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16 Jul 2012
Research & Ideas

Are You a Strategist?

"vision," "direction," "focus," "advantage." To Montgomery, the Timken Professor of Business Administration, this is indicative of a disturbing trend. "We've lost sight of where strategies come from and the distinctive role leaders play... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

March 1999 (Revised April 2004)
Case

TelePizza

Describes TelePizza, is Spain's leading chain of pizza restaurants and delivery services. TelePizza has experienced rapid growth to 500 stores since its creation in 1987. The company went public on the Spanish stock market in late 1996. Franchising has played an... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; Spain

04 Jan 2022
What Do You Think?

Firing McDonald’s Easterbrook: What Could the Board Have Done Differently?

a board member, I’ve unfortunately had to confront these issues. The McDonald’s board faced these issues in October 2019. The company’s CEO at the time, Steve Easterbrook, was found to have “engaged in a consensual relationship with an... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

30 May 2024
Video

BiGS Voices from Latin America: An Interview with Gaston Bottazzini

January 2004 (Revised August 2005)
Case

Kikkoman Corporation: Consumer Focused Innovation

By: Rohit Deshpande and Hal Hogan

In May 2003, the president and CEO of Kikkoman Corp. sat in his Tokyo office weighing various options for strengthening the company's long-term growth. Kikkoman was the world's largest producer of soy sauce, largely due to its pioneering role since the 1950s as the... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Innovation Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Product Positioning; Adaptation; Competitive Strategy; Japan

2010
Chapter

Women and Leadership: Defining the Challenges

By: Robin J. Ely and Deborah L. Rhode

We use the experience of Carly Fiorina as an introduction to the continued challenges faced by women in top leadership roles. Although Fiorina, on becoming CEO of Hewlett Packard in 1999, asserted that "there is not a glass ceiling," her memoir eight years later... View Details

Keywords: Prejudice and Bias; Leadership; Perception; Behavior; Attitudes; Gender

24 Mar 2025
Video

Climate Rising Episode 6 | Voluntary Carbon Markets Series: A Conversation with Luke Leslie of Key Carbon

May 2003
Case

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

By: John A. Quelch

Didier Cherpitel, CEO of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), is implementing a new strategy that will fundamentally change the role of its International Secretariat. The organization is in the early stages of implementing a best... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Nonprofit Organizations; Brands and Branding

December 2005 (Revised May 2007)
Case

Cynthia Fisher and the Rearing of ViaCell

By: Robert F. Higgins, Richard G. Hamermesh and Ingrid Vargas

Describes the start up of Viacord, a Boston-based medical services firm founded by Cynthia Fisher (HBS MBA) in 1993. Told from Fisher's perspective, the entrepreneur details the conceptualization and launch of the business and the many obstacles and expenses faced in... View Details

Keywords: Managerial Roles; Business Growth and Maturation; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Service Industry; Health Industry; Boston

Trevor Fetter is a Senior Lecturer and the Henry B. Arthur Fellow at Harvard Business School, where he has been on the faculty since 2019. He teaches two MBA required courses: Financial Reporting and Control and Leadership and Corporate Accountability. He has also... View Details

June 2014
Case

Starbucks Coffee Company: Transformation and Renewal

By: Nancy F. Koehn, Kelly McNamara, Nora N. Khan and Elizabeth Legris

Starbucks Coffee Company: Transformation and Renewal analyzes the turnaround and reconstruction of Starbucks Coffee Company from 2008 to 2014 as led by CEO and co-founder Howard Schultz. The case offers executives and students an opportunity to examine in depth how... View Details

09 Feb 2009
Research & Ideas

Uncompromising Leadership in Tough Times

customers, community, and society—not just shareholders. These CEOs operate from deep beliefs and values. Their purpose is to leave a legacy of a great firm. Some were founders but most had arrived in the View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

August 2015 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Amazon.com, 2021

By: John R. Wells, Benjamin Weinstock, Gabriel Ellsworth and Galen Danskin

In February 2021, Amazon announced 2020 operating profits of $22,899 million, up from $2,233 million in 2015, on sales of $386 billion, up from $107 billion five years earlier (see Exhibit 1). The shareholders expressed their satisfaction (see Exhibit 2), but not all... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Analysis; Retail; E-commerce; Amazon; Internet; Amazon.com; AmazonFresh; Jeff Bezos; Cloud Computing; Marketplaces; Streaming; E-reader Market; Digital Media; Mobile App; Online Retail; Shipping; Database; Tablet; Kindle; Kindle Fire; Smartphone; Delivery; Digital Platforms; Competition; Internet and the Web; Corporate Strategy; Digital Marketing; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Business Organization; For-Profit Firms; Film Entertainment; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Music Entertainment; Television Entertainment; Profit; Revenue; Global Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Taxation; Business History; Human Resources; Resignation and Termination; Books; Human Capital; Working Conditions; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Management Practices and Processes; Industry Growth; Industry Structures; Media; Distribution; Distribution Channels; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Infrastructure; Logistics; Product Development; Supply Chain; Supply Chain Management; Organizational Culture; Public Ownership; Work-Life Balance; Problems and Challenges; Labor and Management Relations; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Diversification; Expansion; Integration; Horizontal Integration; Vertical Integration; Information Infrastructure; Information Technology; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Price; Applications and Software; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Working Capital; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Value and Value Chain; Retail Industry; Advertising Industry; Distribution Industry; Electronics Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Information Technology Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; Music Industry; Publishing Industry; Shipping Industry; Technology Industry; Video Game Industry; Web Services Industry; United States; Washington (state, US); Seattle

June 2017
Teaching Note

IBM Transforming, 2012–2016: Ginni Rometty Steers Watson

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jonathan Cohen

Ginni Rometty, who became IBM CEO in 2012, led efforts to transform the company around cognitive computing and the AI platform Watson. This Teaching Note helps instructors understand and teach the Harvard Business School case “IBM Transforming, 2012–2016: Ginni Rometty... View Details

Keywords: Digital; Technological Change; Artificial Intelligence; Data; IBM; Watson; Internet Of Things; Innovation and Invention; Management; Sales; Information Technology; Technological Innovation; Transformation; AI and Machine Learning

October 2014 (Revised July 2015)
Case

Indus Towers: From Infancy to Maturity

By: Ranjay Gulati, Maxim Sytch and Rachna Tahilyani

Indus Towers, the world's largest telecom tower company, is a joint venture between three telecom rivals in India. These rivals—Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India, and Idea Cellular—combined their telecom towers to provide "shared telecom infrastructure" to wireless telecom... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Judgments; Customer Focus and Relationships; Management; Information Technology; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Information Infrastructure; Telecommunications Industry; India

September 2012
Supplement

Hiroshi Mikitani Reflects and Provides Early Updates on Englishnization (November, 2011)

By: Tsedal Neeley

CEO of Rakuten, Hiroshi Mikitani, candidly responds to controversial questions about his Englishnization strategy and implementation across 7,100 employees a year and a half later: Did he make an impulsive move when he mandated English as the company language? Why does... View Details

Keywords: Language; Culture; Communication Barriers; Dynamic Global Marketplace; Rapid Change; Change Management; Ethnicity; Communication; Globalization; Management Teams; Japan

December 2017 (Revised June 2018)
Case

TelePizza (Abridged)

By: Lynda M. Applegate

Describes TelePizza, Spain's leading chain of pizza restaurants and delivery services. TelePizza has experienced rapid growth to 500 stores since its creation in 1987. The company went public on the Spanish stock market in late 1996. Franchising has played an important... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Franchise Ownership; Expansion; Global Range