Publications

December 1995 (Revised October 1996)
Case

Maureen Frye at Quaker Steel and Alloy Corporation

By: John J. Gabarro

Maureen Frye, assistant product manager at Quaker Steel and Alloy Corp., is asked to implement an action plan for changing the call pattern of the salesforce. Currently the salesforce is spending too much time on small accounts. Earlier Frye attempted to change their... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Managerial Roles; Organizational Culture; Planning; Salesforce Management; Strategy; Steel Industry

Summer 2025
Article

Time Well Spent: A New Way to Value Time Could Change Your Life

By: Leslie Perlow and Salvatore J Affinito

When individuals engage in fulfilling activities outside of work, they perform better on the job, but simply encouraging work-life balance doesn’t help with hour-by-hour time management. A new tool for measuring the subjective value of time for individuals as it varies... View Details

Keywords: Well-being; Work-Life Balance; Time Management

Find at Harvard

Read Now

April 2021
Case

Codecademy: Where to Next?

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Max Mailman and Sarah Ascherman

In March 2020, Zach Sims, co-founder and CEO of online education platform Codecademy, prepared for a meeting with his Chief of Staff Kunal Ahuja to discuss the company’s goals. Codecademy billed itself as the largest online resource for computer science literacy and... View Details

Keywords: Monetization Strategy; Business Model; Change Management; Venture Capital; Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Management Teams; Marketing Channels; Product Marketing; Network Effects; Product Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategic Planning; Internet and the Web; Digital Platforms; United States

October 2012 (Revised October 2013)
Case

Rock Health

By: Robert F. Higgins and Ian McKown Cornell

Rock Health was a San Francisco–based nonprofit organization offering accelerator services to spur innovation at the intersection of healthcare and technology. The company was the creation of Halle Tecco (HBS '11) and her HBS classmate Nate Gross (HBS '11), who met... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Incubation; Healthcare Technology; Startups; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Management; Health Care and Treatment; Business Startups; Health Industry; San Francisco; California; United States

30 Apr 2021
Research & Ideas

Why Anger Makes a Wrongly Accused Person Look Guilty

person behind bars,” says John, the Marvin Bower Associate Professor at HBS. “People who are falsely accused, of course, have every reason to be angry. But we wondered whether displays of anger may be misinterpreted as a sign of guilt.” First, the View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

18 Dec 2006
Lessons from the Classroom

Grooming Next-Generation Leaders

term," says Narayandas, the James J. Hill Professor of Business Administration and Chair of the Program for Leadership Development. "Are you managing yourself, are you managing upwards or the... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

December 2010 (Revised November 2014)
Case

Steven Carpenter at Cake Financial

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

After investing $9 million of venture capital, Cake Financial had failed to reach critical mass. In early 2010 Cake's assets were sold and the company was dissolved. Founded in 2006, the San Francisco-based Internet company allowed users to monitor their investments... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business or Company Management; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; Internet; Financial Services Industry; Web Services Industry

November 1986 (Revised October 1995)
Case

Suzanne de Passe at Motown Productions (A)

By: Linda A. Hill

Illustrates: 1) the impact of a manager's leadership style on corporate culture, direction, and performance; 2) the concept of fit between leadership style and the requirements of situations in which managers find themselves; and 3) the need for managers to adapt their... View Details

Keywords: Management Style; Race; Organizational Culture; Leadership Style; Gender; Management Teams; Change Management; Situation or Environment; Creativity; Relationships; Music Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

Find at Harvard

13 Dec 2004
Research & Ideas

Sharing News That Might Be Bad

This scenario, inspired by a Harvard Business School case, may ring familiar. It raises an increasingly prevalent, and difficult, management issue: how much information to share and when to share it. You look up to find the concerned face... View Details

Keywords: by Paul Michelman

March 1986 (Revised October 1990)
Supplement

Peter Browning and Continental White Cap (B)

Describes the new divisional vice president's decisions and strategies in his first full year of management there. His influence style and tactics are demonstrated. View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Management Teams

14 Nov 2023
Research & Ideas

The Network Effect: Why Companies Should Care About Employees’ LinkedIn Connections

assistant professor at the University of Southern California, and Aner Zhou, an assistant professor at San Diego State University. Mapping employee connections through LinkedIn The team obtained data with the cooperation of LinkedIn and... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand

July 2002 (Revised October 2002)
Case

Taj Hotel Group

By: Thomas J. DeLong and Vineeta Vijayaraghavan

R.K. Krishna Kumar, managing director and head of Taj Hotel Group, has to decide whether to reexamine a promotion decision. In an attempt to deliver a level of service quality that met global standards at the Indian hotel chain, Kumar had introduced new personnel... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Human Resources; Leadership Development; Management Teams; Organizational Culture; Alignment; India

2014
Teaching Note

Bluestar's Acquisition of Adisseo (B) (TN)

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Donghong Li and Lei Li

This case describes the post-M&A integration of Adisseo of France in 2006 by Bluestar Group, the largest subsidiary of ChemChina (a Fortune 500 company) until 2013. Adisseo was mainly engaged in production of methionine, a feed additive, while China had no methionine... View Details

Keywords: Internationalization; Mergers ＆ Acquisitions; Postmerger Integration; Strategy; China; France; Chemicals; China; France

September 2023 (Revised October 2024)
Case

Forecasting Climate Risks: Aviva’s Climate Calculus

By: Mark Egan and Peter Tufano

In late 2021, Ben Carr, Director of Analytics and Capital Modeling at Aviva Plc (Aviva)—a leading insurer with core operations in the UK, Ireland and Canada,—was preparing for an upcoming presentation before the company's board which included its CEO, Amanda Blanc,... View Details

Keywords: Climate Risk; Climate Finance; Forecasting; Insurance; Risk Measurement; Climate Change; Risk Management; Forecasting and Prediction; Insurance Industry; United States

26 Apr 2023
In Practice

Is AI Coming for Your Job?

You Might Also Like: ChatGPT: Did Big Tech Set Up the World for an AI Bias Disaster? Swiping Right: How Data Helped This Online Dating Site Make More Matches When Bias Creeps into AI, Managers Can Stop It by Asking the Right Questions... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Technology

October 1984 (Revised March 1999)
Case

NIKE (B)

Describes Nike's corporate culture and looks closely at individual key senior and middle managers, outlining the processes by which the management group conducts its business and noting the values which bind the management group together. The teaching objective is to... View Details

Keywords: Values and Beliefs; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Culture; Management Teams; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Sports Industry

22 Aug 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, August 23

average of $1,459 per salesperson—almost 20% more than they spend on workers in all other functions. Yet, when it comes to equipping sales teams with relevant knowledge and skills, the ROI of sales training is disappointing. Studies... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Program

Aligning Strategy and Sales

strategy and sales activities and discover how to synchronize your strategic priorities, go-to-market initiatives, and sales team to boost revenue and long-term success. This program is eligible for the Certificate of View Details

June 2002 (Revised January 2010)
Case

Delphi Corporation (A)

By: Jay W. Lorsch, Rakesh Khurana and Sonya Sanchez

The Delphi Corp.'s board of directors faces a transition as lead director Thomas Wyman approaches mandatory retirement. Chairman and CEO J.T. Battenberg reflects on Delphi's history and its successful reinvention by Wyman and Battenberg when it separated from its... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Leadership; Management Succession; Management Teams; Relationships; Corporate Strategy