Publications

25 Jun 2012
Research & Ideas

Collaborating Across Cultures

and different ways of operating (government control over filmmaking, for instance) can lead to unforeseen setbacks and delays, threatening the success of creative business ventures. Vital Skill Learning to work with people from other... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

March 2005 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Sealed Air Taiwan (A) (Abridged)

By: Lynn S. Paine

The general manager for U.S.-based Sealed Air Corp.'s Taiwan subsidiary must decide how to improve productivity and achieve profitability. In addition to considering a new approach to compensation, he is wondering how to bridge the gap between Sealed Air's corporate... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Relationships; Service Operations; Motivation and Incentives; Management Skills; Compensation and Benefits; Taiwan; United States

16 Mar 2020
Research & Ideas

How the Coronavirus Is Already Rewriting the Future of Business

buell) is the Finnegan Family Associate Professor of Business Administration in the Technology and Operations Management Unit. Prithwiraj (Raj) Choudhury: Remote work will become strategic I’ve been... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

April 1996
Case

Southern Pulp and Paper

A paper mill's paper machines are a bottleneck in the operation. The causes include poor scheduling, lack of investment, and ineffective process control. The plant manager is charged with improving this situation fairly rapidly and has a number of proposals for change... View Details

Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Performance Improvement; Infrastructure; Pulp and Paper Industry

2017
Working Paper

Innovation, Reallocation and Growth

By: Daron Acemoglu, Ufuk Akcigit, Harun Alp, Nicholas Bloom and William R. Kerr

We build a model of firm-level innovation, productivity growth, and reallocation featuring endogenous entry and exit. A new and central economic force is the selection between high- and low-type firms, which differ in terms of their innovative capacity. We estimate the... View Details

Keywords: Entry; Growth; Industrial Policy; Innovation; R＆D; Reallocation; Selection; Business Ventures; Resource Allocation; Performance Productivity; Policy; Research and Development; Innovation and Invention; Growth and Development; United States

Read Now

July 2025
Case

Mitsui & Co., Ltd.

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Akiko Saito

In 2025, Kenichi Hori, President and CEO of Mitsui & Co., Ltd.—one of Japan’s most prominent Sogo Shosha (investment and trading companies with sprawling global footprints)—reflected on the company’s record-breaking profits. Its operations spanned multiple... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Management; Operations; Organizations; Japan

12 Jun 2012
First Look

First Look: June 12

management practices and the company's stockholders, who were more likely to hold stock for short periods of time compared to other stocks. Read the article: http://hbr.org/2012/06/short-termism-dont-blame-investors/ar/1 Leadership Is a... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2000 (Revised May 2002)
Case

FleetBoston Financial: Online Banking

By: Frances X. Frei and Hanna Rodriguez-Farrar

As the ninth largest bank holding company in the United States in 2000, FleetBoston Financial Corp. provided a myriad of financial services, including retail banking, loan origination, and brokerage accounts. This case explores how FleetBoston responded to the Internet... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Borrowing and Debt; Cost Management; Banks and Banking; Consumer Behavior; Service Operations; Competition; Online Technology; Banking Industry; United States

04 Apr 2011
HBS Case

Reinventing the National Geographic Society

emerging. Various units operated as independent fiefdoms. In 1998, Fahey was named CEO, and the task was clear: build an organization to thrive for the next 100 years. To do so, he "assembled a View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Publishing

21 Feb 2018
Research & Ideas

When a Competitor Abandons the Market, Should You Advance or Retreat?

themselves. Furthermore, that decision to abandon ship is often the wrong decision. “There is potentially a great market opportunity when a competitor drops out,” says Joshua Lev Krieger, an assistant professor in the Entrepreneurial View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Pharmaceutical; Health

Web

Life at Harvard - Doctoral

Community Anil Doshi Technology & Operations Management Filippo Mezzanotti Business Economics Sarah Wolfolds Strategy Anastassia Fedyk Business Economics Alexandra C. Feldberg Organizational Behavior Rohan... View Details

January 2011 (Revised October 2014)
Case

Dropbox: 'It Just Works'

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Michael Pao and Lauren Barley

Dropbox is a venture-backed Silicon Valley startup, founded in 2006, that provides online storage and backup services to millions of customers using a "freemium" (free + premium offers) business model. The case recounts Dropbox's history from conception through... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Practices and Processes; Distribution; Product Design; Product Development; Internet; Service Industry; California

01 Jun 2023
News

Curb Appeal

produce daily. Tisch held a conference call with her operations chiefs at 5 a.m., and by 8 a.m. she was on the phone with Mayor Eric Adams while parked outside a DSNY facility. Striding into a garage the size of a football field to... View Details

Keywords: Alexander Gelfand; photography by Vance Jacobs; Justice, Public Order, and Safety Activities; Government

April 1998
Case

Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team (Abridged)

By: Clayton M. Christensen

Becton Dickinson's Vacutainer business was largely based in the United States, but in 1980 management determined to grow the business aggressively first in Europe and then Japan. These areas demanded new products that were tailored to local markets. Despite the change... View Details

Keywords: Resource Allocation; Growth and Development Strategy; Change Management; Product Development; Global Strategy; Expansion; Innovation and Invention; Multinational Firms and Management; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States; Europe; Japan

October 2014
Case

Mothercare, 2014

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

In early 2014, Mothercare was the UK's leading retailer of mother-and-baby products. In fiscal 2013, it generated £341 million in revenues from its 255 UK stores and £128 million online, and was more than three times the size of its next biggest competitor, Mama and... View Details

Keywords: Retail; Turnaround; Strategy; Strategic Planning; Retail Industry; United Kingdom

31 Jul 2023
News

Striving for Imperfection

pattern-seekers, and that’s why they ask questions. As we develop successful ways of operating in the world, we become pattern imposers. So, you know, you’re trying to tie a shoe, someone finally shows you how to tie a double bow, and... View Details

Keywords: Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management of Companies and Enterprises

April 1983 (Revised June 2003)
Case

Shouldice Hospital Limited

By: James L. Heskett

Various proposals are set forth for expanding the capacity of the hospital. In assessing them, serious consideration has to be given to the culture of the organization and the importance of preserving it in a service delivery system. In addition to issues of capacity... View Details

Keywords: Expansion; Health Care and Treatment; Performance Capacity; Organizational Culture; Service Delivery; Growth Management; Strategic Planning; Quality; Social Enterprise; Health Industry; Canada

Profile

Ruzwana Bashir

best experiences (from wine tours to swimming with dolphins), and the company provides robust online booking tools for activity operators to help them better run their businesses. The company has already been labeled “The OpenTable... View Details

January 2003 (Revised November 2005)
Case

Endeavor-Determining A Growth Strategy

By: William A. Sahlman and Michael J. Roberts

Describes the progress of a nonprofit organization, Endeavor, focused on nurturing entrepreneurship in emerging markets. At the time of the case, it has successfully expanded to five Latin American countries and is contemplating the next phase in its growth.... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Nonprofit Organizations; Development Economics; Entrepreneurship; Emerging Markets; Policy; Growth and Development Strategy