Publications

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Teaching Interest

Overview

By: Michael W. Toffel

Professor Toffel teaches the required first-year MBA course Technology and Operations Management (TOM).

He also coordinates and teaches the Doctoral Seminar in Technology and Operations Management to help... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Operations; Supply Chain Management; Government Legislation; Non-Governmental Organizations; Multinational Firms and Management

June 2008 (Revised October 2008)
Case

AREVA T&D

By: Ananth Raman, Vincent Marie Dessain, Ane Damgaard Jensen and Gudrun Urfalino Kristinsdottir

The case explores the rapid and highly effective turnaround at AREVA's transmission and distribution (T and D) business by focusing on the division's operations. The division was struggling in 2004 when newly-appointed CEO Philippe Guillemot and his team improved... View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Customer Focus and Relationships; Product Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance Improvement; Environmental Sustainability

05 Dec 2006
First Look

First Look: December 5, 2006

Winning at Deloitte (A) Harvard Business School Case 907-026 Purchase this case: http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=907026 Empemex Harvard Business School Case 807-031 Purchase... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

11 Mar 2009
HBS Case

The Energy Politics of Russia vs. Ukraine

innocent. Case closed? Nyet. "The Western notion that Russia uses energy as a weapon is a media oversimplification of very complicated politics," says HBS professor Rawi Abdelal. Abdelal, who recently produced a three-part case on Gazprom, says the 2006... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons; Energy; Utilities

23 Oct 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, October 23, 2018

September 2018 Strategy Science Applying Random Coefficient Models to Strategy Research: Identifying and Exploring Firm Heterogeneous Effects By: Alcácer, Juan, Wilbur Chung, Ashton Hawk, and Gonçalo Pacheco-de-Almeida Abstract—Strategy... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

December 2007 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Vegpro Group: Growing in Harmony

By: David E. Bell, Brian Milder and Mary Shelman

Vegpro, a horticulture company, is Kenya's largest exporter of fresh vegetables and flowers to top supermarkets in the U.K. and Europe. In 2007, Vegpro's business is threatened by growing consumer concern about the environmental impact of food production and transport,... View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Developing Countries and Economies; Ethics; Food; Growth and Development Strategy; Operations; Environmental Sustainability; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Kenya; Europe; United Kingdom

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December 2006 (Revised January 2008)
Case

ViaGen: Revolutionizing the Livestock Industry

By: David E. Bell, Reed Martin and Mary L. Shelman

ViaGen has invested heavily to develop cloning technology for the livestock industry. Cloning has the potential to significantly improve the genetics of livestock, leading to higher quality meat, healthier animals, and more efficient production. Since 2003, the firm... View Details

Keywords: Animal-Based Agribusiness; Business Plan; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Marketing Communications; Industry Structures; Business and Government Relations; Genetics; Commercialization; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Biotechnology Industry

September 2006 (Revised March 2012)
Case

Fritidsresor Under Pressure (A): The First 10 Hours

By: Joshua D. Margolis, Vincent Marie Dessain and Anders Sjoman

When a tsunami hit Southeast Asia on December 26, 2004, the leadership team at a Swedish tour company must manage a devastating crisis affecting thousands of its customers and employees in Thailand. Documents the challenges the company faced in the first ten hours of... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Leadership; Crisis Management; Natural Disasters; Tourism Industry; Thailand; Sweden

January 2017 (Revised August 2017)
Case

Weathernews

By: Karim R. Lakhani and Akiko Kanno

Tomohiro Ishibashi (Bashi), chief executive officer for B to S, and Julia Foote LeStage, chief innovation officer of Weathernews Inc., were addressing a panel at the HBS Digital Summit on creative uses of big data. They told the summit attendees about how the Sakura... View Details

Keywords: Crowdsourcing; Operations; Globalization; Weather; Forecasting and Prediction; Global Strategy

2012
Chapter

Institutional Pressures and Organizational Characteristics: Implications for Environmental Strategy

By: Magali A. Delmas and Michael W. Toffel

A broad literature has emerged over the past decades demonstrating that firms' environmental strategies and practices are influenced by stakeholders and institutional pressures. Such findings are consistent with institutional sociology, which emphasizes the importance... View Details

Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Natural Environment; Business Strategy

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05 Feb 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, February 5, 2019

January 2019 Perspectives on Psychological Science Educating Leaders Who Make a Difference in the World By: Amabile, Teresa M. Abstract— No abstract available. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=55580... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

11 Sep 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Chief Sustainability Officers: Who Are They and What Do They Do?

Keywords: by Kathleen Miller & George Serafeim

June 12, 2023
Article

How AI Will Accelerate the Circular Economy

By: Shirley Lu and George Serafeim

Despite living on a planet with finite resources, our economy remains largely linear and full of single-use products. The shift toward a circular economy, where companies recover or recycle resources, has hit roadblocks, including low value of used products and high... View Details

Keywords: Recycling; Materials Management; Innovation and Management; Technological Innovation; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; AI and Machine Learning; Operations; Industrial Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Technology Industry

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September 13, 2023
Article

How the Best Chief Data Officers Create Value

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Robin Seibert

Despite the rapidly increasing prominence of data and analytics functions, the majority of chief data officers (CDOs) fail to value and price the business outcomes created by their data and analytics capabilities. It comes as no surprise then that many CDOs fall behind... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Analytics and Data Science; Measurement and Metrics; Leadership