Andy Zelleke is the MBA Class of 1962 Senior Lecturer of Business Administration, and a member of HBS' General Management unit. He has taught in the Field Immersion Experiences for Leadership Development (“FIELD”) program since its introduction to the Required Curriculum in 2011, including teaching FIELD Foundations and serving as a de facto section faculty chair in each of the past eight academic years. Dr. Zelleke has led five FIELD Global Immersion MBA cohorts, in Mumbai, Chennai, Beijing, Jakarta and Manila; and served as that course's Module Head for 2015-16. He has also taught in HBS Executive Education programs on corporate goverrnance/boards of directors. In 2018, he served as Program Co-Chair of the "AASU50" conference at HBS, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the founding of HBS' African American Student Union.
In Spring 2017, Dr. Zelleke launched a new course on comparative corporate governance at Harvard Kennedy School, and has continued to teach one course annually at HKS as an Adjunct Lecturer. This Spring, he is teaching a module-length course in the HKS MPP program's core curriculum, titled "Conflict and Collaboration: Intra- and Inter-Group Dynamics.
Prior to joining the HBS faculty in 2011, Dr. Zelleke was Lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School, teaching “Strategy, Structure and Leadership in Public Service Organizations” and “Introduction to Negotiation Analysis.” He also served as Co-Director of the Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership for two years, and taught negotiation, leadership and management in several Executive Education programs. Prior to joining the Kennedy School faculty, Dr. Zelleke taught negotiation in the MBA and undergraduate programs at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, where he also led the development of an executive education program for newly appointed members of public company boards of directors. At both the Kennedy School and Wharton, Dr. Zelleke was recognized on multiple occasions for teaching distinction.
While at Wharton, Dr. Zelleke was Project Director and a Steering Committee member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences' Corporate Responsibility initiative, and coeditor of Restoring Trust in American Business (MIT Press, 2005). His articles on corporate governance have appeared in Sloan Management Review, Harvard Business Review, Directors & Boards, and Corporate Governance: An International Review. His op-eds on topics in leadership, corporate governance and foreign affairs have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, International Herald Tribune, Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor, The Diplomat, and ForeignPolicy.com. Dr. Zelleke has given talks and facilitated discussions on these topics and on negotiation, at venues in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America; and he has served as a consultant to several leading law firms on corporate governance issues.
Formerly a practicing business lawyer, Dr. Zelleke received an A.B. in Government magna cum laude from Harvard College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa; and a J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School. He also received an A.M. in Sociology and a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior from Harvard University. Dr. Zelleke is a member of the State Bar of New York and the Council on Foreign Relations. He lives in Cambridge with his wife, Dina Zelleke, and daughter, Zoe.
In 2016, Dr. Zelleke received the Greenhill Award for Outstanding Service to the Harvard Business School community.
Zelleke, A., and R. Dujarric. "The Success of That Surge."Boston Globe (July 31, 2008). (Reprinted as "How Much of a Success?" in International Herald Tribune, August 1, 2008.)
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In the first six months of Donald Trump’s presidency, Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier appeared alongside Trump at least three times at press events, one of which commemorated the first and only meeting of the president’s Manufacturing Job Initiative (better known at the president’s “Manufacturing Council”). Then by August 2017, after tragic events surrounding a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and a press event in which Trump condemned violence “on many sides,” Frazier became the first CEO to resign from the Council in response. His action immediately elicited an angry tweet from the president that disparaged the CEO and his company. Two days later, the Council disbanded completely. This short case describes a CEO’s act of conscience, and suggests some of the potential risks of such outspokenness.
Zelleke, Andy, and Brian Tilley. "Merck CEO Ken Frazier Quits President Trump's Advisory Council." Harvard Business School Case 318-105, January 2018.
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This case explores Lotte Group’s challenge of how to respond to Chinese government pressure in 2017, following the Group’s February decision to transfer land to the South Korean government, on which Seoul intended to deploy the U.S.-built THAAD missile defense system. Within a week of the deal’s announcement, the Chinese government had effectively caused 23 Lotte supermarket stores in China to shut down. Concurrently, however, South Korea’s political crisis climaxed with President Park’s replacement by the less hawkish Moon Jae-in. This “B” case chronicles the mounting losses in Lotte’s China business between March and September 2017, also a period in which bilateral relations between China and South Korea began to warm under President Moon, leaving South Korea’s commitment to a full THAAD deployment in some doubt. Against this uncertain backdrop, Lotte’s senior-most executives and board members had to reevaluate Lotte’s previously strong commitment to the China market.
