint for Pharmacy Benefits Managers to Increase Value

By: William Shrank, Michael E. Porter, Sachin H. Jain and Niteesh K. Choudhary

Pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs) have a unique opportunity to promote public health and generate value in the healthcare system. However, PBMs are largely evaluated on their ability to control costs rather than improve health. PBMs should be evaluated along three... View Details

Keywords: Opportunities; Health; System; Cost Management; Partners and Partnerships; Motivation and Incentives; Value; Innovation and Invention; Performance Effectiveness; Health Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

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May 1998 (Revised October 2001)
Case

Taco Bell Inc. (1983-1994)

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Leonard A. Schlesinger and Dave DeLong

Details the actions of John Martin, newly named CEO, as he leads Taco Bell through a decade of incremental and radical changes. By the end of the case, total system sales within Taco Bell, a Mexican style fast-food restaurant chain and a division of PepsiCo, have grown... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Transformation; Economic Growth; Food; Leadership Style; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Design; Performance Effectiveness; Food and Beverage Industry; Service Industry; Mexico

25 Feb 2002
Research & Ideas

The Country Effect: Does Location Matter?

be a country's culture that prevents companies from succeeding. For example, Japanese companies may not be able to easily transcend that country's consensual culture. Establishing just what that country effect is on View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

August 1992 (Revised September 2002)
Case

Star Distributors, Inc. (A)

By: David A. Thomas

Depicts the conflict and organizational problems that emerged in a franchise operation owned by Paul Logan, an African American, and John Heyman, a white American. Provides the opportunity to examine the ways in which race influences managerial behavior and... View Details

Keywords: Conflict Management; Performance Effectiveness; Franchise Ownership; Race; Management Style; Conflict and Resolution; Business and Stakeholder Relations

March 1999
Case

Australia's Telstra Corporation (A): Going Public

By: W. Earl Sasser, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Cate Reavis

Frank Blount is named CEO of Telstra, Australia's state-owned telecommunications giant. In preparation for its 1997 IPO, he must reorganize the company from an inefficient public entity into a lean, customer-driven organization. View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Initial Public Offering; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Customer Focus and Relationships; State Ownership; Performance Effectiveness; Privatization; Telecommunications Industry; Australia

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November 2001 (Revised April 2002)
Case

Taking Charge at Dogus Holding (A)

By: Rakesh Khurana, Gina Carioggia and Simon Johnson

Describes 37-year-old Ferit Sahenk's challenges in taking over his father's traditionally managed $14 billion Turkish conglomerate in a period of economic instability. Leading the large holding company into the 21st century will require the establishment of a more... View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Trade; Competitive Strategy; Decision Making; Leadership; Performance Effectiveness; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Family Business; Change Management; Turkey

04 Jan 2010
Research & Ideas

Best of HBS Working Knowledge 2009

Goals Gone Wild: The Systematic Side Effects of Over-Prescribing Goal Setting (Working Paper) A working paper made the Top 10! For decades, goal setting has been promoted as a halcyon pill for improving employee motivation and View Details

Keywords: by Staff

19 Dec 2012
Research & Ideas

How to be Extremely Productive

the meeting starts, it's a signal that the person in charge hasn't laid the groundwork for a productive use of time. There should be adequate time in advance for everyone to prepare for a thoughtful discussion. All meetings should have an View Details

Keywords: by Deborah Blagg

01 Jun 1998
News

Short Takes

positive motivational value, how employees at lower levels viewed the fairness of incentive plans, and whether incentives had an effect on corporate performance. The results were surprising. Most noteworthy: making pay contingent on View Details

Keywords: Orna Feldman and Caroline Chauncey

October 1991 (Revised October 2004)
Case

Hilton Manufacturing Company

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

A professional manager is hired by a small manufacturing company after the president discovers he made poor decisions. One product appears to be unprofitable, whereas the product sold in highest volume is under competitive price pressure. A crude cost accounting system... View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Asset Pricing; Problems and Challenges; Risk and Uncertainty; Decisions; Governance Controls; Performance Effectiveness; Business Strategy; Two-Sided Platforms; Fair Value Accounting; Manufacturing Industry

01 Jul 2019
What Do You Think?

Are Super Stretch Goals Only for the Very Young?

abandon their ethics to get it.” When applied to individuals, the question prompted an interesting exchange between Sandeep and Phillippe Gouamba regarding the effect of wealth and poverty on the tendency of managers to employ super... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

23 Sep 2008
First Look

First Look: September 23, 2008

individual-level data from an Indian software services firm to examine the effects of team familiarity and variation in market experience on multiple measures of performance for over 1,100 software... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Web

Professor Julie Boatright Wilson, Harvard Kennedy School Archives | Social Enterprise

Curriculum Social Enterprise Student Club Social Entrepreneurship Summer Fellows Technology for Good Transformative Impact Tri-Sector Impact 1 Results Faculty Insights: Performance Measurement for Effective... View Details

December 2010
Teaching Note

Cresud S.A., Farmer or Real Estate Developer? (TN)

By: Arthur I Segel and Andrew Pierson Terris

Teaching Note for 211-011. View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Decision Choices and Conditions; Risk Management; Competition; Motivation and Incentives; Corporate Strategy; Opportunities; Decisions; Performance Effectiveness; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Argentina; Bolivia; Brazil; Paraguay

19 Jan 2010
Sharpening Your Skills

Sharpening Your Skills: Managing the Economic Crisis

improving boards' performance is not government action but action on the part of each board. To improve board effectiveness, each board should achieve clarity about its role in relation to that of management: the extent and nature of the... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

June 2001
Supplement

GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (B)

By: Michael A. Wheeler and Gillian Morris

Early Dispute Resolution (EDR) has proved successful at GE. Yet, when Michael McIlwrath, new counsel at an Italian subsidiary, attempted to translate it to his company, problems arose. He had to gain internal acceptance, and explain the concept of early mediation to a... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Globalization; Lawsuits and Litigation; Organizational Culture; Performance Effectiveness; Problems and Challenges; Conflict of Interests; Complexity; Italy; New York (state, US)