Publications

13 May 2013
Blog Post

Leveraging the HBS platform to enter social enterprise

two years at Credit Suisse, I made the decision to leave in order to attend HBS. There are so many things I’m looking forward to at HBS—listing everything would take much more room than I have in this post! Certainly, I’m most looking... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit / Government

May 2024
Supplement

gWorks (B)

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

In January of 2019, Joe Heieck, CEO of gWorks, was deciding whether to proceed with his acquisition of Data Tech, that was a business roughly the same size as gWorks. gWorks, which provided geospatial software to small city and rural county governments, was acquired by... View Details

07 Dec 2010
First Look

First Look: Dec. 7

Simons. By posing these provocative questions, you identify critical gaps in your strategy execution processes, focus on the most important choices you must make, and understand what's at stake in each one.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

17 Jul 2012
First Look

First Look: July 17

shareholders as a category are not well positioned to guide corporate decisions or to discipline management. They also discuss problems in two other roles shareholders play with respect to corporations, as a source of funds View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

June 1992
Article

Reversals of Preference in Allocation Decisions: Judging an Alternative Versus Choosing Among Alternatives

By: M. H. Bazerman, G. F. Loewenstein and S. B. White

Keywords: Decision Making; Decision Choices and Conditions; Judgments

Find at Harvard

Profile

Patrick Connolly

Why was earning your MBA at HBS important to you? In my life before business school, I was a concert pianist and music theorist-disciplines that require truly deep, vertical expertise. My decision to attend... View Details

Keywords: Investment Banking; Venture Capital / Private Equity; Financial Services; Other Financial Services

30 Jan 2012
Research & Ideas

Measuring the Efficacy of the World’s Managers

Firms in the United States, Japan, and Germany tend to be managed especially well, while firms in Brazil, China, and India tend to be managed poorly. Those are among the initial findings of the World... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

26 Mar 2020
Blog Post

The Road Untraveled: VC Perspectives on COVID-19

thoughtful decisions for their team. Empathy and Honesty in Times of Uncertainty Leverage your peers! We all handle challenges like this differently, View Details

August 1988 (Revised February 1992)
Case

Norton Group PLC: To Be or Not to Be in the Motorcycle Business (A)

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Jon Skofic

Norton, a once famous motorcycle manufacturer, soundly beaten by Japanese competition, turns its attention to developing rotary engines. The company is acquired by Norton Group PLC, which is headed by a dashing entrepreneur. The new management must decide what... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Decision Choices and Conditions; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Human Resources; Crisis Management; Resource Allocation; Production; Competition; Auto Industry; Motorcycle Industry; Japan; United Kingdom

21 May 2008
Research & Ideas

Going Negative in Political Advertising

choice and the uncertainty about who will prevail has fueled heavy media coverage and grassroots activism that add to voter interest. View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch

01 Jul 2008
First Look

First Look: July 1, 2008

more "collaborative." Too often, however, companies fail to distinguish among the various choices they face with respect to alternative modes of collaboration. Collaborative innovation can take a wide variety of forms, each with... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

February 2002 (Revised May 2003)
Case

Endeca Technologies (A)

By: G. Felda Hardymon, Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon

Steve Papa, CEO of Endeca Technologies, must decide among two term sheets raising the same amount of badly needed money for his young software company. One deal is led by insiders and, is offered at a lower price. It continues a board that has worked very well and... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Cost vs Benefits; Financial Condition; Financing and Loans; Management Skills; Financial Strategy; Corporate Finance; Decision Choices and Conditions; Information Technology Industry

August 2023 (Revised December 2023)
Case

Automating Morality: Ethics for Intelligent Machines

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr. and Tom Quinn

As autonomy became a more significant part of modern life – most notably in autonomous vehicles (AVs), such as Teslas – ethical debates about whether and how to impart ethics to machines heated up. Utilitarians pointed out that autonomous vehicles crashed much less... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Judgments; Fairness; Moral Sensibility; Values and Beliefs; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Disruptive Innovation; Technology Adoption; Risk and Uncertainty; Cognition and Thinking; Technological Innovation; Auto Industry; Technology Industry; Africa; Asia; Europe; North and Central America; Oceania; South America

16 May 2018
Research & Ideas

How Companies Managed Risk (and Even Benefitted) in World War Internment Camps

asset seizure by enemy governments. Negotiation Some directly negotiated favorable business arrangements with local governments and decision makers. Perseverance Some adopted the approach of resilience,... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Manufacturing

December 2010
Compilation

VCPE Strategy Vignettes I

By: Josh Lerner, G. Felda Hardymon, Matthew Rhodes-Kropf, Ann Leamon and Lisa Strope

These three vignettes present various issues around the strategy and management of venture capital and private equity firms. In one, the general partners must decide whether to invest in an intriguing opportunity that lies outside the firm's carefully developed... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Private Equity; Financial Strategy; Projects; Decision Choices and Conditions; Partners and Partnerships; Opportunities; Investment Portfolio; Business or Company Management; China

March 2021 (Revised August 2021)
Case

Nayana Mawilmada: Transforming Urban Development in Sri Lanka

By: Joshua D. Margolis and Mahima Rao-Kachroo

In February 2018, Nayana Mawilmada (Nayana), investment head for the Sri Lankan government’s ambitious $40 billion Megapolis project, must weigh an attractive job offer to move from the public sector to the private sector. A massive government project aimed at... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Transformation; Decision Making; Public Sector; Experience and Expertise; Strategic Planning; Work-Life Balance; Transportation; Risk and Uncertainty; Power and Influence; Personal Development and Career; Real Estate Industry; Rail Industry; Transportation Industry; South Asia; Sri Lanka; Boston; Virginia; United States

January 2008 (Revised October 2010)
Supplement

Sara Campbell Ltd. (B)

By: Romana Autrey, V.G. Narayanan and Julia Rozovsky

Supplements the Sara Campbell Ltd. (A) case by introducing additional concerns with Holt. In January of 1999, Campbell received a certified letter written by Holt. The letter described Holt's own frustration in working for Campbell. Students are given context to... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Employee Relationship Management; Management; Apparel and Accessories Industry