Publications

April 2019
Case

Walmart Update, 2019

By: David B. Yoffie and Daniel Fisher

In 2019 Walmart was still the world's largest company, with over $500 billion in annual revenue and operations around the world. Although it had mostly vanquished its rival discount retailers in the U.S., it was struggling to find the right growth strategy. Facing a... View Details

Keywords: E-Commerce Strategy; Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Business Growth and Maturation; Growth and Development Strategy; Global Range; Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; E-commerce; Retail Industry

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

Web

Nonprofit Strategy & Governance | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

given unrestricted due to concerns that restrictions on use und... No One Left Behind (A) By: Lynn S. Paine, Herman B. "Dutch" Leonard, Max Hancock and David Lane March 2025 (Revised June 2025) | Faculty... View Details

September 2000 (Revised May 2001)
Case

Gucci Group N.V. (A)

By: David B. Yoffie and Mary Kwak

Examines the turnaround of Gucci and its transition from a single brand to a multi-brand company. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Management Practices and Processes; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Corporate Strategy; Diversification; Expansion; Apparel and Accessories Industry

June 2024
Teaching Note

Roku 2021

By: David B. Yoffie

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 721-480. This case is used to explore the strategic concept of "look forward, reason back." Roku in 2021 is trying to figure out the future of television and streaming media. Students are asked to provide a vision for television and... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Television Entertainment; Forecasting and Prediction; Decision Choices and Conditions; Strategy; Strategic Planning; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Media and Broadcasting Industry

May 2004 (Revised March 2005)
Case

Instant Messaging

By: David B. Yoffie and Deborah Freier

Explores the usage and technology of instant messaging (IM). IM enables two or more users to communicate almost instantaneously over the Internet with short, private text messages. Most IM service providers chose to remain proprietary and, therefore, a user of most IM... View Details

Keywords: Network Effects; Standards; Communication Technology; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Internet and the Web; Web Services Industry

Find at Harvard

01 Dec 2023
News

Alumni and Faculty Books and Podcasts

get. Smart Startups is written for them—a timeless record of essential knowledge that can help them achieve success. It’s Time for Strategic Scheduling: How to Design Smarter K-12 Schedules That are Great for Students, Staff and the Budget View Details

Keywords: podcasts

07 Apr 2009
First Look

First Look: April 7, 2009

twenty-first-century collaboration, made possible by twenty-first-century information technologies. [ ] In this chapter we explore the new possibilities that digital networks create for firms as they seek to collaborate with customers.... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Web

Research - Behavioral Finance & Financial Stability

Behavior of Global Banks By: Victoria Ivashina , David S. Scharfstein & Jeremy C. Stein AUG 2015 Foreign banks play large roles in the US domestic funding market. However, unlike domestic banks, which are funded View Details

Web

Research - Race, Gender & Equity

Salikova considered scaling opportunities for the foundation, which provided educational opportunities for children from rural regions of Kazakhstan. Established by Kazakhstani businessman and philanthropist Aidyn Rakhimbayev, IQanat...... View Details

January 2021
Supplement

Barbara Krakow Gallery (B): Art and the Pandemic

By: José B. Alvarez and David Lane

Updates (A) case by describing the early impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the art market, the renaming of the gallery as the Krakow Witkin Gallery, and the response of its partners and staff to the pandemic. View Details

Keywords: Art Market; COVID-19; Arts; Business Model; Change Management; Trends; Communication; Customer Focus and Relationships; Human Resources; Marketing; Distribution Channels; Outcome or Result; Health Pandemics; Fine Arts Industry

15 Jun 2021
News

Leading at State

Department about providing further development to foreign and civil service employees. He found support from Brian Bulatao (MBA 1995), who was at the time serving as under secretary of state for management. Bulatao tapped career diplomats Carol Perez and Daniel View Details

Keywords: leadership; international relations; politics; Executive Education

19 Feb 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, February 19, 2019

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=55632 forthcoming Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes Active Choice, Implicit Defaults, and the Incentive to Choose By: Beshears, John, James J. Choi, David Laibson, and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Web

Agents of Change: The Founding of the AASU - The Value of Business Education

historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) as well as Harvard College. They were among the earliest students in the country to earn an MBA. The first known African American graduate of HBS was Wendell Thomas Cunningham (MBA '15). Organized View Details

Web

HBS Entrepreneurship Summit - Alumni

Programs & Events HBS Entrepreneurship Summit NOV 4-5 4-5 NOVEMBER 2022 HBS ENTREPRENEURSHIP SUMMIT: LEADING HIGH-GROWTH VENTURES IN AN UNPREDICTABLE WORLD Brought to you by the Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship and Alumni Relations... View Details

Web

AASU50 - Alumni

Stephanie A. Atiase, MBA 2011 Lauren B. Allen, MBA 2012 William J. Drewery, MBA 2012 Ariel J. Roberts, MBA 2013 Christopher G. Hollins, MBA 2013 Creighton L. Taylor, MBA 2014 Stacie N. Smith, MBA 2014 Erin L. Patten, MBA 2015 Neil O.... View Details

May 2021
Case

Roku 2021

By: David B. Yoffie and Daniel Fisher

This case is used to explore the strategic concept of "look forward, reason back." Roku in 2021 is trying to figure out the future of television and streaming media. Students are asked to provide a vision for television and streaming media (that is, Look Forward) by... View Details

Keywords: Television Entertainment; Forecasting and Prediction; Decision Choices and Conditions; Strategy; Strategic Planning; Media and Broadcasting Industry