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October 2018
Case

Zenefits Board of Directors (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz

In early 2018, the time seemed right for Zenefits investor and director Lars Dalgaard to reflect on whether Zenefits had the right board of directors to shepherd the company through its next stages of growth. For the company whose name combined the words “benefits,”... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Business Model; Corporate Accountability; Governing and Advisory Boards; Corporate Governance; Crisis Management; Entrepreneurship; Human Resources; Leadership; Risk Management; Venture Capital; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; United States; California

25 May 2011
HBS Case

QuikTrip’s Investment in Retail Employees Pays Off

group of retailers is challenging this notion of an industry built on the backs of crummy jobs, very prosperous companies that include Costco, Mercadona, Trader Joe's, and QuikTrip. What do they know that their competitors don't? In a new... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail

Article

Paradise Lost (and Restored?): A Study of Psychological Safety over Time

By: Derrick P. Bransby, Michaela Kerrissey and Amy C. Edmondson

Although prior research indicates that psychological safety can fluctuate, questions about when and why remain. To gain insights into the emergence and temporal dynamics of psychological safety, we explored longitudinal data representing more than 10,000 health care... View Details

Keywords: Analytics and Data Science; Research; Attitudes; Working Conditions; Well-being; Health Industry

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June 2016
Teaching Note

HubSpot: Lower Churn through Greater CHI

By: Jill Avery, Asis Martinez Jerez and Thomas Steenburgh

HubSpot, a web marketing startup selling inbound marketing software to small- and medium-sized businesses, is under pressure from its venture capital partners to rapidly acquire new customers and to maintain a low level of customer churn. The B2B SaaS company is in the... View Details

Keywords: CRM; Customer Acquisition; Customer Retention; Churn Management; SaaS Business Models; Customer Lifetime Value; Venture Capital; Startup; Software; Monitoring And Control; Marketing; Customer Relationship Management; Marketing Strategy; Accounting; Technology Industry; United States

May 2022
Case

Maestro Pizza: Coming in Hot!

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Fares Khrais

Maestro Pizza opened its first store in 2013 after its founder, Khalid Al Omran, recognized an opportunity in Saudi Arabia to offer high quality pizza at affordable prices. The business grew rapidly and under the radar at first, but soon enough caught the attention of... View Details

12 Mar 2021
News

My Favorite Case

oil industry. I came full circle with both of those cases, having spent my career in the oil industry and as CEO of a company involved in the Macondo well disaster in 2010. Going through the Macondo crisis and looking back on the... View Details

Keywords: Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services

08 Dec 2015
First Look

December 8, 2015

the impact of multinationals, the growth of business groups, and the conflicted relations between business and government. The book represents a unique comparative study of the complex and non-linear impact of globalization and the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

December 2023
Case

Davivienda Bank's Upskilling and Reskilling Strategy in Colombia

By: Jorge Tamayo, Raffaella Sadun and Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago

Set in 2022, this case describes the digital transformation strategy of Davivienda— a leading player in Colombia’s commercial banking and one of the companies belonging to Grupo Bolívar, a major Colombian financial conglomerate—and the bank’s upskilling and reskilling... View Details

01 Mar 2011
First Look

First Look: March 1

an acquisition is to fundamentally change a company's growth trajectory. In those deals, the acquirer uses the target's business model as a platform for growth. Because the business models with the most transformative potential are often... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Web

Modern Capitalism: Mergers and Syndicates - Railroads and the Transformation of Capitalism | Harvard Business School

Emeritus, at Harvard Business School, explains that during this period, “the growth of big business was the central trend of the American economy.” 35 By the dawn of World War I, America’s journey from an agrarian society to a leading... View Details

March 2022 (Revised July 2022)
Teaching Note

Camera IQ and the Metaverse: Building Augmented Reality Brand Experiences

By: Jill Avery

Camera IQ, a camera marketing software company that empowered brands to create and launch augmented reality experiences (AREs) across social platforms, had just raised an additional $5 million to fund further product development and expand its marketing and sales... View Details

Web

Driving Impact in Emerging Markets with HBS Alum Nneka Chime (MBA 2015) - Recruiting

a U.S. citizen and considered staying in the United States, which had also begun to feel like home. She explored consulting and private equity as potential paths forward, leveraging MBA internships and exposure to various industries that... View Details

04 Feb 2013
Research & Ideas

Are the Big Four Audit Firms Too Big to Fail?

periodically raises concerns about audit-industry concentration and suggests ways to boost growth of smaller firms. The consolidation raises the issue of how the surviving big auditors and the nation's accounting regulators will manage... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Accounting

June 2005 (Revised August 2013)
Case

Amazon.com's European Distribution Strategy

By: Janice Hammond and Claire Chiron

Describes how Amazon's distribution system evolved from the company's inception. In 2003, Amazon Europe must decide how to reconfigure its distribution network in light of expected growth, products proliferation, and geographical expansion in Europe. Examines how... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Decision Choices and Conditions; Growth and Development; Business or Company Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Supply and Industry; Distribution; Supply Chain; Risk and Uncertainty; Expansion; Web Services Industry

March 2003 (Revised October 2003)
Case

Campbell Soup Company: Transforming for the 21st Century

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Jamie Ladge

In July 2001, Campbell Soup's newly appointed CEO, Douglas R. Conant, addressed a group of Wall Street analysts and unveiled his plan to kick-start growth. His plan called for organizational renewal and revitalization, redesign of core customer-facing processes... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; Industry Structures; Production; Supply Chain Management; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States