Publications

14 Feb 2023
Research & Ideas

When a Vacation Isn’t Enough, a Sabbatical Can Recharge Your Life—and Your Career

or work in an eco-lodge to consider a career change. Some people might write a book or tackle a problem in their company totally separate from their everyday work role. “Oftentimes, we find that these experiences lead to the greatest... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

19 Sep 2011
Research & Ideas

Doomsday Coming for Catastrophic Risk Insurers?

"That's not great protection, but at least it's some coverage. But for really devastating kinds of large losses, the coverage levels actually fall from there. They should continue to increase, but don't—and even fall for the most devastating events." Prices... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish; Financial Services

2014
Case

Microfinance Services in Rural Areas--Farmers' Self-reliance Branch of CFPA Microfinance in Shangyi County

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Siqun Yang and Meihua Shen

Microfinance is introduced into China in the 1990s. It had gone through 3 phases since the beginning, namely the pilot phase when all Microfinance practices are sponsored by charity funds based on projects, the promotion phase when the government subsidized some... View Details

Keywords: Rural Entrepreneurship; Value Added; China; Risk Management; Microfinance; China

06 Nov 2023
Research & Ideas

Did You Hear What I Said? How to Listen Better

heard by another person is essential in a happy relationship, whether that’s communication between romantic partners, a patient and a doctor, or colleagues in the office. And feeling heard at work could make the difference between... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

February 2008 (Revised November 2008)
Case

Radical Collaboration: IBM Microelectronics Joint Development Alliances

By: Willy Shih, Gary Pisano and Andrew A. King

IBM's "Radical Collaboration" model has been an innovative approach to meeting the challenges of the huge R&D and capital investments that are needed to stay competitive in the global semiconductor industry. This model has required a rethinking of what is proprietary,... View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Investment; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Problems and Challenges; Alliances; Networks; Partners and Partnerships; Research and Development; Competitive Advantage; Semiconductor Industry

18 Aug 2009
First Look

First Look: August 18

experience and performance fails to find a consistent effect of diversity in experience on performance. The problem is that diversity in experience improves a team's information processing capacity and knowledge base but also creates... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

2014
Teaching Note

Microfinance Services in Rural Areas--Farmers' Self-reliance Branch of CFPA Microfinance in Shangyi County (TN)

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Yang Siqun and Shen Meihua

Microfinance is introduced into China in the 1990s. It had gone through 3 phases since the beginning, namely the pilot phase when all Microfinance practices are sponsored by charity funds based on projects, the promotion phase when the government subsidized some... View Details

Keywords: Microfinance; Rural Entrepreneurship; Value Added; China; China

19 Jul 2016
First Look

July 19, 2016

organizations with widespread crime are treated more leniently compared to senior female perpetrators or compared to senior perpetrators in organizations with isolated cases of crime. These results suggest that agency problems could... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

30 Jun 2022
HBS Case

Peloton Changed the Exercise Game. Can the Company Push Through the Pain?

Baker Foundation Professor, examines what business leaders can learn from Peloton’s journey in his case study, Peloton Interactive, Inc.: Creating the Immersive Connected-Fitness Category. The main takeaway: The company could have avoided some of its View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Media & Broadcasting; Health; Bicycle

12 Dec 2023
Book

HBS Faculty Books of 2023: Find Happiness, Fix Things, and Fail Well

capitalists and autocrats in the region. Yes, You Can Radically Change Your Organization in One WeekSkip the committees and the multi-year roadmap. With the right conditions, leaders can confront even complex organizational problems in... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

September 1997 (Revised October 1997)
Case

French Pension System, The: On the Verge of Retirement?

By: David A. Moss, Anne Dias and Bertrand O. Stephann

Surveys the French pension system, its particular institutional characteristics, and some of the critical challenges and opportunities facing French reformers. Like almost every other industrialized country, France has a large pay-as-you-go public pension system that... View Details

Keywords: Retirement; Compensation and Benefits; Capital Markets; Economic Growth; Labor; Problems and Challenges; Opportunities; Welfare; Investment; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Public Administration Industry; France

06 May 2024
Research & Ideas

The Critical Minutes After a Virtual Meeting That Can Build Up or Tear Down Teams

lead to misunderstandings and discord that can damage working relationships, she says. In a post-pandemic world where hybrid meetings have become the norm for many businesses, the findings provide a cautionary tale about the rifts that can form among remote teams.... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

31 Oct 2023
HBS Case

Checking Your Ethics: Would You Speak Up in These 3 Sticky Situations?

out of expediency probably aren’t being honest. In a case like this, in which a coworker is visibly flouting the rules, however, speaking up is almost always the right course of action, Fubini says. The consultant who actually witnessed this behavior View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Consulting

1987
Book

Banking and Oil

By: Geoffrey Jones

This is the second of two volumes of a business history of a major British bank in the Middle East. Volume 1 traces the history of the bank from its foundation in 1889 as The Imperial Bank of Persia, through the years it was the state bank of Iran, and its... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Economics; Banks and Banking; Government and Politics; Growth and Development; Business History; Problems and Challenges; Iran; Jordan; Kuwait; Oman; Dubai

Find at Harvard

May 2013 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Benetton Group S.p.A., 2012

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

On May 31, 2012, after 36 years on the Milan Stock Exchange, Benetton was officially delisted and taken private by Edizione, the Benetton family's holding company. Since 2000, Benetton shareholders had seen its market value fall from $4.3 billion to $720 million at the... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Fashion; Retail; Privatization; Family Ownership; Performance Improvement; Problems and Challenges; Management Teams; Globalized Firms and Management; Change Management; Restructuring; Competitive Strategy; Retail Industry; Fashion Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Italy