Publications

May 2023
Case

Legacy Partners

By: Royce Yudkoff and Richard S. Ruback

Stephen Holbrook and Austin Pulsipher (both HBS '19) had been leading Nutrishare since acquiring the company six months earlier in mid-2021. The company, based in Sacramento CA, was a compounding pharmacy serving Total Parenteral Nutrition ("TPN") patients nationwide.... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Business or Company Management; Pharmaceutical Industry

June 1991 (Revised April 1995)
Case

Second Bank of the United States: Banks and Banking Before the Second Bank of the United States

Describes the problems of early banking, early attempts at central banking, achieving a sound uniform currency, and economic growth. Illustrates the problems of developing a sound money economy in a developing country and shows the difficulties of branch management in... View Details

Keywords: Currency; Business History; Central Banking; Communication; Economic Growth; Banking Industry; United States

15 Oct 2001
Research & Ideas

Rethinking E-Leadership

efficiency and innovation, between maintaining existing businesses and creating new ones, between revenue growth and increased profitability. They must strive to make progress on all these fronts—simultaneously. 2. Innovate with abandon.... View Details

Keywords: by Melissa Raffoni

April 2024 (Revised August 2024)
Case

The Engine

By: Joshua Lev Krieger, Jim Matheson, Fiona Murray and Nicholas Christman

The Engine, a venture capital firm founded by MIT to fill a gap in the technology funding landscape by commercializing breakthrough science and technology. Led by managing partner and CEO Katie Rae, the Engine's unique approach involved an unusually longer fund life,... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Mission and Purpose; Venture Capital; Business Startups; Entrepreneurial Finance; Financial Services Industry

03 Mar 2009
First Look

First Look: March 3, 2009

presence of strategic interactions between content distributors and content providers. We provide a model of bargaining and price competition within these industries and show that whether or not a piece of content ends up exclusive to one... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

04 Apr 2022
Research & Ideas

Tech Hubs: How Software Brought Talent and Prosperity to New Cities

the growth of the tech centers was actually coming from the big population centers.” The rise of tech hubs What’s more, that growth isn’t stoked by long-standing companies shifting locations, like IBM did,... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

08 Jan 2014
What Do You Think?

Do Productivity Increases Contribute to Social Inequality?

opportunities in industry and services. "It is difficult to imagine how that will continue there has to be some solution and that solution has to be governmental." Several were more philosophical about the issue. As Wayne... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

16 May 2016
HBS Case

Food Safety Economics: The Cost of a Sick Customer

period of flat revenues or declining revenues, that sends a message to everybody in the food industry ” China, for example, has seen its share of well-publicized cases of food contamination. In 2008, melamine was found in milk products... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Food & Beverage

15 Jul 2002
Research & Ideas

Going Green Makes Good Business Sense

to the belief, now firmly lodged in public consciousness, that high environmental standards are not just desirable but their birthright. To set the stage, Reinhardt reminded the group that pollution is not a new phenomenon in human existence, nor is fear of... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

January 2008 (Revised December 2008)
Case

Codman Academy: Beyond the Start-up Phase

By: Stacey Childress and Tiffany K. Cheng

As it entered its seventh academic year, Codman Academy, an expeditionary learning charter school located in Dorchester, Massachusetts, was reflecting on its successes and challenges. The school had succeeded in placing every member of its most recent graduating class... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Leadership; Performance Improvement; Partners and Partnerships; Education Industry; Boston

March 1996 (Revised October 1996)
Case

Singapore's Trade in Services

By: Debora L. Spar

Focuses on the efforts of Singapore's Economic Development Board (EDB) to grow the tiny island almost wholly through an expansion of its service economy. Between 1965 and 1990, Singapore achieved a remarkable rate of growth, largely by opening its economy to foreign... View Details

Keywords: Growth Management; Service Operations; Government and Politics; Developing Countries and Economies; Macroeconomics; Service Industry; Singapore

April 2019
Case

GE Appliances: Implementing Haier's Made-In-China Management System

By: Dennis Campbell, Marshall Meyer, Bonnie Yining Cao and Dawn H. Lau

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; China; United States

October 1998 (Revised November 2001)
Case

Boston Beer Company: Light Beer Decision

By: Linda A. Cyr, Joseph B. Lassiter III and Michael J. Roberts

Boston Beer's current light-beer offering, Boston Lightship, has not been successful, and a student team is charged with investigating the problem and recommending a strategy. Highlights issues around branding, target customer selection, and cannibalization, and... View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Brands and Branding; Customers; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Food and Beverage Industry; Boston

08 Sep 2010
First Look

First Look: September 8, 2010

describes the growth of Guggenheim Brothers as one of the largest mining companies in the world in the early twentieth century. Global expansion led the firm to Chile, first in copper and later in natural nitrates. Chile's economic View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2020 (Revised August 2022)
Case

Anomalie

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport and Thomas O. Jones

In early 2019, the founders of Anomalie, an online direct-to-consumer provider of bridal gowns, have just agreed to a $13.6 million Series A investment from a Silicon Valley VC. They are considering three major initiatives as they move forward. (1) To scale their very... View Details

Keywords: Direct-to-consumer; Entrepreneurship; Internet and the Web; Growth and Development Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry

May 2005 (Revised February 2007)
Case

HNA Group: "A Miracle in Civil Aviation"

By: Cynthia A. Montgomery and Carole Winkler

Chen Feng and three others started Hainan Airlines in China during a historic transformation and privatization of the civil aviation industry. From a small loan from the local province in 1992, Chairman Chen built the company into a conglomerate that, by 2003, owned... View Details

Keywords: Growth Management; Air Transportation; Business Growth and Maturation; Competitive Advantage; Emerging Markets; Business Startups; Air Transportation Industry; China

30 Jan 2007
First Look

First Look: January 30, 2007

would suggest. However, our analysis also presents some puzzles including, most significantly, evidence of strong employment growth following adoption of dismissal protections. In light of these puzzles, we read our findings as suggestive... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

June 1995 (Revised November 1996)
Case

Northern Telecom and Tong Guang Electronics (C): Future Challenges

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Pamela A. Yatsko

This case considers the future challenges facing the Northern Telecom joint venture in China with Tong Guang Electronics. Asks how well the start-up and transition have been managed and whether the right foundation has been laid for the future. View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Growth Management; Business Startups; Change Management; Transition; Corporate Strategy; Telecommunications Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Canada; China

August 1965 (Revised December 1987)
Case

L.L. Bean, Inc.

Discusses the development and operations of a small manufacturing and mail order company doing $3 million sales. L.L. Bean operates in violation of most reasonable business principles, but it is profitable and growing. View Details

Keywords: Small Business; Operations; Growth and Development Strategy; Retail Industry; Maine