Publications

April 12, 2024
Editorial

A New Paradigm for Family Giving

By: Christina R. Wing

Keywords: Family Business; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Wealth

Read Now

October 2022 (Revised September 2024)
Case

To SFO or Not To SFO: The Tolman Family Selects a Family Office Strategy

By: Lauren Cohen, Hao Gao, Victoria Alvarez-Arango, Grace Headinger, Mili Sanwalka and Anna Yuan

Peter Tolman, a first-generation investment professional, debated which family office strategy to adopt for managing his family’s assets. As the sole steward of his family’s wealth, he sought to conserve and grow his family’s wealth for him, his wife, and his two very... View Details

Keywords: Family Office; Investment Strategy; U.S.; Canada; Family Business; Financial Strategy; Investment; Strategy; Diversification; Management; Financial Services Industry; United States; Canada

Fall 2020
Article

Competing on Customer Outcomes

By: Marco Bertini and Oded Koenigsberg

Customers ultimately want to pay for meaningful outcomes, not the products and services that presumably deliver them. Today, companies can be increasingly accountable for those outcomes with three kinds of technologically-enhanced revenue models. Adopt one to better... View Details

Keywords: Market Positioning; Revenue Strategy; Customer Satisfaction; Marketing Strategy; Business Model; Value Creation

Register to Read

May 2005 (Revised October 2007)
Case

Founder-CEO Succession at Wily Technology

By: Noam T. Wasserman and Henry McCance

Before he accepts the new CEO position, Dick Williams wants founder Lew Cirne to step down as chairman. While considering Williams' incredible demand, Cirne reflects on everything he has already given up to get Wily Technology to this point. He agreed to step down as... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Succession

September 2002 (Revised August 2014)
Case

Cardinal Health (A): The Medicine Shoppe Acquisition

By: Regina E. Herzlinger, Miguel Abecasis and Brenda Cheng

Robert Walter, the founder and CEO of Cardinal Health, a pharmaceutical distributor, is contemplating the purchase of Medicine Shoppe, a chain of apothecaries. The purchase might be construed as competition against his own drugstore customers. But one of its many... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Distribution Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Retail Industry

August 2001 (Revised May 2004)
Case

Maria Hernandez & Associates

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

This case presents the situation of an unemployed web page designer who starts a new consulting firm with personal savings and a family loan. Two months later, she is to report on operations to her father, using financial reports she must design and construct. View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Accounting; Business Startups; Design; Borrowing and Debt; Service Industry

2003
Article

The "Moralities" of Poaching: Manufacturing Personal Artifacts on the Factory Floor

By: Michel Anteby

Keywords: Production; Moral Sensibility; Factories, Labs, and Plants

Read Now

August 1994 (Revised January 1999)
Case

Taco Bell Corporation (Abridged Update)

By: James L. Heskett

Taco Bell's management has developed plans to establish 100,000 points of service for its fast food business. Clearly, this will require significantly different approaches to management and organization. View Details

Keywords: Business Plan; Growth and Development Strategy; Service Delivery; Organizations; Food and Beverage Industry

01 Jun 2022
News

Closing the 'Network Gap'

Schrier. Interviews with potential advisees helped the cofounders create a viable business model. The Equity Network would be a mentor marketplace to give the next generation of Black, Latinx, and Native American View Details

Keywords: April White

April 2012
Case

People Express Airlines

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Lauren Barley

Recounts the history of People Express Airlines, which grew rapidly after its inception in 1980 then failed spectacularly in 1986. Profiles People's aggressive strategy and its distinctive approach to human resource management, which emphasized job rotation and minimal... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Air Transportation; Business Exit or Shutdown; Business Growth and Maturation; Organizational Structure; Entrepreneurship; Failure; Human Resources; Business Startups; Air Transportation Industry

05 Oct 2016
News

Harvard to Open Life Sciences Lab

and outcomes, and will reinforce President Drew Faust’s vision of One Harvard. All three labs benefit from their close proximity to Harvard Business School and upcoming the Science and Engineering Complex – which will be the new home of... View Details

Keywords: Educational Support Services; Educational Services; Scientific Research and Development Services

February 2023
Case

Enstitute

By: Lindsay N. Hyde, Thomas R. Eisenmann, Kumba Sennaar and Sarah Mehta

Shaila Ittycheria (MBA ’10) founded the nonprofit organization Enstitute, in 2012 in New York City. Determined to challenge the status quo within higher education, Shaila and her cofounder sought to expand opportunities for talented young people by placing them in... View Details

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship; Operations; Business Startups; Business Growth and Maturation; Education Industry; Employment Industry; United States

August 2000 (Revised June 2001)
Case

Fsas: Fujitsu Support and Service Inc.

Fsas was created as a spinoff subsidiary of Fujitsu to service PC networks. As the company succeeded, it became listed on Japan's stock exchange--second tier. Now the Internet is causing Fsas to decide how to structure itself again. Should it spinoff a new company? View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Internet; Business Growth and Maturation; Innovation and Invention; Information Technology Industry; Japan

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

01 Dec 2006
News

The Hard Way

Queensland State Parliament building in Brisbane in March 2002 celebrating the publication of her motivational biography Meet Me at the Top! PHOTO BY LYNDON MECHIELSEN/NEWSPIX/NEWS LTD. Today, Russo continues to build her business and... View Details

May 2001
Article

Bringing the Market Inside the Firm?

By: George P. Baker, Robert Gibbons and Kevin J. Murphy

Keywords: Markets; Business Ventures

Read Now

1988
Chapter

An Overview of Takeover Defenses

By: R. S. Ruback

Keywords: Acquisition

August 2017
Module Note

Distinguishing Good Advice from Bad Advice: An Introduction to the HBS Course 'Building and Sustaining a Successful Enterprise' (BSSE)

By: Clayton Christensen

Overview of theoretical approach of HBS MBA Course "Building and Sustaining a Successful Enterprise"; distinguishing theory based on correlation from theory based on causal driver. View Details

Keywords: Causation Vs. Correlation; BSSE; Theory; Business Ventures