Publications

January 2007
Case

AMD: A Customer-Centric Approach to Innovation

By: Elie Ofek and Lauren Barley

AMD's launch of the Opteron microprocessor in 2003 has allowed the company to make inroads into the lucrative server segment. A long-time follower to Intel, AMD management felt it was in a position to lead the microprocessor industry in new directions. However, in 2006... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Price; Leadership; Brands and Branding; Product Launch; Product Development; Competitive Strategy; Customization and Personalization; Semiconductor Industry

February 2004
Case

The Making of Verizon

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter, Douglas A Raymond and Ryan Raffaelli

Through a series of mergers, Ivan Seidenberg, Verizon chairman and CEO, successfully shared the co-CEO title twice while building the largest telecom company in the United States. The strong and complementary cultures of the companies that Seidenberg and a key group of... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Change Management; Transition; Leading Change; Organizational Culture; Risk Management; Telecommunications Industry; United States

September 2002 (Revised August 2003)
Case

Genzyme's Gaucher Initiative: Global Risk and Responsibility

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Andrew N. McLean

In Egypt, Genzyme's humanitarian commitment to treat all sufferers of the rare Gaucher disease worldwide first confronts its commercial imperative to recoup the huge investment required to bring the drug Cerezyme to market. Here Tomye Tierney must decide how to balance... View Details

Keywords: Moral Sensibility; Investment; Emerging Markets; Negotiation; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Government Relations; Sales; Commercialization; Expansion; Value Creation

02 Sep 2020
News

The Secret to Reallocating Resources in a Recession

22 Aug 2005
Research & Ideas

Restoring a Global Economy, 1950–1980

The 1950s onwards saw the beginning of the reconstruction of a new global economy. Between 1950 and 1973 the annual real GDP growth of developed market economies averaged around 5 percent. This growth was... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones

07 Jun 2023
Blog Post

My One Case: MBA Class of 2023 Looks Back

middle-skill workforce. What case made an impact on you and why?The “QuikTrip” case stands out for me. The case features a CEO who is expanding his business to a new market and must decide what kind of growth strategy to pursue. In the... View Details

February 2018 (Revised August 2018)
Case

Blue Haven Initiative: The PEGAfrica Investment

By: Vikram S. Gandhi, Caitlin Reimers Brumme and Amram Migdal

This case examines Blue Haven Initiative (BHI), an impact investing fund and family office, and one of its investments, PEGAfrica (PEG). BHI founder Liesel Pritzker Simmons’ motivations for using her family wealth to start a family office focused on impact investing,... View Details

Keywords: Impact Investing; Family Office; Development; International Development; International Development Investing; Development Fund; Sustainability; Solar Energy; Solar; Pay As You Go; PAYG; MFI; Social Venture; Business Ventures; Acquisition; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Startups; Economics; Development Economics; Energy; Energy Conservation; Energy Sources; Renewable Energy; Social Entrepreneurship; Finance; Assets; Asset Pricing; Capital; Capital Budgeting; Capital Structure; Venture Capital; Cash; Cash Flow; Currency; Currency Exchange Rate; Equity; Private Equity; Financial Instruments; Debt Securities; Stock Shares; Financing and Loans; Microfinance; International Finance; Investment; Investment Return; Investment Activism; Investment Funds; Investment Portfolio; Price; Geography; Geographic Location; Emerging Markets; Ownership; Ownership Stake; Private Ownership; Social Enterprise; Value; Valuation; Value Creation; Energy Industry; Financial Services Industry; Green Technology Industry; Africa; United States

10 Dec 2021
Research & Ideas

Truth Be Told: Unpacking the Risks of Whistleblowing

things, they can resolve it internally more quickly and in a more efficient way than if it goes to regulators. Although we don’t study this, I think it could also empower employees to feel ownership of the company because they’re helping in the overall View Details

Keywords: by April White

31 Oct 2018
What Do You Think?

What is the Function of Fear in Leadership?

getting short-term change out of a fear of consequences, only perpetuates long-term fear, which decreases innovation, collaboration, and growth ” On the other hand, Paul argued that, “The ever growing body of neurological research has... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

Web

About Us - HBS Working Knowledge

Senior Associate Editor Dimitri Siavelis , Associate Director of Product and Strategy Ariana Cohen-Halberstam, Growth Editor Kim Kohatsu, Growth Editor Baker Library Kenneth J. Peterson, Executive Director... View Details

