Publications

01 Dec 2020
Blog Post

Hiring a Career Switcher: The Value of the MS/MBA

successful product managers, general managers, startup founders, and CEOs of mature technology companies. Blending technical skills and business management knowledge Like all students in the MS/MBA program, Kaelyn and Adam had backgrounds... View Details

Keywords: All Industries

December 1994 (Revised January 1995)
Case

Zoll Medical Corporation (A)

When is a product ready for the market? In this case, engineers present a prototype medical device product to the CEO for approval. The product, developed under a tight deadline, is essentially identical to the main competitor's product, but that competitor is... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Product Development; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

September 2022
Background Note

On CUE: The Quest for Optimal Customer Unit Economics

By: Elie Ofek, Barak Libai and Eitan Muller

Startups are often evaluated by how well they perform on unit economics, defined as the ratio of a customer’s lifetime value (LTV) to acquisition costs (CAC). A common target for unit economics, advocated by many VCs and analysts, is 3:1 (i.e., LTV/CAC=3). While there... View Details

Keywords: Unit Economics; Business Startups; Performance Evaluation; Customer Value and Value Chain; Customer Relationship Management; Analysis

January 2025
Teaching Note

Vytal: Packaging-as-a-Service

By: George Serafeim, Michael W. Toffel and Stacy Straaberg

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 124-007. The Germany-based startup Vytal operated the largest digital-native reusable packaging-as-a-service network globally, having raised nearly €15 million, established a large network of restaurant partners, and prevented the use of... View Details

01 Oct 2001
News

Jeffery E. Sagansky: That's Entertainment

start a network from scratch?" In a stellar career that has also included stints running several movie studios and a national theater chain (as well as leading the initial U.S. rollout of Sony's PlayStation), Sagansky has always had his... View Details

Keywords: James E. Aisner; Arts, Entertainment

April 2006 (Revised May 2009)
Case

Inverness Medical Innovations - Born Global (A)

Ron Zwanziger has just started his third company, having just sold the last one for $1.3 billion to Johnson & Johnson. As part of the deal with J&J, certain assets were transferred to the new company, Inverness Medical Innovations, which, at the time of its creation,... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Mergers and Acquisitions; Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Corporate Finance; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Waltham

Keywords: Roger Thompson; Margie Kelley; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training

01 Jun 2007
News

Mission Possible

services organization cofounded by Tierney and Jeff Bradach, then a member of the HBS faculty and now Bridgespan’s managing partner. The organization works to boost the performance of nonprofits and foundations, thereby improving their... View Details

17 Apr 2017
Research Event

The Most Pressing Issues for Platform Providers in the Sharing Economy

at Harvard Business School who researches the evolution of peer-to-peer online platforms; and Andrei Hagiu, a visiting associate professor of Technological Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Strategic Management at the MIT Sloan School of... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Service

December 2005 (Revised May 2009)
Case

C.R. Smith and the Birth of American Airlines

By: Anthony Mayo and Laura Gaie Singleton

Presents an overview of the path that C.R. Smith pursued to build American Airlines into one of the largest airlines in the world in the 20th century. Over the course of his 30-year tenure as president of American Airlines, Smith deployed a three-pronged... View Details

Keywords: Leadership Style; Growth and Development Strategy; Industry Growth; Operations; Air Transportation Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

07 Mar 2005
Research & Ideas

The Rise of Innovation in Asia

Although Asian countries have been able to use cost advantages and software coding prowess to attract outsource business from around the world, the region is quickly moving up the value chain to challenge America's leadership in... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

24 Mar 2020
Research & Ideas

These Coronavirus Heroes Show Us How Crisis Leadership Works

in Galway, Ireland. He has publicly committed to double production from 5,000 to 10,000 units per month, but that is just the start. Next come the challenges of getting supplies from all over the world, hiring and training new employees,... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George; Health

01 Feb 2000
News

Jerry Shafir: A Simmering Success Story

vegetables and to package, chill, and ship the finished product, there is constant motion in Kettle Cuisine's cramped but immaculate Somerville, Massachusetts, kitchen. The 11,000-square-foot facility supplies more than two thousand... View Details

Keywords: Deborah Blagg

August 1982 (Revised September 1991)
Case

Rockwell International (A)

By: Michael E. Porter

Describes the competitive situation facing Rockwell International, the market leader in the U.S. water meter industry. The industry is undergoing structural change, and competitor activity is intensifying. Rockwell must decide what, if any, actions are necessary to... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Decisions; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Markets; Industry Structures; Business Strategy; Competition; Manufacturing Industry; United States