Profitability - Publications - Faculty & Research

Ivan J. Houston

Houston was instrumental in streamlining Golden State’s operations and enabling it to profitably expand. He moved the company into the group insurance field securing business from organizations such as Ford, General Motors, and AT&T.... View Details

Keywords: Finance

Web

Blog | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

Impact Measurement Inclusive Finance International Development K-12 Education Leadership Fellows Leadership in Challenging Times MBA Programs Microfinance Non Profit Management Nonprofit Supportive Services Public Sector Public-Private... View Details

David M. Ogilvy

Though he founded the advertising giant that is best known for its hard-sell approach, Ogilvy himself is known for his creativity and for championing the softer side of advertising. Despite the minimal profits earned by such an approach,... View Details

Keywords: Services

01 Apr 2002
News

Stocking Up Can Build Customer Value

A classic business problem from the 1950s illustrates the tension between inventory costs and missed sales. A newspaper vendor must decide how many papers to buy each day based on typical demand. His profit is optimized, the solution... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

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Special Assistant to the CEO | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

oriented should include some aspect of social equity and community engagement. And still be a profitable business.” “We’re still deciding what projects I’ll work on,” Michael says. But his formal title is, Special Assistant to the CEO,... View Details

01 Mar 2019
News

In Character: A Case Discussion Drama

UK-based multinational, is interested in acquiring the company. Petja is hopeful that his children will instead continue to operate the family business independently. But there are barriers to that happy scenario. Katrina, the visionary behind the company’s highly... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna

19 Jun 2013
News

Your Guide to Social Enterprise

Georgia Levenson Keohane Photo courtesy of Georgia Levenson Keohane What is social entrepreneurship? Is it simply an approach to business in which profit comes hand in hand with some positive social change? Or is it the application of... View Details

Keywords: Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations; Personal Services; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

08 Mar 2012
Research & Ideas

Unplugged: What Happened to the Smart Grid?

has encountered several hiccups in recent years that have put the timing of its implementation in question, leading Rebecca M. Henderson, the John and Natty McArthur University Professor, to get students thinking during a class last week: Who exactly stands to View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Energy; Utilities

09 Mar 2009
Research & Ideas

How to Revive Health-Care Innovation

talent, and resources of the leading organizations in an established system always are absorbed in improving their best products, which are sold to address the most demanding applications in the industry. Why? Because the high end of most markets is where the most... View Details

Keywords: by Clayton M. Christensen, Jerome H. Grossman, M.D. M.D. & Jason Hwang; Health

01 Sep 2012
News

High Honors

Carroll has increased operating profits and decreased debt. “Once we started partnering with the local communities, unions, and governments, we saw a positive change in performance,” she observes. A mother of four whose husband gave up... View Details

Keywords: Susan Young; Finance; Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices; Management; Mining; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services; Miscellaneous Store Retailers; Retail Trade

01 Dec 2005
News

A Matter of Opinion

muckraker Lincoln Steffens as a personal hero and who confesses that his heart still quickens when he hears the songs of the International Brigade. At OPM, Navasky wrote later, “My Nation self still tended to regard the profit motive as... View Details

Keywords: Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

November 1999
Case

Seminis Inc.

By: Ray A. Goldberg, Jonathan West, Carin-Isabel Knoop and David Benedict Pearcy

Seminis became the world leader in vegetable seeds through a series of acquisitions. This case describes the Seminis strategy toward capturing value, biotechnology, and international operations. View Details

Keywords: Business Earnings; Acquisition; Profit; Global Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Valuation; Value Creation; Biotechnology Industry

Citation

Find at Harvard

any U.S.-based operation. Shoemate presided over the successful spin-off of BestFoods and orchestrated its eventual, highly profitable acquisition by Unilever. View Details

Keywords: Food & Tobacco

Thomas B. Pickens

Starting his career with only a small drilling, exploration and production firm, Pickens developed a knack for acquiring oil-rich properties. His luck afforded him the wealth he used to begin his famous string of attempted hostile takeovers of other oil industry... View Details

Keywords: Utilities & Energy

02 Jan 2012
Research & Ideas

Most Popular Articles of 2011

Published: January 10, 2011 For retailers offering deals through the wildly popular online start-up Groupon, does the one-day publicity compensate for the deep hit to profit margins? A new working paper, "To Groupon or Not to... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

01 Jun 2003
News

HP's Fiorina Speaks at HBS

Silicon Valley’s quintessential “garage to riches” enterprise. Perhaps her biggest move has been HP’s 2002 merger with Compaq, the largest such marriage in high-tech history. Acknowledging the nay-saying and controversy that accompanied the deal, Fiorina noted, “We... View Details

Keywords: HP; Hewlitt-Packard; Fiorina; Compaq; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management

01 Feb 2002
News

New Porter Prize Awarded in Japan

honors and highlights companies that have maintained superior profitability by implementing unique strategies based on innovation in products, processes, and management techniques. Matsui Securities was chosen for its ability to define... View Details

Keywords: awards

Adolph S. Ochs

A consummate newspaperman, Ochs reported the news without sensationalism in his first paper, the Chattanooga Daily Times and then in his second, The New York Times. He swiftly turned The New York Times around. When he bought it in 1896, it only had a circulation of... View Details

Keywords: Publishing & Print Media

Charles W. Moritz

Moritz took the helm of D&B just after it had acquired the major market research firm, A. C. Nielsen. Moritz led the successful integration of D&B’s largest acquisition and established a pattern of smooth and profitable mergers.... View Details