Publications

29 Feb 2024
HBS Case

Beyond Goals: David Beckham's Playbook for Mobilizing Star Talent

ends? Anita Elberse, the Lincoln Filene Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, got a behind-the-scenes look from Beckham’s team at how the organization considered an offer from Authentic Brands Management for a... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman; Sports

24 Sep 2019
Blog Post

Launching a Career in Clean Energy

Established in 2010, the HBS Business & Environment Initiative (BEI) works to deepen understanding of the environmental challenges facing business leaders and inspire new ideas and practical, effective solutions. BEI has established a network of 5,000 alumni whose... View Details

David A. Thomas

David Thomas is H. Naylor Fitzhugh Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. His research addresses issues related to executive development, cultural diversity in organizations, leadership and organizational change. He recently served as a... View Details

Keywords: biotechnology; consulting; consumer products; education industry; financial services; media

September 2004 (Revised June 2005)
Case

QUALCOMM, Inc. 2004

By: David B. Yoffie, Pai-Ling Yin and Elizabeth Kind

QUALCOMM, Inc. had transitioned from a fledgling startup into a Fortune 500 wireless technology leader. Its CDMA technology was considered the preeminent technology and was the world's fastest growing wireless communications technology. CEO Irwin Jacobs had a number of... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Government and Politics; Leadership Style; Resource Allocation; Product Positioning; Problems and Challenges; Information Technology; Mobile and Wireless Technology; China; India

December 2009 (Revised March 2013)
Case

Woolf Farming and Processing

By: David E. Bell, Laura Winig and Mary Louise Shelman

Woolf Farming Company, a privately owned family farming business in California's Central Valley, found its business threatened by a lack of water, brought on by a combination of drought, poor quality well water and unavailability of surface water due to federally... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Resource Allocation; Quality; Business and Government Relations; Decision Choices and Conditions; Infrastructure; Investment; Growth and Development Strategy; Climate Change; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; California

April 2025
Case

Salesforce Agentforce: The Limitless Workforce

By: Suraj Srinivasan, Allison Ciechanover and George Gonzalez

In early 2025, Salesforce was a global leader in cloud-based enterprise software, best known for pioneering customer relationship management (CRM) delivered as a service. Over the past two decades, the company had expanded into marketing, customer service, analytics,... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Customer Relationship Management; Price; AI and Machine Learning; Technology Adoption; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Sales; Business Strategy; Ethics; Product Launch; Technology Industry; United States

14 Sep 2023
Research & Ideas

Working Moms Are Mostly Thriving Again. Can We Finally Achieve Gender Parity?

employment, and points to some surprising new developments for working moms. Despite all the upheaval, the changes aren’t all bad. “Children got to see how their moms and dads managed to be good parents and good employees at the same... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin

2015
Working Paper

Build It, Buy It or Both? Rethinking the Sourcing of Advertising Services

By: Alvin J. Silk and Marta M. Stiglin

This paper provides an update on the current state of in-house agencies. Whereas traditional consideration of internalizing advertising services was framed as a binary choice of build or buy, today's advertisers frequently pursue hybrid policies of build and buy to... View Details

Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Advertising

SSRN

Read Now

05 Feb 2024
News

How Do You Hire for Attitude?

January 2025
Case

Intuition Robotics: An AI Companion for Older Adults

By: Amit Goldenberg, Elie Ofek and Orna Dan

Intuition Robotics, a startup that makes an AI companion robot to alleviate older adults’ loneliness, debates whether to pursue a B2C model or B2G route. If it opts for the government vertical, it must determine how to negotiate a favorable deal. Two weeks after... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Startups; AI and Machine Learning; Technology Adoption; Product Launch; Market Entry and Exit; Negotiation Offer; Business and Government Relations; Health Industry; Technology Industry; United States; New York (state, US)

September 2000
Case

Jardines: Tapping the Asian E-Commerce Market

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Melissa Dailey and Fred Young

"We have made significant progress in reshaping the group in the current cycle of change," announced the homepage of Jardine Matheson & Co.'s web site. Percy Weatherall, newly appointed managing director of the company, knew all too well about change. In his previous... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Decisions; Information Technology; Corporate Strategy; Technology Adoption

Find at Harvard

12 Oct 2022
Video

Ifeoma Ajunwa: Limitless Boundaries of Employee Surveillance

Innovating for Sustainability

Every major company is grappling with the meaning and application of sustainability in relation to its geographic location, industry and business model. Similarly, more and more institutional investors are incorporating sustainability into their... View Details

Article

Time-driven Activity-based Costing of Multivessel Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting across National Boundaries to Identify Improvement Opportunities: Study Protocol

By: F. Erhun, B. Mistry, T. Platcheck, A. Milstein, V.G. Narayanan and R. S. Kaplan

Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery is a common treatment for coronary artery disease—a disease that affects over 10% of US adults and is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. In 2005, the mean cost for a CABG procedure among Medicare beneficiaries in the... View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Health Disorders; Health Care and Treatment; United States; India

Read Now

14 Nov 2023
Research & Ideas

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

as a result, on the periphery of the same community. “What we’re trying to say is there are many more jobs than you might imagine where having the right connections can be helpful to your company.” The study reinforces the value of human... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand

09 Apr 2024
Book

Why Work Rituals Bring Teams Together and Create More Meaning

anyway? Bringing rituals into the workplace may feel awkward, Norton says—especially when employees balk at the “trust falls” and other “teambuilding exercises” that managers impose upon them. But the truth is, research shows that such... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

December 2011 (Revised April 2013)
Case

Brasil Foods

By: David E. Bell and Natalie Kindred

In mid-2011, the management of Brasil Foods, a leading Brazilian branded foods producer and protein exporter, is evaluating strategies for international and domestic growth. The team has just received approval from Brazil's antitrust authorities to complete the merger... View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Brazil