Publications

2010
Working Paper

Just Say No to Wall Street: Putting A Stop to the Earnings Game

By: Joseph Fuller and Michael C. Jensen

Putting an end to the "earnings game" requires that CEOs reclaim the initiative by avoiding earnings guidance and managing expectations in such a way that their stocks trade reasonably close to their intrinsic value. In place of earnings forecasts, management should... View Details

Keywords: Stocks; Performance Expectations; Goals and Objectives; Risk and Uncertainty; Growth and Development Strategy; Decisions; Risk Management; Budgets and Budgeting; Earnings Management; Value; Projects

SSRN

September 2006
Supplement

Brainard, Bennis & Farrell (B)

By: Joseph L. Bower

Brainard, Bennis and Farrel is a short case designed to explore the challenge of establishing appropriate compensation from a general management/CEO perspective. Brainard (B) is a one-page handout that is designed to show how an already difficult problem is made more... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Compensation and Benefits; Executive Compensation; Relationships; Strategy

02 Oct 2006
Research & Ideas

Negotiating in Three Dimensions

Business School and a principal of Lax Sebenius LLC, a negotiation strategy firm. He also serves on the Executive Committee of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

John C. Mulliken

Strategy consultant, former CTO & CPO, public & private company board member, retail & climatetech entrepreneur, early stage investor. Father of two, husband, sailor, hiker, and aspirational road biker.

John is a senior lecturer in the... View Details

February 2009
Case

HP: The Computer is Personal Again

By: Rajiv Lal and Cathy Ross

In September 2008, Todd Bradley, executive vice president of Hewlett-Packard Company's Personal Systems Group (PSG), gathered his thoughts before a meeting with his top executives and managers for product design and marketing. On the agenda was a discussion of... View Details

Keywords: Revenue; Product Positioning; Corporate Strategy; Computer Industry; Retail Industry

January 2022 (Revised February 2022)
Case

Envision Group

By: Gunnar Trumbull, Bonnie Yining Cao and Dawn H. Lau

Based in China, Envision was one of the world’s leading Greentech companies. Chief Executive Officer Lei Zhang had set the goal of achieving carbon neutrality across the company’s global operations and supply chain by 2022 and 2028 respectively. As part of its... View Details

Keywords: Green Technology; Climate Change; Emerging Markets; Information Technology; Strategy; Management; Renewable Energy; Energy Policy; Environmental Sustainability; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry; Green Technology Industry; Battery Industry; China; United States; Japan; United Kingdom; France

January 1999 (Revised June 2006)
Case

Advanced Technologies, Inc.

By: Thomas R. Piper

The CEO of a semiconductor equipment manufacturer is assessing the financial forecasts and financing plan prepared by the chief financial officer. Continued rapid growth will create substantial financing pressures, especially if profitability fails to recover and/or if... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Earnings Management; Financial Condition; Financial Reporting; Risk and Uncertainty; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Outcome or Result; Growth and Development; Crisis Management; Profit; Financial Strategy; Semiconductor Industry; Manufacturing Industry

March 2016 (Revised August 2016)
Case

CreditEase: Taking Inclusive Finance Online

By: Michael Chu, John S. Ji and Nancy Hua Dai

The world’s largest peer-to-peer (P2P) lender annually disbursing over a million loans totaling $10 billion, China’s CreditEase, must decide whether to IPO in the NYSE its online lending platform, Yirendai, before the year-end window closes in 2015. Yirendai sought to... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Internet and the Web; Financing and Loans; Credit; Growth and Development Strategy; Financial Services Industry; China

November 1996 (Revised December 1996)
Case

SAP America

By: David A. Garvin and Artemis March

SAP America has grown at an explosive rate. This case describes the company's strategy, organization, and culture, with special attention to its approach to partnering and its sales and consulting process, which have been instrumental in allowing growth to proceed. Now... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Change Management; Entrepreneurship; Growth Management; Demand and Consumers; Organizational Culture; Alliances; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; United States

Find at Harvard

Get to better, more effective strategy.

In nearly every business segment and corner of the world economy, the most successful companies dramatically outperform their rivals. What is their secret? In "Better, Simpler Strategy," Harvard... View Details

January 2010 (Revised May 2012)
Case

TopCoder (A): Developing Software through Crowdsourcing

By: Karim R. Lakhani, David A. Garvin and Eric Lonstein

TopCoder's crowdsourcing-based business model, in which software is developed through online tournaments, is presented. The case highlights how TopCoder has created a unique two-sided innovation platform consisting of a global community of over 225,000 developers who... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Innovation and Invention; Two-Sided Platforms; Motivation and Incentives; Social and Collaborative Networks; Competition; Software; Technology Industry

28 Jul 2014
Research & Ideas

Eyes Shut: The Consequences of Not Noticing

bankrupt. Consequently many of the plaintiffs turned their attention to Walmart and sued the retailer as a causal agent in the deaths and injuries. Given that more than one party was involved in Walmart's... View Details

Keywords: by Max H. Bazerman; Retail

January–February 2019
Article

What Does Your Corporate Brand Stand For?

By: Stephen A. Greyser and Mats Urde

While most firms are adept at defining product brands, they’re less sure-footed with their corporate brands. What exactly does a parent company’s name represent, and how is it perceived in the marketplace?
A strong corporate identity provides direction and... View Details

Keywords: Organizations; Identity; Brands and Branding; Reputation; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Corporate Strategy

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09 Oct 2017
Research & Ideas

Fearing Fox News, Democratic-leaning Companies Delayed Negative Announcements

and politicians on its most popular shows. Fox News Channel had spread rapidly by the 2000 presidential election, its expansion fueled by the wealth accrued by Murdoch and his wildly successful media empire.... View Details

Keywords: by Jen Deaderick; Media & Broadcasting

December 2016
Case

SEAS in 2016

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Kerry Herman

The case explores opportunities and challenges facing the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences as it 1) grapples with rapid undergraduate enrollment growth and its smaller scale relative to other top engineering schools and 2) prepares to move two-thirds... View Details

Keywords: Business Education; Engineering; Strategy; Partners and Partnerships; Change Management; Education Industry; United States

21 Jan 2020
Research & Ideas

Lessons for Retailers from the Rebirth of Indie Bookstores

literary-themed socks with quotes from the likes of Melville and Shakespeare have become ubiquitous in many stores,” Raffaelli says. Lessons for reinventing local retail Even as indie bookstores continue to reinvent themselves, their... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Entertainment & Recreation

August 2016 (Revised August 2016)
Teaching Note

Intrapreneurship at DaVita Healthcare Partners

By: Joseph B. Fuller and Matthew Preble

DaVita Healthcare Partners Inc. (DaVita) is one of the U.S.'s leading dialysis providers, a process whereby persons with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) are connected to a machine that performs the functions of a healthy kidney. Kent Thiry, DaVita's CEO, has expanded... View Details

Keywords: Intrapreneurship; Entrepreneurial Organizations; Startup Management; Startup; Strategic Positioning; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Corporate Strategy; Business Startups; Strategic Planning; Competitive Strategy; Health Industry; United States