Publications

April 2012
Case

People Express Airlines

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Lauren Barley

Recounts the history of People Express Airlines, which grew rapidly after its inception in 1980 then failed spectacularly in 1986. Profiles People's aggressive strategy and its distinctive approach to human resource management, which emphasized job rotation and minimal... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Air Transportation; Business Exit or Shutdown; Business Growth and Maturation; Organizational Structure; Entrepreneurship; Failure; Human Resources; Business Startups; Air Transportation Industry

March 2010 (Revised March 2012)
Teaching Note

PNC Financial: Grow Up Great (TN) (A) and (B)

By: Christopher Marquis, V. Kasturi Rangan and Bobbi Thomason

Teaching Note for [409108]. View Details

Keywords: Investment; Problems and Challenges; Opportunities; Leadership; Early Childhood Education; Brands and Branding; Organizational Structure; Success; Financial Services Industry

01 Sep 2011
News

Capitalism’s False Mantra

University of Toronto. The paper argued that the structure of executive compensation and perks motivated CEOs and other top officers to feather their own nests at the expense of the business itself — the “principal-agent problem.” How... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne; Publishing Industries (except Internet); Publishing Industries (except Internet); Publishing Industries (except Internet)

28 Oct 2015
Research & Ideas

A Dedication to Creation: India's Ad Man Ranjan Kapur

in the advertising business. It worked for everyone. We all acquired a slight accent at that time.” A: India got its independence in 1947, and even in the 1960s the country was still very heavily influenced by the British Raj. I learned in the interview that the people... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Advertising

January 2008 (Revised May 2009)
Case

Restructuring at Delphi Corporation (A)

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah L. Abbott

Delphi Corporation, operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, has filed a plan of reorganization with the court, under which a consortium of hedge funds led by Appaloosa Management will invest up to $2.6 billion in new equity. Also participating in the plan is... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Capital Structure; Private Equity; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Investment Funds; Labor and Management Relations; Auto Industry; Auto Industry

08 Jan 2007
Research & Ideas

Who Rises to Power in American Business?

the airline industry, looking at how its leadership changed during the course of the twentieth century and how contextual intelligence or lack thereof influenced industry evolution. We are particularly interested in the co-evolution of... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

09 Aug 2013
Research & Ideas

Read All About It: Digital CEO Buys Traditional Media!

the world are trying to reinvent themselves for digital success. Indeed, few strategic problems are as hard as those confronting newspapers—declining print revenues, even greater declines in advertising revenue (mostly due to the loss of classifieds), and a fixed cost... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner; Journalism & News; Publishing

12 Jun 2014
News

The First Five Years: Minal Mehta (MBA 2011)

challenging? "By far the most enjoyable and rewarding part is building the BollyX community. I love working in the fitness industry—people in this industry are so positive, outgoing, and inspiring (it must be the exercising and... View Details

Keywords: fitness; Arts, Entertainment

August 1998 (Revised October 1998)
Case

Disney's "The Lion King" (A): The $2 Billion Movie

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Cate Reavis

In 1994, just 10 years after its filmed entertainment division lost $33 million, Disney's animated creation "The Lion King" became the second highest grossing film ever. In addition to drawing $740 million in worldwide box office sales, its merchandise sales exceeded... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Marketing Strategy; Expansion; Creativity; Film Entertainment; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Product Development; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

12 Oct 2011
First Look

First Look: October 12

the resource-based view of the firm, we examine how teams can develop a knowledge-integration capability to dynamically integrate members' resources into higher performance. We distinguish among three sets of resources: relational, experiential, and View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

15 Nov 2004
Research & Ideas

Solving the Health Care Conundrum

The U.S. health care industry is unique in that despite the presence of significant competition, which usually drives increased value through decreased costs and improved quality, the nature of the competition in health care has been... View Details

Keywords: by Michael E. Porter; Health

Web

Educating Leaders - Georges F. Doriot:Educating Leaders, Building Companies, Baker Library, Harvard Business School

which resemble a flowchart, reflect the orderly, logical fashion in which he structured and conveyed his philosophy on the art and science of business. "Business to [Doriot], and he hopes to you, can be one of the most satisfying and... View Details

08 Jul 2014
First Look

First Look: July 8

retirement crisis in the wake of the dot-com crash, when companies in major industries went bankrupt in large part because of their inability to meet their pension obligations. The result was an acceleration of America's shift away from... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

September 1996 (Revised November 1996)
Case

World Bank (A): Under Siege

By: George C. Lodge and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Describes the issues that James Wolfensohn faces when he takes over the World Bank as president in June 1995. Presents several lines of criticism of the bank's strategy, structure, and relevance. View Details

Keywords: Financial Institutions; International Finance; Organizational Structure; Leading Change; Situation or Environment; Decision Choices and Conditions; Strategy; Management Teams; Value; Banking Industry

Find at Harvard

16 Sep 2008
First Look

First Look: September 16, 2008

platform and its evolution. We describe three ways of representing platform architectures: network graphs, design structure matrices, and layer maps. We conclude by addressing a number of fundamental strategic questions suggested by a... View Details

06 May 2014
First Look

First Look: May 6

and Maggie Chen Abstract—The explosion of multinational activities in recent decades is rapidly transforming the global landscape of industrial production. But are the emerging clusters of multinational production the rule or the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

04 Dec 2012
First Look

First Look: December 4

Homophily and Structure in a Formal Organization Authors:Adam M. Kleinbaum, Toby E. Stuart, and Michael Tushman Publication:Organization Science Abstract Homophily in social relations results from both individual preferences and selective... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

March 2014 (Revised May 2014)
Teaching Note

The TELUS Share Conversion Proposal

By: Lucy White and Benjamin C. Esty

On February 21, 2013, TELUS announced a proposal to convert the firm's non-voting shares into voting shares on a one-to-one basis, thereby eliminating the firm's dual class structure. Shareholders were scheduled to vote on the proposal at the firm's annual general... View Details

May 2009 (Revised June 2011)
Case

Going to the Oracle: Goldman Sachs, September 2008

By: Clayton S. Rose and David Lane

On September 23, 2008, in the midst of an historic crisis in the U.S. financial markets, Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway invested $5 billion in Goldman Sachs. Goldman CEO, Lloyd Blankfein, said: "We are pleased that given our longstanding relationship, Warren... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Crisis; Capital Structure; Financial Liquidity; Financial Markets; Investment; Performance Capacity; Financial Services Industry; United States