Publications

December 2009 (Revised February 2012)
Case

Monsanto: Helping Farmers Feed the World

By: David E. Bell, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Mary Shelman

Monsanto has led the effort to bring biotechnology to bear on food production. Through some management missteps and consumer resistance the company had difficulties in its early years. But since Hugh Grant became CEO the picture has brightened with widespread adoption... View Details

Keywords: Food; Global Strategy; Leadership; Production; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Biotechnology Industry; United States

September 2009 (Revised September 2010)
Case

Avid Radiopharmaceuticals and Lighthouse Capital Partners

By: Matthew Rhodes-Kropf and Ann Leamon

In fall 2008, a venture lender must decide whether to make a loan to Avid, a small but promising venture-backed life sciences firm. In reviewing her proposal, Cristy Barnes considers the company's characteristics and how they differ from a typical investment. At the... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Crisis; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Financing and Loans; Investment; Financial Services Industry; Health Industry

July 2002 (Revised July 2008)
Case

Value Retail

By: Arthur I Segel and Ani M Vartanian

Scott Malkin, CEO of Value Retail, a developer and operator of European outlet villages serving luxury brands, is planning on developing a 18,503 m2 open-air outlet village to be built 98 kilometers south of Milan on land he was about to acquire for 7.26 million lira.... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Investment; Risk and Uncertainty; Expansion; Retail Industry; Milan

October 1997
Case

Polaroid Corporation: Digital Imaging Technology in 1997

Focuses on strategic decisions regarding investment in digital imaging technology facing Polaroid Corp., a worldwide leader in the traditional imaging marketplace, in July 1997. New Polaroid CEO Gary DiCamillo must decide how much emphasis to place on digital vs.... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Decision Choices and Conditions; Competitive Strategy; Consumer Products Industry

25 Oct 2010
News

Harvard Business School Social Enterprise Initiative Adds Two New Members To Advisory Board

07 Apr 2021
News

Zoom meetings, hybrid work models: What to expect when returning to the office

19 Sep 2023
HBS Case

How Will the Tech Titans Behind ChatGPT, Bard, and LLaMA Make Money?

want to have people inside your company who are on top of the different technologies and experimenting with different things. You need to give them a pathway to communicate with the CEO and top management team about which technologies to... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Technology; Information Technology

Web

Strategy - Faculty & Research

Strategy Overview Faculty Curriculum Seminars & Conferences Awards & Honors Doctoral Students July 2025 Case Mitsui & Co., Ltd. By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Akiko Saito In 2025, Kenichi Hori, President and CEO of Mitsui & Co.,... View Details

January 2014 (Revised June 2015)
Case

Amgen Inc.: Pursuing Innovation and Imitation? (A)

By: Ian W. Mackenzie

Set in 2009, the (A) case explores whether Amgen, a leading innovator of biotech-based drugs, should enter the emerging business of biosimilars (BS), which are essentially 'me-too' products. There appear to be sound reasons to explore this related diversification:... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry; Biotechnology Industry; United States

December 2019 (Revised February 2024)
Teaching Note

Ripple: The Business of Crypto and Ripple 2023

By: David B. Yoffie

The case explores Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse’s mission to disrupt the global payments industry by leveraging the cryptocurrency XRP. Students will learn about Bitcoin and the blockchain industry, as well as Ripple’s unique crypto business model. The case provides an... View Details

Keywords: Payment Systems; Cryptocurrency; Bitcoin; Blockchain; Fintech; Business Startups; Business Model; Disruption; Strategy

February 2019 (Revised November 2021)
Case

MoviePass

By: Willy Shih

Mitch Lowe, the CEO of MoviePass, was having trouble convincing people of the viability of the company's business model. The company was building a multi-sided platform and was planning to extract value from increasing traffic to movie theaters through a number of... View Details

Keywords: Start-up; Start-up Growth; Start-ups; Business Model Innovation; Business Model; Innovation and Invention; Multi-Sided Platforms; Business Startups; Planning; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; United States

March 2015
Case

MELF and Business Culture in the Twin Cities (A)

By: Clayton S. Rose and David Lane

Leaders of the many Fortune 500 firms headquartered in Minneapolis-St. Paul have a long history of engaging collectively, and with educational, political and social leaders, to deal with important community issues. Focusing on the participation of leading CEOs in the... View Details

Keywords: Education; Business and Community Relations; Management Teams; Minneapolis; Saint Paul

March 2009
Supplement

Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. (B): Restructuring Under the Procedure de Sauvegarde

By: Stuart C. Gilson, Vincent Marie Dessain and Sarah Abbott

In mid-2007 the chairman and CEO of Eurotunnel Group, having elected to file for bankruptcy under a newly-enacted French insolvency law, awaits the outcome of a vote by creditors and shareholders. At least 50% of the shareholders must approve the plan, however they... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Capital Structure; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Law; Valuation; Assets; Investment Funds; Voting; Business and Shareholder Relations; Ownership; Outcome or Result; France

August 2006 (Revised July 2008)
Case

The Progressive Corporation

By: John R. Wells, Marina Lutova and Ilan Sender

For decades, Progressive has proven to be one of the most innovative players in the US auto insurance industry, but can it maintain its lead? Progressive has moved up to the number three position in the industry in 2006, but competitors are finally waking up to the... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Innovation and Invention; Insurance Industry; Auto Industry; United States

May 2003 (Revised June 2003)
Case

Revitalizing Philips (A)

Philips is a major science-based multinational that has been restructuring since the early 1970s. This case provides an historical perspective on earlier efforts as well as a detailed description of the one pursued under Cor Boonstra, CEO from 1996 to 2001, that... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Restructuring; Science-Based Business

March 2001
Case

Yvette Hyater-Adams and Terry Larsen at CoreStates Financial Corp.

By: David A. Thomas, Nancie Zane PHD and Emily Heaphy

Yvette Hyater-Adams, senior VP of CoreStates Bank, and CEO Terry Larsen reflect on their five-year mentor-protege relationship. They describe how building a relationship across both race and gender was challenging and ultimately highly rewarding. Their relationship... View Details

Keywords: Race; Gender; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Management Teams; Relationships; Banking Industry