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• Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | May 2019

  Gender and Free Speech at Google (A), (B), & (C)

  Nien-hê Hsieh and Sarah Mehta

  In August 2017, Google fired James Damore, a 28-year-old software engineer who had been employed by the company since 2013. The move came after Damore penned an internal company memo titled "Google's Ideological Echo Chamber," which posited that innate biological differences between men and women-as opposed to hiring biases, gender discrimination, or a hostile workforce-were at least partially responsible for the low numbers of women in tech. At the time, 20% of Google's tech workforce, and 31% of its overall staff, was female. Damore also admonished Google for silencing opinions that challenged what he viewed as the company's politically liberal belief system. Reactions to both the memo's content and Google's decision to fire Damore were swift and varied. Some praised the company for signaling intolerance of any marginalization of women. Others criticized Google for terminating an employee for a seemingly innocuous act of expression. Danielle Brown, Google's new vice president and chief diversity and inclusion officer, hired just a few weeks before the memo was leaked to the public, must now advise Google's top leadership team on dealing with the fallout.

  Keywords: Free Speech; Representation; Diversity; Gender; Race; Human Resources; Employees; Employee Relationship Management; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Labor; Employment; Lawsuits and Litigation; Organizational Culture; Technology Industry; United States; California;

  Citation:

  Hsieh, Nien-hê, and Sarah Mehta. "Gender and Free Speech at Google (A), (B), & (C)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 319-038, May 2019.  View Details

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• Article | Harvard Business Review (website) | May 16, 2019

  To Improve Food Inspections, Change the Way They're Scheduled

  Maria Ibanez and Michael W. Toffel

  Health inspections are an important tool to increase food safety, but there are still 48 million cases of food-borne illnesses and 128,000 hospitalizations every year in the United States. Our research finds that inspectors reported fewer health code violations as they conducted subsequent inspections throughout the day, and even fewer violations at inspections that risked prolonging their work day. Also, inspectors reported more code violations when the previous establishment the inspector visited had many violations. Based on these patterns, we propose scheduling adjustments that would increase inspectors’ scrutiny and significantly reduce food-borne illnesses and hospitalizations.

  Keywords: inspection; scheduling; Food; Safety; Health; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Performance Improvement;

  Citation:

  Ibanez, Maria, and Michael W. Toffel. "To Improve Food Inspections, Change the Way They're Scheduled." Harvard Business Review (website) (May 16, 2019).  View Details

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• Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | May 2019

  JUUL and the Vaping Revolution

  Michael W. Toffel, Trevor Fetter, John Masko and Sarah Mehta

  Teaching Note for HBS No. 619-006.

  Keywords: electronic cigarettes; E-Cigarettes; vaping; Nicotine Replacement; JUUL; Juuling; Advertising; Advertising Campaigns; Online Advertising; Customers; Innovation and Invention; Innovation Strategy; Marketing; Ethics; Brands and Branding; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Social Issues; Technology; Technology Industry; San Francisco;

  Citation:

  Toffel, Michael W., Trevor Fetter, John Masko, and Sarah Mehta. "JUUL and the Vaping Revolution." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 619-068, May 2019.  View Details

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