Publications

April 2005 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Change at Whirlpool Corporation (A)

By: Jan W. Rivkin, Dorothy A. Leonard and Gary Hamel

In 1998, the CEO of Whirlpool Corp. decides to change the company's strategy significantly to escape an increasingly unattractive "stalemate" in the appliance industry. The change he proposes involves a fundamental shift in the company's focus--from manufacturing to... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Competitive Advantage; Strategic Planning; Production; Brands and Branding; Management Teams; Consumer Products Industry; United States

September 2003
Case

Growing Up in China: The Financing of BabyCare Ltd.

By: Mihir A. Desai and Mark Veblen

The CFO of this infant nutritional products company must choose among competing financing offers. The interplay of Chinese legal and customs restrictions and venture capitalists' bargaining techniques challenge the CFO to navigate a tricky negotiation and to devise a... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Working Capital; Emerging Markets; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; China

January 2003 (Revised July 2005)
Case

Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior?

Following the largest state takeover of a local public school district in U.S. history, a new governing body must find a CEO to effect a large-scale turnaround in the Philadelphia school district. This case examines the context of large urban public schools and... View Details

Keywords: Leading Change; Restructuring; Education; Crisis Management; Education Industry; Philadelphia

January 2001 (Revised June 2001)
Case

Local Initiatives Support Corporation

By: James E. Austin and Kim Slack

Local Initiatives Support Corp. (LISC) is a $74 million nonprofit social enterprise that combats poverty by helping community development organizations build affordable housing and create economic development opportunities through public-private partnerships. Poses a... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Development Economics; Education; Capital; Investment Funds; Taxation; Growth and Development; Partners and Partnerships; Nonprofit Organizations; Segmentation; Service Industry

March 1999 (Revised November 2001)
Case

Honda-Rover (A): Crafting an Alliance

By: Ashish Nanda, James K. Sebenius and Ron Fortgang

Faced with vexing financial challenges in 1993, British Aerospace (BAe) is determined to shed its loss-making automaker, Rover. It offers to sell its stake in Rover to Honda, Rover's partner since 1979, but Honda is reluctant to raise its stake in Rover. Meanwhile, BMW... View Details

Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown; Joint Ventures; Alliances; Knowledge Sharing; Strategy; Contracts; Negotiation Process; Change Management; Negotiation Tactics; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Auto Industry; United Kingdom

September 1997
Case

Information at the World Bank: In Search of a Technology Solution (A)

By: W. Earl Sasser, Josep Valor and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Information Technology Services Director Mohamed Muhsin planned to restructure the World Bank's information technology in response to President Jim Wolfensohn's call to build a knowledge bank. Several reorganization efforts taken by the bank in the 1980s led to a... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Information; Knowledge Management; Mission and Purpose; Technology; Public Administration Industry

October 1991 (Revised April 1992)
Case

Honda Today

By: Marco Iansiti

Describes a situation in which the manager in charge of a major development project at Honda needs to make a decision about the technical specification of the product. The decision has profound implications for the product concept and strategy, as well as for the... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Product Design; Organizational Design; Performance Consistency; Projects; Auto Industry

04 Dec 2024
News

Redefining Learning: Celebrating 10 Years of Harvard Business School Online

11 Jan 2022
News

School for Scaling Impact: Starting Harvard’s ALI ‘22

06 Aug 2020
News

Companies Must Go Beyond Random Acts of Humanitarianism

30 May 2018
News

First “HBS Hacks” Event in San Francisco

08 Sep 2016
News

The Age of the Wordless Logo

March 2018 (Revised April 2018)
Case

Morgan Stanley: Building Long-Term Sustainability

By: Vikram S. Gandhi and Lynn Schenk

This case focuses on the 10-year journey of one of the world's largest global financial institutions developing a sustainability strategy and integrating it across all of its business units. The case provides a deep dive into the challenges and successes of trying to... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Sustainability; Green Bonds; ESG; Environmental Sustainability; Strategy; Business Units; Integration; Financial Institutions

November 2000 (Revised July 2001)
Case

Intuit QuickBooks

By: Rajiv Lal and Punima P Kochikar

Internet QuickBooks, a successful product with a strong brand and an 85% share of retail sales, was faced with the challenge of meeting market growth expectations in a mature, slowing market segment. Generating recurring revenues by providing value-added online... View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Decisions; Growth and Development; Brands and Branding; Market Participation; Problems and Challenges; Internet and the Web; Value; Web Services Industry

28 Apr 2010
Research & Ideas

Earth Day Reflections

company officers, and even play interactive games showing the challenges and trade-offs the company faces in making difficult decisions. Thanks to these kinds of One Report practices, these companies actually document their commitment to... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

January 2024
Case

ECOALF: Fashion for the Future

By: Elizabeth A. Keenan, Diego Aparicio, Carlota Moniz and María José Satrústegui

ECOALF, a Spanish fashion brand and sustainability pioneer, aimed to tackle the industry's challenges of excessive consumption and production. The brand's mission was to create timeless apparel exclusively from recycled and eco-responsible materials, matching the... View Details

Article

Teaming: An Approach to the Growing Complexities in Health Care: AOA Critical Issues

By: Haseeb Nawaz, Amy C. Edmondson, Tony H. Tzeng, Jamal K. Saleh, Kevin J. Bozic and Khaled J. Saleh

Confronted with rising costs and patients who often have multiple comorbidities, the orthopaedic surgeon needs to face the challenge of providing high-quality health care. One solution is to increase and improve coordination, communication, and teamwork. The... View Details

Keywords: Teaming; Health Care; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry

February 2002 (Revised March 2002)
Case

Battery Ventures

By: Josh Lerner, G. Felda Hardymon, Ann Leamon, Nitin Gupta and Sameer Bharadwaj

Todd Dagres, general partner of Battery Ventures, reflects on his firm's organization and its effectiveness in one particular deal. One of the perennial challenges of venture capital is the scaling of the firm. Usually regarded as a craft industry, venture firms tend... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Measurement and Metrics; Performance Effectiveness; Organizational Structure; Financial Services Industry