Zelleke, Andy, and Brian Tilley. "In the Eye of a Geopolitical Storm: South Korea's Lotte Group, China and the U.S. THAAD Missile Defense System (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 318-023, January 2018.
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By late 2016 and early 2017, Lotte Group, a South Korean chaebol (large family-controlled business group) had become embroiled not only in the domestic political turmoil surrounding President Park Geun-hye, but also—uncomfortably—in a four-country geopolitical storm. Amid rising tensions with North Korea, the South Korean government had agreed to deploy a U.S.-built anti-missile defense system known as THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense). The THAAD deployment had been strongly advocated for by Washington, Seoul’s treaty ally, and equally vehemently opposed by China—South Korea’s giant neighbor, with which Seoul had developed close economic ties and, in recent years, much improved political relations. In late 2016, the Park government decided that THAAD should initially be deployed on a particular property then in use as a privately owned golf course. The golf course’s owner happened to be Lotte Group. The case highlights the multifaceted, complex decision facing Lotte Group’s leadership: how to respond to the Park government’s national security-based request to transfer the land, while also taking into account China’s outspoken opposition to THAAD—seen in Beijing as impairing China’s own national security. As of 2016, Lotte Group had extensive operations, and even bigger aspirations, in the massive China market. As Lotte Group’s leadership grappled with its imminent decision at the end of 2016 and into 2017, the costs of defying Beijing were becoming more apparent, with the Group’s Chinese supermarkets hit by consumer boycotts and a raft of citations by Chinese authorities for fire code and other infractions.
Zelleke, Andy, and Brian Tilley. "In the Eye of a Geopolitical Storm: South Korea's Lotte Group, China and the U.S. THAAD Missile Defense System (A)." Harvard Business School Case 318-022, December 2017. (Revised January 2019.)
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This case explores the sustainability efforts at Novozymes, the world's largest and oldest producer of industrial enzymes. In 2015, the Danish company became the world’s first company known to have crafted a new corporate strategy based on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Since then, the company used the SDGs as a lens to screen products, business models, and partnerships, and it prioritized innovation decisions that could deliver extraordinary societal and business impact. This case study asks students to evaluate the success of those efforts and to outline what the company should do going forward.
This case examines the influence of political pressure on corporate decision-making. It questions whether fidelity to domestic operations ought to be a corporate social responsibility, and thus it challenges the limits of “social responsibility” as a corporate ideal. Specifically, the case focuses on Donald Trump’s effort to encourage U.S. companies’ domestic operations, through a study of one company’s decision to backtrack on a factory relocation plan. In February 2016, the Carrier Corporation (a maker of heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning equipment and a division of United Technologies Corporation) announced a plan to relocate operations of a furnace factory from the United States to Mexico. The case notes that Carrier began to outsource and offshore operations, in an effort to reduce costs, around 1921. While Carrier’s previous United States factory closures had garnered major press coverage, the 2016 announcement ramified differently. Days later, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump referenced the relocation in a Facebook post. Soon, Carrier’s plan became a touchtone to Trump’s anti-globalization and anti-free trade campaign messaging. The case documents that he was not the only candidate or politician to reference Carrier during the 2016 campaign. Still his declaration to “call up the head of Carrier” upon winning the presidency became a stump-speech refrain popular with his audiences and contrasted with other political figures’ more measured language. Ultimately, the case outlines the events set in motion after Trump kept his campaign promise and called Carrier’s parent company’s CEO one week after his surprise presidential election victory.
Zelleke, Andy, and Monica Baraldi. "Doing Business in South Africa 2015 Update." Harvard Business School Background Note 316-075, September 2015.
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Mayo, Anthony J., Andy Zelleke, Jill Avery, and Stephanie Galloway. "FIELD 2: Global Intelligence." Harvard Business School Module Note 316-077, September 2015. (Revised October 2015.)
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This case provides an overview of some of the opportunities as well as challenges that those who plan to do business in the Philippines may face. It includes a summary of the current economic, political, and social situation in the country, and offers up-to-date perspectives and insight from individuals who are familiar with the region.
