Publications

18 Jan 2018
News

The Lessons of All-Day Breakfast

Subscribe on iTunes Subscribe on SoundCloud More Skydeck episodes Dan Morrell: When Kristy Cunningham (MBA 1998) arrived at McDonald’s in 2014 as vice president of strategy and insights, she asked her team about the most common requests... View Details

Keywords: Food Services and Drinking Places; Hospitality

Web

Research - Behavioral Finance & Financial Stability

investment performance of passive maturity transformation strategies over this period may mask the underperformance of the specialized bank activities. See Juliane’s other research here and Erik’s other research here . More Info Brokers... View Details

05 Feb 2008
First Look

First Look: February 5, 2008

Companies have always found it hard to balance pressing operational concerns with long-term strategic priorities. The tension is critical: World-class processes won't lead to success without the right strategic direction, and the best... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

March 2008 (Revised May 2008)
Case

Carlyle Japan (A)

By: David B. Godes, Masako Egawa and Mayuka Yamazaki

Tamotsu Adachi, Managing Director of Carlyle Japan, wants to formulate a strategy to improve his firm's ability to source high-quality deals at competitive valuations, or prices. Buyout funds like Carlyle typically have two deal phases: sourcing and monitoring. These... View Details

Keywords: Financial Instruments; Leveraged Buyouts; Supply Chain Management; Marketing Channels; Sales; Financial Services Industry; Japan

April 2025
Case

Salesforce Agentforce: The Limitless Workforce

By: Suraj Srinivasan, Allison Ciechanover and George Gonzalez

In early 2025, Salesforce was a global leader in cloud-based enterprise software, best known for pioneering customer relationship management (CRM) delivered as a service. Over the past two decades, the company had expanded into marketing, customer service, analytics,... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Customer Relationship Management; Price; AI and Machine Learning; Technology Adoption; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Sales; Business Strategy; Ethics; Product Launch; Technology Industry; United States

March 2025 (Revised March 2025)
Case

Seattle's Climate Pledge Arena: Ticket to a Greener Future

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jacob A. Small

Tim Leiweke reviewed how his development group and partners had completely rebuilt an aging Seattle landmark into the world’s greenest arena, carrying the visible name Climate Pledge Arena. It had attracted a new National Hockey League franchise, the Kraken, and... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Leadership; Bids and Bidding; Standards; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Seattle

June 1995 (Revised September 2019)
Teaching Note

Richardson Sheffield

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Ashish Nanda

This note was prepared to aid instructors in the use of "Richardson Sheffield," HBS No. 392-089. The case traces Bryan Upton’s 20-plus years as managing director of a Sheffield-based cutlery company and describes the strategic and organizational actions he took to... View Details

Keywords: Development; General Management; Human Resources; Management; Leadership; Strategy; United Kingdom

March 2025
Teaching Note

Seattle's Climate Pledge Arena: Ticket to a Greener Future

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jacob A. Small

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 325-110. CEO Tim Leiweke reviewed the process by which his newly formed Oak View Group had managed a major rebuild of a landmark arena in Seattle which attracted a National Hockey League franchise and major entertainers concerned about... View Details

Keywords: Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; Leadership; Bids and Bidding; Standards; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Green Buildings; Construction; Partners and Partnerships; Sports Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Seattle

01 Mar 2014
News

Generation Next

done at Godrej. (Earlier consultants, she notes, often operated as yes-men for her father.) They didn't disappoint: Vivek Gambhir (MBA 1997), the Bain partner who headed the project, notably challenged the status quo, and Nisa went on to... View Details

Keywords: Mark Bergen; Godrej Group; Management

Web

Faculty - Private Capital Project

Bill is the faculty chair of the Launching New Ventures program for executive education, and he has received Harvard's Distinction in Teaching award. Rembrand M. Koning Assistant Professor of Business Administration Rembrand Koning is an assistant professor of business... View Details

20 Oct 2015
First Look

October 20, 2015

empirical results provide strong support for the view that output prices are a key determinant of vertical integration. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=49893 forthcoming Production and Operations... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

August 2023
Teaching Note

Vanderbilt: Transforming an Academic Health Care Delivery System, 2020

By: Michael E. Porter, Robert S. Kaplan, Mary L. Witkowski and David N. Bernstein

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 724-373. View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Health Care Industry; Academic Medicine; Value-based Health Care; Value-based Healthcare; Health Care Delivery; Service Delivery; Transformation; Health Care and Treatment; Corporate Strategy; Leadership; Health Industry; Tennessee; United States

June 2021
Case

Acelero Learning

By: Mario Small, Kathleen L. McGinn, Amy Klopfenstein and Katherine Chen

In November 2020, Henry Wilde, co-founder and CEO of Acelero, Inc., must decide whether to change his company’s program model for delivering early childhood education to low-income children. One of the only for-profit Head Start providers in the United States, Acelero... View Details

Keywords: Early Childhood Education; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Growth and Development Strategy; Adoption; Customer Focus and Relationships; Operations; Education Industry; North and Central America; United States

July 2022 (Revised February 2025)
Case

A Soul and a Service: North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance

By: Tom Nicholas and John Masko

The North Carolina Mutual and Provident Association (the Mutual) was founded in 1898 as a for-profit entity selling life insurance catering to the Black community. The Mutual was entering a field crowded with established White-owned competitors that largely refused to... View Details

Keywords: Black Entrepreneurs; Insurance; History; Race; Prejudice and Bias; Entrepreneurship; Decision Choices and Conditions; Growth and Development Strategy; Insurance Industry; United States

15 Apr 2014
First Look

First Look: April 15

fill a projected supply gap. Mission could also buy avocado farms in other countries, expand its international marketing efforts, invest in brand building in Asia, and/or add processed avocado products. This strategy case describes... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2002 (Revised December 2002)
Case

Calvin Klein, Inc. v. Warnaco Group, Inc.

On May 30, 2000, Calvin Klein, Inc. (CKI) filed suit against Warnaco Group, Inc. and Linda Wachner, its CEO, for breaching its jeanswear licensing and distribution contract and, in so doing, diluting the equity of its brand. On June 26, 2000, Warnaco countered with its... View Details

Keywords: Lawsuits and Litigation; Distribution Channels; Brands and Branding; Manufacturing Industry; Distribution Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry

June 2000 (Revised October 2017)
Case

IDEO

By: Stefan Thomke and Ashok Nimgade

Describes IDEO, the world's leading product design firm, and its innovation culture and process. Emphasis is placed on the important role of prototyping and experimentation in general, and in the design of the very successful Palm V handheld computer in particular. A... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Innovation Strategy; Business or Company Management; Time Management; Product Design; Product Development; Business Processes; Organizational Culture; Practice; Problems and Challenges; Creativity; Hardware

November 2022
Case

Arcos Dorados’ Quest for the Digitalization of Last-Mile Delivery in Colombia

By: Jorge Tamayo, Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago and Mariana Cal

In 2018, Francisco Staton, Managing Director of Arcos Dorados in Colombia had to decide on the company’s strategy to expand its food ordering and delivery business in the country. Arcos Dorados stood as McDonald’s largest independent franchisee, and Colombia was one of... View Details