Publications

12 Jan 2022
News

Harvard Business School’s Bold Agenda

January 2019 (Revised November 2019)
Case

Ajeej Capital: Investing in Emerging Markets

By: Luis M. Viceira and Eren Kuzucu

In October 2007, Tarek Sakka and Fouad Dajani launched Ajeej Capital, the first independent investment advisory in the MENA region. Fittingly named ajeej, an Arabic word that translates to “growth and propagation in a chaotic setting,” the firm’s AUM grew from $20... View Details

Keywords: Security Selection; Investments; Growth; Culture; UAE; Finance; Asset Management; Emerging Markets; Capital Markets; Investment; Growth Management; Risk Management; Middle East; Saudi Arabia; Dubai; United Arab Emirates; Egypt; North Africa

Research Summary

Interfirm Alliances as Competitive Weapons

How do alliances affect the evolution of an industry and its constituent firms? Silverman is examining the dynamics of alliance- and patent-based competition in the Canadian biotechnology industry. Recent empirical research focuses on the effect of alliance patterns... View Details

August 2018
Case

Performance Improvement Consulting and Hi-R-Me: Making Sales Calls

By: Frank V. Cespedes and David Mattson

This case study focuses on a professional services firm (“Performance Improvement Consulting”) and its sales calls on Hi-R-Me, a potential client. The case is supplemented by videos showing the initial contact call, a follow-up discovery call, and a face-to-face... View Details

Keywords: Sales Calls; Sales; Competency and Skills

September 1987 (Revised May 1993)
Case

Pizza Hut, Inc.

Pizza Hut, Inc. is a franchisor of eat-in pizza restaurants. It has decided to enter the home delivery market and is in the process of implementing that strategy. The case traces the development of the home delivery concept at Pizza Hut and the interaction between the... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Expansion; Franchise Ownership; Product Launch; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

January 1996
Case

Palm Computing, Inc. (A)

By: Myra M. Hart

Discusses patents, licenses, and deal making in a start-up venture. The entrepreneur, Jeff Hawkins, holds a patent on Palm Print, a pattern recognition algorithm. After licensing Palm Print to his employer, he led three years of development of commercial products for... View Details

Keywords: Intellectual Property; Patents; Agreements and Arrangements; Negotiation Deal; Business Startups; Management Teams

David G. Fubini is a Senior Lecturer in the Organizational Behavior Unit and leader of the Leading Professional Services Firm and Mergers & Acquisitions Programs for Harvard Business School’s Executive Education. His MBA teaching has concentrated on teaching the... View Details

May 2013
Article

Health Care's Service Fanatics: How the Cleveland Clinic Leaped to the Top of the Patient-satisfaction Surveys

By: James Merlino and Ananth Raman

The Cleveland Clinic has long had a reputation for medical excellence. But in 2009 the CEO acknowledged that patients did not think much of their experience there, and he decided to act. Since then the Clinic has leaped to the top tier of patient-satisfaction surveys,... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Customer Satisfaction; Health Industry; Cleveland

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Article

Assessing the Impact of CEO Activism

By: Aaron K Chatterji and Michael W. Toffel

CEO activism refers to corporate leaders speaking out on social and environmental policy issues not directly related to their company’s core business. Distinct from nonmarket strategy and traditional corporate social responsibility, the recent wave of CEO activism... View Details

Keywords: Business And Society; Leadership; Policy; Ethics; Values and Beliefs; Governance; Social Issues; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Public Opinion

11 Apr 2019
HBS Seminar

Gabriel Szulanski, INSEAD

April 1995 (Revised July 1995)
Case

Power Play (C): 3DO in 32-bit Video Games

The 1980s were the "Nintendo" decade in video-games, while the early 1990s saw Sega rise to prominence on the basis of next-generation, 16-bit technology. By early 1994, Nintendo and Sega split the worldwide installed base of 16-bit home video-game systems about... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Competition; Product Marketing; Video Game Industry

June 2023
Supplement

Roche: ESG and Access to Healthcare

By: George Serafeim

In May 2022, Roche Group, one of the largest healthcare companies in the world, hosted its first ESG investor event focused exclusively on its efforts to impact access to healthcare. While Roche had recently set an ambitious goal to double the number of patients that... View Details

19 Jul 2019
News

What Useful Roles Can Aspiring Entrepreneurs Take On?

12 Jun 2012
First Look

First Look: June 12

shared value: focus on relationships, not on transactions, by using pricing to communicate that you value customers as people; set prices proactively to discourage detrimental... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

August 2000 (Revised August 2003)
Case

Cox Communications, Inc., 1999

This case focuses on how much external financing a firm needs and what securities the firm should issue to raise this financing. Cox Communications is a major player in the cable industry, which is consolidating due to technological changes/capabilities brought about... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Decision Choices and Conditions; Financing and Loans; Telecommunications Industry

Research Summary

Overview

Professor Ngwe develops structural models of supply and demand to probe deeply into the dynamics of shoppers and retailers, especially unobservable aspects of purchase behavior. He focuses on the adoption of outlet stores in the fashion industry, using transactional... View Details

Keywords: Outlet Stores; Price Discrimination; Retail; Discounts; Location; Industrial Organization; Structural Modeling; Fashion Industry; Retail Industry

March 2020 (Revised May 2020)
Case

Board Director Dilemmas—Incorrigible CEO

By: David G. Fubini, Suraj Srinivasan and Amram Migdal

This case focuses on a new director who, along with fellow directors, struggles with the inappropriate behavior of an otherwise competent—even brilliant—founder and CEO. This case is part of a series of vignettes that capture different dilemmas faced by directors as... View Details

Keywords: Board Of Directors; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards

November 2006 (Revised December 2011)
Case

HCA, Inc. (A)

By: Richard S. Ruback

Focuses on the buyout of HCA by three private equity firms: Bain Capital, KKR, and Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity. It provides an opportunity to discuss a variety of issues related to leveraged buyouts including the process, the role of private equity, the... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Private Equity; Investment; Business and Shareholder Relations; Conflict and Resolution; Valuation