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When Should Your Company Weigh In on Hot-Button Issues?
Leadership Digital ArticlePfizer’s chief corporate affairs officer, Sally Susman, shares the company’s five-point framework. -
What Companies Still Get Wrong About Layoffs
Layoffs Digital ArticleMany cling to the idea that reducing staff is the fastest, easiest way to cut costs. But there are smarter, more humane approaches. -
Case Study: Does Facial Recognition Tech Enhance Security?
Business and society Magazine ArticleThe new system in a day care center is producing biased results. -
Does Facial Recognition Tech Enhance Security? (Commentary for HBR Case Study)
Technology & Operations Magazine ArticleThe new system in a day-care center is producing biased results--setting off an alarm when some dark-skinned parents enter the lobby. The director of... -
Does Facial Recognition Tech Enhance Security? (HBR Case Study)
Technology & Operations Magazine ArticleThe new system in a day-care center is producing biased results--setting off an alarm when some dark-skinned parents enter the lobby. The director of... -
Moderna v. Pfizer: What the Patent Infringement Suit Means for Biotech
Business and society Digital ArticleAfter an unusual period of cooperation, drug companies are suing each other again. -
Don’t Let Your Calendar Dictate Your DEI Initiatives
Diversity and inclusion Digital ArticleIt’s good to honor Juneteenth or Pride month, but how are you showing up the rest of the year? -
3 Ways Marketers Can Earn — and Keep — Customer Trust
Marketing Digital ArticleA recent survey found that only 34% of consumers trust the brands they use. -
Research: Why CEOs Shouldn’t Take All the Credit
Corporate communications Digital ArticleIf you want the praise for good news, be prepared to take the blame for bad news. -
What To Do When the Devil Wears [Your Brand]
Public relations Digital ArticleStrategies for when your brand becomes associated with a noxious public figure. -
The Success of Your M&A Deal Hinges on How You Announce It
Public relations Digital ArticleThree questions to guide your communication strategy. -
What Is the Purpose of Your Purpose?
Leadership & Managing People Spotlight"Despite its sudden elevation in corporate life," the authors write, "purpose remains a confusing topic." They argue that a primary cause of this confusion... -
Making Purpose Real
Leadership & Managing People Digital Article"Despite its sudden elevation in corporate life, purpose remains a confusing topic," the authors write. A primary cause of this confusion, they say, is... -
How Companies Can Address Their Historical Transgressions
Corporate social responsibility Magazine ArticleLessons from the slave trade and the Holocaust -
Corporate Political Spending Is Bad Business
Strategy & Execution Magazine ArticleCorporations are facing increased scrutiny over their political spending--particularly when their stated values seem to contradict their lobbying efforts.... -
Sports and Social Justice
Strategy & Execution Magazine ArticleTwo new books--"The Game Is Not a Game" and "Football's Fearless Activists"--offer some useful context for examining the current relationship between... -
When Your Brand Is Racist (HBR Case Study and Commentary)
Communication Magazine ArticleA national brewing and distilling company grapples with its most profitable brand's racist history. This fictional case study by Joseph C. Miller, Michael... -
When Your Brand Is Racist (Commentary for HBR Case Study)
Communication Magazine ArticleA national brewing and distilling company grapples with its most profitable brand's racist history. This fictional case study by Joseph C. Miller, Michael... -
When Your Brand Is Racist (HBR Case Study)
Communication Magazine ArticleA national brewing and distilling company grapples with its most profitable brand's racist history. This fictional case study by Joseph C. Miller, Michael... -
When It's Time to Pivot, What's Your Story?
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Magazine ArticleTo succeed, a new company must rally investors, staff, customers, and the media around a good story. But often that narrative turns out to be wrong, and...
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Why the News Is Not the Truth
Business and society Magazine ArticleBoth the media and the government thrive on crises. When none exist, they create them. -
Reputation and Its Risks
Strategy & Execution Magazine ArticleRegulators, industry groups, consultants, and individual companies have developed elaborate guidelines over the years for assessing and managing risks... -
What Companies Still Get Wrong About Layoffs
Organizational Development Digital ArticleMany cling to the idea that reducing staff is the fastest, easiest way to cut costs. But there are smarter, more humane approaches. -
The Competitive Advantage of Corporate Philanthropy
Competitive strategy Magazine ArticleMost companies feel compelled to give to charity. Few have figured out how to do it well. -
Strategy and Society: The Link Between Competitive Advantage and Corporate Social Responsibility
Social enterprise HBR BestsellerGovernments, activists, and the media have become adept at holding companies to account for the social consequences of their activities. Myriad organizations rank companies on the performance of their corporate social responsibility (CSR), and, despite sometimes questionable methodologies, these rankings attract considerable publicity. As a result, CSR has emerged as an inescapable priority for business […] -
Shape Perceptions of Your Work, Early and Often
Managing yourself Digital ArticleThis election season, like every politically fraught time, offers many lessons in the getting and wielding of power. What you may not appreciate is that the lessons apply not only to politicians but to people in every career situation. Here’s a big one: what matters is not so much what you do, but what people […] -
What Is the Purpose of Your Purpose?
