Publications

April 12, 2023
Article

Using AI to Adjust Your Marketing and Sales in a Volatile World

By: Das Narayandas and Arijit Sengupta

Why are some firms better and faster than others at adapting their use of customer data to respond to changing or uncertain marketing conditions? A common thread across faster-acting firms is the use of AI models to predict outcomes at various stages of the customer... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; AI and Machine Learning; Consumer Behavior; Technology Adoption; Competitive Advantage

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January 2008 (Revised July 2008)
Case

The Allstate Corporation

By: John R. Wells

In 2007, Allstate was the number two property and casualty insurer in the USA and had enjoyed five years of rapid profit improvement. The question facing CEO Thomas J. Wilson was how to maintain the momentum. This case tracks the evolution of Allstate's strategy over... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Financial Institutions; Insurance; Profit; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Financial Services Industry

February 2000 (Revised December 2000)
Case

Staples.com

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Joanna M. Jacobson and Gillian Morris

Staples.com, the online unit of the U.S. office supplies retailing chain Staples, faces a range of strategic and organizational issues as it accelerates its growth. Should it pursue only existing Staples customers or consumers who do not shop in Staples stores? How... View Details

Keywords: Supply Chain; Business Units; Business Model; Growth and Development; Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Business Strategy; Service Industry; United States

31 Aug 2013
News

Long CVS receipts spark social media sensation

January 2013 (Revised August 2013)
Case

Vietnam: Sustaining the Growth of an Asian Tiger

By: Michael E. Porter and Christian H.M. Ketels

The case tracks Vietnam's economic policy choices and performance from the end of the Vietnam war to the Doi Moi economic reforms and the economic transformation that followed. Throughout this period, the country had become a darling of the international aid community.... View Details

Keywords: Conflict Management; Leadership; Policy; Transformation; Economic Growth; Developing Countries and Economies; Macroeconomics; Viet Nam

2008
Book

Hedgehogs and Foxes: Character, Leadership, and Command in Organizations

By: Abraham Zaleznik

In this compelling look at charismatic leaders and their leadership styles, Abraham Zaleznik asserts that leaders are either "hedgehogs," who view leadership as a single-minded track driven by unwavering rules, or "foxes," who assess and re-evaluate their... View Details

Keywords: Attitudes; Leadership Style; Government and Politics; Power and Influence; Innovation and Invention

Web

Admissions Requirements

Admissions Requirements If you have a proven track record of business success and leadership potential, then HBS Executive Education may be right for you. Because we admit applicants on a rolling, space-available basis, you are encouraged... View Details

September 2006 (Revised April 2007)
Case

Tim Keller at Katzenbach Partners LLC (A)

By: Boris Groysberg, Christopher Marquis and Ayesha Kanji

Tracks of the first 6 months of a recent MBA grad, Tim Keller, at Katzenbach Partners, a boutique consulting firm focused on organizational change and strategy. Covers how Keller initially struggles with his assignment and ends with a question of whether or not he... View Details

Keywords: Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Personal Development and Career; Work-Life Balance; Projects; Situation or Environment; Strategy

30 Jan 2017
News

The Dow at 20,000: What's All That About?

June 1998 (Revised August 2001)
Case

Wells Fargo Online Financial Services (A)

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Nicole Tempest

Wells Fargo, the industry leader in electronic banking, has implemented a Balanced Scorecard in its online financial services group (OFS) to track and measure performance. The OFS group develops and supports services that allow existing and future banking customers to... View Details

Keywords: Balanced Scorecard; Internet and the Web; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Corporate Strategy; Performance Evaluation; Finance; Change; Situation or Environment; Measurement and Metrics; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry

Research Summary

The NYSE Trading Floor and Spatial Dependence in Stock Returns

The floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is organized by physical posts. Each post has at most thirty panels, and each panel tracks up to thirty stocks. I demonstrate that there is spatial dependence in return correlations. Specifically, returns for... View Details

21 Apr 2021
Video

Fireside Chat: Remote Work Revolution

November–December 2014
Article

Accountable? The Problems and Solutions of Online Ad Optimization

By: Benjamin Edelman

Online advertising might seem to be the most measurable form of marketing ever invented. Comprehensive records can track who clicked what ad—and often who saw what ad—to compare those clicks with users' subsequent purchases. Ever-cheaper IT makes this tracking... View Details

Keywords: Online Advertising; Fraud; Optimization; Incentives; Digital Marketing; Contracts; Marketing Strategy; Organizational Design

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September 2021
Case

Publicis Groupe 2021: Changing Nearly Everything

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Tonia Labruyere and Vincent Dessain

After succeeding long-time CEO Maurice Levy as top leader of the world’s third largest advertising, marketing, and communications company, headquartered in France, Arthur Sadoun accelerates digital transformation through a new platform drawing on talent from any of the... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Change Management; Transition; Transformation; Leadership; Digital Transformation; Advertising Industry; France; United States

January 2018
Case

Partners In Health: Costing Primary Care in Haiti

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Mahek A. Shah

Partners in Health, a global NGO focused on delivering health care to residents of rural underserved communities, conducts a project on the cost of primary care at five sites in the Central Highlands of Haiti. It devises a simple approach for tracking the resources... View Details

Keywords: Global Health; Public Health; Health Care and Treatment; Activity Based Costing and Management; Cost Accounting; Rural Scope; Health Industry; Haiti

June 11, 2014
Article

Keep Learning Once You Hit the C-Suite

By: Boris Groysberg

What skills do companies prize in C-level executives? To answer these questions, we surveyed 32 senior search consultants at a top global executive-placement firm. Experienced search consultants typically interview hundreds and even thousands of senior executives; they... View Details

Keywords: Executive Ability; Management Skills; Learning

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26 Feb 2015
News

Ethics and the environment: Eco-waverers

December 2004 (Revised July 2006)
Case

Celtel International B.V.

By: G. Felda Hardymon and Ann Leamon

Mo Ibrahim, chairman of Celtel International, the largest provider of cellular services in sub-Saharan Africa, must decide on his company's future. After an amazing six years that took it from minority positions in three countries to nearly $1 billion in revenues and... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Initial Public Offering; Business Growth and Maturation; Mergers and Acquisitions; Entrepreneurship; Wireless Technology; Telecommunications Industry; Africa

April 2003
Case

Energis (A)

By: John R. Wells

Describes the history of Energis, one of the United Kingdom's major alternative telecommunications network service providers (altnets). Tracks the company from its birth as a diversification move by the National Grid, the U.K.'s leading electricity distributor, through... View Details

Keywords: History; Change Management; Business Exit or Shutdown; Business Growth and Maturation; Organizational Structure; Industry Structures; Telecommunications Industry; United Kingdom