Publications

January 2007 (Revised November 2007)
Case

Organic Growth at Wal-Mart

By: Jan W. Rivkin and Troy Smith

In 2005, an executive vice president at Wal-Mart must decide whether to expand the retailer's selection of organic food. The decision is made in the context of wider attempts to move the giant retailer slightly upscale and to focus on environmental sustainability. View Details

Keywords: Food; Growth and Development Strategy; Product; Business Processes; Environmental Sustainability; Expansion; Retail Industry; United States

2008
Working Paper

Wellsprings of Creation: How Perturbation Sustains Exploration in Mature Organizations

By: David James Brunner, Bradley R. Staats, Michael L. Tushman and David M. Upton

Organizations struggle to balance simultaneous imperatives to exploit and explore, yet theorists differ as to whether exploitation undermines or enhances exploration. The debate reflects a gap: the missing mechanism by which organizations break free of old routines and... View Details

Keywords: Disruption; Innovation and Management; Business Processes; Opportunities; Creativity

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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

June 1991 (Revised December 1997)
Case

Takeover of the Norton Co., The

By: Thomas R. Piper

After a decade of mediocre performance, the Norton Co. enters 1990 with the prospect of increased sales in the next few years. Yet Norton is pursuing slow growth industries, and a lower than expected earnings announcement at the beginning of 1990 has depressed earnings... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Conglomerates; Goals and Objectives; Forecasting and Prediction; Performance Evaluation; Revenue; Bids and Bidding; Business Processes; Ownership Stake

April 1998 (Revised June 1999)
Case

Bausch & Lomb, Inc.: Pressure to Perform

By: Robert L. Simons, Alex C. Sapir '97 and Indra Reinbergs

Bausch & Lomb is the subject of press attacks and experiences a sharp fall in stock price when management practices are exposed. Aggressive goal setting, supported by financial market expectations, is discussed as a precursor to a series of events that results in... View Details

Keywords: Performance Expectations; Management Practices and Processes; Ethics; Financial Markets; Financial Statements; Business and Shareholder Relations

April 1999
Case

Steve Perlman and WebTV (B)

By: James K. Sebenius and Ron Fortgang

The dynamics of a linked series of internal and external negotiations involved in launching, growing, and selling a high-tech, Internet start-up are explored. Steve Perlman unfurled an impressive new technology, recruited a top technical and management team, secured... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Agreements and Arrangements; Negotiation Process; Value Creation; Alliances; Technological Innovation; Business Exit or Shutdown; Television Entertainment; Media and Broadcasting Industry

Keywords: Roger Thompson; Margie Kelley; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training

01 Jun 2007
News

Mission Possible

opportunity to create and spread innovative solutions to some of society’s most pressing problems. In doing so, they joined a groundswell of interest in social entrepreneurship. Just as entrepreneurs spot missed opportunities in business... View Details

Forthcoming
Article

Human Capital and the Managerial Revolution in the United States: Evidence from General Electric

By: Tom Nicholas

This paper estimates the returns to human capital accumulation during the first era of mega-firms in the United States by linking employees at General Electric—a canonical enterprise associated with the “visible hand” of managerial hierarchies—to the 1940 census. I... View Details

Keywords: Returns To Education; Management Practices; Hierarchies; Management Practices and Processes; Rank and Position; Human Capital; Talent and Talent Management; Business History; United States

July 2002 (Revised April 2003)
Case

QuickMedx Inc.

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer and Jonathan P Groberg

QuickMedx has created a chain of small kiosks, located in drugstores and shopping malls in the Minneapolis area, that cater to patients with a limited range of very simple primary care conditions. Service is rapid and cheap and patients wait only a few minutes to be... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Decision Making; Disruptive Innovation; Expansion; Service Delivery; Business Processes; Design; Management; Health Industry

01 Dec 2016
News

Managing Change

Narayandas (photo by Jimmy Ushkurnis) Narayandas (photo by Jimmy Ushkurnis) Das Narayandas, the Edsel Bryant Ford Professor of Business Administration, was named Senior Associate Dean for External Relations this fall, taking over for Bill... View Details

09 Aug 2011
News

A Toast to Macchu Pisco

Business Plan Contest, I did a marketing independent study on how to launch a premium pisco brand in the United States. We entered a plan in the contest and were semi-finalists. The alumni I contacted during my second year were extremely... View Details

Keywords: Beverage and Tobacco Product Manufacturing; Manufacturing

24 Apr 2014
News

Clean water that provides a trickle-down effect

good deeds that help the disadvantaged. "Corporate social responsibility has always been at the heart of Manila Water's business practices," says Zobel de Ayala. "There should never be a dissonance between genuine corporate social... View Details

01 Sep 2010
News

RX for Change

table, a tray of sandwiches nearby. Two more join via videoconference. The pesky buzz of BlackBerries punctuates the lengthy and sometimes contentious discussion. It’s a familiar scene in the modern business world, but not one normally... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Health, Social Assistance; Hospitals; Health, Social Assistance

01 Feb 2002
News

Replicating Toyota's Success

The idea of human cloning is controversial, but cloning a successful business concept remains as desirable as ever. For HBS assistant professor Steven J. Spear, this pursuit led him to Toyota, whose perennial leadership in quality... View Details

Keywords: Machinery Manufacturing; Manufacturing; Motor Vehicle and Parts Dealers; Retail Trade

02 Mar 2023
News

Carbon's Second Act

on carbon conversion and turning his garage—temporarily—into a laboratory. TB: I ultimately came upon an electrochemical type of process which turned out could be pretty easily prototyped at a very small scale in one's garage—buying some... View Details

January 2014
Supplement

Ford Asia Pacific & Africa: The E-coating Facility Decision in Gujarat, India (B)

By: Juan Alcacer and Nancy Hua Dai

The case reveals that Ford decided to open its own e-coating plant in Gujarat, India, and details how the decision was made at different organizational levels. View Details

Keywords: Foreign Investment; Organizational Alignment; Strategic Decision Making; Motivation and Incentives; Communication; Organizational Structure; Decision Making; Business Processes; Foreign Direct Investment; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry; Gujarat

April 2004 (Revised July 2008)
Case

Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (A)

By: Kathleen L. McGinn and Dina R. Pradel

New technology underlies a protracted dispute between West Coast longshoremen and their employers. Severe economic consequences lead to government intervention in the dispute. View Details

Keywords: Economics; Negotiation Process; Business and Government Relations; Labor and Management Relations; Conflict and Resolution; Shipping Industry; Western United States