Publications

Read Now

May 2016 (Revised May 2017)
Case

Supply Chain Finance at Procter & Gamble

By: Benjamin C. Esty, E. Scott Mayfield and David Lane

In April 2013, Procter & Gamble (P&G), the world’s largest consumer packaged goods (CPG) company, announced that it would extend its payment terms to suppliers by 30 days. At the same time, P&G announced a new supply chain financing (SCF) program giving suppliers the... View Details

26 Jul 2006
Research & Ideas

The Strategic Way to Go to Market

repository of lost opportunities" that serve neither end users nor channel partners very well. Why is this? A: That is because most channels are constructed from the supplier out, rather than from the customer in. In other words, the View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

04 Oct 2004
What Do You Think?

Does Speed Trump Intellectual Property?

increased sales and margins due to fresher products reflecting customer demand. They found that, among other things, fast competitors froze designs early in the product development process, shared... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

25 Jun 2019
Research & Ideas

The Powerful Strategic Tool Companies Should Not Try to Control

identifying recurring problems. User communities can also lower costs by providing limited product support—especially for products and services that have been phased out—or informal support for hiring and... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

2008
Book

Moral Gray Zones: Side Productions, Identity, and Regulation in an Aeronautic Plant

By: Michel Anteby

Anyone who has been employed by an organization knows not every official workplace regulation must be followed. When management consistently overlooks such breaches, spaces emerge in which both workers and supervisors engage in officially prohibited, yet tolerated... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Moral Sensibility; Governance Controls; Production; Organizational Culture; Practice; France

Find at Harvard

Career Coach

Brent Brown

Brent (HBS '02) has experience in private equity/venture capital, investment banking, and real estate, consumer products and digital media industries and currently serves on the boards of numerous private companies. Work Experience: US... View Details

Keywords: Investment Management; Investment Management; Investment Management; Investment Management; Investment Management; Investment Management; Investment Management; Investment Management; Investment Management; Investment Management; Investment Management; Investment Management; Investment Management; Investment Management; Investment Management; Investment Management; Investment Management; Investment Management; Investment Management

April 2006
Case

Finance Leadership in Novartis Consumer Health Businesses

By: Boris Groysberg and Ingrid Vargas

Describes and contrasts the roles and challenges of three high-performing finance heads at Novartis Consumer Health businesses in Australia, Japan, and Venezuela. All three faced tremendous pressures in terms of managing time and limited resources, but the particular... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Financial Management; Multinational Firms and Management; Leadership Style; Health Industry; Japan; Australia; Venezuela

February 2022
Case

US Foods: Driving Post-Pandemic Success?

By: David E. Bell, Olivia Hull and Amy Klopfenstein

In November 2021, US Foods CEO Pietro Satriano must decide his company’s trajectory following the COVID-19 pandemic. US Foods suffered due to business closures and social distancing during the height of the pandemic. While the situation improved following the return of... View Details

10 May 2011
Working Paper Summaries

The Impact of Forward-Looking Metrics on Employee Decision Making

Keywords: by Pablo Casas-Arce, F. Asís Martínez-Jerez & V.G. Narayanan; Banking

February 2017 (Revised April 2018)
Case

Kameda Seika: Cracking the U.S. Market

By: Elie Ofek, Nobuo Sato and Akiko Kanno

In spring 2016, Kameda’s CEO, Michiyasu Tanaka, is facing difficult questions from board members over the lackluster performance of the company’s U.S. subsidiary. Kameda was the leading player in the Japanese rice cracker market and was looking to expand overseas to... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Adaptation; Performance Improvement; Food and Beverage Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Japan; United States

September 2020 (Revised June 2021)
Supplement

Eaton Corporation: Portfolio Transformation and The Cost of Capital

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Scott Mayfield and Daniel Fisher

In 2000, Eaton Corporation was a broadly diversified industrial conglomerate. But its strategy was evolving and its focus was narrowing around “power management” and more recently on “intelligent power,” the use of digitally enabled products and services designed to... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Conglomerates; Business Divisions; Cost of Capital; Corporate Finance; Value; Valuation; Industrial Products Industry; United States; Denmark; Republic of Ireland

March 2010 (Revised October 2018)
Case

Toby Johnson (A): Leading After School

By: Boris Groysberg, Leslie Danford, Amy Lodge and Tereh Sayles

After completing her MBA in 2007, Toby Johnson, a former army pilot with the 18th Airborne Corps Rapid Deployment Force, joined PepsiCo's Leadership Development Program (LDP). For her first assignment with PepsiCo, Johnson accepted a position as a manufacturing-manager... View Details

Keywords: Leading Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Compensation and Benefits; Business or Company Management

March 2022 (Revised November 2023)
Case

Doubling Down: Elon Musk's Big Bets in 2022

By: David Yoffie and Daniel Fisher

2021 was a banner year for Elon Musk. CEO of the electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla, the aerospace manufacturer SpaceX, and a few smaller startups, Musk became the richest person on Earth after Tesla reached a market capitalization of $1 trillion and SpaceX a private... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Transportation; Strategic Planning; Leadership Style; Leading Change; Goals and Objectives; Aerospace Industry; Auto Industry; Battery Industry; United States; Europe; China

10 Jul 2023
In Practice

The Harvard Business School Faculty Summer Reader 2023

to save himself from his inner turmoil. Arthur Brooks is the William Henry Bloomberg Professor of the Practice of Public Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School, and Professor of Management Practice at HBS. He is the author of From Strength... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

November 2020
Supplement

Integrating Beam Suntory (B)

By: David G. Fubini, Rawi Abdelal and David Lane

Supplements (A) case: The spring 2014 acquisition of U.S. alcoholic spirits maker Beam Inc. by Japan’s Suntory Holdings vaulted Suntory from 15th to third-largest international spirits company in the world. Yet Suntory had borrowed nearly the entire $16 billion... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Communication; Borrowing and Debt; Globalization; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Retention; Leadership; Supply Chain; Organizational Structure; Ownership; Relationships; Conflict and Resolution; Integration; Value Creation; Food and Beverage Industry; Japan; United States; Chicago

While facilitating a complex clinical approval process over the next two to three years for a family of new cancer drugs, Genentech must develop a long-term capacity plan for a major class of new cancer products. Adding to the complexity and uncertainty is the fact... View Details

January 1982 (Revised July 2007)
Case

Jody McVay

A Harvard MBA '78 has been successful at getting things done in a consumer products company with an "entrenched" culture. She has also handled issues women face in a "male culture" rather well. View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Gender; Management Skills; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry

Find at Harvard

September 2003 (Revised March 2004)
Compilation

Max Green: Work Patterns at Ditto (C)

By: Leslie A. Perlow

According to his managers, Max, a software engineer on a product development team, is an organizational superstar. Describes his life and provides a log of how Max spends his time. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Time Management; Groups and Teams; Work-Life Balance; Information Technology Industry