Publications

26 Feb 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, February 26, 2019

poor managers because they persist in their behaviors as reps rather than managers. This article discusses why this is common, the problems with standard advice about how to address this issue, what it now takes to be an effective sales... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

16 May 2018
News

Spotify's 'Hateful Conduct' Policy Drags The Music Industry Into The #MeToo Moment

October 2023 (Revised February 2024)
Case

Loris

By: Shunyuan Zhang, Das Narayandas, Stacy Straaberg and David Lane

In December 2022, Loris’s executive team considered their go-to-market strategy. Loris was an artificial intelligence (AI) software startup for the customer service industry with two products on the market: 1) Agent Assist which provided customer service agents (CSAs)... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Launch; Product Positioning; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Business Startups; AI and Machine Learning; Applications and Software; Marketing Strategy; Sales; Technology Industry; United States

14 Aug 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, August 14, 2018

and healthy innovation. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=54851 in press Management Science Procedural Justice and the Risks of Consumer Voting By: Kim, Tami, Leslie John, Todd Rogers, and Michael I. Norton... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

21 Apr 2014
Research & Ideas

Bio-Piracy: When Western Firms Usurp Eastern Medicine

for anything where the prior art is known," explains Prithwiraj Choudhury, an assistant professor in the Technology, Operations, and Management unit at Harvard Business School. "But when a Western firm goes to a Western... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Legal Services; Biotechnology

22 May 2019
Research & Ideas

Forgiving Student Loan Debt Leads to Better Jobs, Stronger Consumers

able to manage their finances. Borrowers whose loans were forgiven reduced their total debts by about $5,000, or 26 percent, which was partly due to people increasing repayment amounts on credit cards, as well as auto and mortgage loans,... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

26 Jun 2023
Research & Ideas

Want to Leave a Lasting Impression on Customers? Don't Forget the (Proverbial) Fireworks

marketers think of the customer experience like a play in three acts—pre-purchase, purchase, and post-purchase. However, research by De Freitas and fellow researchers looked more holistically at the customer journey and found that most... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Entertainment & Recreation

March 2008 (Revised April 2008)
Case

Opening Dot EU (A)

By: Benjamin Edelman

EURid considers possible market mechanisms to allocate initial domain names within the Internet's newly-created "dot EU." European Union regulations and community norms substantially constrain EURid's approach, preventing the use of the most natural economic mechanisms... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Resource Allocation; Auctions; Internet; Information Industry; Europe

05 Dec 2013
Op-Ed

Encourage Breakthrough Health Care by Competing on Products Rather Than Patents

offices. Here's my proposal: I ask that the Association of University Technology Managers establish a set of standards, balancing public interests and private incentives, that would encourage the development of new chemical entities for... View Details

Keywords: by Richard G. Hamermesh; Biotechnology; Health

19 Sep 2023
HBS Case

How Will the Tech Titans Behind ChatGPT, Bard, and LLaMA Make Money?

are already a significant amount of open-source models that you or I could build on. So, let's say we want to block AI from generating hate speech. To the extent that there is a market for hate speech, some entrepreneur will be able to... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Technology; Information Technology

January 2008 (Revised May 2008)
Supplement

China Netcom: Corporate Governance in China (B)

By: Regina M. Abrami, William C. Kirby, F. Warren McFarlan and Tracy Yuen Manty

Supplements the A case [308027]. With its dual listings on the Hong Kong stock market and New York stock Exchange, state-owned enterprise, China Netcom was mandated to meet the listing requirements of these exchanges. From this initial step, China Netcom's Chairman,... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Corporate Governance; State Ownership; Standards; Globalized Markets and Industries; Telecommunications Industry; China

11 Oct 2006
Research & Ideas

The Success of Reverse Leveraged Buyouts

billion--but analysts have been disappointed by a share price in the mid-teens. Are RLBOs really the risky, under-performing investment that is claimed? In fact, says Harvard Business School Professor Josh Lerner, RLBOs generally outperform other initial public... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Banking; Financial Services

April 2015 (Revised June 2016)
Case

The Transformation of NCR

By: David Collis, Raffaella Sadun and Matthew Shaffer

During his tenure as CEO since 2005, Bill Nuti had moved NCR Corporation (originally National Cash Register) from its historical competence in hardware to become a provider of hardware and software for managing transactions across a range of industries and payments... View Details

Keywords: NCR; Hardware; Software; Acquisitions; Financial Services; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Expansion; Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Transformation; Acquisition; Financial Services Industry; Technology Industry

February 2007 (Revised May 2007)
Case

Bancaja: Developing Customer Intelligence (A)

In 1996, CEO Fernando Garcia Checa wanted to make customer analytics a part of Bancaja's new strategy. Bancaja, a savings bank based in Valencia, Spain, was expanding and wanted to exploit customer information to increase commercial effectiveness. At the same time, it... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Banking Industry; Spain

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

August 2000 (Revised August 2003)
Case

Cox Communications, Inc., 1999

This case focuses on how much external financing a firm needs and what securities the firm should issue to raise this financing. Cox Communications is a major player in the cable industry, which is consolidating due to technological changes/capabilities brought about... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Decision Choices and Conditions; Financing and Loans; Telecommunications Industry

Though they’ve been warned for decades about the dangers of overrelying on gut instinct and personal experience, managers keep failing to critically examine—much less challenge—the ideas their decisions are based on. To correct this problem they need to think and... View Details

March 1996 (Revised July 1996)
Case

Service Corporation International

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Craig F Schreiber

The CFO of a high-growth company in the low-growth and fragmented funeral services industry must decide how to optimize capital structure and earnings growth while maximizing the company's market value. View Details

Keywords: Financial Management; Value Creation; Business Growth and Maturation; Consolidation; Industry Growth; Capital Structure; Expansion; Service Industry; United States; North and Central America

Article

Stop the Meeting Madness: How to Free Up Time for Meaningful Work

By: Leslie Perlow, Constance Noonan Hadley and Eunice Eun

Many executives feel overwhelmed by meetings, and no wonder: On average, they spend nearly 23 hours a week in them, up from less than 10 hours in the 1960s. What’s more, the meetings are often poorly timed, badly run, or both. We can all joke about how painful they... View Details

Keywords: Time Management; Performance Efficiency; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance Improvement