Publications

February 2020
Case

Highfields Capital and McDonald's

By: Mark Egan and Robin Greenwood

McDonald’s reported its fifth consecutive quarter of declining same-store sales growth in early 2015. Despite McDonald’s recent poor performance, Jonathon S. Jacobson, the founder and Chief Investment Officer of Boston-based Highfields Capital Management, had initiated... View Details

Keywords: McDonald's; Stocks; Performance Improvement; Operations; Finance; Restructuring; Value Creation; Financial Services Industry

2009
Chapter

Entry, Exit and Labour Productivity in U.K. Retailing: Evidence from Micro Data

By: Jonathan Haskel and Raffaella Sadun

The paper investigates the U.K. retail sector using store and firm-level data between 1998 and 2003. First, we present the first exhaustive description of the U.K. retail sector using micro data sources. Second, in the spirit of Foster, Haltiwanger, and Krizan (2002),... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Market Entry and Exit; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance Productivity; Retail Industry; United Kingdom

March 2000 (Revised May 2000)
Case

Spec's Music (A)

By: John A. Davis and Susan Harmeling

Presents the story of a music retailer in Miami which started in the late 1940s, grew throughout the 1960s and 1970s, and went public in 1985 before experiencing a deep industry crisis in the mid-1990s. At issue in 1996 is whether the company should attempt to sell... View Details

Keywords: History; Family Business; Business Exit or Shutdown; Decision Choices and Conditions; Management Succession; Entrepreneurship; Crisis Management; Performance Improvement; Music Industry; Miami

05 Sep 2007
First Look

First Look: September 5, 2007

Cases & Course MaterialsAcelero Learning: Building a Culture of Performance Harvard Business School Case 307-048 No abstract available. Purchase this case:... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

08 May 2015
News

An alternative view of the role of the corporation in society

Do corporations do well by doing good? Or do firms that engage in environmental and social initiatives destroy shareholder wealth? George Serafeim, the Jakurski Family Associate Professor of Business Administration, has studied how... View Details

09 Aug 2004
Research & Ideas

A Diagnostic for Disruptive Innovation

customers by providing them adequate functionality in return for lower prices. The technology of this sort of disruptive innovation offers "good enough" performance along traditional metrics and is supported by a View Details

Keywords: by Scott D. Anthony, Mark W. Johnson & Matt Eyring

19 Mar 2006
Research & Ideas

Do I Dare Say Something?

worked with, many employees suggested that (a) "openness to input from below" should become a key component of each leader's 360-degree performance evaluation and (b) a cut-off score be set for... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert

01 Sep 2017
News

The Biggest Industry You’ve Never Heard Of

baseball games; the games that amateur players broadcast are more like a pickup basketball game. The world championships in each of the major games are the Super Bowl. But the comparisons begin to fall apart when attention turns to View Details

Keywords: April White; illustration by Brian Stauffer; esports; Twitch; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries

Web

Leadership Execution and Action Planning (LEAP) - Course Catalog

the alignment of tactics required to drive performance across a range of business activities. Case Students will develop implementation approaches for existing business... View Details

01 Dec 1998
News

New Releases

measuring and evaluating performance in the firm; and a system for rewarding and punishing individuals for their performance. The theory presented in this work, Jensen believes, promises a major competitive... View Details

12 Jan 2004
Research & Ideas

Does Your HQ Operation Fit With Corporate Strategy?

The specter of "headquarters" usually looms large in the business world's imagination, but few managers—and few CEOs, especially new CEOs—understand how size, structure, and performance of... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

Web

Online Digital Marketing Strategy Course | HBS Online

Strategy is a 7-week, 35-40 hour online certificate program from Harvard Business School. Digital Marketing Strategy equips professionals with the tools, mindset, and trends to make decisions about digital marketing strategy and tactics,... View Details

01 Jun 2012
News

Noted & Quoted

“Trust your instincts 98 percent, your observations 50 percent, and your conclusions 25 percent.” —Zynga founder & CEO Mark Pincus (MBA 1993), discussing the entrepreneur’s need to balance data analysis and observation when evaluating... View Details

18 Mar 2008
News

Election ’08, HBS Style

themselves from the competition. Mike McGlade and Adam Chepenik were most specific, touting post-graduation health insurance, more cross-section socializing, Blackberries for all students, and mid-term faculty performance reviews. They... View Details

Keywords: Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training

17 Mar 2015
Research & Ideas

Where Did My Shopping Mall Go?

The new book Retail Revolution: Will Your Brick-and-Mortar Store Survive? argues that traditional store-front retailing is at an inflection point, under tremendous pressure from ecommerce and the changing wants and needs of a new generation of shoppers—the millennials.... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

September 2005 (Revised April 2010)
Case

Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker (A)

By: Daniel C. Snow, Steven C. Wheelwright and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

Scharffen Berger, a premium brand chocolate, is growing rapidly and must decide where and when to add capacity in the production line and with what technology. The company must consider the demands of marketing, the impact on quality and reputation, and the economics... View Details

Keywords: Production; Business Processes; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance Capacity; Quality; Expansion

March 1996 (Revised February 1999)
Case

Vistakon: 1 Day Acuvue Disposable Contact Lenses

By: Alvin J. Silk, Bruce Issacson and Marie Bell

Vistakon, an independent and entrepreneurial subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, pioneered the production and marketing of disposable contact lenses with the 1987 launch of Acuvue, the first disposable extended-wear lens--a soft contact lens that patients wear for a... View Details

Keywords: Advertising Campaigns; Business Subsidiaries; Business Startups; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Price; Risk Management; Marketing; Product Positioning; Production; Performance Effectiveness; Consumer Products Industry; United States

November 1990 (Revised August 1992)
Case

Corning, Inc.: A Network of Alliances

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Ashish Nanda

Describes James Houghton's actions in assuming the role of CEO at Corning in the midst of a recession. Not only must he turn around operating performance, he must also revitalize a demoralized organization and set a new, clear strategic direction. In doing so, the case... View Details

Keywords: Business Cycles; Policy; Leading Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance Expectations; Partners and Partnerships; Business Strategy

August 2009
Case

Bank of America Sports Sponsorship

By: Stephen A. Greyser and John L. Teopaco

A major sports sponsor must decide on new, renewal, or withdrawal from significant relations with teams/leagues/events, using a distinctive approach to assessment. View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Decision Choices and Conditions; Partners and Partnerships; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Performance Evaluation; Financing and Loans; Marketing Strategy; Sports Industry