Publications

July 2007 (Revised January 2008)
Case

Turnaround at the Veterans Health Administration (A)

By: Amy C. Edmondson, Brian R. Golden and Gary J. Young

Investigates the challenges that Dr. Kenneth W. Kizer confronted in seeking to create organizational change at the largest integrated health care system in North America, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Kizer was appointed as the Under Secretary of Health, to... View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Transformation; Leadership; Consolidation; Health Care and Treatment; Service Delivery; Health Industry; Public Administration Industry; North and Central America

January 2007 (Revised November 2007)
Case

Organic Growth at Wal-Mart

By: Jan W. Rivkin and Troy Smith

In 2005, an executive vice president at Wal-Mart must decide whether to expand the retailer's selection of organic food. The decision is made in the context of wider attempts to move the giant retailer slightly upscale and to focus on environmental sustainability. View Details

Keywords: Food; Growth and Development Strategy; Product; Business Processes; Environmental Sustainability; Expansion; Retail Industry; United States

Keywords: Francis Storrs; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services

01 Sep 2010
News

Big Turnout for Business Plan Contest

The dream of starting their own business inspired 110 teams of students to enter the 2010 HBS Business Plan Contest, which awarded $170,000 in cash and in-kind services to winners and runners-up in separate business venture and social... View Details

Keywords: contests; awards; Natural Gas Distribution; Utilities; Water, Sewage and Supply Systems; Utilities

08 Sep 2020
Sharpening Your Skills

Capitalism Works Better When I Can See What You're Doing

your messages after they are read. The problem: The memory of your uninhibited behavior lingers. Research Papers Surfacing the Submerged State with Operational Transparency in Government ServicesCitizens who see the work that government... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

Web

Entrepreneurial Sales 102: Building the First Sales Team - Course Catalog

happens until a sale is made. That simple point underlines the critical importance of sales. Every operating model and business plan ‘assumes’ a certain amount of sales, but that assumption is the tipping point. Without sales, the entire... View Details

22 Oct 2013
News

Pulling the Plug

Even now, Giler keeps his hand in cellular communications—"an industry ripe for substantial disruption"—by cofounding and chairing Scratch Wireless, which this year is slated to release the nation's first free cellphone service (it will... View Details

11 Feb 2019
News

Hello Alfred Co-Founders: Knowing When to be Persistent

Keywords: Personal Services

01 Mar 2023
News

Elevator Pitch: Spread the Wealth

want to open pathways to ownership for a new generation of investors like Amanda.” “We want to open pathways to ownership for a new generation of investors like Amanda.” Status Update: More than 600 retail and service organizations have... View Details

Keywords: entrepreneurship; stock ownership; customer rewards; employee retention; financial literacy; Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments; Finance

01 Sep 2007
News

Where Are They Now?

works on strategy issues, is point person for global initiatives and acquisitions, and oversees day-to-day operations across all of the group’s functions and its multiple brands, which reap $9 billion in annual sales and include Bath &... View Details

Keywords: Educational Services; Educational Services; Educational Services; Educational Services; Educational Services; Educational Services

29 Mar 2016
First Look

March 29, 2016

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=50822 forthcoming Manufacturing & Service Operations Management How Do Customers Respond to Increased Service Quality... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

August 2000 (Revised February 2003)
Case

Borders Group, Inc.

By: Zeynep Ton and Ananth Raman

Describes Borders Group, a well-known retail chain, in late 1999 and its traditional strengths and rapid growth in the 1990s. By 1990, however, the company had fallen behind Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble in leveraging the Internet for book retailing, although it... View Details

Keywords: Supply Chain Management; Customer Value and Value Chain; Distribution Channels; Service Operations; Business Growth and Maturation; Economic Growth; Industry Growth; Growth and Development; Internet; Business Model; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Supply and Industry; Retail Industry; Publishing Industry

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services

10 Dec 2010
News

Notes from the Trenches

was critical in getting the ball rolling for Relay Rides, a service allowing customers to rent neighborhood cars from private owners by the hour or by the day. (Clark also got some “Air Time” in the December Bulletin. By the fall of his... View Details

Profile

Jason Flood

about the future of tech. Google was my dream job—and I got it. I had a fantastic experience there, and my life plan was to scale the ranks at Google.” But his cancer experience, Jason says, “inspired a passion to get involved in health... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare/Biotech; Tech

01 Sep 2003
News

Sharon Patrick

economies of scale and leveraging models,” observes Patrick, who served as president and COO of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia for six years before she was appointed CEO in June. “If you can harness these economics, you can create very... View Details

Keywords: Susan Young; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services

April 1992 (Revised June 1993)
Case

American Nursing Services, Inc.

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger and Roger H. Hallowell

P.K. Scherle, R.N., founder, president, and owner, struggles with her successful business and focuses on either growth or enhanced profitability. View Details

Keywords: Growth Management; Business Growth and Maturation; Service Delivery; Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Growth and Development Strategy; Health Industry