Publications

November 2015 (Revised August 2016)
Case

Unilever's New Global Strategy: Competing through Sustainability

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

In January 2009, when Paul Polman was appointed CEO of Unilever, he inherited a company in long-term decline at the beginning of a major global financial crisis. As the first outsider ever recruited to lead the company, Polman lost little time in challenging the... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Competitive Strategy; Environmental Sustainability; Consumer Products Industry

19 Dec 2022
Research & Ideas

The 10 Most Popular Articles of 2022

even in a job you don't love. 9. Rituals at Work: Teams That Play Together Stay Together Rituals—even seemingly silly ones—help employees bond and add meaning to their work, says research by Michael Norton, Francesca Gino, and colleagues.... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

November–December 2023
Article

Look the Part? The Role of Profile Pictures in Online Labor Markets

By: Isamar Troncoso and Lan Luo

Profile pictures are a key component of many freelancing platforms, a design choice that can impact hiring and matching outcomes. In this paper, we examine how appearance-based perceptions of a freelancer’s fit for the job (i.e., whether a freelancer "looks the part"... View Details

Keywords: Freelancers; Gig Workers; Demographics; Prejudice and Bias; Selection and Staffing; Jobs and Positions; Analytics and Data Science

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February 2021 (Revised July 2022)
Case

Sarah Breedlove: Changing the World

By: Robert Simons and Max Saffer

This case describes the rise of Sarah Breedlove, who later called herself Madam C.J. Walker, from the cotton fields of Louisiana to the head of a successful, nationwide beauty company providing opportunity and hair care products to Black women. The case describes how... View Details

Keywords: Brands; African-american Entrepreneurs; Entrepreneurship; Values and Beliefs; Personal Characteristics; Success; Work-Life Balance; Business Startups; Brands and Branding; Marketing; Personal Development and Career; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; United States

02 May 2023
What Do You Think?

How Should Artificial Intelligence Be Regulated—if at All?

players, often with unorthodox moves. Sure, at the moment AI causes machines to do dumb things and say things that aren’t true. And yes, AI could spread damaging information even more rapidly and convincingly than social media. Some... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Information Technology; Technology

March 2021 (Revised June 2022)
Case

James Bryant Conant: Changing the World

By: Robert Simons and Shirley Sun

This case traces the rise of James Conant from a working-class neighborhood in Boston to president of Harvard University. The case describes how Conant, as a young man interested in chemistry and physics, embarks on studies to build his academic credentials and the... View Details

Keywords: Education; Science; Higher Education; Mission and Purpose; Research; Values and Beliefs; Personal Characteristics; Work-Life Balance; Personal Development and Career; Education Industry; Boston

May 1998 (Revised May 2001)
Case

Merchandising at Nine West Retail Stores

By: Ananth Raman and Colin S Welch

Describes the merchandising decision process (organization, structure, and incentives) at Nine West retail stores, a large footwear retailer in the United States. Also describes changes currently occurring at Nine West and thus provides a context in which students can... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Structure; Situation or Environment; Motivation and Incentives; Decision Making; Change; Budgets and Budgeting; Forecasting and Prediction; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; Retail Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States

05 Jun 2020
Blog Post

Developing Black Talent for Leadership

Let’s show the nation the impact that organizations focused on black talent have made on the business leadership pipeline and our broader economy!... View Details

October 2000 (Revised November 2000)
Case

Bridgespan Group, The

By: Allen S. Grossman and John D. Kalafatas

Bain & Co., a consulting firm with a client list that ranges from entrepreneurial start-ups to global corporations, wanted to increase its involvement with nonprofit organizations. Rather than continuing to integrate the work into the existing organization, Bain... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Problems and Challenges; Leadership Style; Growth and Development Strategy; Consulting Industry

2021
Article

Leisure Beliefs and the Subjective Well-being of Nations

By: Lucia Macchia and A.V. Whillans

Here, we construct a data set of 79 countries (N = 220,000) and explore whether differences in the prioritization of time (leisure) vs. money (work) explain cross-country differences in happiness. Consistent with our predictions, countries whose citizens value leisure... View Details

Keywords: Leisure; Work; Subjective Well-being; Public Policy; Employment; Happiness; Governance; Policy

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18 Jul 2024
Blog Post

Harvard Business School Announces Its 2024-2025 Blavatnik Fellows

programmatic guidance and mentorship, and join a community of entrepreneurs who have created 45 companies and raised over $520M in funding to impact the business of science. To date, Blavatnik Fellows have created 45 companies in... View Details

Web

Negotiation, Organizations & Markets - Faculty & Research

satisfaction, and performance evaluations. Understanding how fluctuations in stress impact these outcomes can help businesses come up with and initiate targeted solutions to reduce the likelihood of disruption, protect workforce health,... View Details

17 Dec 2013
First Look

First Look: December 17

most challenging aspects of systems integration. August 2013 Journal of Experimental Social Psychology Group Membership Alters the Threshold for Mind Perception: The Role of Social Identity, Collective... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

17 Jan 2023
In Practice

8 Trends to Watch in 2023

As 2023 begins, businesses and employees face an uncertain economy and labor market, as the twin dilemmas of inflation and interest rates weigh on forecasts. Harvard Business School faculty share the top trends that they believe will shape the workplace and markets... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

13 Oct 2020
Blog Post

Turning a Moment into a Movement: How the Anti-Racism Fund Co-Founders are Fighting Racism and Encouraging Other Companies to Do Their Part

process that educates and engages donors and anti-racism allies. By building a platform that explains how donors can make an impact through the ARF four Pillars of Purpose - Justice System Reform, Education Parity, Health & Wellness... View Details

2014
Working Paper

Making the Business Case for Environmental Sustainability

By: Rebecca Henderson

Can a business case be made for acting sustainably? This is a difficult question to answer precisely, largely because there is no generally accepted definition of the term "sustainability". Is it acting sustainably to protect the human rights of the firm's workforce?... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Decision Making; Environmental Sustainability

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June 2007
Article

Efficient Kidney Exchange: Coincidence of Wants in a Structured Market

By: A. E. Roth, Tayfun Sonmez and M. Utku Unver

Patients needing kidney transplants may have donors who cannot donate to them because of blood or tissue incompatibility. Incompatible patient-donor pairs can exchange donor kidneys with other pairs only when there is a "double coincidence of wants." Developing... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Structure; Size; Emotions; Human Needs; Health Care and Treatment; Health Testing and Trials; Infrastructure; Supply Chain Management; Fairness; Performance Improvement; Health Industry

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June 2009 (Revised July 2010)
Case

Goldman Sachs: The 10,000 Women Initiative

By: Christopher Marquis, V. Kasturi Rangan and Cathy Ross

Describes the conception, development, and implementation of Goldman Sachs' five-year, $100 million philanthropic initiative to provide practical business and management education to 10,000 women around the globe. The initiative recently celebrated its first... View Details

Keywords: Partners and Partnerships; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business Education; Gender; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Financial Services Industry; Education Industry