Publications

February 2003
Case

Whitbread Hotel Company (B)

By: Michael Beer and James Weber

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Integration; Business or Company Management; Strategy

Find at Harvard

15 Sep 2016
News

US Competitiveness Report Sees ‘A Nation Divided’

Harvard Business School today released "Problems Unsolved and a Nation Divided," a comprehensive analysis of the state of US competitiveness in 2016, based on five years of the US Competitiveness Project's multi-faculty research. The US... View Details

01 Sep 2011
News

HBS Moves Ahead with Curriculum Innovations

control in structuring their second year. There are all kinds of MBA programs available today, including one-year, executive, online, and part-time. The question arises, what’s the value-added of HBS’s two-year residential program? In the... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

October 1998 (Revised December 1999)
Case

Gene Research, the Mapping of Life and the Global Economy

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Juan Enriquez-Cabot

A new firm is being created to speed up the process of mapping humans, animals, and plants by combining gene technology with rapid gene identification to improve the health and well being of the human population and the productivity of crops and animals. How does one... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Organizational Structure; Technological Innovation; Business Processes; Health Care and Treatment; Performance Productivity; Welfare; Agribusiness; Genetics; Science-Based Business; Biotechnology Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

Web

Make clear where we stand and where we aim to go. - Advancing Racial Equity

institution that has long prided itself on educating business leaders and shaping business practice, Harvard Business School is complicit in this reality. We cannot tout our... View Details

13 Jun 2012
HBS Case

HBS Cases: A Startup Takes On the Credit Ratings Giants

Three. Should it focus its business on a single sector such as structured products or attack multiple sectors? How could enough skilled analysts be recruited quickly? How would the firm acquire status as a... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish; Banking; Financial Services

Web

Demystifying the Family Enterprise - Course Catalog

E-mail: mtolsdorf@hbs.edu Career Focus This course is designed for students who are pursuing a career in businesses that are family owned - i.e. the majority shareholders are family, investment roles in family offices, or students that... View Details

09 May 2022
News

Green House

In the Observatory Hill neighborhood of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Betsy Harper (MBA 1984) has built an oxymoron: a brand-new, historic home. The recently completed structure combines traditional architecture and the latest in... View Details

December 2010 (Revised March 2012)
Teaching Note

Alibaba Group

By: Julie M. Wulf

Teaching Note for 710436. View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Business Subsidiaries; Competition; Motivation and Incentives; Internet and the Web; Growth and Development; Corporate Strategy; Organizational Structure; Retail Industry; China

19 Dec 2014
Research & Ideas

China’s Complicated Relationship With Mother Nature

Despite its name, the Great Wall of China began as a series of smaller, isolated defensive fortifications. Those structures grew and were later unified into the imposing structure that exists today. The Great Wall is a great metaphor for the Chinese economy. By... View Details

Keywords: Re: William C. Kirby; Manufacturing

09 Mar 2021
News

Empowering School Leaders to Meet Today's Challenges

cross-disciplinary expertise of the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE), Harvard Business School, and Harvard Business School Online. “With these courses, you’re examining ‘How can I shift the way... View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Gillespie

Samuel Insull

Insull centralized utility delivery and created a new business model called customer ownership, or people’s capitalism. This utility delivery approach rapidly spread throughout the country during the 1920s and had a profound impact on the... View Details

Keywords: Utilities & Energy

January 2005 (Revised March 2008)
Case

Kohler Co. (A)

Kohler Co., best known for its plumbing fixtures, is a large, private family firm. As part of a recapitalization aimed at preserving family ownership of Kohler Co., nonfamily shareholders, who held 4% of common stock, were required to sell their shares to the company.... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Capital Structure; Cash Flow; Stocks; Price; Family Ownership; Business and Shareholder Relations; Valuation

August 2012
Case

Growing Pains at Stroz Friedberg (Abridged)

By: David A. Garvin and Michael Norris

In late spring 2009, Stroz Friedberg co-presidents Edward Stroz and Eric Friedberg had to set growth targets for 2010. The leading global consulting firm they had built specialized in managing digital risk and uncovering digital evidence and had grown very rapidly.... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Change Management; Transition; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Consulting Industry

July 2000 (Revised April 2011)
Supplement

Greeley Hard Copy, Portable Scanner Initiative (B)

By: Michael L. Tushman and Daniel Radov

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Production; Product Development; Information Infrastructure; Business Divisions; Organizational Structure

17 Mar 2015
First Look

First Look: March 17

Publications March 2015 Journal of Financial Economics Banks as Patient Fixed-Income Investors By: Hanson, Samuel G., Andrei Shleifer, Jeremy C. Stein, and Robert W. Vishny Abstract—We examine the business model of traditional... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

December 1993 (Revised November 1995)
Case

Wetherill Associates, Inc.

By: Lynn S. Paine

Top managers of Wetherill Associates, Inc., a small, privately held distributor of electrical parts to the automotive aftermarket, are considering whether to modify the company's compensation system for its salesforce. The management wants a compensation system that... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Business or Company Management; Organizational Structure; Compensation and Benefits; Salesforce Management

June 1985 (Revised April 1989)
Case

Benetton (B)

By: James L. Heskett

The managing director of Benetton is faced with several issues concerning the adequacy of the company's organization to capitalize on the early success it has achieved in an important foreign market, the United States. Specifically, the case raises questions about... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Structure; Global Strategy; Transition; Growth and Development Strategy; Success; Business Headquarters; Business Subsidiaries; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business Growth and Maturation; United States; Italy

May 2022
Article

Investment as the Opportunity Cost of Dividend Signaling

By: Zach Kaplan and Gerardo Pérez Cavazos

We provide evidence that firms with weak investment opportunities (those whose current earnings justify a greater valuation than firms with strong investment opportunities) signal their permanent earnings level through their dividends. In the cross-section, we show... View Details

Keywords: Dividends; Earnings; Investment Opportunities; Payout Policy; Signaling; Capital Structure; Business Earnings; Investment; Opportunities