Publications

April 2015
Case

Dutch Bros. Coffee: A Compelling Future

By: Joshua Margolis and Christine Snively

Travis Boersma, co-founder and President of the Dutch Bros. coffee chain, faces three operational decisions that will shape the company's growth trajectory and distinctive culture. First, should they offer a specialty coffee at a subset of their stores in one region... View Details

Keywords: Culture And Community; Service Management; Retail; Food; Managing Growth; Family Business; Small Business; Leadership; Culture; Food and Beverage Industry; Oregon

January 2005 (Revised August 2005)
Background Note

A Note on Managing the Growing Venture

By: Richard G. Hamermesh, James L. Heskett and Michael J. Roberts

Focuses on the strategic and organizational challenges that confront growing enterprises and the entrepreneurs who lead them. Provides an overview of how a new venture needs to change as it passes from the initial start-up to the growth phase. Explores how a venture's... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Leading Change

August 1996 (Revised October 1996)
Case

Howard, Shea & Chan Asset Management (A)

By: Benson P. Shapiro

A medium-sized investment management firm is attempting to decide whether to try to grow, and if so, how. It is a complicated decision because the managing partner and her colleagues have significantly different views. This case provides the background on the industry,... View Details

Keywords: Partners and Partnerships; Decision Making; Sales; Growth and Development Strategy; Financial Services Industry

Find at Harvard

March 2014
Case

Managing Change at Axis Bank (A)

By: Paul Healy and Rachna Tahilyani

Axis Bank is India's third largest private sector bank. In April 2009, Shikha Sharma, an outsider, was appointed as its CEO. She took over from a person who had overseen ten years of rapid growth at the bank. The selection of an outsider as the new CEO surprised many... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Transformation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leadership Style; Leading Change; Valuation; Finance; Banks and Banking; Financial Services Industry; Banking Industry; India

Serial entrepreneurs David Kidder and Christina Wallace reveal their revolutionary playbook for igniting growth inside established companies.

Most established companies face a... View Details

October 2005 (Revised October 2006)
Case

Infosys (A): Strategic Human Resource Management

By: Thomas J. DeLong, Jaya Tandon and Ganesh Rengaswamy

Hema Ravichandar, head of human resources, was given a new and aggressive milestone to reach: ensure Infosys is on the Top 10 lists of both Best Performing Companies and Best Employers by 2007. No large organization had ever been able to achieve this distinction... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Transition; Cost; Human Resources; Employee Relationship Management; Problems and Challenges; Competitive Strategy; Information Technology Industry

Web

Podcasts - Managing the Future of Work

delivery? CIO Nitin Tandon explains the global workforce strategy underpinning the effort. Shake Shack’s test kitchen: Developing a good jobs and automation combo 21 MAY 2025 | Managing the Future of Work Shake Shack Chief View Details

May 1997
Case

Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (D): The Knowledge Management Framework

By: Dorothy A. Leonard and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Growth Management; Framework; Knowledge; Consulting Industry; Publishing Industry

November 2005
Case

Playgrounds and Performance: Results Management at KaBOOM! (A)

By: Herman B. Leonard, Marc J. Epstein and Laura Winig

KaBOOM!, a successful playground-building social enterprise funded through corporate partnerships, wants to develop a performance measurement system that will enable the organization to expand its impact substantially. The board of directors and management are trying... View Details

Keywords: Governing and Advisory Boards; Growth and Development Strategy; Social Enterprise; Performance Evaluation; Management Systems; Design; Construction Industry

20 May 2014
Research & Ideas

Managing the Family Business: Survival’s Secret Sauce

The secret sauce of long-term business success can't be captured in numbers. As the operations manager of a leading and fast-growing Brazilian business recently explained to a reporter, "There's a secret sauce in this business [but] it's... View Details

13 Apr 2021
Book

How Inclusive Managers Create Glass-Shattering Organizations

managers about the gender biases that influence hiring decisions. Companies should also anonymize resumes, diversify interview panels, and evaluate candidates as a group against a set of defined criteria. Integration. Create opportunities... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

July 2014
Case

Venture Capital at the Harvard Management Company in Historical Perspective

By: Felda Hardymon, Tom Nicholas and Vasiliki Fouka

The compromise between capital preservation and growth has always been central to the performance of the Harvard endowment. Setting an institutional structure for effectively governing this compromise became especially important when the Harvard Management Company... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Financial Management; Asset Management; Higher Education; Investment; Financial Services Industry; Education Industry; Cambridge

24 Jul 2017
Blog Post

Transitioning to Product Management at HBS

Before coming to HBS, I worked as an investment associate at a growth equity firm in Boston. My role there gave me exposure to founders and various executives of growing businesses, and I was very much invigorated by the prospect of... View Details

January 2025
Supplement

Go Mobile: Aligning District Managers and Store Teams (B)

By: Tatiana Sandino and Samuel Grad

In January 2025, Modi reflects on the past decade of Go Mobile and looks ahead to new growth strategies. View Details

Keywords: Employee Relationship Management; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Growth Management; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Salesforce Management; Motivation and Incentives; Management Practices and Processes; Growth and Development Strategy; Telecommunications Industry; India

June 2007
Case

Wal-Mart Mexico: Managing Multiple Formats

By: Rajiv Lal, Mark Rennella and David Lane

"On February 1, 2007, Wal-Mart Mexico (Walmex) CEO Eduardo Solorzano was preparing for a well deserved, two-week vacation on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. Things were going well. Wal-Mart Mexico, which consisted principally of six different retail formats, had been... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Growth and Development; Marketing Strategy; Retail Industry; Mexico

Web

Technology & Operations Management - Faculty & Research

Technology & Operations Management Overview Faculty Curriculum Seminars & Conferences Awards & Honors Doctoral Students 2025 Working Paper Productivity Beliefs and Efficiency in Science By: Fabio Bertolotti, Kyle R. Myers and Wei Yang... View Details

11 Apr 2012
Research & Ideas

The High Risks of Short-Term Management

Companies that manage for short-term gain rather than long-term growth have been blamed for everything from popularizing celebrity CEOs to causing a significant chunk of the current financial crisis. Now new... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Financial Services

October 2014 (Revised June 2015)
Case

Quiet Logistics (A)

By: Robert Simons and Natalie Kindred

This two-part case focuses on how to identify and manage strategic uncertainties in an innovative, entrepreneurial start-up company. In the (A) case, students learn about Quiet Logistics, an e-commerce fulfillment company working with high-end apparel retailers such as... View Details