Publications

June 2017 (Revised October 2017)
Case

Uber in 2017: One Bumpy Ride

By: Suraj Srinivasan, Jay W. Lorsch and Quinn Pitcher

Uber Technologies Inc., the popular ride-hailing company, entered 2017 having doubled its bookings in 2016 and achieving a valuation of nearly $70 billion, making it the largest venture capital-backed company in the world. Co-founder and CEO Travis Kalanick embodied... View Details

Keywords: Governance; Information Technology; Transportation; Venture Capital; Organizational Culture; Transportation Industry; Transportation Industry; United States

September 2001 (Revised August 2004)
Case

Rapid Rewards at Southwest Airlines

By: Frances X. Frei and Corey B. Hajim

Southwest Airlines is well known as the low-fare airline that has achieved ongoing financial success in one of the most financially troubled industries in the United States. Told from the perspectives of two Southwest customers--a frequent flier and a more typical... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Air Transportation; Service Operations; Service Delivery; Air Transportation Industry

08 Mar 2019
Research & Ideas

Seven Negotiation Lessons from Amazon's HQ Disaster in Queens

construction projects, subcontractors, and service providers without respect to their union status. For those concerned with transportation and congestion, Amazon could have taken the initiative to recognize the potential problems and... View Details

Keywords: by James K. Sebenius; Real Estate; Construction

January 2010 (Revised August 2011)
Case

United Breaks Guitars

By: John A. Deighton and Leora Kornfeld

When social media propagate a complaint about poor customer service, an international media event ensues. How do viral videos spread and what can firms do about them? This case dissects an incident in which a disgruntled customer used YouTube and Twitter to spread a... View Details

Keywords: Communication Technology; Customer Satisfaction; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Network Effects; Service Delivery; Social and Collaborative Networks; Internet; Air Transportation Industry

21 Nov 2023
Cold Call Podcast

Cold Call: Building a More Equitable Culture at Delta Air Lines

Keywords: Re: Linda A. Hill; Air Transportation

21 Dec 2011
Research & Ideas

The Most Common Strategy Mistakes

define industries broadly, following the influential work of Theodore Levitt some decades ago. His famous example was railroads that failed to see that they were in the transportation business, and so they missed the threat posed by... View Details

Keywords: by Joan Magretta

March 2022 (Revised August 2022)
Case

Swvl: Smart Mobility for the Masses

By: Krishna Palepu, Esel Çekin and Menna Hassan

The case focuses on strategy and governance issues at Swvl, a tech-enabled mass mobility marketplace. It describes the journey of CEO and Chairman Mostafa Kandil on his journey from founding the company to its listing on Nasdaq. Since its founding in Egypt in 2017,... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Growth and Development Strategy; Initial Public Offering; Innovation and Invention; Business Startups; Transportation Industry; Transportation Industry; Middle East; North Africa

19 Jan 2023
Research & Ideas

What Makes Employees Trust (vs. Second-Guess) AI?

holds in higher stakes settings such as medical diagnosis and treatment or credit lending.” That finding may be useful across industries from transportation to medicine as AI evolves and the quality—and quantity—of data climbs, DeStefano... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

16 Mar 2023
Research & Ideas

Why Business Travel Still Matters in a Zoom World

Nonstop flights generally make traveling more pleasant—but can they lead to innovation, too, especially in the global context? Research suggests that they can, with important takeaways for managers reinstating business travel in a world emerging from the pandemic. In a... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin; Air Transportation

21 Sep 2020
Research & Ideas

Are You Sabotaging Your Own Company?

it says, people can cause time-sucking distractions that stall an organization’s output by doing physical damage to equipment, buildings, and methods of transportation using everyday items found in a home or workplace. This involves petty... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

07 Apr 2020
Research & Ideas

What Customers Need to Hear from You During the COVID Crisis

brands and/or brands that have managed to nurture strong consumer-brand relationships prior to the crisis. The cocooning behavior promoted by shelter-in-place orders may encourage a return to brands that were trusted childhood favorites that could offer consumers... View Details

Keywords: by Jill Avery and Richard Edelman

07 Jan 2019
Research & Ideas

The Better Way to Forecast the Future

Whether it’s booking a hotel, renting a movie, or buying a car, many of us consult multiple reviews before deciding. It’s called aggregating opinions, and we do it without even thinking about it. Crowdsourcing works so well, in fact, says Harvard Business School... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Air Transportation; Air Transportation

June 2021
Case

Mobileye 2021: Robotaxi and/or Consumer AV?

By: David B. Yoffie, Danielle Golan and Nicole Tempest Keller

In March 2021, Amnon Shashua, co-founder and CEO of Israel-based Mobileye, was preparing to meet with Intel’s new CEO, Pat Gelsinger, to review plans for the future. Mobileye had been acquired by California-based Intel in 2017, but still operated independently.... View Details

Keywords: Technology Companies; Robotics; Autonomous Vehicles; Strategy; Decision Making; Transportation; Technological Innovation; Transportation Industry; Transportation Industry; Transportation Industry; Israel

January 2021 (Revised May 2021)
Case

Delta Air Lines: Navigating the COVID-19 Storm

By: Ted Berk and Ryan Flamerich

This case examines Delta Air Lines’ response as demand for its services plummeted in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on the company’s funding needs and capital structure. Following a series of initial actions, the company’s cash “burn” had reduced from... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Health Pandemics; Financial Condition; Capital Structure; Crisis Management; Risk Management; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Air Transportation Industry

March 2022 (Revised November 2023)
Case

Doubling Down: Elon Musk's Big Bets in 2022

By: David Yoffie and Daniel Fisher

2021 was a banner year for Elon Musk. CEO of the electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla, the aerospace manufacturer SpaceX, and a few smaller startups, Musk became the richest person on Earth after Tesla reached a market capitalization of $1 trillion and SpaceX a private... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Transportation; Strategic Planning; Leadership Style; Leading Change; Goals and Objectives; Aerospace Industry; Auto Industry; Battery Industry; United States; Europe; China