Publications

September 2015 (Revised June 2017)
Case

Futbol Club Barcelona

By: Anita Elberse

In June 2015, FC Barcelona president Josep Bartomeu sees his team lift the UEFA Champions League trophy, completing an impressive trophy haul in the 2014-2015 season. Unique for a club of its caliber, five of the starting eleven are products of FC Barcelona's youth... View Details

Keywords: Superstar; Talent; Talent Development And Retention; Talent Management; Marketing; Strategy; General Management; Nonprofit; Marketing Strategy; Talent and Talent Management; Entertainment; Media; Competitive Advantage; Sports; Sports Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Barcelona

November 2022
Teaching Note

Proximie: Using XR Technology to Create Borderless Operating Rooms

By: Ariel D. Stern, Alpana Thapar and Menna Hassan

Founded by Nadine Hachach-Haram in 2016, Proximie was a digital medicine platform that used mixed reality and a host of digital audio and visual tools to enable clinicians, proctors, and medical device company personnel to be virtually present in operating rooms (ORs),... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Business Growth and Maturation; Growth and Development Strategy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Decision Making; Health Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

February 2010
Case

Burt's Bees: Balancing Growth and Sustainability (Multimedia)

By: Christopher Marquis

The case examines sustainability initiatives at Burt's Bees, with video segments that detail the company's history, leadership, and implementation of ambitious 2020 sustainability goals. The company traces its roots to 1984, when Roxanne Quinby and Burt Schavitz teamed... View Details

Keywords: Balance and Stability; Leadership; Problems and Challenges; Business or Company Management; Growth Management; Organizational Culture; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Mergers and Acquisitions; Social Enterprise; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Ethics

February 2021 (Revised April 2024)
Case

Shopify: The Conquest for Chinese E-Commerce

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Avani Patel, Samantha Lin and Ariel Yang

In mid-2020, Tobias Lütke, CEO of Shopify, faced a critical decision on how to time potential expansion into the China market. Over the prior 15 years, his Canadian software-as-a-service company had grown from a small e-commerce solutions provider to a full service... View Details

November 2018
Case

The Bundesliga in the U.S.

By: Stephen A. Greyser, Sascha L. Schmidt and Florian Holzmayer

The Bundesliga, Germany’s premier football (soccer) league, is assessing its global broadcast and marketing strategy, with special focus on the very lucrative but highly competitive U.S. market. Its CEO Christian Seifert believed that a strong international position... View Details

Keywords: Media; Sports; Global Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Sports Industry; United States

16 Aug 2021
News

Managers: Compassion and Accountability Aren’t Mutually Exclusive

05 May 2009
First Look

First Look: May 5, 2009

http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/09-127.pdf Feeling the Heat: The Effects of Performance Pressure on Teams' Knowledge Use and Performance Author:Heidi K. Gardner Abstract Why do some teams fail to use their members' knowledge effectively,... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Fall 2024
Article

The Three Traps That Stymie Reinvention: Organizational Identity, Architecture, and Collaboration Can Be Either Assets or Liabilities to Pursuing Growth in New Sectors

By: Ryan Raffaelli

In more than a decade of researching innovation, I have observed how organizations respond to new opportunities, technological changes, or unexpected market shifts that threaten to upend their current business model. This process, which I call reinvention, may occur... View Details

Keywords: Innovation And Strategy; Change Leadership; Collaboration; Architecture; Transformation; Disruption; Leading Change; Innovation Strategy; Identity; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure

Rohit Deshpandé is a Baker Foundation Professor and Sebastian S. Kresge Professor of Marketing, Emeritus at Harvard Business School, where he has been teaching in the Advanced Management Program,... View Details

Keywords: advertising; agribusiness; airline; banking; beauty products; beverage; financial services; home video games; marketing industry; pharmaceuticals; telecommunications; tourism; video games

2013
Working Paper

How Major League Baseball Clubs Have Commercialized Their Investment in Japanese Top Stars