Leadership & Managing People Spotlight"Despite its sudden elevation in corporate life," the authors write, "purpose remains a confusing topic." They argue that a primary cause of this confusion... -
The New Old-Fashioned Banking
Economics Magazine ArticleFifteen minutes south of Chicago’s Loop, the inner-city neighborhood of South Shore has an old-fashioned bank with a radical twist. For those of us at South Shore Bank, banking means knowing the borrower, the neighborhood, property values, and the economic environment. It means tough credit standards, cautious qualification of borrowers, and close monitoring of the […] -
Swapping Business Skills for Oil
Emerging markets Magazine ArticleTransnationals can give as well as take. They have in abundance precisely what developing nations need. -
The New Tools of Trade
Labor Magazine ArticleToday, most multinationals have a conspicuous social conscience. They publicize their internal codes of conduct, monitor labor conditions in their global supply chains, and require suppliers to meet basic labor practice standards. But despite efforts to be better global citizens, companies by themselves are unable to eliminate abuses in their supply chains. In fact, so […] -
Whatever Happened to Corporate Stewardship?
Corporate social responsibility Digital ArticleWhen corporations dodge taxes, it’s an ethical issue. -
BP: Victim of Its Own Good Marketing
Sales & Marketing Digital ArticleA few years ago I met Jose Gabrielli, the CEO of the Brazilian energy giant Petrobras, to talk about an article we were developing for HBR. Dressed in... -
The Globe: How French Innovators Are Putting the “Social” Back in Social Networking
Public relations Magazine ArticleConnecting with your best customers doesn’t have to involve Twitter or Facebook. -
Research: Why CEOs Shouldn't Take All the Credit
Communication Digital ArticleIf you want the praise for good news, be prepared to take the blame for bad news. -
Leading with Trust
Global Business Big IdeaFive CEOs who illustrate how fairness, good intentions, and power are linked. -
Uncommon Decency: Pacific Bell Responds to Aids
Public relations Magazine ArticleSitting nervously in the public health clinic that Friday before Labor Day in 1986, awaiting word on his AIDS test, Pacific Bell repairman Dave Goodenough already half knew what he would be told: he had AIDS. He’d suspected as much for seven months, ever since he first noticed the markings on his chest. His doctor […] -
When Should Your Company Weigh In on Hot-Button Issues?
Leadership Digital ArticlePfizer’s chief corporate affairs officer, Sally Susman, shares the company’s five-point framework. -
Your PR Efforts May Be Hurting You
Communication Digital ArticleI've been on both sides of public relations. For years, I wrote a syndicated technology column for the Chicago Tribune. Now, I run a consulting firm that... -
Detroit’s CEOs Drive to Washington — And Take the Low Road
Public relations Digital ArticleThe last time the CEOs of the big three US auto makers went to congress to justify their bailout request, things didn’t go so well. Congress was torn on whether to green light billions in new funding, public sentiment was mixed at best, leading economic pundits such as Mitt Romney were publicly declaring bankruptcy as […] -
When an Employee or Spokesperson Criticizes Your Company
Public relations Digital ArticleAdvice for navigating a contentious climate.
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Carrefour China and the Olympic Torch Relay: Managing Corporate Crisis amid Evolving Expectations of Multinational Firms
Global Business Case Study8.95View Details Prior to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Chinese people were outraged by repeated interruptions of the Olympic torch relay in Paris on 7 April 2008.... -
Amanda and Kristen: Mented Cosmetics
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study8.95View Details The co-founders (Black HBS alumnae) of an e-commerce beauty startup explore the unmet needs within the beauty industry. This case study examines the entrepreneurial... -
Collision Course: Carlos Ghosn and the Culture Wars That Upended an Auto Empire
30.00View Details In Japan it's called the "Ghosn Shock"--the stunning arrest of Carlos Ghosn, the jet-setting CEO who saved Nissan and made it part of a global automotive... -
Mossack Fonseca: Panama Papers
Technology & Operations Case Study8.95View Details Mossack Fonseca, a Panama-based law firm, specializes in Corporate Law, fiduciary services, investment advice, and international business. In April 2016,... -
Toyota Recalls (B): Mr. Toyoda Goes to Washington
Sales & Marketing Case Study5.00View Details Case describes the testimony to the U.S. Congress of the Toyota CEO and the head of its U.S. motor sales. -
Mercedes and the Moose Test (B)
Leadership & Managing People Case Study5.00View Details The case describes a crisis management situation faced by Mercedes-Benz, a division of Daimler-Benz AG. In 1997 Mercedes introduced a revolutionary new... -
Safeway, Inc.'s Leveraged Buyout (B)
Finance & Accounting Case Study5.00View Details Supplements the (A) case. -
Multinational Corporations in Apartheid-era South Africa: The Issue of Reparations
Global Business Case Study8.95View Details Considers the lawsuits filed on behalf of victims of apartheid against multinationals who operated in South Africa prior to 1994. Reviews the debates... -
Microsoft Security Response Center (B)
Technology & Operations Case Study5.00View Details Supplements the (A) case. -
Southwest Airlines (A), Japanese Version
