Publications

July 2002 (Revised October 2002)
Case

Cirque du Soleil

By: Thomas J. DeLong and Vineeta Vijayaraghavan

Retaining talent is an issue for any company whose success relies on the creativity and excellence of its employees. This is especially true for Cirque du Soleil, the spectacularly successful "circus without animals," whose 2,100 employees include 500 artists--mimes,... View Details

Keywords: Retention; Employee Relationship Management; Business Strategy; Talent and Talent Management; Organizational Culture; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

September 2017 (Revised July 2018)
Case

CyberArk: Protecting the Keys to the IT Kingdom

By: Raffaella Sadun, David Yoffie and Margot Eiran

CyberArk was the recognized leader in the Privileged Account Management (PAM) space, a cybersecurity subsegment it had essentially created to secure organizations’ IT systems and sensitive data. Over 17 years, the Israeli company had grown to a market capitalization of... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Culture; Competitive Advantage; Information Technology; Cybersecurity; Information Technology Industry; Israel; United States

October 2010 (Revised January 2011)
Case

Toyota Recalls (A): Hitting the Skids

By: John A. Quelch, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Ryan Johnson

In the fall of 2009, Toyota Motor Corporation, once revered for its commitment to quality and reliability, faced a highly publicized series of recalls in the United States representing approximately a year's worth of sales in one of its most important markets. While... View Details

Keywords: Communication Strategy; Crisis Management; Brands and Branding; Quality; Public Opinion; Auto Industry; Japan; United States

01 Mar 2024
News

Vital Signs

Estimates suggest a shortfall of about 4 million health care workers worldwide, but the World Health Organization predicts that figure will stretch to 10 million by 2030. Those industry trends are among the... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; Hospitals; Health, Social Assistance

October 1997 (Revised March 1998)
Case

Appalachian Mountain Club: Transforming Governance

By: Walter J. Salmon and Jaan Elias

Starting in 1988, the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) began a controversial transformation in management and governance. For its first 112 years, the AMC's structure had resembled that of a country club--volunteer leaders directed the club's operations and its small,... View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Transformation; Corporate Governance; Employee Relationship Management; Recruitment; Leading Change; Organizational Culture; Labor and Management Relations; Nonprofit Organizations; Education Industry; Education Industry

October 2006 (Revised May 2007)
Case

Habitat for Humanity-Egypt

By: Jane Wei-Skillern and Kerry Herman

Habitat for Humanity--Egypt (HFHE), has grown in just seven years to become one of the most successful Habitat programs worldwide. The organization is at a crossroads as it attempts to reach the ambitious goal of serving 10% of the 20 million Egyptians living in... View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Construction; Social Issues; Social and Collaborative Networks; Non-Governmental Organizations; Construction Industry; Egypt

28 Nov 2005
Research & Ideas

Unilever: Transformation and Tradition

development of new products, but was also indispensable for the constant upgrading and renewal of brands. Unilever's main problem was the time it took to turn scientific knowledge into successful branded products. It entered the 1960s with an View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones; Consumer Products

2022
Book

The Role of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Economic Growth

By: Michael J. Andrews, Aaron Chatterji, Josh Lerner and Scott Stern

We live in an era in which innovation and entrepreneurship seem ubiquitous, particularly in regions like Silicon Valley, Boston, and the Research Triangle Park. But many metrics of economic growth, such as productivity growth and business dynamism, have been at best... View Details

Keywords: Productivity Growth; Production Technologies; Innovation and Invention; Entrepreneurship; Economic Growth; Competition; Organizational Design; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation

Register to Read

January 2017 (Revised December 2017)
Case

Merging American Airlines and US Airways (A)

By: David G. Fubini, David A. Garvin and Carin-Isabel Knoop

In February 2013, US Airways announced that it would merge with American Airlines to create the world’s largest airline. Doug Parker, the CEO of US Airways, would become CEO of the new American Airlines Group (AAL). The case describes a number of critical decisions... View Details

