Publications

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

A Perfect Fit: Aligning Organization & Strategy

professor Michael Beer says companies should do on a regular basis. "Business success is a function of fit between a host of key variables within an organization," he says. "Strategy, values, culture, employees, systems,... View Details

Keywords: by Judith A. Ross

February 1998 (Revised November 1998)
Case

Novartis (A): Being a Global Leader

By: Srikant M. Datar and Carin-Isabel Knoop

For the Novartis leaders, the decision to "use stretch budgets again next year" highlights the tension between candor and empowerment and command-and-control, between the new and the old, between high performance and business as usual, between Ciba and Sandoz.... View Details

Keywords: Goals and Objectives; Leading Change; Organizational Culture; Performance; Budgets and Budgeting

January 2003 (Revised April 2003)
Case

Sun Hydraulics: Leading in Tough Times (A)

By: Linda A. Hill and Jennifer Suesse

Sun Hydraulics, 32-year-old global hydraulics engineering and manufacturing company headquartered in Sarasota, Florida, confronts tough choices due to the economic downturn in 2001. The company leadership debates how to maintain profitability and reduce labor costs... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Mission and Purpose; Financial Crisis; Crisis Management; Manufacturing Industry; Florida

April 2000 (Revised April 2004)
Case

TixToGo: Financing a Silicon Valley Start-up

Describes TixToGo, a Silicon Valley start-up company that offers online solutions to individuals and organizations that want to offer activities and/or collect registration fees for events over the Internet. A serial entrepreneur and his partner started the company in... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Information Technology; Financing and Loans; Business Startups; Information Technology Industry; San Francisco

14 Oct 2018
News

Fallout From Elon Musk’s SEC Settlement: A Big Fine, A New Chairman And A Huge Opportunity For Tesla

August 2005 (Revised April 2007)
Case

DICOM Group plc and Captiva Software Corp.

By: Paul M. Healy

Compares two companies in the information capture software industry. Asks students to analyze and compare the performance of two companies (one in the United Kingdom and the other in the United States) from the perspective of a buy-side analyst reporting to the manager... View Details

Keywords: History; Financial Management; Environmental Accounting; Activity Based Costing and Management; Financial Reporting; Performance; Performance Evaluation; Financial Statements; Economic Growth; Fair Value Accounting; Information Industry; Computer Industry; United Kingdom; United States

Research Summary

Leveraging Knowledge for Performance

Morten Hansen is involved in research which examines how knowledge residing in different units in a company can be leveraged to improve performance in a specific unit. He has conducted several large studies of the use of knowledge in creating competitive performance,... View Details

November 2019 (Revised May 2020)
Case

Collibra

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Jeffrey F. Rayport and Julia Kelley

Founded in 2008 at Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Collibra was a data intelligence company that found product-market fit in the years after the global financial crisis when many companies were under pressure from consumers and governments to improve their data management... View Details

05 Feb 2008
First Look

First Look: February 5, 2008

less-than-proportional votes as shareholdings increase), balanced the relative voting power of small and large investors. In companies with such provisions the concentration of ownership and control is shown... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Spring 2012
Article

The Need for Sector-Specific Materiality and Sustainability Reporting Standards

By: Robert G. Eccles, Michael P. Krzus, Jean Rogers and George Serafeim

Even though the supply of sustainability information has increased considerably in the last decade, companies are still failing to disclose material information in a comparable format. We believe this has two downsides. On the one hand, companies are not adequately... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Reporting; Standard Setting; Regulation; Environmental Sustainability; Accounting; Standards; Integrated Corporate Reporting; Corporate Disclosure; Competitive Advantage; Capital Markets; Accounting Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

03 Apr 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Bridge Building in Venture Capital-Backed Acquisitions

Keywords: by Paul A. Gompers & Yuhai Xuan

February 2010
Case

Foxwoods: Turning Data into Insights in the Hospitality Industry

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Deborah L. Soule

This case describes how an IT director identified an opportunity and implemented an innovative business solution designed to enable line managers and executives to convert data to information to insights. The case also details how the company partnered with an emerging... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Technological Innovation; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Partners and Partnerships; Information Technology; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Connecticut

May 1997 (Revised May 2008)
Case

Intel Corporation: 1968-1997

By: Gary P. Pisano, David J. Collis and Peter K. Botticelli

Traces Intel's history and strategy from 1968 to 1997. Examines the company's decision to exit DRAMS and its entry into microprocessors. Focuses on how the company managed to achieve and sustain its competitive advantage in microprocessors, and the threats it faces in... View Details

Keywords: Market Entry and Exit; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Information Infrastructure; Corporate Strategy; Industry Structures; Technology Industry

Steve Wheelwright is the Edsel Bryant Ford Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus at Harvard Business School.

Following his retirement from HBS in 2006, he served with former Dean Kim B. Clark at BYU-Idaho and then from 2007-2015 he served as... View Details

February 2014
Case

Arcos Dorados: How to Lead and From Where

By: Krishna Palepu and Gustavo Herrero

Acros Dorados, an Argentina-based multinational, is facing new organizational challenges as it seeks to build on its recent turnaround, and grow in Brazil and Mexico. Woods Staton and his management team have to make some hard decisions on how to structure and lead the... View Details

Keywords: Execution; Restaurant; Consumer; Emerging Markets; Strategy; Latin America

July 2013 (Revised October 2013)
Supplement

United Rentals (B)

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Kathleen Durante

In April 2012, Jenne Britell, the Chairman of the board of directors of United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE: URI) was preparing her notes for an upcoming stockholders' meeting. It was a meeting unlike most other meetings she had chaired. Stockholders were about to vote on a... View Details

Keywords: Boards Of Directors; Board Committees; Chairman; Governing and Advisory Boards; Corporate Governance; Construction Industry; North America

July 2005 (Revised September 2016)
Case

24 Hour Fitness (A): The Rise, 1983–2004

By: John R. Wells, Elizabeth A. Raabe and Gabriel Ellsworth

In October 2004, Mark S. Mastrov, CEO of 24 Hour Fitness, reflected on how far his company had come in just over 20 years. From humble beginnings in 1983 in San Leandro, California, 24 Hour Fitness had grown to become the largest privately-owned health-club chain in... View Details

Keywords: 24 Hour Fitness; Mark Mastrov; Health Clubs; Fitness; Gyms; Chain; Weight Loss; Exercise; Personal Training; Retention; Sales Force Compensation; Incentive Systems; Buildings and Facilities; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Customers; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Private Equity; Revenue; Geographic Scope; Multinational Firms and Management; Nutrition; Business History; Employees; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Human Capital; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing; Operations; Service Operations; Private Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Sales; Salesforce Management; Sports; Strategy; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Segmentation; Information Technology; Internet; Technology Platform; Web; Web Sites; Capital Structure; Performance; Organizational Structure; Organizational Culture; Health Industry; United States; California; San Francisco

2014
Case

Meizhou Dongpo Restaurant: Entrepreneurship, Leadership and Culture

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Weiku Wu and Jia Guo

Meizhou Dongpo is a large catering group in China. On June 6, 1996, the first Meizhou Dongpo Restaurant was opened in Beijing. The enterprise entered the stage of rapid development in 2000, and set up Beijing Meizhou Restaurant Management Co., Ltd. In June 2003 the... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Leadership; National Culture; China; Restaurants; China