By: Isao Okada and Stephen A. Greyser

When a Major League Baseball club signs a Japanese star player, it obviously tries to commercialize its investment in the player. The initial focus is on home attendance (ticket sales) and television audiences, plus merchandise sales. These elements are similar to... View Details

Keywords: Commercialization; Sports; Revenue; Sports Industry; Japan; United States

SSRN

Read Now

August 2018 (Revised February 2023)
Case

Hubble Contact Lenses: Data Driven Direct-to-Consumer Marketing

By: Jill Avery and Ayelet Israeli

As its Series A extension round approaches, the founders of Hubble, a subscription-based, social-media fueled, direct-to-consumer (DTC) brand of contact lenses, are reflecting on the marketing strategies that have taken them to a valuation of $200 million and debating... View Details

April 2012 (Revised February 2013)
Case

H-E-B: Creating a Movement to Reduce Obesity in Texas

By: Jose B. Alvarez, Jason Riis and Walter J. Salmon

In January 2012, H-E-B Grocery Co., a private retail chain with stores located in Texas and Mexico, was introducing its Healthy at H-E-B program to its customers. The program, which started with the company's employees a few years earlier, was an effort to educate and... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Profit; Leading Change; Customer Focus and Relationships; Food and Beverage Industry; Retail Industry; Texas

September 2017 (Revised February 2023)
Case

Intermountain Healthcare: Pursuing Precision Medicine

By: Richard G. Hamermesh, Kathy E. Giusti, Robert S. Huckman and Julia Kelley

Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Intermountain Healthcare operates 23 hospitals and hundreds of clinics in Utah and Idaho and provides insurance to approximately 850,000 patients through its insurance arm, SelectHealth. In 2013, Intermountain, known for its commitment... View Details

Keywords: Precision Medicine; Healthcare; Innovation; Cancer; Cancer Research; Health Care; Technology; Health Care and Treatment; Innovation Leadership; Disruptive Innovation; Entrepreneurship; Decision Choices and Conditions; Health Industry; Insurance Industry; Utah; United States; North America

July 2023
Case

HealthVerity: Real World Data and Evidence

By: Satish Tadikonda

Andrew Kress (CEO and founder) and his team had built a promising marketplace business at HealthVerity serving its core market in healthcare, with a focus on pharmaceutical R&D and services. Thus far, HealthVerity’s products had been unique to the pharma and pharma... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Product Marketing

Program

Program for Leadership Development

on a higher level. This highly personalized program features two on-campus and two virtual, self-paced modules that focus on accelerating your business and your career. You will return to your organization more confident, more capable,... View Details

TeachingInterests

Founders' Dilemmas

Founders' Dilemmas examines the early, often difficult, decisions that have important long-term consequences for founders and their ventures. Potential consequences include losing control of their ventures, breaking up of the founding team due to tensions between... View Details

October 2023 (Revised May 2024)
Case

JSW Steel: Balancing Growth While Decarbonizing

By: Vikram S Gandhi and Radhika Kak

Sajjan Jindal, Chairman & Managing Director of JSW Steel, India's largest steel producer by market capitalization, was facing a dilemma. Steel demand in India was expected to grow exponentially over the next decade. However, given its traditional reliance on carbon,... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Environmental Sustainability; Investment; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Growth and Development; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Pollutants; Pollution; Production; Steel Industry; India

03 May 2019
Blog Post

Instagram Takeover - Taylor Stockton (MBA 2020)

In this @hbsadmissions Instagram takeover, Taylor Stockton (MBA 2020) takes us through a day in the life of an HBS student with a special focus on life outside of the classroom! He is originally from El Paso, Texas and attended undergrad... View Details

June 1997 (Revised October 2001)
Case

Elliot Lebowitz

By: Paul A. Gompers and Alexander Tsai

Elliot Lebowitz, president and CEO of BioTransplant, must decide on a strategy for this young biotechnology start-up. Among the issues to be resolved are focus of research and search for strategic alliance partners. View Details

Keywords: Alliances; Research; Business Startups; Management Teams; Business Strategy; Biotechnology Industry; United States