Publications

September 2006 (Revised January 2008)
Case

Providian Financial Corporation

By: John R. Wells

On October 3, 2005, Washington Mutual acquired Providian Financial Corporation, the ninth-largest credit card issuer in the U.S., for $6.5 billion. At the time, Providian had approximately 10 million customer relationships and a balance of $18.6 billion. For some... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Restructuring; Customer Relationship Management; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Credit Cards; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Financial Services Industry; United States

2008
Book

Ownership Quotient: Putting the Service Profit Chain to Work for Unbeatable Competitive Advantage

By: James L. Heskett, W. Earl Sasser Jr. and Joe Wheeler

Hundreds of large organizations worldwide have used the groundbreaking Service Profit Chain to improve business performance. Now The Ownership Quotient reveals the next generation of the chain: customer and employee "owners" of your business. Employee-owners exhibit... View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Customer Ownership; Employee Ownership; Competitive Advantage; Value Creation

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16 Jan 2019
Research & Ideas

What Football Firings Teach Managers About Staying Relevant

to their dismissal. A link between tenure and effectiveness We developed a simple model to analyze the relationship between coach tenure and effectiveness using NFL data from... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg, Evan M.S. Hecht, and Abhijit Naik; Sports

January 2004 (Revised October 2006)
Case

Electronic Arts in Online Gaming

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Justin Wong

Electronic Arts (EA), the world's largest independent video-game publisher, must decide whether to support Microsoft's initiatives in online gaming. Historically, EA has been platform-agnostic, releasing versions of its titles for all major console platforms. However,... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Digital Platforms; Network Effects; Policy; Customer Focus and Relationships; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Revenue; Segmentation; Sales; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

15 May 2020
Research & Ideas

Find Your Pragmatic Path through Radical Uncertainty

“I’m here for you.” The point may seem trite but it reflects the importance of our ability to trust in our relationships. We each should do our best to keep our relationships reliable and predictable, to be... View Details

Keywords: by Howard Stevenson, Eugene B. Kogan, and Shirley Spence

May – June 2006
Article

Choose the Right Measures, Drive the Right Strategy

By: Dennis Campbell

Metrics overload is a common problem that can have serious consequences: Specifically, it can make it difficult for employees to see what actions they should take to execute strategic objectives. Having too many metrics dilutes the focus and invariably means many are... View Details

Keywords: Measurement and Metrics; Strategy; Employees; Customer Satisfaction

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November 2017 (Revised July 2018)
Case

Royal Philips: Designing Toward Profound Change

By: Srikant M. Datar, Rajiv Lal and Caitlin N. Bowler

This case explores Royal Philips CEO Frans van Houten's bold use of design research to inform a critical strategic decision: Should Philips leave its storied lighting business behind in favor of complete focus on health technology and consumer lifestyle products?... View Details

Keywords: Design Research; Health Technology; Innovation; Design; Research; Decision Choices and Conditions; Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Transformation

13 Oct 2015
Research & Ideas

Does Business Get Done the Same Way in Emerging and Developed Countries?

destruction is an old idea, going back at least to Schumpeter. We typically associate it with entrepreneurship. Someone has a brilliant new idea, everyone is excited and the entrepreneur and his View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

July 2012 (Revised January 2014)
Case

HGRM: Bringing Back High Touch Hospitality

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Gabriele Piccoli

The case centers on the dilemma faced by Carlo Fontana, the owner-operator of a small chain of two four-star urban hotels located in Lugano, Switzerland, and the other in Milan, Italy. Having developed an extensive customer service and operations information system,... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Customer Relationship Management

Julian De Freitas is an Assistant Professor of Business Administration in the Marketing Unit, and Director of the Ethical Intelligence Lab, at Harvard Business School. He earned his PhD in psychology from Harvard, masters from Oxford, and BA from Yale. He teaches... View Details

Keywords: advertising; automotive; consumer products; e-commerce industry; insurance industry; marketing industry; nonprofit industry; software; transportation; video games

February 2022
Case

Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi

By: Linda A. Hill and Emily Tedards

In 2006, the Cleveland Clinic and Mubadala Investment Company partnered with a bold ambition to deliver world class healthcare in the United Arab Emirates. In 2015, after nearly a decade of planning and construction, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi opened its doors. By... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Behavior; Culture; Alignment; Organizational Effectiveness; Purpose; Impact; Leadership Development; Diversity; Collaboration; Co-creation; Learning Organizations; Empowerment; Teams; Team Dynamics; Teamwork; Team Effectiveness; Trust; Talent; Talent Development And Retention; Psychological Safety; Organizational Evolution; Coaching; Board; Analytics; Innovation; Data; Data Visualization; Digital Technology; Digital; Customer Experience; Experimentation; Change Management; Data-driven Decision-making; Debates; Ecosystem; Partnership; Telemedicine; Sustainability; Global Organizations; Local; Hospital; Healthcare; United Arab Emirates; Health Care and Treatment; Partners and Partnerships; Globalization; Quality; Organizational Culture; Mission and Purpose; Innovation and Management; Information Technology; Joint Ventures; Leadership; Performance Effectiveness; Abu Dhabi; United Arab Emirates

16 Jul 2024
Blog Post

Driving Positive Impact on Community and Climate with Ben Schutzman (MBA 2016)

to supporting municipalities through the life of their assets and relationship with Highland. It’s a complex job, but immensely rewarding job to balance the cost control at the backend, while still... View Details

May 2009
Article

Customer-Based Valuation

By: Sunil Gupta

Customer lifetime value (CLV) has emerged as an important metric to manage and grow customers. Marketing scholars have written many books and articles on this topic. However, most of this research has focused on tactical marketing decisions. While this is important, it... View Details

Keywords: Customers; Valuation

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March 2008 (Revised March 2009)
Case

The Home Depot, Inc.

For its first 20 years, Home Depot was known for its entrepreneurial spirit and focus on customer service. Merchandising, purchasing, and store operations were all decentralized. When the company hit $45 billion in sales, many believed that a more disciplined approach... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Profit; Leading Change; Six Sigma; Service Operations; Business Processes; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Retail Industry

December 1986 (Revised November 1989)
Case

Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (A)

By: Benson P. Shapiro and Lawrence B. Levine

In late summer 1986, the management of the Manufacturing Productivity Division (MPD) of Hewlett-Packard (HP) was in the process of making major market selection and product policy decisions. MPD is a small division which develops and markets manufacturing productivity... View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Marketing; Product Marketing; Market Entry and Exit; Production; Research and Development; Manufacturing Industry