Publications

11 Dec 2018
Research & Ideas

Free Trade Needs Nurturing—and Other Lessons from History

Question: What patterns emerge from history that can help us better understand where we are today? Sophus Reinert: To many people, globalization is teleological, something that necessarily becomes stronger over time and leads to an ever-more economically interconnected... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Aerospace; Aerospace; Aerospace; Aerospace; Aerospace; Aerospace; Aerospace; Aerospace; Aerospace; Aerospace

May 2012
Supplement

Columbia's Final Mission (Abridged) (B)

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Kerry Herman

Keywords: Cognitive Biases; Teams; Organizational Learning; Ambiguous Threat; Risk and Uncertainty; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leadership; Corporate Disclosure; Groups and Teams; Decision Making; Organizational Culture; Aerospace Industry; Aerospace Industry

December 2006 (Revised August 2013)
Teaching Note

Hexcel Turnaround -- 2001 (A), (B) and (C)

By: Paul W. Marshall

This is the teaching note that is supplemental to the Hexcel Cases A, B & C. View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Negotiation; Management Teams; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategy; Change Management; Crisis Management; Borrowing and Debt; Aerospace Industry; Aerospace Industry; United States

February 2003 (Revised January 2004)
Case

Mission to Mars (B)

By: Alan D. MacCormack

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Aerospace Industry; Aerospace Industry

March 1996 (Revised April 2001)
Case

HMS Thetis and Apollo XIII

Explores the management of technical disasters in which time plays a central role. Uses the experience of HMS Thetis and Apollo 13 to look at both successful and unsuccessful approaches. View Details

Keywords: Technology; Crisis Management; Aerospace Industry; Aerospace Industry

November 1995 (Revised January 1998)
Case

Transformation of Pratt & Whitney North Haven (A)

By: H. Kent Bowen, Linda A. Hill, Andrew P. Burtis, Sylvie Ryckebusch and John Schiavone

Pratt & Whitney is a leader in the development and manufacturing of gas turbine engines for commercial and military aircraft. Economic conditions for the airline and defense industries are forcing the airplane engine builders to restructure. Ed Northern, a new general... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Restructuring; Production; Opportunities; Economy; Aerospace Industry; Aerospace Industry; Connecticut

17 Jun 2008
First Look

First Look: June 17, 2008

founders reacquired many of the assets of the company and focused it on industrial and military applications. The case focus presents a question of whether the company should sell out again, this time to a military aerospace firm.... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

March 2022 (Revised March 2023)
Case

Commercial Space Stations, Chickens and Eggs, and Demand for Activity in Low-Earth Orbit

By: Matthew C. Weinzierl and Brendan L. Rosseau

With the International Space Station set to retire in January 2031, NASA has made clear its desire to transition to commercially-led space stations in low-earth orbit (LEO). But the history of commercial station attempts has been fraught, characterized by a lack of... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Opportunities; Business Model; Aerospace Industry; Aerospace Industry; Aerospace Industry

04 Apr 2011
Research & Ideas

Attention Medical Shoppers: What Health Care Can Learn from Walmart and Amazon

colleagues at Brigham and Women's Hospital worked with safety experts at the aerospace and defense giant Boeing, and developed a checklist for surgeons. Among the heretofore commonly-missed items on the list: making sure everyone in the... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Health

June 2025
Case

Larry Culp at General Electric: Rebuilding an American Icon

By: Nitin Nohria, Kayti Stanley, Ashka Stephen and Drew Goydan

As he takes over as CEO of the iconic industrial giant General Electric, Larry Culp faces a range of urgent issues as the company is delisted from the DJIA and is seen by many as heading towards bankruptcy. Culp steers GE through a series of carefully thought-out moves... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Aerospace Industry; Aerospace Industry; Aerospace Industry; Aerospace Industry; North America; Europe

10 May 2017
Research & Ideas

Amazon Web Services Changed the Way VCs Fund Startups

substantially between 2006, when AWS was introduced, and 2010, especially for those firms that could most take advantage of cloud services. For the control group of companies in industries such as aerospace and medical devices,... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Banking; Financial Services; Information Technology

November 2019 (Revised April 2021)
Case

United Technologies: Are the Parts Worth More Than the Whole?

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher

After spending more than 50 years creating a diversified industrial conglomerate that Fortune magazine described as “arguably the most profitable conglomerate in America” in 2014, UTC’s CEO Greg Hayes was under pressure from activist investors (Dan Loeb and Bill... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Business Conglomerates; Financial Management; Corporate Governance; Organizational Structure; Investment Funds; Value Creation; Aerospace Industry; Aerospace Industry; Aerospace Industry; United States

February 2022 (Revised September 2022)
Case

Lilium: Preparing for Takeoff

By: Navid Mojir, Vincent Dessain, Mette Fuglsang Hjortshoej and Emer Moloney

Lilium is a German company focused on developing electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles (eVTOLs) that can be used to offer air taxi services. The company went public in September 2021 through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) deal, raising more than... View Details

15 Mar 2016
First Look

March 15, 2016

collection of startup aerospace engineering companies that were intent on disrupting the American space sector with new technologies, management approaches, and competitive pressure. NASA hoped to leverage New Space to outsource its... View Details

July 15, 2022
Article

Does Elon Musk Have a Strategy?

By: Andy Wu and Goran Calic

Does Elon Musk have a strategy? Or is he just out there winging it? Looking at Musk’s many companies, common themes stand out across three areas: what fits into his vision for problems to solve, how he designs an organization as a solution to those problems, and why he... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Strategy; Vision; Resources; Organization; Platform; Closed Systems; Leadership; Complexity; Organizational Design; Vertical Integration; Problems and Challenges; Success; Aerospace Industry; Aerospace Industry; Aerospace Industry; Aerospace Industry

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August 2023
Case

Salma Qarnain: Spaceships to Broadway

By: Leslie Perlow, Mel Martin and Hannah Weisman

Salma Qarnain, daughter of Pakistani Muslim immigrants, is an engineer trained at Stanford and MIT. She began her career building spacecrafts but 30 years later finds herself pursuing her calling, acting on Broadway. The case explores Qarnain’s career path, family... View Details

Keywords: Personal Development and Career; Job Search; Job Design and Levels; Happiness; Identity; Well-being; Work-Life Balance; Family and Family Relationships; Theater Entertainment; Film Entertainment; Talent and Talent Management; Aerospace Industry; Aerospace Industry; Aerospace Industry; United States; New York (city, NY); Boston; California