Publications

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February 1999 (Revised June 1999)
Case

Transformation of Pratt & Whitney North Haven (Abridged)

By: H. Kent Bowen, Jeffrey L. Bradach, Linda A. Hill and Kristin Doughty

Business unit manager Tom Hutton has empowered a group of hourly workers to purchase grit blast equipment for two cells. The capital purchase decision runs into some problems when the two cells fail to reach an agreement on which equipment to purchase. A rewritten... View Details

Keywords: Business Units; Decision Making; Labor; Managerial Roles; Failure; Problems and Challenges; Power and Influence; Hardware

March 2011
Supplement

Padraig O'Ceidigh and Aer Arann: Building a Business in the Context of a Life - What Happened

By: Janet J. Kraus and Shirley Spence

Provides an epilogue to the problem posed in the companion case: what to do in the face of potential liquidation? View Details

Keywords: Natural Disasters; Crisis Management; Air Transportation; Entrepreneurship; Management Teams; Business or Company Management; Success; Decision Making; Air Transportation Industry; Republic of Ireland

2003
Article

BMW Group's Sustainability Management System: Preliminary Results, Ongoing Challenges, and the UN Global Compact

By: Michael W. Toffel, Natalie Hill and Kellie McElhaney

This article describes preliminary results and ongoing challenges faced by Designworks/USA, an industrial design subsidiary of BMW Group, in its sustainability management efforts since it implemented the world's first certified Sustainability Management System (SMS).... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Management Systems; Standards; Social Issues; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Outcome or Result; Auto Industry

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March 1998 (Revised July 1998)
Case

United Way Community Services

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

Describes in detail the fund development and distribution system of United Way Community Services. A key question is how to measure the outcome/impact of the work done by the agencies that receive United Way funding. A follow-on question is how to reinvent the... View Details

Keywords: Capital; Management Systems; Measurement and Metrics; Distribution Channels; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Outcome or Result; Nonprofit Organizations

January–February 2021
Article

Build a Family Business That Lasts

By: Josh Baron and Rob Lachenauer

Judging from how they’re portrayed in the media, it would be easy to dismiss family businesses as hotbeds of power-playing, backstabbing, and favor-currying, ultimately destined to fail; think of the Murdochs and News Corp, or the Redstones and National Amusements, to... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Success; Ownership Type; Governing and Advisory Boards; Management Succession

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October 2019 (Revised April 2020)
Case

Carme Ruscalleda: The Chef as an Artist

By: Boris Groysberg, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Annelena Lobb

In October 2018, Chef Carme Ruscalleda, the most-starred woman chef in the world at the time, closed the doors of her Restaurant Sant Pau (Sant Pau), as she had on almost every night for the past 30 years—this time for the last time. Ruscalleda had opened the... View Details

Keywords: Restaurants; Sant Pau; Personal Development and Career; Family Business; Leadership Style; Innovation and Invention; Food; Success; Food and Beverage Industry

Educators

October 2019 (Revised June 2020)
Supplement

Airbus vs. Boeing (M): MAX 8 Disasters (July 2019)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Karen Elterman

This case describes the October 2018 and March 2019 crashes of Boeing MAX 8 jets, which together killed over 300 passengers. The planes involved in both crashes shared a problem with a software system called MCAS, which Boeing had revamped at the last minute prior to... View Details

Keywords: Airbus; Boeing; Product Development; Product Design; Air Transportation; Projects; Competition; Safety; Failure; Air Transportation Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States; Europe

January 2014
Teaching Note

Evaluating Microsavings Programs: Green Bank of the Philippines (A), (B) and (C)

By: Nava Ashraf and Kristin Johnson

Keywords: Saving; Innovation and Invention; Measurement and Metrics; Product Design; Success; Performance Evaluation; Philippines

February 2014
Supplement

Evaluating Microsavings Programs: Green Bank of the Philippines (C)

By: Nava Ashraf, Dean Karlan, Wesley Yin and Marc Shotland

Keywords: Saving; Innovation and Invention; Measurement and Metrics; Product Design; Success; Performance Evaluation; Banking Industry; Philippines

February 2014
Supplement

Evaluating Microsavings Programs: Green Bank of the Philippines (B)

By: Nava Ashraf, Dean Karlan, Wesley Yin and Marc Shotland

Keywords: Microfinance; Saving; Innovation and Invention; Measurement and Metrics; Product Design; Success; Performance Evaluation; Banking Industry; Philippines

October 2010
Case

Cherie Blair: Inventing Herself

By: Boris Groysberg, Robin Abrahams and Lindsay Tanne

Cherie Blair was famous, or infamous, in the United Kingdom as first lady from 1997 to 2007. Her marriage to Tony Blair, however, was the result of her own groundbreaking career in law--a career she fought to keep during the 10 years of her husband's tenure as Prime... View Details

Keywords: Work-Life Balance; Success; Lawsuits and Litigation; Government Administration; United Kingdom

Educators

February 1987 (Revised August 1989)
Background Note

United States Trade Law

By: David B. Yoffie

Examines the manner in which U.S. trade law and policy has evolved, with emphasis on trade in manufactured goods and services as well as the relationship between the executive and the legislature. The structure and content of U.S. trade law is discussed including a... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Machinery and Machining; Policy; Law Enforcement; Outcome or Result; Business and Government Relations; United States

Web

IT Strategy: Helping Leaders Grow Their Skills | Information Technology

development process. The Impact The tangible outcome of this initiative will be the development of a core list of leadership and management competencies that matter most at HBS IT and an aligned set of development opportunities that will... View Details

2020
Working Paper

Dog Eat Dog: Balancing Network Effects and Differentiation in a Digital Platform Merger

By: Chiara Farronato, Jessica Fong and Andrey Fradkin

Digital platforms are increasingly the subject of regulatory scrutiny. In comparison to multiple competitors, a single platform may increase consumer welfare if network effects are large or may decrease welfare due to higher prices or reduction in platform variety. We... View Details

Keywords: Platform Differentiation; Digital Platforms; Network Effects; Measurement and Metrics; Mergers and Acquisitions; Outcome or Result

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October 2001 (Revised May 2010)
Case

Sarnia Corporation

By: Thomas R. Piper

A division manager must explain why his division failed to meet its budgeted profit performance as well as meet with members of his management team to discuss corrective action. View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Business Divisions; Profit; Management Teams; Managerial Roles; Failure; Performance; Strategy