Publications

November 2022
Case

Arcos Dorados’ Quest for the Digitalization of Last-Mile Delivery in Colombia

By: Jorge Tamayo, Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago and Mariana Cal

In 2018, Francisco Staton, Managing Director of Arcos Dorados in Colombia had to decide on the company’s strategy to expand its food ordering and delivery business in the country. Arcos Dorados stood as McDonald’s largest independent franchisee, and Colombia was one of... View Details

Web

The Railroads: The First Big Business - Railroads and the Transformation of Capitalism | Harvard Business School

Horses drew wagons along rails made of wood and later iron. In the 1820s, the English introduced the first successful steam locomotive engine. As routes were carved out, mining areas transformed into industrial centers and coastal sites... View Details

October 2007
Case

iPhone vs. Cell Phone

By: David B. Yoffie and Michael Slind

The launch of Apple's iPhone marked a pivotal new chapter in the story of mobile music (the uniting of digital music players with mobile phones). The iPhone combined an iPod music player, a cell phone, and a mobile Internet device, along with a camera and other... View Details

Keywords: Communication Technology; Music Entertainment; Product Launch; Partners and Partnerships; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Communications Industry; Communications Industry

Web

Curriculum - Business & Environment

decisions involving sustainability issues. Cases are set in a variety of industry contexts, including energy, agriculture, transportation, chemicals, and investment. Some of the environment-related cases recently taught (Spring and Fall... View Details

16 Jul 2012
Research & Ideas

Are You a Strategist?

academic research that started to take hold in the 1980s and '90s. The work brought much-needed economic thinking to strategy's underpinnings. It armed legions of MBAs and strategy consultants with frameworks and techniques to help managers analyze their View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

January 1999 (Revised November 1999)
Case

Metapath Software: September 1997

By: G. Felda Hardymon and Bill Wasik

In September 1997, John Hansen called together his board to debate an interesting choice that his company had to make. Hansen--the CEO of Metapath Software, a provider of software and services to wireless carriers--had two offers to describe. The first was an offer to... View Details

Keywords: Private Ownership; Mergers and Acquisitions; Private Equity; Decision Choices and Conditions; Governing and Advisory Boards; Management Teams; Stocks; Public Ownership; Negotiation Deal; Telecommunications Industry; Telecommunications Industry

15 May 2017
Sharpening Your Skills

The Promises and Limitations of Big Data

services firms are using digital information about their customers to offer them a whole new range of customized products under the category of fintech. Cities are using data from Google Street View to guide economic development. And... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Financial Services; Financial Services; Financial Services; Financial Services

August 1997
Case

Orbital Sciences Corporation: ORBCOMM

By: Das Narayandas and John A. Quelch

In late 1993, Orbital Communications Corp. (OCC), a subsidiary of Orbital Sciences Corp., is developing a global two-way wireless data communications system, called "ORBCOMM," based on a 26-satellite constellation in low earth orbit. Service is scheduled to begin in... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Business Model; Business Startups; Price; Global Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Demand and Consumers; Partners and Partnerships; Salesforce Management; Telecommunications Industry

January 2003 (Revised May 2005)
Case

Zipcar: Refining the Business Model

By: Myra M. Hart, Michael J. Roberts and Julia Stevens

Zipcar is a start-up organized around the idea of "sharing" car usage via a membership organization. This case describes several iterations of the Zipcar business model and financial plan. These iterations include a very early version and a version developed just prior... View Details

Keywords: Service Operations; Renting or Rental; Business Model; Business Plan; Entrepreneurship; Economic Growth; Management Skills; Transportation; Business Startups; Financial Strategy; Corporate Finance; Growth and Development Strategy; Transportation Industry; Transportation Industry

September 2023 (Revised December 2023)
Case

Twiddy & Company: Trust in a Chaotic Environment

By: Sandra J. Sucher, Shalene Gupta and Tom Quinn

Twiddy & Company, known for Southern hospitality rooted in personal interactions, needed to adjust to contactless remote customer service as fear of the contagious virus prevented person-to-person contact. Local elected officials, in a bid to stop tourists from... View Details

Keywords: Trust; Health Pandemics; Organizational Culture; Disruption; Government Legislation; Transportation; Tourism Industry; North Carolina; United States

January 2020 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Freelancer, Ltd.

By: Christopher Stanton, Karim R. Lakhani, Jennifer L. Hoffman, Jin Hyun Paik and Nina Cohodes

Over the course of the 2010s, the rapid advancement of mobile technologies and the rise of online freelancing platforms seemed to portend a radical transformation of labor markets into on-demand, flexible talent pools. Even though several Fortune 500... View Details

Keywords: Freelancers; Platforms; Digital Labor; Labor; Human Resources; Management; Internet and the Web; Growth and Development Strategy; Digital Platforms; Information Industry; Australia; United States; Philippines

June 2005 (Revised August 2011)
Case

Narayana Hrudayalaya Heart Hospital: Cardiac Care for the Poor (A)

By: Tarun Khanna, V. Kasturi Rangan and Merlina Manocaran

Describes the mission, vision, and strategy of a team of entrepreneurs headed by a charismatic heart surgeon who founded a heart hospital in Bangalore, India. The purpose of the hospital was to offer health care for the masses. This tertiary care hospital performed... View Details

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Goals and Objectives; Social Marketing; Mission and Purpose; Strategic Planning; Social Enterprise; Welfare; Health Industry; Health Industry; Bangalore

Profile

Bobby Tuohy

team of twelve, Bobby split his time between field operations and headquarters, where he led the charge for acquiring necessary resources. “It was the service and leadership I wanted.” Deepening tech skills and leadership abilities As his... View Details

Web

Faculty & Researchers - Managing the Future of Work

Mehta. Hugging Face: Serving AI on a Platform , Harvard Business School Case, 2022. With Daniel Yue, Kerry Herman, and Sarah Gulick. AWS and Amazon SageMaker: The Commercialization of Machine Learning Services , Harvard Business School... View Details

February 2019
Teaching Note

Talent@Tencent

By: Tarun Khanna

Late in 2016, two senior human resources (HR) executives at Tencent Holdings (Tencent), China’s leading Internet services firm, are assessing the effectiveness of the company’s talent management practices in responding to Tencent’s sustained hypergrowth. Over the... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Employees; Retention; Entrepreneurship; Employee Relationship Management; Web Services Industry; China

January 2003 (Revised August 2003)
Case

General Mills and the Hawthorne Huddle (A)

Examines the role of General Mills in the formation and leadership of the Hawthorne Huddle. The Huddle was in the Hawthorne neighborhood in Northern Minneapolis, which in 1997 was plagued with high crime and poverty. The Huddle served as a forum, held the first... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Management Succession; Social Issues; Consumer Products Industry; Minneapolis

Find at Harvard

26 Aug 2024
Blog Post

HBS Lingo 101

place in the second semester. Field Global Capstone builds on interpersonal and team-based skills learned in START, LEAD, and Inclusion and culminates with student teams going into global markets around the world to help develop a new product or View Details

2009
Working Paper

Operational Failures and Problem Solving: An Empirical Study of Incident Reporting

By: Julia Rose Adler-Milstein, Sara J. Singer and Michael W. Toffel

Operational failures occur in all industries with consequences that range from minor inconveniences to major catastrophes. Many organizations have implemented incident reporting systems to highlight actual and potential operational failures in order to encourage... View Details

Keywords: Communication Strategy; Legal Liability; Management Practices and Processes; Service Operations; Failure; Health Industry