Publications

01 Sep 2017
News

The Biggest Industry You’ve Never Heard Of

Glass (MBA 1994), a serial entrepreneur and co-owner of an esports team, explains, “Esports is the most gigantic industry that nobody’s ever heard of.” Bjerg, third from left, and Team SoloMid compete in a League of Legends tournament in... View Details

Keywords: April White; illustration by Brian Stauffer; esports; Twitch; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries

15 Nov 2018
Book

Can the Global Food Industry Overcome Public Distrust?

JamesBrey Food is the largest segment of the global economy. It is also widely recognized as more critical for human health than any pharmaceutical drug on the planet. But significant changes in the industry are making people lose trust in many institutions involved in... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Agriculture & Agribusiness

01 May 2009
What Do You Think?

Do Innovation and Entrepreneurship Have to Be Incompatible with Organization Size?

time or another have comprised the Fortune 100 since 1955 as well as some 90 non-U.S. based corporations. From the larger base, the authors selected 50 organizations whose experiences met the criteria for a stall and whose profiles were... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

Article

New Physicians: A Natural Experiment in Market Organization

By: A. E. Roth

Keywords: Markets; Organizations; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry

September 1988 (Revised November 1989)
Case

Honeywell, Inc.: International Organization for Commercial Avionics (A)

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Keywords: Air Transportation Industry

October 2015
Article

Agglomerative Forces and Cluster Shapes

By: William R. Kerr and Scott Duke Kominers

We model spatial clusters of similar firms. Our model highlights how agglomerative forces lead to localized, individual connections among firms, while interaction costs generate a defined distance over which attraction forces operate. Overlapping firm interactions... View Details

Keywords: Agglomeration; Clusters; Industrial Organization; Silicon Valley; Technology Flows; Patents; Networks; Information Technology; Industry Clusters; Entrepreneurship; California

Web

Fostering Candor in Teams and Organizations - Recruiting

Insights & Advice 07 Jul 2023 Fostering Candor in Teams and Organizations Becca Carnahan Author HBS Team tag All Industries All Locations Diversity, Inclusion, & Belonging Recruiting Advice Recruiting... View Details

September 1988
Case

Honeywell, Inc.: International Organization for Commercial Avionics (B)

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Keywords: Change Management; Marketing; Global Range; Aerospace Industry

25 Jan 2019
Blog Post

Not Waiting for Progress: Diversity and Inclusion in the Film Industry

This is a repost from the Alumni Stories blog. Brickson Diamond (MBA 1999) has never been one to, as he puts it, “just sit back and wait for progress to happen.” His role as cofounder and chair of the Blackhouse Foundation is a case in point. The View Details

20 Oct 2017
News

At GE, A New Urgency To Return To Industrial Roots

19 Feb 2019
News

How startups are disrupting the retail industry

February 1998 (Revised May 1998)
Case

Merck-Medco: Vertical Integration in the Pharmaceutical Industry

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Marie Bell

Records the analyses and actions taken by Merck Pharmaceuticals in its acquisition of Medco, a channel intermediary (called "pharmacy benefit manager"). While many of its competitors seem to be faring poorly, Merck seems to have managed the Medco integration superbly. View Details

Keywords: Vertical Integration; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Competitive Strategy; Marketing Channels; Mergers and Acquisitions; Pharmaceutical Industry

2006
Article

The Long-Term Value of M&A Activity to Enhance Learning Organizations

Viewing the automobile industry as being made up of independent learning-organisations may reveal some tie-ups that can generate value not easily revealed by traditional financial metrics. The key question to be answered when considering M&A activity between automakers... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Processes; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry

March 1999
Case

Merck & Co., Inc.: Corporate Strategy, Organization and Culture (A)

By: Michael Beer and Perry Fagan

In the early 1990s, Merck faced a series of challenges because of significant changes in its competitive and regulatory environment (e.g., growth in power of pharmaceutical buyers like managed care organizations led to price pressures and President Clinton's review of... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business or Company Management; Organizational Culture; Problems and Challenges; Management Practices and Processes; Competitive Strategy; Management Teams; Health Care and Treatment; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Situation or Environment; Alignment; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States

December 2018
Article

Ideological Misfit? Political Affiliation and Employee Departure in the Private-Equity Industry

By: Y. Sekou Bermiss and Rory McDonald

Though organizations are increasingly active participants in the political realm, little research has investigated how an organization’s heightened focus on political ideology impacts employees. We address this gap by exploring how an individual’s political ideological... View Details

Keywords: Values and Beliefs; Employees; Organizational Culture; Resignation and Termination; Financial Services Industry; United States

June 2004
Case

TechnoServe and the Tanzanian Specialty Coffee Industry

In 2003, TechnoServe, a U.S.-based, international, nonprofit organization, was deciding how to structure the capital investments required for Tanzanian business groups to acquire coffee bean central pulperies. This case explores the challenges of capital budgeting and... View Details

Keywords: Small Business; Nonprofit Organizations; Cash Flow; Emerging Markets; Financing and Loans; Capital Budgeting; Tanzania

01 Dec 2015
Research & Ideas

What to Do When Your Organization Has Dueling Missions

paradox the result of an in-depth comparative analysis of two of the organizations in their sample. The two WISEs appeared to be extremely similar: Both operated in the recycling industry with similar... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

September–October 2013
Article

Discretion Within Constraint: Homophily and Structure in a Formal Organization

By: Adam M. Kleinbaum, Toby E. Stuart and Michael Tushman

Homophily in social relations results from both individual preferences and selective opportunities for interaction, but how these two mechanisms interact in large, contemporary organizations is not well understood. We argue that organizational structures and geography... View Details

Keywords: Familiarity; Interpersonal Communication; Information Technology; Organizational Structure; Social and Collaborative Networks; Gender; Information Technology Industry

July 2003 (Revised January 2013)
Background Note

Note on Organized Labor in U.S. Public Education

Surveys the history, structure, and activities of the two dominant U.S. teachers unions—the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). The NEA and AFT represent approximately 90% of U.S. public school teachers and have grown... View Details

Keywords: Labor Unions; Education; Education Industry; United States