Publications

February 2001 (Revised August 2003)
Case

United Grain Growers Limited (A)

By: Peter Tufano and Joshua Musher

United Grain Growers Ltd. (UGG), a Canadian grain distributor, audited its exposure to a number of key risks, especially the impact of weather on grain volumes and operating income. Understanding these risks was crucial because the company was in the midst of a major... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Weather; Distribution Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Canada

August 1992 (Revised February 1998)
Supplement

Star Distributors, Inc. (B)

By: David A. Thomas

Presents the dilemma of Don Waters, vice president of Franchise Operations at Belmont Beverages. Waters must must decide what to do about the conflict between two partners in one of Belmont's franchises. View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Conflict Management; Franchise Ownership; Partners and Partnerships; Distribution Industry; Distribution Industry

01 Sep 2011
News

Making a Difference in the World

“If people want to reduce carbon emissions, they must reduce their energy use.” — Paul Baier (MBA ’94) The residential sector is the single-largest end-use sector for energy, accounting for 25 percent of global demand. If every US home replaced one light bulb with the... View Details

Keywords: Electric Power Generation, Transmission, Distribution; Electric Power Generation, Transmission, Distribution

01 Jun 2022
News

Research Brief: Weatherproofing Renewables

From its seat at the tip of South America, belted by the equator, Colombia enjoys fairly steady temperatures—an evenness that’s counterbalanced by the seesawing of two rainy seasons and two dry seasons every year. Those peak periods of sun and rain make Colombia a... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; Electric Power Generation, Transmission, Distribution; Electric Power Generation, Transmission, Distribution

01 Feb 2002
News

Telling the Electronic Century's Unfinished Story

Inventing the Electronic Century: The Epic Story of the Consumer Electronics and Computer Industries (The Free Press) is the fourth major book by Alfred D. Chandler, Jr., the School's Isidor Straus Professor of Business History, Emeritus. It is the heretofore untold... View Details

Keywords: Electric Power Generation, Transmission, Distribution; Electric Power Generation, Transmission, Distribution

01 Mar 2013
News

Noted & Quoted

"I was always a windup toy for achievement." —Barry Rowan (MBA 1983), on taking a "purposeful pause" in his career before moving to Cool Planet Energy Systems. (CFO.com, December 19, 2012) View Details

Keywords: Electric Power Generation, Transmission, Distribution; Electric Power Generation, Transmission, Distribution

July 2019 (Revised November 2019)
Case

Osaro: Picking the Best Path

By: William R. Kerr, James Palano and Bastiane Huang

The founder of Osaro saw the potential of deep reinforcement learning to allow robots to be applied to new applications. Osaro targeted warehousing, already a dynamic industry for robotics and automation, for its initial product—a system which would allow robotic arms... View Details

February 2016
Case

Express Scripts: Promoting Prescription Drug Home Delivery (A)

By: John Beshears, Patrick Rooney and Jenny Sanford

The pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) sector processes prescription drug claims on behalf of companies that offer a prescription drug benefit to their employees. This case follows Bob Nease, Chief Scientist at Express Scripts, as he considers methods to promote home... View Details

Keywords: Pharmaceuticals; Prescription Drugs; Pharmacy Benefit Manager; PBM; Healthcare; Behavioral Economics; Choice Architecture; Active Choice; Service Delivery; Decision Choices and Conditions; Health Care and Treatment; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Compensation and Benefits; Pharmaceutical Industry

01 Dec 2011
News

Letters to the Editor

Seeds of Green Congratulations to Erika Diamond and Annie Fishman (both MBA 2007) on their founding of the HBS Green Business Alumni Association as reported in the September Bulletin. It’s great to see their efforts and the related story of HBS alumni in green... View Details

Keywords: HBS Show; Natural Gas Distribution; Natural Gas Distribution; Natural Gas Distribution; Natural Gas Distribution

January 1990 (Revised March 1994)
Case

Royal Ahold NV

By: Richard F. Meyer

Contains a general description of a large international retailer. Focus is on the major financial risks facing the company: exchange rate risk and commodity price risk. This case is an introduction to financial risk management. It poses some of the major problem areas. View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Currency Exchange Rate; Futures and Commodity Futures; Trade; Distribution; Financial Services Industry