Publications

August 2019 (Revised March 2022)
Case

Family Matters: Governance at the Zamil Group

By: Christina R. Wing, Suraj Srinivasan and Esel Çekin

This case focuses on a large Saudi Arabian industrial conglomerate and family business Zamil Group’s corporate and family governance journey. The 12 sons of the founder led and grew the group successfully after taking over from their father in 1961. The secret to their... View Details

Keywords: Middle East; Family Ownership; Family-owned Business; Saudi Arabia; Family Business; Governance; Organizational Structure; Values and Beliefs; Steel Industry; Steel Industry; Middle East; Saudi Arabia; Bahrain

March 2007
Supplement

Bain & Company, Inc.

In late 2001, the consultancy Bain must decide whether to launch information technology as a practice area within the firm. The senior executives who are Bain's clients have been asking more and more IT-related questions of the firm's partners, who find themselves... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Information Technology; Market Entry and Exit; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry

August 2017
Case

Wake Up Call

By: David G. Fubini and Christine Snively

In 1993, three consultants at different stages in their careers must decide how to respond to what they considered to be unethical behavior from a partner at their firm. They each considered the potential consequences of reporting a senior colleague and the impact it... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Judgments; Leadership Style; Ethics; Consulting Industry; United States

TeachingInterests

Managing Service Operations

By: Frances X. Frei

Managing Service Operations (MSO) focuses on how firms can deliver excellent service while achieving business success. This involves a deep understanding of customers, competitors, and the firm's internal mechanisms.

Career Focus

Managing Service... View Details

January 2000
Case

Selecting a New Name for Security Capital Pacific Trust

A methodology for selecting a new corporate brand name is explored, highlighting different types of names, criteria and hurdles in securing new names, and legal implications. Brand identity consultancy Lippincott & Margulies guided a real estate investment trust... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Financial Services Industry

Career Coach

Nathan Lasche

Nathan interned in Product Management at Amazon and was the Co-President of the HBS TechMedia club. Prior to HBS, he spent two years in Uganda starting the Clinton Foundation HIV / AIDS Initiative’s country office, worked in feature film development at Sony Studios,... View Details

Amy C. Edmondson

Amy C. Edmondson is the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School, a chair established to support the study of human interactions that lead to the creation of successful enterprises that contribute to the betterment of... View Details

Keywords: nonprofit industry; nonprofit industry; nonprofit industry; nonprofit industry

14 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

Restarting Under Uncertainty: Managerial Experiences from Around the World

decisions more quickly and reliably. Case 3: Preempt the threats Brazil Energy Biomass is an energy producer, generating steam from biomass and selling the energy to industrial clients in take-or-pay contracts. The company has two plants... View Details

Keywords: by Raffaella Sadun, Andrea Bertoni, Alexia Delfino, Giovanni Fassio, and Mariapaola Testa

January 2011
Case

Exit Strategy (A)

By: Clayton S. Rose and Justine Kelly Lelchuk

Jeff Brown wondered whether now was the right time to call his boss, and friend, Bernard Tubiana. Brown was a rising star at Deloitte Consulting and three weeks into an important project for Aflac. He was about to receive an offer from Aflac's major competitor,... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Ethics; Employees; Resignation and Termination; Service Industry

August 2003 (Revised August 2006)
Case

New Sector Alliance (A): An Entry into Health Care?

By: Regina E. Herzlinger, Stacy Smollin Schwartz and Jeffrey Cronin

Describes the structure of the U.S. health care system and presents a study of a nonprofit consulting firm that hopes to enter the health care system. Includes descriptions of hospitals, doctors, insurers, medical technology providers, medical devices, pharmaceuticals,... View Details

Keywords: Health; Health Care and Treatment; Health Disorders; Nonprofit Organizations; Health Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

2017
Working Paper

Business and Green Knowledge Production in Sweden 1960s–1980s

By: Ann-Kristin Bergquist and Kristina Söderholm

This working paper contributes to the burgeoning historical literature that has transformed our understanding about the relationship between big business and the environmental regulation. Previously, it was believed that corporate managers resisted the extra costs... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business and Government Relations; Research and Development; History; Sweden

SSRN

Read Now

September 1983 (Revised October 1984)
Case

Syntex Laboratories (A)

A consulting project involving a mathematical model of the sales force indicates that Syntex Labs should nearly double the size of their sales force and drastically alter their allocation of sales effort to the product line and physician specialties. The questions are... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategic Planning; Salesforce Management; Pharmaceutical Industry

Rajiv Lal, is the Stanley Roth, Sr. Professor of Retailing at Harvard Business School. He is currently teaching an elective MBA course on the Business of Smart Connected Products/IOT. He has been responsible for the retailing curriculum and has served as the course... View Details

Randolph B. Cohen

Randolph B. (Randy) Cohen is the MBA Class of 1975 Senior Lecturer of Entrepreneurial Management in the Finance Unit at Harvard Business School. Cohen’s main research focus has been the identification of top investment managers and the prediction of manager... View Details

Keywords: investment banking industry; investment banking industry

Srikant M. Datar

Srikant M. Datar became the eleventh dean of Harvard Business School on 1 January 2021. During his tenure as a faculty member, he served as Senior Associate Dean for University Affairs (including Faculty Chair of the Harvard Innovation Lab), for Research, for... View Details

Keywords: accounting industry; accounting industry; accounting industry; accounting industry; accounting industry; accounting industry; accounting industry; accounting industry; accounting industry; accounting industry; accounting industry; accounting industry; accounting industry; accounting industry; accounting industry

Benjamin C. Esty

Benjamin Esty is the Roy and Elizabeth Simmons Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. Over the years, he has taught a variety of courses ranging from advanced corporate finance and project finance to competitive strategy and leadership. He... View Details

Keywords: investment banking industry; investment banking industry; investment banking industry; investment banking industry; investment banking industry; investment banking industry; investment banking industry

May 1996 (Revised October 2001)
Case

BAE Automated Systems (B): Implementing the Denver International Airport Baggage-Handling System

By: Lynda M. Applegate, H. James Nelson, Ramiro Montealegre and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Describes the negotiations between the City of Denver officials, airlines, consulting companies, and BAE for the construction of a backup baggage system to enable the Denver International Airport (DIA) to open. When DIA finally opens in February 1995, 16 months behind... View Details

Keywords: Performance Effectiveness; Management Practices and Processes; Projects; Negotiation; Outcome or Result; Problems and Challenges; Air Transportation Industry; Air Transportation Industry; Colorado