Publications

2021
Chapter

International Business History and the Strategy of Multinational Enterprises: How History Matters

By: Geoffrey Jones and Teresa da Silva Lopes

This chapter provides an overview of the evolution of international business over the long-run as well as the strategies of MNEs. It highlights how strategies became more complex over time with MNEs moving from being coordinators of resources and managers of... View Details

Keywords: Multinational; International Business; Internalization; Globalization; Theory; Multinational Firms and Management; Business History; Africa; Asia; Europe; Latin America; Middle East; North and Central America

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February 1992 (Revised December 1992)
Case

MCI Vision (A)

By: Frank V. Cespedes

This case series focuses on divisional marketing and sales efforts concerning Vision, a new telecommunication product intended for the small business marketplace. Vision represents both a significant opportunity, and different field marketing requirements, for MCI.... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Product Development; Groups and Teams; Sales; Opportunities; Competitive Strategy

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March 1974 (Revised June 1996)
Case

First National City Bank Operating Group (A)

By: Jay W. Lorsch

Growth in the banking field has produced new demands on the "back office." Traditional management practices in check processing and paper handling operations have resulted in ten years of cost increases and quality loss. New manager of the operating group faces an... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Transition; Banks and Banking; Management Practices and Processes; Managerial Roles; Production; Banking Industry

14 May 2012
Research & Ideas

Breaking the Smartphone Addiction

concerted effort to disconnect from their devices for a few predetermined hours every week—and how they became more productive as a result. The following excerpt from the book describes how the scheduled disconnecting process, dubbed... View Details

Keywords: by Leslie A. Perlow

February 2021
Case

Digital Manufacturing at Amgen

By: Shane Greenstein, Kyle R. Myers and Sarah Mehta

This case discusses efforts made by biotechnology (biotech) company Amgen to introduce digital technologies into its manufacturing processes. Doing so is complicated by the fact that the process for manufacturing biologics—or therapeutics made from living cells—is... View Details

October 1999 (Revised February 2000)
Case

Steinway & Sons: Buying a Legend (A)

By: John T. Gourville and Joseph B. Lassiter III

It is 1995 and Steinway & Sons has just been purchased by two young entrepreneurs. For 140 years, Steinway has held the reputation for making the finest quality grand pianos in the world. The past 25 years have proven to be a challenge, however. First, the company has... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Decisions; Entrepreneurship; Globalization; Crisis Management; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Quality; Competitive Strategy; Manufacturing Industry; Japan; New York (state, US)

January 2021 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Eaton Corporation: Portfolio Transformation and the Cost of Capital (Abridged)

By: Benjamin C. Esty, E. Scott Mayfield and Daniel Fisher

In 2000, Eaton Corporation was a broadly diversified industrial conglomerate. But its strategy was evolving and its focus was narrowing around “power management” and more recently on “intelligent power,” the use of digitally enabled products and services designed to... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Conglomerates; Business Divisions; Cost of Capital; Corporate Finance; Value; Valuation; Industrial Products Industry; United States; Denmark; Republic of Ireland

February 2005 (Revised November 2012)
Case

Chuck's Wagon Inc.

By: Paul W. Marshall and Derek Lewis

This case describes the experiences of an HBS student as he takes on the challege of transitioning from an intern to a president at a small consumer packaged goods firm in Southern Texas. This HBS student is confronted with the opportunity to perform an operational and... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Goods; Operations Strategy; Executive Development; Strategy; Small Business; Production; Transformation; Management Skills; Financial Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Texas

10 Feb 2015
First Look

First Look: February 10

make a significant decision about their young company's sales function. DoubleDutch's key product was a mobile application (app) and event management platform that customers could use to better engage and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

15 Nov 2016
First Look

November 15, 2016

increase the quality of employee-company matches (measured through employee departures of newly hired employees, store-level employee turnover, and store performance) except when store managers are inexperienced and/or overly busy. Yet,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

28 Aug 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, August 28, 2018

maintaining a high level of exploration. Solutions improved most on rounds with social influence after a period of separation. We also show that storing subjects’ best solutions so that they could be reloaded and possibly modified in subsequent rounds—a ubiquitous... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

22 Aug 2016
Research & Ideas

Master the One-on-One Meeting

are requesting the meeting. Perhaps you are the CEO and want to have a 1:1 with a lead engineer to get a better understanding of a product challenge: Make sure the engineer’s manager knows why you want to... View Details

Keywords: by Julia B. Austin

02 Aug 2010
Research & Ideas

Modern Indian Art: The Birth of a Market

Market categories—SUVs, smartphones, hip replacement surgeons—help facilitate commerce and other "market exchanges" by providing a basis for comparison and valuation. If I am hunting for a new SUV, for example, I can quickly research that category of similar... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

June 2018
Case

Meridian Systems

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Michael J. Roberts

The Meridian Systems case focuses on a start-up in the restaurant point of sale (POS) systems market. In early 2018, Meridian is getting ready to roll out a POS system based on a new technology—a tablet-based, Wi-Fi-enabled POS system (the "tablet" system, or... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Sales; Strategy; Salesforce Management; Organizational Structure; Technological Innovation; Marketing Strategy

July 2005 (Revised January 2009)
Case

Paper and More (A)

Provides a context and exercise for introducing retail inventory management, including cost optimization, service-level criteria, and forecasting in single and multiproduct settings. The owner of a single-location paper and paper products store considers the... View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Measurement and Metrics; Logistics; Sales; Expansion; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry

09 Apr 2024
Book

Why Work Rituals Bring Teams Together and Create More Meaning

anyway? Bringing rituals into the workplace may feel awkward, Norton says—especially when employees balk at the “trust falls” and other “teambuilding exercises” that managers impose upon them. But the truth is, research shows that such... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

March 2024 (Revised November 2024)
Case

Kawasaki Heavy Industries Bets on Clean Hydrogen

By: Gunnar Trumbull, Nobuo Sato and Akiko Kanno

Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI), an engineering manufacturer headquartered in Japan, was aiming to scale up its hydrogen production and establish a global hydrogen supply chain. The initiative was in line with Japan's energy strategy, as the country seeks to transition... View Details

Keywords: Renewable Energy; Demand and Consumers; Competition; Growth and Development Strategy; Infrastructure; Supply Chain; Manufacturing Industry; Energy Industry

July–August 2013
Article

Building Sustainable Cities

By: John D. Macomber

By 2050 the number of people living in cities will have nearly doubled, to 6 billion, and the problems created by this rampant urbanization are among the most important challenges of our time. Of all resource-management issues, the author argues, water, electricity,... View Details

Keywords: Growth Management; Urban Development; Entrepreneurship; Infrastructure; City

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October 1991 (Revised November 1993)
Case

Play Time Toy Co.

By: Thomas R. Piper

The president of a toy company is considering the adoption of level production in a business characterized by highly seasonal sales. The issues include balancing the cost savings and the inventory risk, estimating the seasonal financing need, and determining the... View Details

Keywords: Production; Cost Management; Banks and Banking; Sales; Goods and Commodities; Financial Management; Risk Management; Entertainment and Recreation Industry