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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

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2010
Working Paper

From Bench to Board: Gender Differences in University Scientists' Participation in Commercial Science

This paper examines gender differences in the participation of university life science faculty in commercial science. Based on theory and field interviews, we develop hypotheses regarding how scientists' productivity, co-authorship networks, and institutional... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; For-Profit Firms; Gender Characteristics; Higher Education; Entrepreneurship; Governing and Advisory Boards; Science-Based Business; Nonprofit Organizations; Biotechnology Industry

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August 1996
Case

ThermoLase

By: William A. Sahlman and Andrew S. Janower

John Hansen, CEO of ThermoLase, must develop a plan of action to exploit the company's new development-stage revolutionary hair removal technology with negligible revenues and a $500 million market capitalization. This nascent public Thermo Electron spin out company... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Business Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Plan; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry

October 1995 (Revised July 1996)
Case

Aspen Technology, Inc.: Currency Hedging Review

By: Peter Tufano

The chief financial officer of a rapidly growing U.S.-based software firm that sells its process-control software to industrial users around the globe must review the goals, strategies, and policies of the firm's currency hedging program. This review is prompted by... View Details

Keywords: Currency Exchange Rate; Applications and Software; Investment; Business Startups; Business Strategy; Information Technology Industry; United Kingdom; United States

June 2009
Teaching Note

Curled Metal Inc. - Engineered Products Division (TN)

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Teaching Note for [709434]. View Details

Keywords: Sales; Product Development; Customers; Business Divisions; Price; Business Strategy; Cost; Production; Mining Industry

August 2007
Case

Manila Water Company

By: V. Kasturi Rangan, David Wheeler and Jane Comeault

In 1997, the Philippines government privatized its water utility in the metropolitan Manila area. The East Zone concession was won by Manila Water Company and the West Zone concession by Maynilad Water Services. Over the next decade, Manila Water turned in an... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Framework; Business or Company Management; Bids and Bidding; Privatization; Performance Improvement; Utilities Industry

November 1999 (Revised May 2001)
Case

AGENCY.COM (A): Launching an Interactive Service Agency

By: Ashish Nanda, Thomas J. DeLong and Scot H. Landry

Having recently launched one of Silicon Valley's first start-ups, cofounders Chan Suh and Kyle Shannon ponder whether their interactive consulting firm is prepared to bid for work from a very large client. View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Internet and the Web; Problems and Challenges; Business Strategy; Decision Making; Entrepreneurship; Consulting Industry; Information Technology Industry

01 Jun 2018
News

Alumni Connections: Photos of Recent Alumni Events

WeMaintain celebrating at Le Hub in Paris with judges, club officers, and guests after winning the Europe regional HBS New Venture Competition Alumni Track in March. 3 Roy Willis, Ted Lewis, and Lillian Lincoln Lambert (all MBA... View Details

01 Sep 2006
News

Redefining Health Care

PORTER: Health care's zero-sum competition model adds costs and results in severe quality problems. University professor Michael Porter never planned to write a book on health-care reform. In fact, he expected brickbats in response to a coauthored article in the June... View Details

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

February 2008 (Revised April 2009)
Case

Citigroup: Re-Branding in 2007 (A)

By: Rohit Deshpandé and Carin-Isabel Knoop

With its history of growth through acquisition, Citigroup has a conglomeration of sub-brands that need to be integrated and rationalized. Ajay Banga, CEO of Citi's Global Consumer Group International, chairs a task force to work through the process of re-branding the... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Conglomerates; Customer Focus and Relationships; Globalization; Growth Management; Brands and Branding; Organizational Culture; Competitive Strategy; Financial Services Industry

September 2001 (Revised July 2002)
Case

Fraud Prevention at Omni Bank

By: Frances X. Frei and Hanna Rodriguez-Farrar

Omni Bank is undergoing a merger and has two important decisions ahead. First, should it enforce the use of its model-driven approach to interacting with customers at the recently acquired Friends Savings and Loan branches. Friends has a culture of personal touch with... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Model; Crime and Corruption; Customer Relationship Management; Decisions; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry

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Web

Entrepreneurship in Life Sciences - Course Catalog

opportunities for entrepreneurial innovation. This course is primarily designed for students who are interested in exploring entrepreneurial opportunities within the life sciences, including exploring ideation, generating and/or licensing intellectual property, View Details

May 2019 (Revised September 2019)
Case

Mobike and ofo: Dancing with Titans (A)

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Haibo Zhao

This case address pacing issues – how fast does a company need to scale? It also examines the role of investors in determining company strategy and exit.
Mobike and ofo were two dominant players in China’s emerging dockless bike-sharing market, that allowed users... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Venture Capital; Financing and Loans; Competition; Value Creation; Governance; Economics; Business Startups; Strategy; Business Exit or Shutdown; Entrepreneurship; Infrastructure; Transportation; Bicycle Transportation; China

12 Aug 2013
Research & Ideas

‘Hybrid’ Organizations a Difficult Bet for Entrepreneurs

real-world problems in totally self-sustaining ways, harnessing the strengths of both for-profit and nonprofit models. But they are a difficult bet for entrepreneurs starting out in the field of business. Because hybrid social ventures... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

01 Feb 2021
News

Locally Grown

Inspired by the natural beauty he found when he moved to Boulder, Colorado, Robert Fenwick-Smith (MBA 1988) created Aravaipa Ventures, an unusual venture capital fund to support environmentally sustainable technology View Details

Career Coach

Alejandro Maldonado

key players in the industry and was then acquired by a strategic player. Since 2012, Alejandro has trained and been a coach for students and alumni at Harvard Business School, where he developed his passion for talent and career... View Details

Keywords: Consulting; Education; Emerging Markets; Investment Banking; Financial Services (All); Private Equity; Financial Services (All); Social Enterprise; Impact Investing; Financial Services (All)

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

April 2018
Teaching Note

Publicis Groupe 2016: Maurice and the Millennials

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jonathan Cohen

This Teaching Note assists classroom instructors in teaching HBS case, “Publicis Groupe 2016: Maurice and the Millennials,” (HBS No. 316-127), which describes Levy's efforts to transform the Groupe. View Details

Keywords: Digital; Advertising; Managing Change; Collaboration; Synergies; Integration; Millennials; Innovation ＆ Entrepreneurship; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Information Technology; Change Management; Restructuring; Marketing; Mergers and Acquisitions; Transformation; Innovation and Management; Digital Marketing

June 2016
Case

Publicis Groupe 2016: Maurice and the Millennials

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jonathan Cohen

Having built Publicis Groupe through acquisitions maintained as separate brands, CEO Maurice Lévy wanted to transform the advertising and marketing firm to an integrated digital-ready enterprise to address industry changes. In early 2016, following a reorganization, he... View Details