Publications

April 2012 (Revised March 2013)
Case

Social Strategy at American Express

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski and David Chen

American Express has developed a number of strategic partnerships with Facebook, Foursquare and Twitter to improve their card members experience and lower its customer acquisition cost. The case details the history of these partnerships, examines American Express' own... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Partners and Partnerships; Social Marketing; Financial Services Industry

13 Feb 2020
Book

Open Your Organization to Honest Conversations

says Beer, the Cahners-Rabb Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus. “So there’s this organizational silence, where no one feels comfortable speaking truth to power.” Avoiding a cynical organization This silence is not only a morale-killer, it can also lead... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

December 15, 2015
Article

Don't Turn Your Sales Team Loose Without a Strategy

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Steve Thompson

When formulating a strategy, markets and segments are typically important categories. But only customers buy. Hence, for most firms, de facto strategy and much resource allocation are the aggregate result of the deals their salespeople close. However, few firms clarify... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Salesforce Management

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July 1991 (Revised July 1993)
Case

Alliant Health System: A Vision of Total Quality

Alliant has been a leader in the health care industry in implementing total quality management. After five years, however, they do not have much to show for their efforts except a "foundation" of quality attitudes and processes. The case discusses their plans to "jump... View Details

Keywords: Quality; Management Practices and Processes; Information Technology; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry

Teaching Interest

Startup Operations

Startup Operations is designed to provide hands-on guidance through the early stages of building your business. Students will test assumptions and hypotheses to evolve their product, build their strategic and operating roadmaps, create organizational plans and... View Details

December 2023
Article

Looking Forward – To Better Strategy-Sales Coordination

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Business decisions are about tomorrow, not yesterday. A key to looking forward in most firms is the annual strategy meeting, where linking sales efforts with strategy is vital for implementation and profitable growth. But according to surveys, less than half of... View Details

Keywords: Sales; Growth and Development Strategy; Corporate Strategy

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May 1993 (Revised March 1994)
Case

Executone Information Systems, Inc.

Executone has posted low returns in 1992 in the face of intense competition from AT&T and Northern Telecom, its principal rivals. Alan Kessman, president and CEO, is considering whether mid-course adjustments in strategy are necessary in the firm's telecommunications... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Telecommunications Industry; United States

August 2017 (Revised September 2018)
Case

Audubon in 2017: The Turnaround

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

The case briefly describes the 112-year history of the organization and focuses particularly on the changes wrought by its new leader David Yarnold who was brought in by the board in 2010. Under Yarnold's leadership the organization went through two strategic plans... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Strategy; Change Management; Change; Leadership; Nonprofit Organizations; Strategy; Transformation

March 2014 (Revised December 2014)
Case

Vision 2020: Takeda and the Vaccine Business

By: John A. Quelch and Margaret L. Rodriguez

In 2014, Yasuchika Hasegawa was orchestrating the transformation of Takeda from a Japanese pharmaceutical company with a global footprint into a global company with a Japanese heritage. A 33-year veteran of Takeda, Hasegawa-san was appointed president of Takeda in 2003... View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Global; NGO; Public Health; Japan; GSK; Vaccine; Supply Chain; Market Entry; Health; Health Care and Treatment; Trade; Market Entry and Exit; Global Strategy; Health Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

January 2004
Case

Bob Holgrom and the Buyout of the Carlson Division

By: Thomas R. Piper

The head of the Carlson Division stands to benefit substantially in financial terms if a private equity firm wins the bid for the division. The division is in the early stages of a performance turnaround, with only three quarters of profit improvement and no audited... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Leveraged Buyouts; Corporate Disclosure; Ethics; Financial Reporting; Laws and Statutes; Performance Improvement

Find at Harvard

22 Oct 2014
News

Aligning Strategy and Sales with Frank Cespedes

April 10, 2017
Article

The Different Approaches Firms Use to Set Strategy

By: Kimberly Teti, Mu-Jeung Yang, Nicholas Bloom, Jan Rivkin and Raffaella Sadun

Many senior executives struggle to describe how they make strategic decisions. That’s a serious problem since the process for making strategic decisions can shape the strategy itself. To understand better how companies really make strategic choices, we interviewed 92... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Decision Making

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08 Feb 2022
Cold Call Podcast

What’s Next for Nigerian Production Studio EbonyLife Media?

Keywords: Re: Andy Wu; Media & Broadcasting

10 Apr 2013
News

New Harvard Business School program expands on marketing case studies of Jay-Z, Lady Gaga

May 2007 (Revised September 2008)
Case

Biocon Limited

By: Krishna G. Palepu and Ananth Chepuri

Biocon Limited was facing significant pricing pressure in their cash cow business, that primarily consisted of manufacturing Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs). To combat this commoditization, Biocon's leadership had chosen an innovation-led strategy. This new... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Innovation and Management; Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Risk Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Biotechnology Industry; India

October 2021 (Revised June 2022)
Case

PittaRosso: Artificial Intelligence-Driven Pricing and Promotion

By: Ayelet Israeli

PittaRosso, a traditional Italian shoe retailer, is implementing an AI system to provide pricing and promotion recommendations. The system allows them to implement changes that would affect both the top of funnel and bottom of funnel activities for the company: once... View Details

From HBSP: " In a world of stiffening competition, business strategy is more crucial than ever. Yet most organizations struggle in this area--not with formulating strategy but with executing it, or putting their... View Details

September 2018
Case

Hunley, Inc.: Casting for Growth

By: John A. Quelch and James T. Kindley

Hunley, Inc. manufactures rods for the niche sport of fly fishing. It specializes in freshwater rods that are perceived as "middle-market" products, targeted at "avid" fly fishers. In the face of declining revenue and a decreasing price per unit sold, the company's... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Sports; Marketing Channels; Distribution Channels

March 2021
Technical Note

Competitive Strategy in International Construction

By: John D. Macomber and Emrah Ergelen

Construction of buildings and infrastructure is one of the largest industries in the world in terms of volume. It is also one of the most physically risky, financially uncertain, and politically impacted. The industry is highly fragmented since there are few economies... View Details

Keywords: Construction; Infrastructure; Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Strategic Planning; Global Range; Construction Industry