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March 2005 (Revised May 2009)
Case

Columbia's Final Mission

By: Michael Roberto, Amy C. Edmondson, Richard M.J. Bohmer, Laura Feldman and Erika Ferlins

On February 1, 2003, the Shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, and the seven astronauts onboard lost their lives. Explores Columbia's final mission from the perspective of six key managers and engineers associated with NASA's Space... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Leadership; Crisis Management; Management Teams; Organizational Culture; Aerospace Industry

October 2001 (Revised August 2005)
Case

Zipcar

By: Myra M. Hart and Wendy Carter

Provides a detailed description of the processes and tasks associated with creating a new venture in an emerging industry (subscription car-sharing for urban dwellers). Chronicles the entrepreneur's concept development, industry analysis, market research, identity... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Leadership Development; Venture Capital; Business Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Plan; Budgets and Budgeting; Management Teams; Partners and Partnerships; Marketing Strategy; Brands and Branding; Auto Industry; Service Industry

Web

MBA

change industries Student Life An Inspiring & Collaborative Community Here you'll learn as much from your classmates as you do from our world-class instructors—and they from you! Each class is an assembly of individuals who bring their diverse View Details

September 2016 (Revised May 2018)
Case

Zurich Insurance: Recruitment

By: Boris Groysberg and Katherine Connolly

Zurich Insurance was undergoing organizational change after implementing five new people practices focused on manager development, diversity and inclusion, job model and data analytics, recruitment, and talent pipeline. The case “Zurich Insurance: Fostering Key People... View Details

Keywords: Managing Change; Leadership; Organization Change And Adaptation; Organizational Behavior; Recruiting; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leading Change; Leadership Development; Human Capital; Human Resources; Insurance; Recruitment; Insurance Industry

December 2008 (Revised April 2009)
Background Note

China's Energy Industry

By: F. Warren McFarlan, George Baroutas and Tracy Manty

China is ranked the world's second largest consumer of energy. This note provides background on China's energy industry and provides details on China's leading state-owned energy companies, production and consumption statistics, and government policies in support of... View Details

Keywords: Energy; Energy Industry; China

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05 May 2021
News

"The Heart of Business" with Hubert Joly

29 Nov 2018
Blog Post

The HBS Community - Student Initiatives

discussions start with these topics, they end up moving in a variety of directions based on the different backgrounds and interests of the dinner guests. The group is always a random mixture of second year students (ECs), first year... View Details

November 2000 (Revised February 2002)
Case

Resinas Sinteticas, S.A. (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Greg Rogers

A recent MBA graduate heads international marketing for his family's Mexico-based rosin supply business, he must decide how to respond to the aggressive tactics of his much larger American competitor. Among other things, the U.S. competitor is spreading false rumors... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Competition; Marketing Strategy; Business Strategy; Crime and Corruption; Trade; Chemical Industry; Mexico; United States; Europe

John Macomber is a Senior Lecturer in the Finance unit at Harvard Business School. His professional background includes leadership of real estate, construction, and information technology businesses. At HBS, Mr. Macomber's work focuses on climate adaptation and the... View Details

Keywords: building materials; construction; energy; green technology; infrastructure industry; real estate; transportation; utilities; waste management; insurance industry

April 1993 (Revised September 1996)
Case

ABB Deutschland (A)

By: Hugo Uyterhoeven

Describes Europe's most famous postwar multinational merger between Asea of Sweden and Brown Boveri of Switzerland. Gives background on both companies and focuses particularly on BBC's geographic organization, its corporate culture, and the relationship between its... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Subsidiaries; Corporate Governance; Organizational Culture; Problems and Challenges; Relationships; Behavior; Business Strategy; Sweden; Switzerland

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2008
Chapter

Overcoming Barriers to Collaboration: Psychological Safety and Learning in Diverse Teams

By: A. Edmondson and Kate Roloff

We review research on psychological safety and team learning to identify core ideas and findings in these closely related literatures and to propose a model in which a negative relationship between team member diversity and team collaboration is moderated by... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Groups and Teams; Social and Collaborative Networks; Performance Improvement; Learning; Diversity

December 2023
Teaching Note

Three Decades of Cluster Policy in Catalonia: What's Next?

By: Christian H.M. Ketels

The TN provides conceptual background and a suggested teaching plan for using the HBS case 724-404. It discusses the concepts and issues related to the main teaching objectives of the case, i.e. the nature and effective structuring of cluster-based economic... View Details

Keywords: Economic Sectors; Government and Politics; Policy; Development Economics; Spain

February 2008 (Revised June 2011)
Background Note

Social Networks: The Portals of Web 2.0

By: Stephen P. Bradley and Nancy Bartlett

Social networks have evolved into influential, compelling and persuasive systems, the portals of Web 2.0 and one of the most powerful media phenomena in 2008. This note provides a brief background and description of various social network sites including MySpace,... View Details

Keywords: Web; Technology; Networks; Information Technology Industry

06 May 2016
Blog Post

Make Social Media Work For You Abroad

Looking to move to a new country? An international job search can be difficult after years of working in a different country. Your contacts can be your biggest asset when you’re looking to make a move, and you should use your network, whether from HBS, your... View Details

March 2017
Supplement

eBay vs. Carl Icahn, 2014: Interview with John Donahoe, eBay CEO 2008-2015

By: David B. Yoffie, Eric Baldwin and Tom Ryder

This video, a supplement to HBS Case No. 717-417, features an interview with former eBay CEO John Donahoe, providing his perspective on eBay's response to activist investor Carl Icahn's attack on eBay, which began in January 2014. After giving some of his own... View Details

Keywords: Activist Shareholder; Activist Investors; Technology; Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Investment Activism; Financial Services Industry; Retail Industry; Technology Industry

May 1986 (Revised January 1989)
Case

Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (A), The Creative Problem

Presents the first of two cases describing the struggle to solve creative problems on the Dry Idea antiperspirant brand introduced in 1978 by the Gillette Co. and its advertising agency (Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborne). Provides company and industry background plus... View Details

Keywords: Creativity; Advertising; Product Marketing; Consumer Products Industry; United States

05 Dec 2018
News

6 Ways Traveling Makes You A Better Employee

September 2021 (Revised December 2023)
Case

On the Bubble: Startup Bootstrapping

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Tom Quinn and Annelena Lobb

Bubble was a software company in the low-code/no-code market, making tools that allowed users without traditional programming backgrounds or technical skills to build software. The case covers cofounder Joshua Haas’s engineering background, as he experienced a high... View Details

March 2017
Case

SEAS and HBS in Allston

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Kerry Herman

The case describes opportunities for and barriers to collaboration between the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and Harvard Business School as SEAS prepares to move two-thirds of its faculty and classes to a new campus in Allston, 1.5 miles... View Details

Keywords: Business Education; Engineering; Strategy; Partners and Partnerships; Change Management; Education Industry; United States