Publications

June 2011 (Revised October 2013)
Case

Gene Patents (A)

By: Richard Hamermesh, David Kiron and Phillip Andrews

In March 2010, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Sweet overturned 30 years of legal precedent and ruled that unaltered human genes could not be patented. This case reviews patent law and how it relates to our increasing knowledge of the Human Genome. The case issues... View Details

Keywords: Courts and Trials; Patents; Genetics; Judgments; Science-Based Business; Biotechnology Industry; United States

February 2003 (Revised February 2009)
Case

Yahoo!: Becoming a Competitor in the Career Listings Space (A)

By: Kathleen L. McGinn and Nicole Nasser

In late 2001, Yahoo!'s new executive leadership team faces a decision. With online advertising revenues significantly off, the company has decided to explore new strategic businesses, including online recruiting. The team must decide whether to make a bid for... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Decisions; Recruitment; Management Teams; Negotiation Deal; Employment Industry

29 Sep 2015
News

Harvard Study Highlights Business, Education 'Game Changer'

12 Sep 2023
News

Successful, But Still Feel Empty? A Happiness Scholar and Oprah Have Advice for You

29 Oct 2019
Blog Post

Merging the Worlds of Finance, Investing, and Environmental Impact

what you mean by the “circular economy” and what you do at Closed Loop Partners? The circular economy is simply a system focused on minimizing waste and making the most of the resources we already have. That’s in contrast to the linear... View Details

Program

Authentic Leader Development

Summary Companies need to be developing leaders who exhibit high standards of integrity, take responsibility for their actions, and make decisions based on enduring principles rather than short-term... View Details

27 Jan 2003
Research & Ideas

New Cluster Mapping Project Helps Companies Locate Facilities

influenced not just by the decisions it makes and the assets inside the company, but also by the surrounding business environment in the locations at which the company operates. The business environment... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

July 2006 (Revised July 2007)
Case

C.K. Coolidge, Inc. (Abridged)

Coolidge (CKC), a chemical manufacturer, is being sued for patent infringement. The plaintiffs are the patent holder and its sole licensee, who is also a CKC competitor. An analyst at CKC has done a breakeven decision analysis from CKC's perspective, balancing going to... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Preparation; Courts and Trials; Patents; Analysis; Decision Choices and Conditions; Lawsuits and Litigation; Chemical Industry

July 1989 (Revised December 1990)
Case

CIBA-GEIGY Pharmaceuticals: Pharma International

By: John A. Quelch

Examines the decision by Pharma International on whether to launch an antimalarial product in Nigeria and, if so, how that should be implemented. Involves commercial, ethical, and policy considerations. Rich in situation assessment data, the case refers to criticism of... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Decision Choices and Conditions; Product Launch; Policy; Developing Countries and Economies; Pharmaceutical Industry; Nigeria

September 2019 (Revised August 2020)
Case

Engineering an Inclusive Bioeconomy

By: Tarun Khanna, Raffaella Sadun and Susie L. Ma

In 2019, entrepreneur Juan Carlos Castilla-Rubio was developing a project he hoped could generate and share wealth from the natural resources of the Amazon without destroying those resources. His idea, called Earth Bank of Codes (EBC), would create a library of the... View Details

31 Jan 2005
Research & Ideas

Rethinking Marketing’s Conventional Wisdom

to friends. The case is about the marketers' decisions regarding what to do with these films: They could put them on DVDs, or run them in movie theaters before feature films, or do any number of other things. Q: What's the takeaway from... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons; Service

03 Dec 2008
What Do You Think?

Can Housing and Credit be “Nudged” Back to Health?

governments to influence choices in ways that encourage choosers to make decisions in their best interest. They call it "libertarian paternalism." This involves utilizing "nudges" such as... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

15 Jul 2021
News

How Acknowledging Your Employees Emotions Builds Trust

10 Dec 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Multi-sided Platforms

Keywords: by Andrei Hagiu & Julian Wright; Technology

30 Sep 2008
First Look

First Look: September 30, 2008

http://papers.nber.org/papers/w14302 The Effect of Labor on Profitability: The Role of Quality Author:Zeynep Ton Abstract Determining staffing levels is an important decision in retail operations. While the costs of increasing labor are... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Producing Prosperity: Why America Needs a Manufacturing Renaissance

Companies compete on the decisions they make. For years—even decades—in response to intensifying global competition, companies decided to outsource their manufacturing operations in order to reduce costs. But we are now seeing the alarming long-term effect of those... View Details

June 2019 (Revised February 2020)
Case

Eric Hawkins Leading Agile Teams @ Digitally-Born AppFolio (A)

By: Tsedal Neeley, Paul Leonardi and Michael Norris

Eric Hawkins, director of engineering at AppFolio—a digital technology firm that offered cloud-based business software to small and medium sized companies—was shocked by an unusual request from his senior leadership team. Could Hawkins and one of his agile teams build... View Details

Keywords: Values; Agile; Vision; Corporate Culture; Leadership; Values and Beliefs; Organizational Culture; Decision Choices and Conditions; Digital Transformation; Technology Industry; United States; California

05 Nov 2021
News

Leaders: Stop Confusing Correlation with Causation

June 2008
Case

Threadless: The Business of Community (Instructor's Version)

By: Karim R. Lakhani and Zahra Kanji

The instructor version of Threadless includes the Threadless student version multimedia case as well as four additional videos that can be used to enhance class discussion. The first video presents community reaction to the proposal from the large retailer. The next... View Details

Keywords: Debates; Decisions; Strategic Planning; Society; Entertainment and Recreation Industry