Publications

01 Nov 2024
In Practice

Layoffs Surging in a Strong Economy? Advice for Navigating Uncertain Times

Management Practice in the General Management Unit at HBS. Frances X. Frei and Anne Morriss: Managers, it’s story time The tech sector continues to shed workers after hiring prodigiously during the View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Technology; Information Technology

September 2000
Background Note

Professional Services Module Six: Succeeding in PSFs

By: Thomas J. DeLong, Ashish Nanda and Scot H. Landry

Emphasizes the skills and values that we believe successful professionals possess: change management and leadership skills, a proactive career management approach, effective processes of giving and receiving feedback, a clear ethical perspective, balance between... View Details

Keywords: Management Skills; Service Industry

June 2024 (Revised June 2025)
Case

Dylan Mulvaney and Bud Light

By: Jill Avery and Celine Chammas

On April 1, 2023, social media content creator and influencer Dylan Mulvaney recorded a promotional post. It featured a video of herself drinking from a can of Bud Light beer, offering a virtual toast to her followers. Alongside the video, she posted a photograph of a... View Details

Keywords: Brand Crises; Brand Management; Influencer Marketing; Boycott; Marketing Strategy; Marketing Communications; Brands and Branding; Consumer Behavior; Social Media; Advertising; Social Issues; Public Opinion; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

Article

Integration of Online and Offline Channels in Retail: The Impact of Sharing Reliable Inventory Availability Information

By: Santiago Gallino and Antonio Moreno

Using a proprietary data set, we analyze the impact of the implementation of a “buy-online, pick-up-in-store” (BOPS) project. The implementation of this project is associated with a reduction in online sales and an increase in store sales and traffic. These results can... View Details

Keywords: Retail Operations; Inventory Availability; Empirical Operations Management; Business Analytics; Online Retail; Ecommerce; Operations; Management; Distribution Channels; Consumer Behavior; E-commerce; Retail Industry

April 2017
Case

Yushan Bicycles: Learning to Ride Abroad

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Paul S. Myers

Yushan Bicycles, one of Taiwan's leading bicycle manufacturers, is pursuing an international expansion strategy by increasing demand for its range of traditional and electric bicycles and shifting its product mix toward higher-margin models sold through specialty... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Conflict Management; Learning; Bicycle Industry; Taiwan; Australia

January 1991
Supplement

Suzuki Samurai, Supplement

By: John A. Quelch

A condensed version of Suzuki Samurai: The Rollover Crisis. Suzuki management must plan a response to a Consumers Union demand for a recall of the Samurai on grounds of its unacceptable propensity to roll over. View Details

Keywords: Safety; Crisis Management; Auto Industry

2010
Article

The Strategic Use of Brand Biographies

By: Jill Avery, Neeru Paharia, Anat Keinan and Juliet Schor

We introduce the concept of a brand biography to describe an emerging trend in branding in which firms author a dynamic, historical account of the events that have shaped the brand over time. Using a particular type of brand biography, "the underdog," we empirically... View Details

23 Jul 2018
Working Paper Summaries

The Creative Consulting Company

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan, Richard Nolan, and David P. Norton; Consulting

March 2000 (Revised August 2000)
Case

Ethan Berman at RiskMetrics Group (A)

Ethan Berman, CEO of J.P. Morgan's risk management spinoff, has grown RiskMetrics Group (RMG) from a small team of 30 to a 70-person firm contemplating an IPO. Along the way, the consensus-based decision-making process that he espoused started to prove unwieldy; his... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Management Style; Business Growth and Maturation; Decision Making; Service Industry; Consulting Industry

June 2020
Teaching Note

Understanding the Brand Equity of Nestlé Crunch Bar

By: Jill Avery and Gerald Zaltman

Teaching Note for HBS Case Nos. 519-061 and 519-062. In early 2018, Nestlé announced the sale of its U.S. candy-making division and a select collection of twenty of its confectionery brands, including the Nestlé Crunch Bar, to Ferrero SpA for $2.8 billion. Under the... View Details

Keywords: Brand Management; Brand Storytelling; Brand Equity; Market Research; Qualitative Methods; Marketing; Brands and Branding; Marketing Communications; Consumer Behavior; Marketing Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry

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

Third Quarter 2018
Article

Why and How Investors Use ESG Information: Evidence from a Global Survey

By: Amir Amel-Zadeh and George Serafeim

Using survey data from a sample of senior investment professionals from mainstream (i.e., not SRI funds) investment organizations, we provide insights into why and how investors use reported environmental, social, and governance (ESG) information. Relevance to... View Details

Keywords: ESG; ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; Sustainability; Investment Management; Investment Strategy; Metrics; Standard Setting; Accounting Standards; Finance; Investment; Information; Environmental Sustainability; Governance; Performance Effectiveness; Strategy

SSRN

August 2005 (Revised January 2012)
Case

McKinsey and the Globalization of Consultancy

By: Geoffrey G. Jones and Alexis Lefort

Considers McKinsey's strategy during the first stage of the globalization of the management consultancy industry between the 1950s and 1973. Briefly reviews the history of management consulting before considering the factors that led McKinsey to open its first... View Details

Keywords: History; Demand and Consumers; Strategy; Globalized Firms and Management; Service Operations; Consulting Industry

November 2002 (Revised March 2003)
Case

Water Policy Priorities Along the U.S.-Mexico Border

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Jose M. M. Porraz

The United States and Mexico face the challenges of managing shared water resources. The supply is limited and demand is growing on both sides of the border as a result of increased irrigated acreage and population growth. View Details

Keywords: Policy; Environmental Sustainability; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Negotiation; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; United States; Mexico

September 1985
Case

H.J. Heinz Co.: Plastic Bottle Ketchup (B)

By: John A. Quelch

The Heinz Ketchup product manager discovers she does not have sufficient finished inventory and production capacity to meet trade demand for a new plastic bottle ketchup. Alternatives include cancelling promotion events and putting the trade on allocation. View Details

Keywords: Distribution; Crisis Management; Innovation and Invention; Product Marketing; Food and Beverage Industry

01 Jun 2023
News

Action Plan: Net Proceeds

than 1,500 jobs and became a movement the locals nicknamed ramase lajan (“picking up money” in Haitian Creole), as they came to see plastic as a resource instead of garbage. Not surprisingly, Goodwin learned that demand from brands and... View Details

Keywords: April White; recycling; corporate social responsibility; waste management; water; Waste Management and Remediation Services; Waste Management and Remediation Services

15 Feb 2018
News

Young workers love cities. So what’s a suburban company to do?

March 2016 (Revised March 2022)
Teaching Note

Express Scripts: Promoting Prescription Drug Home Delivery (A) and (B)

By: John Beshears

The pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) sector processes prescription drug claims on behalf of companies that offer a prescription drug benefit to their employees. The case associated with this teaching note follows Bob Nease, chief scientist at Express Scripts, as he... View Details

Keywords: Pharmaceuticals; Prescription Drugs; Pharmacy Benefit Manager; PBM; Healthcare; Behavioral Economics; Choice Architecture; Active Choice; Service Delivery; Decision Choices and Conditions; Consumer Behavior; Distribution Channels; Health Care and Treatment; Service Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry