Publications

October 2006 (Revised January 2008)
Case

Allianz AG: Becoming a European Company

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Alexis Chernak

Focuses on the decision made by leadership at Allianz AG, the German insurance and financial services company, to complete a cross-border merger with the Italian insurance and financial services company, RAS. Allianz, however, could not complete the cross-border merger... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Organization; Decision Choices and Conditions; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Governing and Advisory Boards; Laws and Statutes; European Union; Germany; Italy

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June 2019 (Revised February 2020)
Case

Eric Hawkins Leading Agile Teams @ Digitally-Born AppFolio (A)

By: Tsedal Neeley, Paul Leonardi and Michael Norris

Eric Hawkins, director of engineering at AppFolio—a digital technology firm that offered cloud-based business software to small and medium sized companies—was shocked by an unusual request from his senior leadership team. Could Hawkins and one of his agile teams build... View Details

Keywords: Values; Agile; Vision; Corporate Culture; Leadership; Values and Beliefs; Organizational Culture; Decision Choices and Conditions; Digital Transformation; Technology Industry; United States; California

November 2007
Case

Differences at Work: Jason (A)

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Rachel Gordon

Jason is a member of his firm's recruiting team, which has a mandate to create a more diverse workforce. When the group decides to interview a candidate based on the candidate's race, Jason wonders whether they made the right decision and how, in general, diversity... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Ethnicity; Job Interviews; Race; Recruitment; Diversity

September 2010 (Revised December 2010)
Case

Santander Consumer Finance

By: J. Gunnar Trumbull, Elena Corsi and Andrew Barron

A Spanish company has to decide if they should expand into the fragmented European consumer finance market and has to make important organizational strategy decisions in the midst of the world economic downturn that followed the 2007 U.S. credit crunch. Since 2002, the... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Financial Markets; International Finance; Personal Finance; Consolidation; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Financial Services Industry; European Union; Spain

08 Jul 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Delegation in Multi-Establishment Firms: Adaptation vs. Coordination in I.T. Purchasing Authority

Keywords: by Kristina McElheran

April 1985
Case

SEEQ Technology--1984

By: Kim B. Clark

Examines a decision about product and process technology facing a small, three-year old semiconductor company. The company must decide between pursuing a well-defined technology (N-MOS) with significant short-term advantages or an advanced technology (CMOS) that has... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Decision Choices and Conditions; Semiconductor Industry

April 2021 (Revised April 2021)
Case

Project Restart: Deciding the Future of English Football

By: Nour Kteily and Deepak Malhotra

In March 2020, the English Premier League football (soccer) season was suspended partway through due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Two months later the season remained in limbo, with a looming deadline to decide whether to attempt to complete the season or curtail it—and... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Sports; Health Pandemics; Decision Making; Fairness; Values and Beliefs; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Motivation and Incentives; Outcome or Result; Perception; Negotiation; Sports Industry; United Kingdom

January 2011 (Revised October 2012)
Background Note

Strengths Become Weaknesses: Cognitive Biases in Founder Decision-Making

By: Noam T. Wasserman and Kyle Anderson

This note combines vignettes and scholarly research to outline the cognitive biases and decision-making strategies that influence key decisions in the founding process. It is argued that the same biases which provide early benefits can later prove to be a weakness for... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Cognition and Thinking

March 2023
Case

Ransomware Attack at Colonial Pipeline Company

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Li-Kuan Ni

On the morning of May 7, 2021, Colonial Pipeline Company became aware that the company had been the victim of a malicious ransomware attack that had stolen and locked up company data. The extortionists demanded 75 bitcoins (worth about $4.4 million at the time) in... View Details

31 Aug 2009
Research & Ideas

Why Competition May Not Improve Credit Rating Agencies

and industries. Competition will make ratings better to at least some of these interested parties, but not necessarily to all. Our results imply that competition in credit ratings forces raters to favor... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Financial Services

10 May 2010
Research & Ideas

What Top Scholars Say About Leadership

leadership. Due to the mission of the School ("We educate leaders who make a difference in the world"), our convening power, and the urgency of issues in leadership today, I think it was in the DNA... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Education

September 2000 (Revised September 2005)
Case

New Beetle, The

By: Rajiv Lal and Nilanjana R. Pal

Volkswagen of America introduced the New Beetle at the Detroit auto show in January 1998 to rave reviews from the automobile press and industry gurus. Elisabeth Vanzura, marketing director of Volkswagen American had the challenging task of converting this enthusiasm to... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Leadership; Marketing; Marketing Communications; Product Positioning; Market Entry and Exit; Sales; Auto Industry; United States

January 2009 (Revised June 2010)
Case

Cisco Business Councils (2007): Unifying a Functional Enterprise with an Internal Governance System

By: Ranjay Gulati

In response to the 2001 market downturn, Cisco Systems implemented a major restructuring that transformed the company from a decentralized to centralized organization. While recognizing that a centralized, functional structure was necessary to avoid product and... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Customer Focus and Relationships; Governing and Advisory Boards; Resource Allocation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Corporate Strategy; Technology Industry

27 Sep 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Salience in Quality Disclosure: Evidence from the U.S. News College Rankings

Keywords: by Michael Luca & Jonathan Smith; Education; Information; Publishing

January 2000 (Revised March 2000)
Case

Cachet Technologies

By: Paul A. Gompers and Howard Reitz

Describes the decision facing Danny Lewin, Jonathan Seelig, and Tom Leighton, the founders of Cachet Technologies, an MIT spin-out. The firm has done poorly in the annual MIT business plan competition and the founders have to decide whether to continue. View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Business Startups; Business Plan; Failure; Cooperative Ownership; Business Strategy; Financial Services Industry

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September 2015 (Revised February 2016)
Supplement

Novell (B): Board of Directors Aftermath of Hedge Fund Attack

By: Richard L. Nolan

No corporation and its board of directors is immune to a disruptive shareholder activist attack. The Novell (A) and (B) cases take students through a shareholder activist attack and its aftermath—a saga that spanned 5 years. The cases outline the activist playbook in... View Details

Keywords: Investment Activism; Governing and Advisory Boards; Decision Making

Teaching Interest

Business Opportunties in Climate Adaptation

By: John D. Macomber

This is a Short Intensive Program or SIP at Harvard Business School. It’s an optional student offering prior to the formal start of the Spring semester the following week. SIPs tend to cover new material on current topics, to be less formal than the HBS Case Study... View Details

Keywords: Resilience; Climate Risk; Climate Impact; Fire Protection; Insurance Risk Exposure; Hedge Fund; Public Health; Public Health Measures; Climate Change; Adaptation; Infrastructure; Real Estate Industry; Transportation Industry; Insurance Industry; United States; Africa; Latin America

July 2012
Case

Show Me the Money (A)

By: Clayton Rose

A business unit leader faces a major decision when an employee critical to a high profile transaction asks for a unique compensation arrangement that has implications for the culture of the business. View Details

Keywords: Culture; Compensation; Leadership; Cost vs Benefits; Decision Choices and Conditions; Organizational Culture; Compensation and Benefits