Publications

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June 2010
Case

The Shaw Group Inc.: Entrepreneurial Innovation

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Edward Watson

The case describes the founding and evolution of the Shaw Group through acquisition. The case is set at the time that the company is redesigning its business processes, organization, and information technology infrastructure to support aggressive growth and increased... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Infrastructure; Business Processes; Organizational Design; Information Technology

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May 2010
Supplement

Alpen Bank: Launching the Credit Card in Romania, Spreadsheet Supplement for Instructors (Brief Case)

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Sunru Yong

Keywords: Consumer Credit; International Business; International Marketing; Product Introduction; Service Management; Product Positioning; Credit Cards; Marketing Strategy; Service Operations; Product Launch; Globalized Markets and Industries; Financial Services Industry; Romania

05 May 2015
First Look

First Look: May 5

methods to further demonstrate causality and to consider the effects of potential moderators. These findings have implications for decisions related to product pricing, placement and assortment, store layout, and the choice of strategies... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

September 2023 (Revised March 2024)
Case

ReMo Energy: Sizing Up Investors

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Tom Quinn

In 2023, executives with ReMo Energy (founded 2020) were deciding which size ammonia plant to build as their first project. Their innovative model produced ammonia—useful for making fertilizer and for energy storage—from renewable energy, and they had received funding... View Details

05 Jan 2010
First Look

First Look: January 5

serving patients with complex, chronic diseases. However, despite its renown, the Joslin's clinical operations lose money, raising the challenge of how to align financial success and clinical success in health care delivery. The case can... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

18 Aug 2009
First Look

First Look: August 18

these two relationships may operate in a circular fashion. Second, we consider whether advertising these benefits of charitable giving—asking people to give in order to be happy—may have the perverse consequence of decreasing charitable... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

22 Aug 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, August 23

industrial production (Alfaro and Chen, 2014). Using a unique worldwide plant-level dataset that reports detailed location, ownership, and operation information for plants in over 100 countries, we construct a spatially continuous index... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

20 Jul 2010
First Look

First Look: July 20

sales began to slide. While Steinhafel believed that Target's long-term strategy and positioning were right, he pondered a set of strategic and operational challenges. Did Target have the right mix of... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

August 2019
Teaching Note

Back to the Roots

By: Elizabeth A. Keenan and Leslie K. John

Email mking@hbs.edu for a courtesy copy.

This Teaching Note explains the theory of the case and teaching plan for the case: Back to the Roots HBS case No. 518-073. Back to the Roots (BTTR) is a start-up with a... View Details

Keywords: Organic Food; Startup; Crowdfunding; Sustainability; Transparency; Entrepreneurship; Product Development; Product Marketing; Growth and Development Strategy; Decision Making; Food; Food and Beverage Industry

January 2009
Case

VOSS Artesian Water from Norway

By: Youngme E. Moon, Gail J. McGovern, Daniela Beyersdorfer and Vincent Marie Dessain

VOSS is a Norwegian bottled water company that produces one of the world's purest drinking waters, sold at an ultra-premium price in a sleek cylindrical glass bottle of minimalist design. In the U.S. (the company's primary market), VOSS's high-end brand presence is... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Marketing Channels; Marketing Strategy; Product; Luxury; Food and Beverage Industry; Norway; United States

September 2005 (Revised April 2010)
Case

Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker (A)

By: Daniel C. Snow, Steven C. Wheelwright and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

Scharffen Berger, a premium brand chocolate, is growing rapidly and must decide where and when to add capacity in the production line and with what technology. The company must consider the demands of marketing, the impact on quality and reputation, and the economics... View Details

Keywords: Production; Business Processes; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance Capacity; Quality; Expansion

March 2000 (Revised November 2001)
Case

Rosenbluth International and Biztravel.com

Rosenbluth, the third largest U.S. travel agency, uses the Internet to serve new customers with a high-service strategy. Rosenbluth acquires Biztravel.com and integrates the customer support and logistics aspects of service delivery. View Details

Keywords: Horizontal Integration; Internet and the Web; Service Delivery; Acquisition; Travel Industry; United States

July 1993 (Revised September 1994)
Case

Millipore New Product Commercialization: A Tale of Two New Products

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Kevin Bartus

Millipore, the worldwide leader in separations technology, was in the process of launching two key new products: one a liquid chromatography/mass spectrometer and the other a virus separation membrane. The case documents the product development and commercialization... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Product Launch; Product Development; Commercialization

09 Feb 2009
Research & Ideas

Uncompromising Leadership in Tough Times

customers, community, and society—not just shareholders. These CEOs operate from deep beliefs and values. Their purpose is to leave a legacy of a great firm. Some were founders but most had arrived in the CEO role much later in the... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

July 2004 (Revised July 2005)
Case

Activision: The 'Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer' Project

By: Alan D. MacCormack, Enrico D"Angelo and Kerry Herman

Mike Ward, the producer in charge of developing the Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer game for Activision, must decide whether to launch the game in time for the 2002 Christmas season. Complicating his decision are the lukewarm response from consumers to TV test spots of the... View Details

Keywords: Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Product Development; Customer Satisfaction; Projects; Business or Company Management; Product Launch; Marketing Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Industry Structures; Innovation Strategy; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States

November 1997 (Revised May 2002)
Case

MicroAge, Inc.: Orchestrating the Information Technology Value Chain

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Kirk A. Goldman

MicroAge, Inc. started as a storefront in Tempe, AZ in 1976 selling personal computer kits to hobbyists. During their first year of operation, founders Jeff McKeever and Alan Hald sold $1.5 million worth of computer kits, priced at under $1,000 each. Twenty years... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Growth Management; Risk Management; Product; Opportunities; Horizontal Integration; Information Infrastructure; Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Technology Industry; Arizona

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18 Sep 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, September 18, 2018

enjoys a positive VoC under general conditions. We conduct numerical simulations to study the magnitude of the VoC and find that it can be substantial—in our simulations, retailers that switched from a fixed to a sequential assortment View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

June 2024
Case

Aidoc: Building a Hospital-Centric AI Platform

By: Ariel D. Stern and Susan Pinckney

In 2023, Israel-based AI health care company Aidoc evaluated its future. The company, founded in 2016, had grown from commercializing a single AI product for radiologists to a software platform that could detect 20 conditions and immediately notify care teams of... View Details

October 2016
Case

Yili Group: Building a Global Dairy Company

By: William C. Kirby and Nancy Hua Dai

From its humble beginnings as a local Chinese dairy company, the Inner Mongolia Yili Group has become one of the largest dairy companies in the world. To achieve this, Yili has aggressively expanded its footprint overseas including building the world’s largest... View Details