Publications

September 1997
Case

Tri Valley Growers: A New Age Co-op

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Mollie H. Carter

Tri Valley Growers is a dominant co-operative in its industry and, yet, still suffers from poor returns. The board of directors worked with the new CEO to change the product, market, and financing focus of the co-op to assure a long and profitable future for its... View Details

Keywords: Capital; Profit; Goods and Commodities; Product Marketing; Cooperative Ownership

Find at Harvard

February 1997 (Revised July 1997)
Case

Vermeer Technologies (A): A Company Is Born

By: Ashish Nanda

Charles Ferguson has just heard from a venture capital (VC) consortium that it is willing to finance Vermeer Technologies, a company he has cofounded for developing Internet software. The funds are sorely needed, but the VCs have imposed some onerous conditions,... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Selection and Staffing; Applications and Software; Entrepreneurship; Information Technology Industry

February 1992 (Revised September 2003)
Supplement

Beech-Nut Nutrition Corporation (A-2)

By: Lynn S. Paine, Bronwyn Halliday and Michael Santoro

Beech-Nut's CEO must decide what to do. Asks students to consider how much evidence of impurity should be enough to trigger management's acknowledgment of a problem. What are the cognitive and attitudinal factors and pressures that lead people to persist in beliefs... View Details

Keywords: Safety; Risk Management; Attitudes; Nutrition; Cognition and Thinking; Food and Beverage Industry

December 1989 (Revised October 1990)
Case

General Electric Co.: Preparing for the 1990s

By: Francis Aguilar

Describes Jack Welch's tenure as CEO from 1981 to 1989 through excerpts of speeches and presentations. Sections include summary of GE's strategy, Welch's quantum leap approach to change, the restructuring of GE, how GE operates (the "GE Growth Engine"), and managing GE... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Policy; Business or Company Management; Change Management; Business Strategy; Restructuring; Operations; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Electronics Industry

Find at Harvard

20 Aug 2015
News

Companies Like Amazon Need to Run More Tests on Workplace Practices

26 Aug 2013
News

Top three trades

24 Sep 2021
News

Hubert Joly on the Heart of Business

08 Feb 2021
News

We asked a Harvard Business School professor to analyze Jeff Bezos' departure letter. Here's where it was successful

08 Feb 2012
News

Professor Noam Wasserman’s Advice to Mark Zuckerberg

December 2022 (Revised May 2023)
Case

Iberdrola: Leading the Energy Revolution

By: Juan Alcácer and Emer Moloney

At the end of 2019, Ignacio Galán, the Chairman and CEO of the world's third largest utility, Iberdrola, reflected on his almost 20 years at the company. He managed a portfolio of three very different businesses, each with their own specific opportunities and... View Details

February 2018 (Revised June 2021)
Case

New Constructs: Disrupting Fundamental Analysis with Robo-Analysts

By: Charles C.Y. Wang and Kyle Thomas

This case highlights the business challenges associated with a financial technology firm, New Constructs, that created a technology that can quickly parse complicated public firm financials to paint a clearer economic picture of firms, remove accounting distortions,... View Details

Keywords: Fundamental Analysis; Machine Learning; Robo-analysts; Financial Statements; Financial Reporting; Analysis; Information Technology; Accounting Industry; Financial Services Industry; Information Technology Industry; North America; Tennessee

May 2014
Case

Groupon, Inc.

By: Krishna G. Palepu, Blythe J. McGarvie and James Weber

Internet coupon site "Groupon" grew revenues rapidly and went public, but struggled to impress investors or operate profitably. Did it have a sustainable business model? Groupon sold coupons called Groupons which purchasers used to acquire goods or services at... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Corporate Governance; Entrepreneurship; Financial Management; Financial Reporting; Financial Statements; Organizational Culture; Strategy; Web Services Industry; United States

November 2012 (Revised October 2013)
Supplement

Global Expansion at Sanford C. Bernstein (C)

By: Linda A. Hill and Dana Teppert

Robert van Brugge, CEO of Sanford C. Bernstein, a premier sell-side research firm, has recently appointed a new Director of Asian Research to lead the firm's Hong Kong office. Van Brugge wonders what advice he should give the new Director as the firm continues to... View Details

Keywords: Collaboration; Organizational Design; Talent Management; Leadership; Finance; Globalization; Organizational Culture; Financial Services Industry; Hong Kong

21 Oct 2013
News

What’s Next for JPMorgan After Record $13B Fine?

20 Dec 2019
Blog Post

Aspa Lekka (MBA 2020) Talks Dreams of Becoming a CEO, Handball, and Her Hometown in Greece

Aspa Lekka (MBA 2020) was a member of the Greek National Team for handball. Upon realizing she had global ambitions of competing in a larger world, she ventured out to Berlin to join a startup as a business analyst despite her lack of knowledge and skills in the field.... View Details

March 2016 (Revised May 2018)
Case

ASOS PLC

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

Launched in 2000, ASOS was one of the world’s largest online fashion specialists in 2018. Focusing on young consumers aged 16–25 years, the company offered over 85,000 items on its websites, many times more than the largest fashion stores, and added several thousand... View Details

Keywords: ASOS; AsSeenOnScreen; Online Fashion; Online Apparel; Nick Beighton; Nick Robertson; E-commerce; E-Commerce Strategy; Online Retail; Multichannel Retailing; Omnichannel; Social Media; Marketplaces; Shipping; Advertising; Digital Marketing; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Business Startups; For-Profit Firms; Customer Focus and Relationships; Age; Gender; Currency Exchange Rate; Profit; Revenue; Geography; Geographic Scope; Global Range; Global Strategy; Globalized Firms and Management; Globalized Markets and Industries; Business History; Selection and Staffing; Journals and Magazines; Human Capital; Business or Company Management; Crisis Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Management Succession; Brands and Branding; Marketing Channels; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Product Positioning; Social Marketing; Media; Distribution; Distribution Channels; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Infrastructure; Logistics; Public Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Vertical Integration; Segmentation; Internet and the Web; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Fashion Industry; Retail Industry; United Kingdom; England; London

Pietro Satriano is a Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School. He sits on the boards of CarMax, the largest omni-channel used car retailer in the U.S. and Metro, a large regional grocery retailer in Canada. Pietro advises a number of food-tech startups and acts... View Details

May 2025
Case

Wilburn Medical USA

By: David Ager, Lynda M. Applegate and James Barnett

In September 2024, Emily Wilburn Andrews, CEO of Wilburn Medical USA, is five years into her tenure leading the medical equipment supply company since taking over for her father, the company’s founder. She considers approaches to grow the company while maintaining the... View Details

Keywords: Small Business; Change Management; Decision Making; Ethics; Values and Beliefs; Health; Medical Specialties; Leadership; Health Industry; United States

April 2025
Supplement

#FutureFresenius: 'Committed to Life' in 2024 and Beyond (B)

By: David J. Collis, Benjamin C. Esty and Haisley Wert

From February 2024 onward, Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA continued to make progress on the #FutureFresenius transformation that CEO Michael Sen had initiated in October 2022. The company had completed the initial "reset" phase and moved into the "revitalize" portion of the... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Finance; Transformation; Leading Change; Health Industry; United States; Germany