Keywords: Airlines; Merger; Takeover; Integration Strategy; Merger Integration; Mergers and Acquisitions; Decision Making; Governance; Management Teams; Operations; Organizational Culture; Air Transportation Industry; United States

29 Jul 2022
Research & Ideas

Will Demand for Women Executives Finally Shrink the Gender Pay Gap?

especially within traditionally male-dominated industries and job functions, women moving to new firms help shrink the gender pay gap. "Although we’re seeing progress for some, compensation remains far from equitable overall." How much a... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

04 Oct 2022
What Do You Think?

Have Managers Underestimated the Need for Face-to-Face Contact?

large crowds. Have the changes in the underlying behaviors affecting many industries become so ingrained in employees, consumers, and everyday life that they will not revert to what they were before? The evidence is mixed. One can argue... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

12 Mar 2021
News

My Favorite Case

manufacturing business with my family since 1997. —Julie Lopez Santiago (MBA 1994) Back to top “Danaher Corporation” In 2008, the industrial conglomerate Danaher Corporation confronts various challenges that threaten its impressive... View Details

Keywords: Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services

27 Oct 2009
First Look

First Look: October 27

and Karim R. Lakhani Publication: Organization Science (forthcoming). Abstract We examine who the winners are in science problem-solving contests characterized by open broadcast of problem information, self-selection of external solvers... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

10 May 2022
Research & Ideas

Being Your Own Boss Can Pay Off, but Not Always with Big Pay

self-employment incomes in both high and low capital industries are falling sharply compared with the wages that organizations pay workers, according to the researchers. Their data came from a number of... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald

01 Sep 2023
News

Made in Italy

HBS faculty members and students visited Lamborghini’s headquarters in Bologna during the immersion to learn how the company became experts in electric car technology. Photo courtesy Lamborghini IMMERSIVE FIELD COURSES OFFERED AS ELECTIVES IN 2023 Denmark and... View Details

Keywords: April White

June 2017
Article

Creating Reciprocal Value Through Operational Transparency

By: Ryan W. Buell, Tami Kim and Chia-Jung Tsay

We investigate whether organizations can create value by introducing visual transparency between consumers and producers. Although operational transparency has been shown to improve consumer perceptions of service value, existing theory posits that increased contact... View Details

Keywords: Operational Transparency; Service Management; Production Management; Organizational Performance; Behavioral Operations; Service Operations; Service Delivery; Consumer Behavior; Labor; Organizational Design; Operations; Service Industry; United States; Kenya

Find at Harvard

January 2025
Case

Negotiating a Legacy at Sustainable Harvest (A)

By: Jillian Jordan, Julian Zlatev, Alicia Dadlani and Martha Hostetter

The specialty coffee importer Sustainable Harvest was the first certified B Corp in the coffee industry due to its investments in building coffee farmers’ capacity and livelihood. But in 2022, after coffee prices plummeted and the company’s bank declined to extend its... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Mergers and Acquisitions; Trust; Ethics; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Volatility; Futures and Commodity Futures; Social Enterprise; Valuation; Business Model; Credit; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Food and Beverage Industry; United States; Europe

08 Jan 2008
First Look

First Look: January 8, 2008

of luck is the share of the oil industry in the state's economy multiplied by the price of oil. The correlation is negative, suggesting that more reliance on luck is correlated with less individualism. We provide three short models that... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

2020
Working Paper

Vertical Integration of Healthcare Providers Increases Self-Referrals and Can Reduce Downstream Competition: The Case of Hospital-Owned Skilled Nursing Facilities

By: David Cutler, Leemore S. Dafny, David Grabowski, Steven S. Lee and Christopher Ody

The landscape of the U.S. healthcare industry is changing dramatically as healthcare providers expand both within and across markets. While federal antitrust agencies have mounted several challenges to same-market combinations, they have not challenged any... View Details

Keywords: Antitrust; Health Care and Treatment; Vertical Integration; Organizational Structure; Competition; Health Industry; United States