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May 2005
Case

Merck: Conflict and Change

Tracks Merck's efforts to adapt to changes in the pharmaceutical industry. Key challenges include adapting Merck's internally focused, science-led culture to a more open environment, where marketing performance has become increasingly important. Examines Merck's... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Conflict and Resolution; Pharmaceutical Industry

01 Apr 2012
News

Celebrate Innovation, No Matter Where It Occurs

18 Dec 2006
Lessons from the Classroom

Grooming Next-Generation Leaders

use the right approach at the right time and change as the situation demands is going to be tough. Not everybody can do it. That's going to distinguish the true leaders from people who are capable but not leaders." Targeting Talent... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

April 2015 (Revised December 2018)
Case

Steve Jobs: Leader Strategist

By: Cynthia A. Montgomery and David B. Yoffie

Strategically, Steve Jobs got it brilliantly right some times and terribly wrong other times. This case examines Jobs' development as a leader strategist over the course of his entire career. The successes and failures of Apple, NeXT, and Pixar are used to probe the... View Details

Keywords: Strategist; Steve Jobs; Apple; Leadership; Competitive Advantage; Personal Development and Career; Strategy

January 2016
Case

SAP SE: Autism at Work

By: Gary P. Pisano and Robert D. Austin

This case describes SAP's "Autism at Work" program, which integrates people with autism into the company's workforce. The company has a stated objective of making 1% of its workforce people with autism by 2020. SAP's rationale for the program is based on the belief... View Details

Keywords: Software; Human Resource Management; Diversity Management; Germany; Selection and Staffing; Innovation and Management; Applications and Software; Recruitment; Diversity; Information Technology Industry; Germany

July–August 2021
Article

Why Do So Many Strategies Fail?

By: David J. Collis

THE PROBLEM: Seemingly successful new companies struggle to turn a healthy profit. Established firms get disrupted by upstarts. Companies that excel at serving their markets can’t adapt when customers’ tastes shift. THE ROOT CAUSE: All too often, business leaders focus... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Strategic Planning; Business Model; Value; Value Creation; Opportunities

03 May 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Learning by Supplying

Keywords: by Juan Alcácer & Joanne Oxley

October 1999
Case

CIBC Corporate and Investment Banking (A): 1987-1992

By: Joseph L. Bower and Michael Raynor

In 1992, CIBC CEO Al Flood faced the short-term operational challenge of saving Wood Gundy, the troubled investment bank CIBC had purchased five years earlier. At the same time he had to tackle the long-term strategic challenge of integrating Gundy's investment banking... View Details

Keywords: Investment Banking; Banks and Banking; Corporate Strategy; Integration; Problems and Challenges; Mergers and Acquisitions; Banking Industry

22 Jun 2015
News

Boston 2024's New Olympic Strategy: Harvard Biz Prof Wonders If Regionalization Will Hurt or Help?

2011
Book

The Innovator's DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators

By: Jeffrey H. Dyer, Hal B. Gregersen and Clayton M. Christensen

Some people are just natural innovators, right? With no apparent effort, they discover ideas for new products, services, and entire businesses. It may look like innovators are born, not made. But according to Jeffrey Dyer, Hal Gregersen, and Clay Christensen anyone can... View Details

Keywords: Competency and Skills; Disruptive Innovation; Competitive Advantage

October 2022
Case

Star Magnolia Capital: Becoming Experts at Finding Experts

By: Lauren Cohen, Hao Gao, River Ewing and Grace Headinger

Shinya Deguchi, Founder and Managing Partner of Star Magnolia Capital, a Shanghai-based multi-family office (MFO), considered how to convince a new prospective family that the MFO’s endowment model approach would best suit their needs. In recent decades, there has been... View Details

Keywords: China; Asia; Family Office; Shanghai; Financial Industry; Asset Management; Financial Instruments; Financial Management; Financial Strategy; Investment; Investment Return; Investment Portfolio; Human Capital; Family Business; Financial Services Industry; China; Shanghai

07 Feb 2011
News

Can US economy thrive as China rises?

April 1988 (Revised January 1989)
Case

Korea's Technology Strategy

Describes Korea's efforts to improve its technological capability and learn to produce and export high technology goods. The roles of government policy, domestic firms, and foreign firms are explored. Special attention is paid to how technology flows across borders,... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Strategy; North Korea

June 2016 (Revised March 2017)
Case

Global Wine War 2015: New World Versus Old

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Sarah McAra

This case contrasts the tradition-bound Old World wine industry with the market-oriented New World producers in the battle for the Chinese wine market in 2015. China’s wine consumption growth presented a large and fast-growing export target that was extremely... View Details

February 2001 (Revised February 2002)
Case

Estee Lauder and the Market for Prestige Cosmetics

By: Nancy F. Koehn

Opens with a brief history of the U.S. cosmetics market and its rapid development in the 1920s. Also recounts Lauder's initial involvement in the sector, making skin care products and selling them in Manhattan beauty parlors during the Great Depression. Pays particular... View Details

Keywords: Fluctuation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Market Entry and Exit; Entrepreneurship; Luxury; Business Strategy; Society; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; United States

Article

Las Microfinanzas: Creación simultánea de impacto social y valor comercial

By: Michael Chu

Microfinance is the best known and most successful expression of inclusive business. When the disbursement of financial services in small sizes to enterprising people in the informal sectors of the economy is capable of yielding superior commercial returns, it enables... View Details

Keywords: Microfinance; Economy; Investment Return; Service Operations; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Poverty

April 1993 (Revised December 1993)
Case

NEC

By: Marco Iansiti

Investigates product development practices at NEC. The company provides an intriguing example of how to build capability through a stream of product development projects. Focuses in detail on an engineering group that develops the core component of its line of... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Product Design; Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Management; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Technological Innovation; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Information Technology; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Information Technology Industry