Publications

February 2022
Case

US Foods: Driving Post-Pandemic Success?

By: David E. Bell, Olivia Hull and Amy Klopfenstein

In November 2021, US Foods CEO Pietro Satriano must decide his company’s trajectory following the COVID-19 pandemic. US Foods suffered due to business closures and social distancing during the height of the pandemic. While the situation improved following the return of... View Details

January 1999
Case

Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (C1): Project Explore

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Ellen Pruyne

The third in a five-part series about Bell Atlantic Corp.'s technology-in-education partnership with the Union City, New Jersey school system. Describes Bell Atlantic's efforts to identify an appropriate site for testing emerging telecommunications technology and its... View Details

Keywords: Partners and Partnerships; Education; Business and Community Relations; Wireless Technology; Education Industry; Telecommunications Industry; New Jersey

July 1989 (Revised November 1992)
Background Note

Marketing Strategy Formulation

Identifies the elements of marketing strategy and introduces frameworks for strategic marketing decisions. The frameworks deal with market definition and selection, positioning and differentiation, and market entry/exit decisions. Other topics discussed include... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions

June 2014
Case

Stock Options at Celia-Check

By: Brian Hall, Andrew Wasynczuk and Karen Huang

Describes issues facing three young founders of a high-tech start-up, including hiring an experienced CEO and negotiating with a potential VC investor. Focuses on the incentive and compensation aspects of negotiating with job candidates (e.g., what percentage of the... View Details

Keywords: Stock Options; Venture Capital; Selection and Staffing; Negotiation; Executive Compensation; Employee Stock Ownership Plan; Business Startups; Management Teams; Technology Industry; United States

January 1996
Background Note

National Cultures and Work-Related Values: The Hofstede Study

People from different national cultures often operate under different assumptions about what is appropriate behavior. In organizational settings, these cultural differences in underlying assumptions can significantly affect interactions when individuals from various... View Details

Keywords: Behavior; Organizations; Attitudes; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Computer Industry

15 Feb 2018
News

Does CVS–Aetna Spell the End of Business as Usual?

Research Summary

Governance, Accountability, and Performance for Social Enterprise

By: Dutch Leonard

This project examines the relationship between governance structures, accountability relationships, and performance outcomes for social enterprises. Most previous work in this area has examined these topics separately, or in pairs; the purpose of this project is to... View Details

September 1992 (Revised March 1994)
Case

Warsaw Marriott: New Competition for Warsaw's Marriott Hotel

A very successful luxury hotel in Warsaw, Poland is faced with its first serious competition as new luxury hotels enter the Warsaw market. The case raises the general issue of how to sustain a competitive advantage in an international service business. A variety of... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Advantage; Globalized Markets and Industries; Accommodations Industry; Poland

May 1997
Teaching Note

Managing Product Development: Matching Technology with Context, Instructor's Note

By: Marco Iansiti

This overview to Managing Product Development (MPD) both previews course material, cases, exercises, and lectures--and provides its conceptual and academic underpinnings. Additionally, this note links these materials to the activities students will be undertaking in... View Details

Keywords: Curriculum and Courses; Product Development; Knowledge Management; Performance; Projects; Management Practices and Processes; Opportunities; Strategy; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques

March 2003 (Revised August 2005)
Case

National Parks Conservation Association

By: Forest L. Reinhardt and Briana Huntsberger

The National Parks Conservation Association seeks to help the U.S. National Park Service increase its efficiency by incorporating principles of business management so that American national parks will be better managed. Its efforts raise fundamental questions about the... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Business or Company Management; Corporate Governance; Government and Politics; Natural Environment; Cooperation; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Tourism Industry; Public Administration Industry; United States

20 Aug 2012
News

Compensation Practices & Incentives

October 2018
Article

Competing with Complementors: An Empirical Look at Amazon.com

By: Feng Zhu and Qihong Liu

Platform owners sometimes enter complementors' product spaces to compete against them directly. Prior studies have offered two possible explanations for such entries: platform owners may target the most successful complementors so as to appropriate value from their... View Details

Keywords: Amazon; Complementors; Co-opetition; Entry; Platform-based Markets; Competition; Digital Platforms; Competitive Strategy

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September 2009 (Revised August 2011)
Case

Scooter Lindley: The Formation Call

By: Lena G. Goldberg

Factors affecting decision making about appropriate types of business entities are explored in the context of advising a prospective investor with particular emphasis on why LLCs are increasingly "go-to" entities. The potential effect of choice of organization on... View Details

Keywords: Business Organization; Decision Choices and Conditions; Entrepreneurship; Investment; Lawsuits and Litigation; Delaware

07 Aug 2012
News

Scaling Is Hard. Here's How Akamai Did It.

15 Feb 2016
Blog Post

Coming to HBS with a Non-Finance Background

Charlotte Steel, a former political science major at Brown, was inspired to become a teacher after taking a “Politics of Education” class at her alma mater. When applying to business school, Charlotte had concerns about whether she had the View Details

04 Oct 2016
News

Using Humor in the Office: When It Works, When It Backfires

February 1997 (Revised July 2001)
Background Note

Introduction to Activity-Based Costing

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Introduces the fundamental notions of activity-based costing (ABC). Motivates ABC by means of a simple example, a single and a diversified pen factory. Proceeds to show how ABC assigns costs more accurately to products and customers by: 1) identifying the activities... View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management