Publications

October 2024
Case

Reed Group and Succession in a Family Business: An Impossible Job to Fill?

By: Lauren H. Cohen and Tonia Labruyere

James Reed had taken over Reed Group, the recruitment and career services company his father had founded and built, in 1994. He was now reflecting on succession planning and other challenges that lay ahead: with no obvious choice among his family members, he needed to... View Details

Keywords: Charity; Succession Planning; Family Business; Values and Beliefs; Management Succession; Mission and Purpose; Family Ownership; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Family and Family Relationships; Recruitment; AI and Machine Learning; Employment Industry; United Kingdom; London

22 May 2020
In Practice

Post-COVID Health Care: More Screens, Less Red Tape?

shared savings and capitated arrangements and away from fee-for-service, they will be better positioned not only to withstand any COVID aftershocks but also to gain patients during the recession. Leemore S. Dafny (@LeemoreDafny) is the... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

15 Feb 2016
Research & Ideas

Want Your Employees to Plan Better for Retirement? Don't Do This

often look to similar individuals and imitate their actions. This allows them to capitalize on the research others have already done and makes them feel secure through a sense of normalcy. The publicly-held technology company Opower, which View Details

Keywords: Re: John Beshears; Financial Services

Web

The Five Forces - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

Five Forces Threat of Substitute Products or Services Bargaining Power of Suppliers Bargaining Power of Buyers Threat of New Entrants Rivalry Among Existing Competitors The Five Forces is a framework for understanding the competitive... View Details

April 2005
Case

FBI: Mission Extended

Following the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993, there was consensus that the FBI needed to make organizational changes. The FBI had long distinguished itself as the world's pre-eminent organization for conducting after-the-fact investigations that laid the... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Law Enforcement; United States

17 Feb 2003
Research & Ideas

Building Communities as Well as Companies

offering nationwide negotiation and representation services to professional athletes. "I didn't have a lifelong desire to be an entrepreneur," said Paula E. Groves (HBS MBA '91), founding partner of Axxon Capital, a venture... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

November 2020 (Revised July 2022)
Case

Dell Technologies: Bringing the Cloud to the Ground

By: Navid Mojir and V. Kasturi Rangan

The case tells the story of Dell Technologies and its efforts to revitalize its value proposition and escape a commodity trap by acquiring EMC for $67 billion—the largest tech acquisition in history. It also shows the deeply intertwined connections between a company’s... View Details

Keywords: Value Proposition; Go-to-market; Strategic Positioning; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Technological Innovation; Business Divisions; Information Technology Industry; Computer Industry

14 Jul 2008
Research & Ideas

HBS Cases: Reforming New Orleans Schools After Katrina

organization that could help schools coordinate with each other and receive shared support services without creating the dysfunction of a large urban district. “One of the benefits of being a charter school... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Education

18 Jul 2016
Research & Ideas

Is Greed Ruining Private Equity Firms?

In a first-ever look at the internal economics driving private equity partnerships, Harvard Business School researchers have found that many of these funds can be torn apart by greed among founding partners who take home a much bigger View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Financial Services; Financial Services

August 2013 (Revised October 2013)
Case

Modern Family Planning: The Business of Circle Surrogacy

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Blake Landro

The business of surrogacy, a boutique practice with client costs upwards of $100,000, allowed couples and individuals from a variety of backgrounds, ages, and sexual orientations to build families. This case examines Circle Surrogacy (CS), one of the premier surrogacy... View Details

Keywords: Family Planning; Platform; Competitive Advantage; Law; Globalization; Competitive Strategy; Digital Platforms; United States; Ukraine

03 Jan 2017
Research & Ideas

5 New Year's Resolutions You Can Keep (With the Help of Behavioral Science Research)

conduct sociological and psychological studies to get a true handle on what motivates people to do what they do—and what motivates them to do better. With that, we share some well-researched tips—based on the findings of behavioral... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

November 2016 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Square, Inc. IPO

By: Ramana Nanda, Robert White and Lauren G. Pickle

In November 2015, Square, Inc. launched its initial public offering (IPO). The IPO had an offering price of $9 per share, lower than the $11 to $13 estimate that had been outlined in the preliminary prospectus and 42% below the $15.50 share price in its most recent... View Details

Keywords: Business Finance; Initial Public Offering; Equity; Capital Markets; Public Equity; Stocks; Venture Capital; Financial Services Industry; United States

23 Feb 2011
First Look

First Look: Feb. 23

Incumbents Fare in the Face of Increased Service Competition? Authors:Ryan W. Buell, Dennis Campbell, and Frances X. Frei Abstract We explore the conditions under which service competition leads to customer... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

02 Feb 2004
Research & Ideas

Where Does Apple Go From Here?

Apple Computer knows how to make headlines. The company is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Macintosh and is enjoying the fruits of its launch into the digital entertainment business. In its December quarter, Apple sold 730,000 iPods. And the iTunes music... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

November 2017
Teaching Note

Amazon.com, 2016

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

Teaching Note for HBS No. 716-402. On January 28, 2016, Amazon announced record 2015 operating profits of $2.2 billion on $107 billion of sales, and the markets responded with cautious optimism. For years, founder and CEO Jeffrey Bezos had prioritized growth and... View Details