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October 2023 (Revised January 2024)
Case

McDonald's Board of Directors (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz

In October 2019, the McDonald’s Corporation board of directors, chaired by Enrique Hernandez, Jr., gathered to learn the results of their outside counsel’s investigation into the conduct of the CEO. On the surface, the iconic fast-food chain was thriving as growing... View Details

September 1985 (Revised January 1986)
Case

Peter Wendell

By: William A. Sahlman

Contains a description of a decision confronting an employee of IBM in late 1981. Should he leave IBM to become head of a new venture capital fund which will specialize in technology investments? The case is designed to expose students to the nature of the opportunity... View Details

Keywords: Personal Development and Career; Jobs and Positions; Opportunities; Valuation; Decision Choices and Conditions; Resignation and Termination; Venture Capital; Financial Services Industry; Computer Industry

June 2007 (Revised March 2008)
Case

Lazard LLC

By: Guhan Subramanian and Eliot Sherman

Describes Lazard's situation in 2001, and supplies context for the subsequent negotiation between its Chairman and his hand-picked successor. In 2001 Lazard, the last of the great investment houses to remain both private and in the control of its founding family, is in... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Family Business; Talent and Talent Management; Selection and Staffing; Management Succession; Negotiation Tactics; Financial Services Industry

November 2020
Supplement

Integrating Beam Suntory (B)

By: David G. Fubini, Rawi Abdelal and David Lane

Supplements (A) case: The spring 2014 acquisition of U.S. alcoholic spirits maker Beam Inc. by Japan’s Suntory Holdings vaulted Suntory from 15th to third-largest international spirits company in the world. Yet Suntory had borrowed nearly the entire $16 billion... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Communication; Borrowing and Debt; Globalization; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Retention; Leadership; Supply Chain; Organizational Structure; Ownership; Relationships; Conflict and Resolution; Integration; Value Creation; Food and Beverage Industry; Japan; United States; Chicago

Article

Strong Leadership and Teamwork Drive Culture and Performance Change: Ohio State University Medical Center 2000–2006

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger, Fred Sanfilippo, Neeli Bendapudi and Anthony Rucci

Several characteristics of academic health centers have the potential to create high levels of internal conflict and misalignment that can pose significant leadership challenges.

In September 2000, the positions of Ohio State University (OSU) senior vice... View Details

Keywords: Employee Relationship Management; Customer Value and Value Chain; Organizational Structure; Performance Improvement; Customer Satisfaction; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leading Change; Service Delivery; Satisfaction; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry; Ohio

Read Now

Career Coach

Kristen Fitzpatrick

Kristen (HBS '03) is Managing Director, HBS Career and Professional Development. In this role, she coaches alumni and MBA students. Through her interactions with recruiters over the past decade, Kristen is familiar with many industries and how well HBS students and... View Details

Keywords: Education; Manufacturing; Consumer Products; Social Enterprise

01 Dec 2011
News

Li & Fung's Global Footprint

about how to manage and grow the company? The turning point was when Deng Xiaoping opened up China, making available the most important natural resource it had, its labor, to the rest of the world. Starting in 1979, China began to... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; Miscellaneous Manufacturing; Manufacturing; Wholesale Trade

05 Jan 2017
Blog Post

Simple Ways to Take Gender Bias Out of Your Jobs

Factors line of human resources software, including the ability to flag job descriptions for potentially biased language. The course’s guest speakers also included the CEOs of startups Applied Ltd. and... View Details

Keywords: All Industries

09 Jun 2003
Research & Ideas

The Challenge of the Multi-site Nonprofit

as CEO), Planned Parenthood, Habitat for Humanity, SOS Kinderdorf, and The Nature Conservancy. Each was mapped on two dimensions—one that exerts forces toward unit autonomy and the other influencing the degree of organizational affiliation. (The Nature Conservancy and... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

14 Aug 2019
News

Leading from Within

Leng Lim (left) and Arjan Overwater Leng Lim (MBA 2001)—a partner at Mindkind Institute, Episcopal priest, and practitioner of Vipassana meditation—considers himself an oddity among HBS alumni. So when he met Arjan Overwater (AMP 164, 2003)—a former senior VP for... View Details

Keywords: Maureen Harmon

Web

Diversity on Teams: Our Own Harvest - Race, Gender & Equity

Safety So it’s not enough for an employer to say, “I want a more diverse workplace” or “I am going to use automated hiring and therefore eliminate human bias.” The employer actually should do audits of the results coming out of this... View Details

02 Oct 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, October 2, 2018

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=55043 Machine Learning and Human Capital: Experimental Evidence on Productivity Complementarities By: Choudhury, Prithwiraj, Evan Starr, and Rajshree Agarwal Abstract—Machine learning... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

May 2011 (Revised March 2012)
Case

InterfaceRAISE: Sustainability Consulting

By: Michael W. Toffel, Robert G. Eccles and Casey Taylor

InterfaceRAISE is a sustainability management consulting firm created to leverage the capabilities of its parent company Interface Inc., a carpet manufacturer recognized as a global leader in corporate environmental sustainability. This case illustrates the challenges... View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Integrated Corporate Reporting; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Entrepreneurship; Performance; Environmental Accounting; Profit; Marketing Strategy; Human Resources; Business Model; Leveraged Buyouts; Salesforce Management; Consulting Industry; Manufacturing Industry

25 Jan 2013
Research & Ideas

Why a Harvard Finance Instructor Went to the Kumbh Mela

this land was under 30 feet of water. Three weeks from now this will become the largest city on earth, the largest single-purpose gathering of humanity in history. Every 12 years, when the moon and stars are aligned, this becomes the most... View Details

Keywords: by John D. Macomber; Construction; Real Estate

01 Dec 2000
News

Books

common. Each of the successful organizations they studied, including Mobil, CIGNA, and Duke Children's Hospital, used the balanced scorecard to align and focus all resources on strategy. The authors document how executives... View Details

Keywords: Rogelio Fussa; Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

July 2009 (Revised June 2010)
Supplement

Executive Pay and the Credit Crisis of 2008 (B)

By: V.G. Narayanan and Lisa Brem

As the recession lingered on into 2009, the U.S. government sought to limit executive pay and excessive risk. The debate raged over what constituted excessive risk and how best to mitigate it. This case describes the government restrictions on executive pay for TARP... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Government Legislation; Executive Compensation; Risk Management; Business and Government Relations; Motivation and Incentives; United States

March 2001 (Revised September 2002)
Case

Merck Latin America (A)

By: Michael Beer and James Weber

Introduces Grey Warner, the vice president of Merck's Latin America region, and his efforts to improve the organizational effectiveness of the region and to introduce a more global business culture and values. Discusses Merck's ethics and values, its Latin American... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Ethics; Business Processes; Strategic Planning; Change Management; Values and Beliefs; Globalized Firms and Management; Employee Relationship Management; Business Strategy; Government and Politics; Economy; Pharmaceutical Industry; Latin America

11 Jan 2011
First Look

First Look: Jan. 11

in fortunes are vivid examples of the private sector's cycle of Schumpeterian creative destruction. In contrast, the list of the largest nonprofit organizations has remained stable over decades. Large nonprofits do not disappear and few new ones—Habitat for View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 2024 (Revised September 2024)
Case

Hakluyt: from Corporate Intelligence to Trusted Advisors

By: Joseph B. Fuller and Lena Duchene

"Established in 1995 by a group of ex-British intelligence officers, Hakluyt & Company (Hakluyt) was a corporate advisory firm that generated insights by leveraging a unique blend of internal expertise and a global network of well-connected individuals. Since 2019, the... View Details