Publications

June 2013
Case

Olympic Rent-A-Car U.S.: Customer Loyalty Battles

By: John Deighton and James T. Kindley

The marketing and operations managers for Olympic Rent-A-Car meet to decide how to respond to changes in the loyalty rewards program at the market-leading competitor. The competitor's program gives awards based on dollars spent instead of days rented and eliminates... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Competitive Strategy; Marketing; Operations; Auto Industry; Auto Industry

2024
Article

Effects of a Real-Time Information-Based Intervention on Physician Prescribing Behavior

By: Olivia Zhao and Anna D Sinaiko

High out-of-pocket (OOP) prices for prescription drugs create financial difficulties for patients, and cost-related underuse of medications can adversely patient health. Simultaneously, many physicians report a willingness to address affordability concerns with... View Details

Keywords: Price; Health Care and Treatment; Communication Technology; Technology Adoption; Customer Focus and Relationships; Health Industry

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November 2012
Teaching Note

Brink's Company: Activists Push for a Spin-off (TN)

By: Suraj Srinivasan

The case this Teaching Note addresses studies the decision of the security services company Brink's Corporation to spin off its home security division from the rest of the company. The decision followed intense pressure on the company by three activist hedge funds that... View Details

Keywords: Activist Investors; Spin-off; Leveraged Recapitalization; Debt; Hedge Funds; Conglomerates; Valuation; Restructuring; Accounting; Business Strategy; Investment Activism; Service Industry

Article

Young and No Money? Never Mind: The Material Impact of Social Resources on New Venture Growth

By: Mukti Khaire

Although growth is a desirable outcome for new ventures due to the many advantages of large size, most new firms fail to grow, largely due to their limited resources and adaptability. This paper addresses the question of how new ventures grow despite their limited... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Status and Position; Advertising Industry; Chicago; New York (city, NY)

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01 Sep 2023
News

History Matters

Heralding a New Era of Finance, Capitalism, and Democracy, Robert Bruner (MBA 1974/DBA 1982) and Sean Carr make the case that looking into financial crises of the past can help clarify current conditions—and inform one’s outlook on the... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; Publishing Industries (except Internet); Publishing Industries (except Internet)

17 Jan 2019
Blog Post

MBA Curriculum Spotlight: Short Intensive Programs (SIPs)

will be a combination of case discussions, guests, panels, and workshops. Fintech: Disruptions in Credit, Payments and Real Estate The advent of new technologies and big data promise to revolutionize the finance world by disintermediate View Details

September 2017
Case

From 80 Thoreau to Mooncusser Fish House & Moon Bar (A)

By: Lena G. Goldberg and Sandra Bahous

After extensive planning, Ian Calhoun, (MBA 2010) who was also a chef trained in Paris at Le Cordon Bleu, and two co-founders launched 80 Thoreau, a “progressive fine dining” restaurant in Concord, Massachusetts, that became a local favorite as well as a special... View Details

Keywords: Small Business; Expansion; Decision Choices and Conditions; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Boston; Cambridge

October 2019 (Revised February 2020)
Case

Brightview Senior Living

By: Lynda M. Applegate and James Weber

Marilynn Duker, CEO, was exploring how to grow the company while maintaining the culture that made it a leader in the field of senior housing. Brightview constructed and operated senior living apartment communities that offered independent living, assisted living, and... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Culture; Employee Relationship Management; Real Estate Industry; United States

04 Feb 2013
Research & Ideas

Are the Big Four Audit Firms Too Big to Fail?

rules and thus on capital markets, observes Karthik Ramanna, an associate professor and Henry B. Arthur Fellow in the Accounting and Management unit at Harvard Business School, where he studies the political economy of corporate accountability and View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Accounting

16 Jul 2013
First Look

First Look: July 16

between bundling and indirect network effects, we find that they act as substitute strategies, with a lower relative effectiveness for bundling when network effects are stronger. 2013 pub From Social Control to Financial Economics: The... View Details

Keywords: Anna Secino

August 2000 (Revised December 2003)
Case

Dell's Working Capital

By: Richard S. Ruback and Aldo Sesia

Dell Computer Corp. manufactures, sells, and services personal computers. The company markets its computers directly to its customers and builds computers after receiving a customer order. This build-to-order model enables Dell to have much smaller investment in... View Details

Keywords: Financial Management; Working Capital; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry

April 2023
Supplement

Fresh Food Generation

By: Brian Trelstad

Instructors should consider the timing of making videos available to students, as they may reveal key case details.

This case highlights one of five BIPOC entrepreneuers in the Boston area as part of the HBS Impact Investment Fund. In fall 2021, a team of... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Race; Food and Beverage Industry

08 Dec 2015
First Look

December 8, 2015

forward. The Turkish banking industry was undergoing a transformation prompted by the demands of the country's digitally savvy, young population, and by new regulations on consumer banking that threatened banks' profitability. Akbank had... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

June 2017 (Revised December 2017)
Case

CJ E&M: KCON Goes Global

By: Elie Ofek and Michael Norris

In January of 2017, CJ Entertainment & Media (E&M) proudly announced that it will be holding its first ever KCON in Mexico City just two months later. CJ Group Chairman Jay Lee and Vice Chairwoman Miky Lee are pleased at the progress that KCON, a Korean-oriented music... View Details

Keywords: Music Entertainment; Cultural Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Food; Music Industry; Music Industry; Music Industry

06 Oct 2003
Research & Ideas

The Problem with Hedge Funds

particularly tough time. During the 1990s small investors lost out to professional financial firms that manipulated the market; this time they're likely to lose out—if they're not careful—to other sophisticated investors as well. The Next... View Details

Keywords: by D. Quinn Mills

October 2023
Case

Kevin O'Leary: Building a Brand in Shark-infested Waters

By: Reza Satchu and Patrick Sanguineti

For more than fifteen years, successful Canadian entrepreneur and investor Kevin O’Leary had developed his brand into a global powerhouse. Since his first appearance on the Canadian television program Dragons’ Den in 2006 and his meteoric rise to stardom through the... View Details

Keywords: Personal Brand; Crisis; Brands and Branding; Entrepreneurship; Crisis Management; Social Media; Public Opinion; Power and Influence; Financial Services Industry

October 2010 (Revised July 2012)
Supplement

Toni Sacconaghi at Sanford C. Bernstein

By: Linda A. Hill and Dana Teppert

Toni Sacconaghi, a senior sell-side equity research analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein covering U.S. IT hardware companies, thinks about the challenges and opportunities presented by the firm's new office in Hong Kong. Sacconaghi was previously the only analyst covering... View Details

Keywords: Employees; Knowledge Sharing; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Research; Social and Collaborative Networks; Financial Services Industry; Hong Kong; United States

Web

Technology & Operations Management Awards & Honors - Faculty & Research

Institute of Science in 2024. 2023 Amy C. Edmondson : Winner of the 2023 Financial Times & Schroders Business Book of the Year Award for Right Kind of Wrong (Atria Books, 2023). Amy C. Edmondson : Ranked #1 in the 2021 and 2023 Thinkers50... View Details

May 2024
Case

A New Aiera for Equity Research

By: Joseph Pacelli, Charles CY Wang and James Barnett

Aiera (pronounced “era”) co-founder and CEO Ken Sena considers strategic pathways to growth for the artificial intelligence (AI)-powered platform used to source, verify, and transcribe earnings calls, company presentations, and other corporate events. View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Financial Statements; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; AI and Machine Learning; Growth and Development Strategy; Accounting Industry; Accounting Industry; Accounting Industry; United States