Publications

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08 Aug 2005
Research & Ideas

Decision Rights: Who Gives the Green Light?

"happens all too often," says Michael Jensen, professor emeritus at Harvard Business School and managing director of Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Monitor Group's organizational strategy practice. "Allocating decision... View Details

Keywords: by Peter Jacobs

06 Oct 2020
Sharpening Your Skills

18 Tips Managers Can Use to Lead Through COVID's Rising Waters

business administration. STRATEGY Tip: Confront unknown unknowns in your strategic planning The term VUCA originated in the US War College to describe situations that are volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. In this world,... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

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

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

October 1996 (Revised January 1997)
Case

Mt. Auburn Hospital

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Jaan Elias

In December of 1993, two of Boston's largest and best known hospitals, Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women's, announced that they were setting aside their historic rivalry to form an alliance and build a regional health network. The announcement set off a wave... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Negotiation Offer; Alliances; Networks; Social Enterprise; Horizontal Integration; Health Industry; Boston

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

03 Mar 2003
Research & Ideas

Top Ten Legal Mistakes Made by Entrepreneurs

their agreements with the current employer and their knowledge of trade secrets. The law is clear that if someone is currently working for a company, particularly if her or she is a key employee, they cannot operate a competing business.... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

July 2022 (Revised July 2022)
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

March 2016 (Revised June 2016)
Case

Gotong Royong: Toward Sustainable Palm Oil

By: Rebecca Henderson, Hann-Shuin Yew and Monica Baraldi

In late 2015, Jeff Seabright, chief sustainability officer at Unilever, had to report to Unilever CEO Paul Polman on the effort to transform palm oil cultivation. Historically, palm oil was produced using unsustainable methods that included burning large tracts of... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Environment; Industry Self-regulation; Corporate Image; Corporate Strategy; Indonesia; Malaysia

17 Jun 2011
HBS Case

KFC’s Explosive Growth in China

humble. "There's no room for ego," Su explained in the case. "China doesn't have the same culture of individualism that is present in the United States." Su's strategy was that KFC "would not be seen as a foreign... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish; Food & Beverage

Web

2022 Reunion Presentations - Alumni

this session, we will consider the implications of living in a permanent state of elevated turbulence. COVID has been an object lesson in having to continuously reassess changing conditions and adapt both strategy and View Details

December 2008 (Revised January 2011)
Case

Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change

By: Arthur A. Daemmrich, Forest L. Reinhardt and Mary Louise Shelman

Arcadia Biosciences is an entrepreneurial California agricultural biotech company seeking to earn carbon credits by modifying commodity crops for use in China and India. Eric Rey, Arcadia's CEO, faced a strategic inflection point in early September 2008. The company... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Environmental Sustainability; Science-Based Business; Climate Change; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Biotechnology Industry; China; India; California

February 2022
Supplement

SpartanNash Company: The Amazon Warrants (A)

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

As of 12/31/21, Amazon held $22 billion of equity and warrants in related companies. In fact, it often requests a free grant of warrants when it enters into a new commercial agreement with a supplier. Over the past 20 years, Amazon has gotten warrants almost 20... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Value Creation; Consumer Behavior; Negotiation; Distribution; Ownership; Partners and Partnerships; Business Strategy; Equity; Distribution Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

09 Dec 2014
First Look

First Look: December 9

performance of hybrid organizations that pursue a social mission, and sustain their operations through commercial activities, by studying work integration social enterprises (WISEs). We argue that social imprinting and economic... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2025
Working Paper

Markups and Cost Pass-through Along the Supply Chain

By: Santiago E. Alvarez-Blaser, Alberto Cavallo, Alexander MacKay and Paolo Mengano

We study markups and pricing strategies along the supply chain. Our unique dataset combines detailed price and cost information from a large global manufacturer with matched retail prices collected online for the period July 2018 through June 2023. We show that total... View Details

Keywords: Markups; Pricing; Price; Supply Chain; Inflation and Deflation; Cost

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Blog

The Harvard Business School Faculty Summer Reader 2023

research on leading complex organizations and scaling businesses, I've chosen Unleash Your Transformation by Marco Van Kalleveen and Peter Koijen. This book offers valuable insights and practical strategies for leaders who are driving... View Details

February 2024 (Revised July 2024)
Case

Taffi: Entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia

By: Paul A. Gompers and Fares Khrais

Taffi was a tech-enabled fashion styling startup founded by Shahad Geoffrey in Saudi Arabia in 2020. Within three years of operating, Geoffrey had pivoted the business multiple times. In 2023, Geoffrey was attempting the business’s most ambitious pivot yet, shifting... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Disruption; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Investment; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; AI and Machine Learning; Fashion Industry; Technology Industry; Saudi Arabia; Arabian Peninsula

23 Aug 2016
First Look

August 23, 2016

companies has become available in the past 10 years. Myth Number 5: ESG adds value almost entirely by limiting risks. Reality: Along with lower risk and a lower cost of capital, companies with high ESG scores have also experienced increases in 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