Sales & Marketing Case Study8.95View Details Southwest Airlines, a small intrastate carrier serving Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, begins service in 1971 in the face of competition by two larger,... -
Amway China: Arduous Road to Success (B)
Strategy & Execution Case Study5.00View Details In case (B) of this two-part case series, the Chairman of Amway (China), Eva Cheng, encounters many situations where her negotiation and leadership skills... -
Toyota Recalls (A): Hitting the Skids, Japanese Version
Sales & Marketing Case Study8.95View Details In the fall of 2009, Toyota Motor Corporation, once revered for its commitment to quality and reliability, faced a highly publicized series of recalls... -
Job Corps
Leadership & Managing People Case Study8.95View Details Describes the efforts of the director of Job Corps to stave off the destruction of his agency by the Nixon administration. In this process, the director... -
China's Evolving Labor Laws (B)
Global Business Case Study5.00View Details The (B) case describes how the various business groups responded to the Chinese government's invitation to submit comments on its draft labor contract... -
Arthur Andersen (C): The Collapse of Arthur Andersen
Finance & Accounting Case Study5.00View Details The cases describe the demise of Arthur Andersen, a firm that had long set the industry standard for professionalism in accounting and auditing. Once... -
dpms. - The Price of Earned Media
Sales & Marketing Case Study8.95View Details In April 2014, the co-founder of lifestyle brand dpms., situated in London, Ontario, has a dilemma. Started as an opportunity to showcase her partner's... -
Coca-Cola's New Vending Machine (A): Pricing to Capture Value, or Not?, Spanish Version
Sales & Marketing Case Study8.95View Details Chairman and CEO M. Douglas Ivester stumbles when he tells a Brazilian newsmagazine about a new Coke vending machine that can automatically raise prices... -
Aetna Inc.: Managing Inherent Enterprise Risks Through Stakeholder Management (A)
Strategy & Execution Case Study8.95View Details Inherent risks or negatives are a critical element of "enterprise risk management" that must be mitigated or dramatically managed through constructive... -
Kickoff: The Launch of Los Angeles Football Club
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study8.95View Details Located in the media capital of the world and boasting a cadre of high-profile owners, Los Angeles Football Club, the newest MLS franchise, launches with... -
Toshiba: Accounting Fraud
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details In July 2015, the chief executive officer of Toshiba Corporation (Toshiba) resigned over the revelation of a JP¥151.8 billion accounting scandal that...
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Why the News Is Not the Truth
Business and society Magazine ArticleBoth the media and the government thrive on crises. When none exist, they create them. -
Reputation and Its Risks
Strategy & Execution Magazine ArticleRegulators, industry groups, consultants, and individual companies have developed elaborate guidelines over the years for assessing and managing risks... -
What Companies Still Get Wrong About Layoffs
Organizational Development Digital ArticleMany cling to the idea that reducing staff is the fastest, easiest way to cut costs. But there are smarter, more humane approaches. -
The Competitive Advantage of Corporate Philanthropy
Competitive strategy Magazine ArticleMost companies feel compelled to give to charity. Few have figured out how to do it well. -
Strategy and Society: The Link Between Competitive Advantage and Corporate Social Responsibility
Social enterprise HBR BestsellerGovernments, activists, and the media have become adept at holding companies to account for the social consequences of their activities. Myriad organizations rank companies on the performance of their corporate social responsibility (CSR), and, despite sometimes questionable methodologies, these rankings attract considerable publicity. As a result, CSR has emerged as an inescapable priority for business […] -
Carrefour China and the Olympic Torch Relay: Managing Corporate Crisis amid Evolving Expectations of Multinational Firms
Global Business Case Study8.95View Details Prior to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Chinese people were outraged by repeated interruptions of the Olympic torch relay in Paris on 7 April 2008.... -
Shape Perceptions of Your Work, Early and Often
Managing yourself Digital ArticleThis election season, like every politically fraught time, offers many lessons in the getting and wielding of power. What you may not appreciate is that the lessons apply not only to politicians but to people in every career situation. Here’s a big one: what matters is not so much what you do, but what people […] -
What Is the Purpose of Your Purpose?
Leadership & Managing People Spotlight"Despite its sudden elevation in corporate life," the authors write, "purpose remains a confusing topic." They argue that a primary cause of this confusion... -
The New Old-Fashioned Banking
Economics Magazine ArticleFifteen minutes south of Chicago’s Loop, the inner-city neighborhood of South Shore has an old-fashioned bank with a radical twist. For those of us at South Shore Bank, banking means knowing the borrower, the neighborhood, property values, and the economic environment. It means tough credit standards, cautious qualification of borrowers, and close monitoring of the […] -
Swapping Business Skills for Oil
Emerging markets Magazine ArticleTransnationals can give as well as take. They have in abundance precisely what developing nations need.