Publications

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August 2007 (Revised September 2008)
Case

Baker & McKenzie (A): A New Framework for Talent Management

By: Boris Groysberg and Eliot Sherman

Describes the process by which the largest law firm in the world developed a unique framework for personnel management. In 2004, John Conroy is about to take the reigns as the leader of Baker and McKenzie, the largest law firm in the world by employees, with offices in... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Framework; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Retention; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Adoption; Legal Services Industry

13 Nov 2006
Research & Ideas

Science Business: What Happened to Biotech?

very broadest terms, everyone expected biotech to "work" just like all other high-technology industries, and thus we deployed a lot of the same thinking, models, financial arrangements, and strategies that worked elsewhere, but... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Biotechnology

Web

Faculty & Researchers - Managing the Future of Work

School, 2014. William R. Kerr Dimitri V. D'Arbeloff - MBA Class of 1955 Professor of Business Administration William Kerr is the D’Arbeloff Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. Bill is Senior Associate Dean for Faculty View Details

23 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

China’s 60-Year Road from Revolution to World Power

strategy and detail, much of Communist China's first Five-Year Plan had been on Nationalist China's drawing boards. “In the first half of the twentieth century, China developed one of the more dynamic... View Details

Keywords: by William C. Kirby

June 2009
Case

Plaza, the Logistics Park of Zaragoza

In the year 2000, the Government of the Autonomous Community of Aragón, Spain, made public a project for the development of a large-scale logistics park in the outskirts of the city of Zaragoza. With an area of nearly 13 square kilometers, PLAZA (an acronym for... View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Geographic Location; Growth and Development Strategy; Infrastructure; Logistics; Supply Chain; Transportation; Distribution Industry; Zaragoza

January 2023 (Revised November 2024)
Case

ELCA's Series A

By: Anke Becker, Raymond Kluender and William R. Kerr

Vu Phong and Xavier Silva co-founded ELCA to build proprietary software for their technology-enabled language learning tool. Since winning a prestigious venture contest in 2021, their number of registered users grew rapidly, as did the demand for new features like... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Finance; Business Startups; Venture Capital; Growth and Development Strategy

May 2017 (Revised November 2019)
Case

The Dubai International Film Festival

By: Rohit Deshpandé and Alpana Thapar

This case follows the conception and emergence of the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF). In an already crowded and highly competitive industry, Abdulhamid Juma was attempting to define and establish a unique brand positioning for DIFF. Committed to its vision,... View Details

Keywords: Brand Positioning; Underdog Brand Building; Business Models; Non-profit; Managing Multiple Stakeholders; Film Entertainment; Brands and Branding; Business Model; Competitive Strategy; Decision Making; Growth and Development Strategy; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry

26 Oct 2021
Research & Ideas

What Companies Want Most in a CEO: A Good Listener

period. “The demand for social skills is increasing in every category of the economy,” says Sadun, the Charles Edward Wilson Professor of Business Administration in the Strategy Unit at HBS. “[But] it’s not about schmoozing.” Instead,... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald

February 2008
Case

Cincom Systems, Inc.

By: Tom Nicholas and David Chen

Tom Nies, charismatic CEO of Cincom Systems, is considering a public offering of his software enterprise, but the 1987 stock market crash checks his plans. Nies reflects that capital for expansion will keep Cincom at the frontier of technological development in a... View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Capital; Initial Public Offering; Organizational Culture; Going Public; Corporate Strategy; Information Technology Industry

September 2023 (Revised September 2023)
Supplement

On

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Karolin Frankenberger, Sascha Mader, Jordan Mitchell and Karen Elterman

Slides to support the teaching of the On case, 723-430. On is a premium performance running shoe company founded in Switzerland in 2010. The company rapidly gained traction through its unique CloudTec cushioning technology, its innovative midsole plate called the... View Details

May 2007 (Revised September 2007)
Case

Cleveland Clinic

By: Frances X. Frei, Amy C. Edmondson, Christine van Keuren and Eliot Sherman

Cleveland Clinic is consistently ranked among the nation's most eminent hospitals, and for decades has been a leader in pioneering cardiac care. This case evaluates the methods, processes, and personnel that the hospital has cultivated over the years in order to... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Medical Specialties; Innovation and Invention; Service Delivery; Expansion; Health Industry; Cleveland

September 2017 (Revised June 2019)
Case

Dianrong: Marketplace Lending, Blockchain, and 'The New Finance' in China

By: Christopher J. Malloy, Lauren H. Cohen and Anthony K. Woo

This case examines the strategic positioning of Dianrong, one of the largest online peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms in China, in its attempt to become a foundational player in the expansion of the FinTech sector in Asia. Dianrong had recently announced the... View Details

Keywords: Financing and Loans; Internet and the Web; Supply Chain; Finance; Innovation and Invention; Competition; Product Positioning; Strategy; Financial Services Industry; China

2013
Case

Ningbo FOTILE Kitchen Ware Co., Ltd.

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Zheng Xiaoming, Yuren Fang and Hong Zhang

Since 2008, FOTILE has actively introduced philosophies of the traditional Chinese culture—such as benevolence, justice, courtesy, wisdom and faith—into its management, which it believes to compensate for deficiencies in Western management concepts and creates a new... View Details

Keywords: Human Resource Management; China; Human Resources; Leadership; Management; Strategy; China

31 Jul 2023
News

Striving for Imperfection

that, Conn says, the rules of strategy that he learned in business school no longer apply. So how do we change the way we solve strategic business problems? In this episode of Skydeck, Conn talks with Associate Editor Jen Flint about his... View Details

Keywords: Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management

2025
Working Paper

HIV Tests and AIDS Treatments—Containing a Fearsome Pandemic: Case Histories of Transformational Advances

By: Amar Bhidé, Srikant M. Datar and Katherine Stebbins

This case history describes how a diverse cast of characters, including public health organizations, research laboratories, for-profit healthcare companies, activists, and regulators, rolled back the outbreak of HIV/AIDS in just fifteen years. Moreover, as the case... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Technological Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Technology Adoption; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Invention; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

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Faculty & Research | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

practice and train business leaders. Nonprofit Strategy & Governance Expanding its early focus on helping nonprofits operate more efficiently to the emerging space of social enterprises and the challenges of measuring social impact, the... View Details

22 Mar 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Platform Competition under Asymmetric Information

Keywords: by Hanna Halaburda & Yaron Yehezkel; Technology

January 2022
Teaching Plan

Just Arrived: Integrating Refugees in Sweden

By: Brian Trelstad and Emilie Billaud

Teaching Plan for HBS Case No. 321-040. Just Arrived is an online platform that matches newly-arrived immigrants in Sweden with employment opportunities. As one of several for-profit and non-profit start-ups in Europe that is looking to address the refugee crisis, the... View Details

Keywords: Immigration; Refugees; Employment; Integration; Business Model; Social Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Employment Industry; Sweden; Italy; Germany