Publications

14 May 2018
Research & Ideas

Amazon vs. Whole Foods: When Cultures Collide

up with ideas, like a bike messenger service or a new bread recipe, that sometimes found their way to other stores. “That model of empowerment brings with it a lot of... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Food & Beverage

Leslie K. John

Leslie K. John is a Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. Currently, she teaches on the topics of Negotiation, Marketing and Behavioral Economics in various Executive Education courses, including in the Program for Leadership Development.... View Details

Keywords: diet services; diet services; diet services; diet services

Teaching Interest

MBA Elective Curriculum Personal Selling and Sales Force Management

Personal selling is the primary (and sometimes the only) form of marketing activity for many firms, especially in a business-to-business context. The course focuses on the tactical component of managing a salesforce and on the strategic element of linking sales... View Details

June 2021
Teaching Note

Amazon: Cult or Culture?

By: Boris Groysberg, Kerry Herman and Amy Klopfenstein

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 421-008. Amazon was one of the first entrants in e-commerce. Under the leadership of founder Jeff Bezos, Amazon had expanded beyond books to manufacturing and selling a wide range of products and services globally. Bezos had built a... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Organizational Culture; Growth Management; Information Technology; Human Resources; Talent and Talent Management; Retail Industry; Technology Industry

02 Mar 2010
First Look

First Look: March 2

Working PapersEquity-Debtholder Conflicts and Capital Structure Authors:Bo Becker and Per Strömberg Abstract We use an important legal event as a natural experiment to examine equity-debt conflicts in the vicinity of financial distress.... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

May 2015 (Revised January 2017)
Case

Bharti Infratel: Unlocking Value in Mobile Infrastructure

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Prashant Salwan, Tanya Bijlani and Rachna Tahilyani

Bharti Infratel, a telecom tower company, provides shared telecom infrastructure to mobile operators in India. It is a spin off from Bharti Airtel, India's largest leading mobile services operator. Bharti Infratel partnered with its rivals, Vodafone and Idea Cellular,... View Details

Keywords: Collaboration; Strategic Alliances (Business); Mobile Phone Industry; Mergers and Acquisitions; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Telecommunications Industry; Asia; India

Research Summary

3D Negotiaton

By: James K. Sebenius

In articles and books, often with David Lax, I have been developing a broad approach to effective negotiation that encompasses three "dimensions." In this "3D" approach, our first dimension — "tactics"-- is the most familiar territory. Tactics are the persuasive... View Details

January 2009
Case

Creating The Partnership Solutions Group at Lehman Brothers

By: David A. Thomas and Stephanie Creary

Explores how two senior Wall St. executives created a successful commercial opportunity for Lehman Brothers that focused on building relationships with minority- and women-owned financial services firms. Illustrates how Patricia Miller Zollar and Nadja Fidelia aligned... View Details

Keywords: Diversity; Gender; Partners and Partnerships; Power and Influence; Value Creation; Financial Services Industry

Find at Harvard

Article

A Feasibility Study Using Time-driven Activity-based Costing as a Management Tool for Provider Cost Estimation: Lessons from the National TB Control Program in Zimbabwe in 2018

By: J. Chirenda, B. Nhlema Simwaka, C. Sandy, K. Bodnar, S. Corbin, P. Desai, T. Mapako, S. Shamu, C. Timire, E. Antonio, A. Makone, A. Birikorang, T. Mapuranga, M. Ngwenya, T. Masunda, M. Dube, E. Wandwalo, L. Morrison and R. S. Kaplan

Background: This study used process maps and time-driven activity-based costing to document TB service delivery processes. The analysis identified the resources required to sustain TB services in Zimbabwe, as well as several opportunities for more effective and... View Details

Keywords: Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing; Provider Cost; Health Care and Treatment; Cost Management; Activity Based Costing and Management; Zimbabwe

Read Now

February 2013 (Revised June 2017)
Case

Project Sun Devil and Project Paris

By: Nori Gerardo Lietz

Tony Lee is preparing to present a project to the investment committee of Howard Street Capital. He will be recommending an investment in Project Sun Devil, a high-quality 225-unit student housing rental property near Tempe, Arizona. Tony Lee will compete for capital... View Details

Keywords: General Management; Financial Analysis; Return On Assets; Accounting; Performance Measurement; Financial Ratios; Return On Equity; Financial Statements; Profitability Analysis; Portfolio Investment; Portfolio Management; Real Estate; Property; Investment Portfolio; Investment Return; Real Estate Industry; United States

September 2003
Case

Valuing a Cross-Border LBO: Bidding on the Yell Group

By: Mihir A. Desai, Paolo Notarnicola and Mark Veblen

A team of private equity investors must value the leveraged buyout of a Yellow Pages business that operated in both the United States and the United Kingdom. In the process, they must wrestle with issues of how to conduct cross-border valuations and how to value a... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Cash Flow; Private Equity; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Valuation

04 Mar 2022
HBS Seminar

Michael Chu & Bob Kaplan, HBS

25 Sep 2006
Research & Ideas

How Software Platforms Revolutionize Business

transformed nearly every major industry for the past quarter century." Think of software platforms as ring leaders of ecosystems in which a few or many companies can participate to reach users. These... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Web Services; Web Services

January 2022
Case

Dating Ring

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Lindsay N. Hyde

In 2015, the co-founders of Dating Ring, an online dating startup that relied on human matchmakers to arrange dates between its members, were deciding whether to either shut down the service or instead manage Dating Ring as a "lifestyle company," ramping down growth... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Failure; Business Exit or Shutdown; Internet and the Web; Venture Capital; Service Industry; Service Industry; United States

February 2020
Case

Klöckner & Co: Steeling for a Digital World

By: Scott Duke Kominers and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Hoping to get ahead of potential digital disruption at Klöckner & Co.—one of the world’s largest steel and metal distributors—CEO Gisbert Rühl set up both kloeckner.i (KCI), an internal transformation arm, and XOM Materials (XOM), an independent industry platform. KCI... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Market Design; Digital Platforms; Markets; Industry Structures; Supply and Industry; Technology Adoption; Transformation; Digital Transformation; Steel Industry; Information Technology Industry; Europe; Germany

November 2018
Case

frog design

By: Srikant M. Datar and Caitlin N. Bowler

The case follows the genesis and development of Palo, a radical urban communications hub designed to replace payphone booths on Manhattan’s city streets, through a joint venture between frog design and a venture-backed firm LQD WiFi. The case explores the complexity of... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Prototyping; User Experience Design; Design Heuristics; Telecommunications; Urban Systems; Communication Technology; Urban Scope; Innovation and Invention; Design; Product Development

26 Aug 2015
News

Five steps to a solid contract

September 2011 (Revised December 2011)
Case

CARD Group: Mutually Reinforcing Institutions

By: Cynthia A. Montgomery, Michael Shih-Ta Chen and Dawn Lau

CARD (Center for Agricultural and Rural Development) is a Philippines-based microfinance organization that began as an NGO and has since expanded into eight related entities providing services to the poor. Under Founding Director Dr. Aristotle Alip's leadership, CARD... View Details

Keywords: Microfinance; Partners and Partnerships; Non-Governmental Organizations; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Philippines