July 2010 (Revised September 2012)
Case

Public Architecture

By: Lakshmi Ramarajan, Christopher Marquis and Bobbi Thomason

Public Architecture is a non-profit architecture company dedicated to creating social and professional change through design for the public good. Public has focused on three strategies to create change: 1) promoting the design community's commitment to pro bono work,... View Details

Keywords: Design; Innovation and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Nonprofit Organizations; Business Strategy; Integration

February 2025
Teaching Note

Influencer-Led Brand Building: Hairitage and the McKnights

By: William R. Kerr and James Palano

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 825-066. Mindy McKnight started in 2009 as an early influencer on social media whose videos of creative hairstyles for girls launched her family on an entrepreneurship journey. The McKnights transitioned from YouTube ad revenue to brand... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Social Media; Entrepreneurship; Brands and Branding; Product Launch; Power and Influence; Expansion; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry

2018
Working Paper

The State of Open Source Server Software

By: Shane Greenstein and Klaus Ackermann

The study assembles new data to construct a census of worldwide web server use across the globe. We document a large concentration of investment in the United States, and a wide dispersion across scores of countries. We find tens of billions of dollars of unmeasured... View Details

Keywords: Internet; Open Source; Internet and the Web; Policy; Open Source Distribution; Internet and the Web; Global Range

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2011
Teaching Note

UFIDA (B) (TN)

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Bin Yang and E. Chen

This case highlights the leadership, cultural and organizational structure dimensions of UFIDA. The case begins with Founder/Chairman Wang Wenjing's rags-to-riches story. Then UFIDA's senior and middle management of different backgrounds talk about their leader,... View Details

Keywords: Computer Software; Corporate Vision; Emerging Markets; Leadership; Organizational Structure; China; Applications and Software; China

June 2015 (Revised November 2015)
Case

Akbank: Options in Digital Banking

By: Rajiv Lal and Esel Çekin

This case discusses the digitalization strategies of a leading bank in Turkey, Akbank, and how to position its digital banking products going forward. The Turkish banking industry was undergoing a transformation prompted by the demands of the country's digitally savvy,... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Banking; Emerging Market; Regulations; Channels; Digitization; Information Technology; Competition; Brands and Branding; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Emerging Markets; Distribution Channels; Banks and Banking; Digital Transformation; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; Turkey

2014
Working Paper

Search-Based Peer Firms: Aggregating Investor Perceptions Through Internet Co-Searches

By: Charles M.C. Lee, Paul Ma and Charles C.Y. Wang

Applying a "co-search" algorithm to Internet traffic at the SEC's EDGAR web-site, we develop a novel method for identifying economically-related peer firms and for measuring their relative importance. Our results show that firms appearing in chronologically adjacent... View Details

Keywords: Peer Firm; EDGAR Search Traffic; Revealed Preference; Co-search; Industry Classification; Analytics and Data Science; Internet and the Web; Mathematical Methods; Corporate Finance

SSRN

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November 2011
Article

KFC's Radical Approach to China

By: David E. Bell and Mary L. Shelman

Global companies face a crucial question when they enter emerging markets: how far should they go to localize their offerings? Typically they try to sell core products or services pretty much as they've been sold in Europe or the United States, with headquarters... View Details

Keywords: Food; Food and Beverage Industry; China

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October 2011 (Revised March 2015)
Case

Dongfeng Passenger Vehicle Company: Marketing Challenges for the Underprivileged Latecomer

By: Willy Shih and Nancy Hua Dai

As Mr. Li Chunrong visited the new assembly line for the Dongfeng Passenger Vehicle Company in Wuhan, China, he contemplated the position his business unit found itself in: a latecomer. As a state-owned enterprise Dongfeng had entered into numerous joint ventures to... View Details

Keywords: Market Entry and Exit; Problems and Challenges; Auto Industry; China

March 2008 (Revised June 2011)
Case

MySpace

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, David T. Chen and Carin-Isabel Knoop

The case, set in late 2007, examines what MySpace—the largest online social network—should do to respond to its agile competitor, Facebook. Since its inception MySpace had experienced phenomenal growth, acquiring 20 million members in its first 20 months of operation,... View Details

Keywords: Open Source Distribution; Partners and Partnerships; Social and Collaborative Networks; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Internet and the Web; Digital Platforms; Information Technology Industry