Publications

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April 1995 (Revised June 1996)
Background Note

Note on Building the Self-Sustaining Firm

Describes the strategic and organizational challenges of turning a fledgling enterprise into a self-sustaining business. In contrast to traditional life-cycle models, the note argues that businesses evolve in idiosyncratic ways. Therefore the leaders of young... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy

September 2000 (Revised March 2001)
Case

Old Mutual

By: Tarun Khanna, Krishna G. Palepu and Kirsty O'Neil-Massaro

Designed to explore the demutualization and listing overseas of one of Africa's largest financial institutions, Old Mutual, and the effects that these actions have on South Africa's domestic capital markets. Explores the particular difficulties that arise as a result... View Details

Keywords: Financial Institutions; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Structure; Global Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Capital Markets; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business Education; Financial Strategy; Business or Company Management; Financial Services Industry; Banking Industry; South Africa

Program

Disruptive Innovation

success. This program is eligible for the Certificate of Management Excellence. Learn More Key Benefits Examining disruption and strategic decision-making through the lens of Christensen's transformative theory, you will gain a deeper... View Details

May 2016
Case

Seaside Organics

By: Howard H. Stevenson and Alisa Zalosh

This case follows Sara Norton, a soccer player-turned-serial entrepreneur, as she transforms Seaside Organics from a fledgling startup into an $89 million company. Informed by the successes and failures of her first organics venture, WellBar, Norton tries to balance... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Organizational Structure; Personal Development and Career; Entrepreneurship; Personal Characteristics; Business Startups; Business Strategy; Conflict and Resolution; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

December 1993 (Revised November 1995)
Case

Wetherill Associates, Inc.

By: Lynn S. Paine

Top managers of Wetherill Associates, Inc., a small, privately held distributor of electrical parts to the automotive aftermarket, are considering whether to modify the company's compensation system for its salesforce. The management wants a compensation system that... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Business or Company Management; Organizational Structure; Compensation and Benefits; Salesforce Management

Web

Positions - Faculty & Research

intellectual community. Tenure-Track Positions Harvard Business School seeks candidates in all fields for full-time, tenure-track positions. The successful candidate should have a strong interest in the concerns of practicing managers and... View Details

Web

Research Community - Doctoral

creation of the School's intellectual capital. Current Students & Alumni Ta-Wei "David" Huang Marketing Omar Olivarez Technology & Operations Management Justine Murray Organizational Behavior Faculty... View Details

24 Jul 2014
Blog Post

Create a Content Marketing Strategy for your Talent Acquisitions Team

As a talent acquisitions manager or a marketing manager within a human resources team, you’ve probably asked yourself how to reach large quantities of high quality candidates in a thoughtful and meaningful... View Details

December 2022
Article

Scarlet Letters: Rehabilitation Through Transgression Transparency and Personal Narrative Control

By: Erin L. Frey, Ethan Bernstein and Nick Rekenthaler

When employees commit transgressions, organizations often use tools of organizational control to prevent them from transgressing again. We investigate whether organizations can use transgression transparency to rehabilitate transgressors. Although making transgressions... View Details

Keywords: Transparency; Workplace; Transgressions; Qualitative Research; Management Practices and Processes; Organizations; Employees; Reputation; Communication

January 1989 (Revised February 1993)
Case

Warner Cable (A)

The new general manager of Warner Cable's Medford, Massachusetts complex faces a number of turnaround challenges in 1985, including service deficiencies, customer complaints, high turnover, and low employee morale. By 1988 he has turned the situation around, but some... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Management Style; Human Resources; Telecommunications Industry; Massachusetts

Program

Leading and Building a Culture of Innovation

offered in cooperation with the HBS Leadership Initiative. This program is eligible for the Certificate of Management Excellence. Learn More Key Benefits Focusing on the nature of innovation and on your leadership practice, you will... View Details

Research Summary

Understanding Customers

In conventional business case studies, protagonists almost never have the option of stepping back to seek a new understanding of the customer. But to be effective in practice, managers need both the self-assurance and ability to initiate and pursue, with rigor and... View Details

November 2009
Article

Responding to Public and Private Politics: Corporate Disclosure of Climate Change Strategies

By: Erin Marie Reid and Michael W. Toffel

The challenges associated with climate change will require governments, citizens, and firms to work collaboratively to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a task that requires information on companies' emissions levels, risks, and reduction opportunities. This paper... View Details

Keywords: Climate Change; Problems and Challenges; Pollutants; Risk and Uncertainty; Business and Shareholder Relations; Management Practices and Processes; Social Issues; Corporate Disclosure; Values and Beliefs; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Government and Politics

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09 Apr 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, April 9, 2019

Abstract—Understanding why employees go the extra mile at work is a key problem for many organizations. We conduct a field experiment at a medical organization to study motivations for employees to submit project proposals for View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

January 2009 (Revised April 2009)
Case

The Carlyle Group

By: Robert G. Eccles and Carin-Isabel Knoop

This case describes the investment philosophy, organizational structure, management processes and culture of the largest private equity firm in the world measured in terms of assets under management ($89 billion). The Carlyle Group is distinctive in several ways,... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Assets; Private Equity; Investment; Global Strategy; Innovation and Invention; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Structure; Information Technology; Asia; Washington (state, US)

September – October 2008
Article

Care Platforms: A Basic Building Block for Care Delivery

By: Richard Bohmer and David Lawrence

Without significant operational reform within the nation's health care delivery organizations, new financing models, payment systems, or structures are unlikely to realize their promise. Adapting insights from high-performing companies in other high-risk, high-cost,... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Management Systems; Standards; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Business Processes; Organizational Design; Customization and Personalization; Health Industry

October 1994 (Revised January 1995)
Case

Rhone-Poulenc (A) and (B) Condensed

Rhone-Poulenc, France's largest chemical firm, has achieved a major position in the United States as the result of an ambitious series of acquisitions. As it expanded in the United States from 1986 to 1990, Rhone-Poulenc management sought to take a "hands-off" approach... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Multinational Firms and Management; Organizational Structure; Chemical Industry; France; United States

September 1993
Case

Rhone-Poulenc (B)

Rhone-Poulenc, France's largest chemical firm, has achieved a major position in the United States as the result of an ambitious series of acquisitions. As it expanded in the United States from 1986 to 1990, Rhone-Poulenc management sought to take a "hands-off" approach... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Multinational Firms and Management; Organizational Structure; Chemical Industry; France; United States