Publications

02 May 2000
Research & Ideas

Leading Professional Service Firms

separates professional service firms from other businesses is that the employees are their most important assets. Yet professionals in any field — independent-minded, creative individuals—can be difficult to manage. In LPSF, we use an old... View Details

Keywords: Re: Jay W. Lorsch; Service; Consulting; Accounting

03 Sep 2013
First Look

First Look: September 3

practices in structural units that align with the logic emphasized by the practice: when adopting practices reflecting a market logic, organizations will locate them in mainline business units, such as marketing; conversely, when adopting... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

16 May 2017
First Look

First Look at New Ideas and Research, May 16

quickly as possible in order to maintain market leadership. CEO Eduardo Padilla had to define his strategy and decide whether to focus on improving culture and operations or on relentlessly beating his rival. Purchase this... View Details

Keywords: Re: Multiple Faculty

05 Jul 2006
Working Paper Summaries

The Motion Picture Industry: Critical Issues in Practice, Current Research & New Research Directions

Keywords: by Jehoshua Eliashberg, Anita Elberse & Mark A. A. M. Leenders; Entertainment & Recreation; Motion Pictures & Video; Advertising

December 2016
Article

Impact Investing: A Brief History

By: Brian Trelstad

Over the last decade, impact investing has become an increasingly-discussed topic in the realms of both business and public policy. Impact investors are motived by a desire to advance social or environmental goals and an intuition that pursuing two goals at once -... View Details

Keywords: Impact Investing; Investment; Ethics; Strategy

SSRN

22 Apr 2008
First Look

First Look: April 22, 2008

business strategy is closely tied to its research strategy, which emphasizes extensive internal discovery and development capabilities leading to organic growth along with explicit external alliances and... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

April 2011 (Revised May 2011)
Case

EMC2: Delivering Customer Centricity

By: Thomas Steenburgh and Jill Avery

This case introduces the concept of customer centricity and traces its development at EMC, the world's leading data storage hardware and information management software company. EMC's customers had historically relied on EMC salespeople to guide them through the... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Interpersonal Communication; Customer Relationship Management; Knowledge Acquisition; Marketing Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Salesforce Management; Social and Collaborative Networks; Internet; Information Technology Industry

October 2022 (Revised December 2022)
Case

Aphro Beverages

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Amram Migdal

This case focuses on distribution, sales, and product decisions as Aphro Beverages reaches an inflection point in its growth trajectory. In 2020, Aphro Beverages, based in Accra, Ghana, successfully launched its brand and brought two new alcoholic spirits products to... View Details

19 Jul 2023
Blog Post

A Pathway to Pursue Aspirations

While Mizuho Kanai (MBA 2018) was fulfilling her summer internship at NPR, her manager recommended that she read an HBS case study about how the Sesame Workshop CEO, Jeff Dunn (MBA 1981), was changing the institution. “I was blown away,” she says, “by how Jeff and his... View Details

December 2018
Case

DraftKings and the Future of Fantasy Sports

By: Robert F. Higgins and Julia Kelley

Founded in 2012, DraftKings helped change the fantasy sports landscape by popularizing daily fantasy sports (DFS), or short-term fantasy sports tournaments that offered big cash prizes to winners. The company’s valuation exceeded $1 billion by 2015, but DraftKings soon... View Details

Blog

Should You Pursue the Certificate of Management Excellence?

UPDATED 04 OCT 2022 We are thrilled to announce that the Certificate of Management Excellence (CME) has expanded to include more programs and increased flexibility to fit your career path and personal goals. In addition to the Leadership and View Details

March 2005 (Revised August 2007)
Case

Aguas Argentinas: Settling a Dispute

By: Louis T. Wells Jr. and Alexandra de Royere

The French-owned Aguas Argentinas faces a demand from the Argentine government that it renegotiate its concession to operate the Buenos Aires water and sewage services. The company must decide whether to continue with efforts to settle on a new contract or to exercise... View Details

Keywords: Foreign Direct Investment; Contracts; Infrastructure; Privatization; Business and Government Relations; Conflict and Resolution; Business Strategy; Utilities Industry; France; Buenos Aires

September 2022
Article

Experimentation and Start-up Performance: Evidence from A/B Testing

By: Rembrand Koning, Sharique Hasan and Aaron Chatterji

Recent scholarship has argued that experimentation should be the organizing principle for entrepreneurial strategy. Experimentation leads to organizational learning, which drives improvements in firm performance. We investigate this proposition by exploiting the... View Details

Keywords: Experimentation; A/B Testing; Data-driven Decision-making; Organizational Learning; Entrepreneurship; Strategy; Business Startups; Learning; Performance; Decision Making

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September 2012 (Revised July 2014)
Case

Blackstone's Investment in Intelenet

By: Josh Lerner, Sandeep Bapat and Rachna Tahilyani

Three years had passed since Blackstone's investment in Intelenet Global Services, their third largest investment in India. Great progress had been made, but now a new challenge loomed. Globank, a large global bank, was Intelenet's largest customer. Intelenet's... View Details

Keywords: India; Blackstone; Private Equity; Financial Services Industry; India

July 2013 (Revised October 2014)
Case

Value Retail: Opportunities for European Expansion

By: Arthur I Segel

Scott Malkin, CEO of Value Retail, a developer and operator of European outlet villages serving luxury brands, is planning on developing a 18,503 m2 open-air outlet village to be built 98 kilometers south of Milan on land he was about to acquire for 7.26 million lira.... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Investment; Risk and Uncertainty; Expansion; Retail Industry; Milan

May 2011 (Revised July 2015)
Case

Ford Motor Company: Strengthening the Dealer Network

By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Katharine Lee and Marie Bell

The case describes a five-year effort (2006-2011) of distribution rationalization and consolidation at Ford. The financial crisis in the second-half of 2008 forced GM and Chrysler into bankruptcy. Having completed the distribution overhaul work by 2011, its senior... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Product; Distribution; Consolidation; Distribution Channels; Transformation; Business Processes; Auto Industry

September 1991 (Revised November 1997)
Case

Gillette's Launch of Sensor

By: Pankaj Ghemawat and Benjamin C. Esty

The introduction of the Sensor Shaving System, one of the biggest product launches ever, forced Gillette to reevaluate its strategy in its shaving and non-shaving business. It had to decide whether to go ahead with the launch and if so, at what scale. Permits analysis... View Details

Keywords: Product Launch; Technological Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Business Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Measurement and Metrics; Consumer Products Industry

February 2006 (Revised August 2006)
Case

Investment Banking at Thomas Weisel Partners

By: Malcolm P. Baker and Lauren Barley

Thomas Weisel Partners (TWP), a San Francisco-based bank focusing on emerging growth companies, is considering its strategy in the context of regulatory, competitive, and legal changes. Blake Jorgensen, the chief operating officer and co-director of investment banking,... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Business or Company Management; Conflict of Interests; Change Management; Investment Banking; Financing and Loans; Laws and Statutes; Financial Strategy; Corporate Finance; Banking Industry; San Francisco