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Article

Understanding Boards of Directors: A Systems Perspective

By: Jay W. Lorsch

In this essay, my goal is to explore why, despite the tireless efforts of talented people, research on corporate governance has been slow and uneven, and where that research should turn to next to be most valuable to practitioners. My belief is that the most fruitful... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Boards; Business Admnistration; Social Systems; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; System

28 Jan 2016
Blog Post

Why Get an MBA?

These days you don’t have to look far to find someone questioning the value of an MBA. It seems like every week brings another article on rising costs and evolving employers. Even if you don’t believe the... View Details

October 2013
Article

The Strategy That Will Fix Health Care

By: Michael E. Porter and Thomas H. Lee

In health care, the days of business as usual are over. Around the world, every health care system is struggling with rising costs and uneven quality, despite the hard work of well-intentioned, well-trained clinicians. Health care leaders and policy makers have tried... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategy; Value; Customer Focus and Relationships; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry

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04 Jan 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Understanding Conformity: An Experimental Investigation

Keywords: by B. Douglas Bernheim & Christine Exley

05 Oct 2009
Research & Ideas

The Vanguard Corporation

as well as something with enormous social value because a lot of food goes to waste. Q: Can you give us other examples of how this works in practice? A: In Brazil, Banco Real has grown in 10 years from a small behind-the-pack bank to the... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

June 2001
Case

Bond Math

This case presents four exercises that teach compounding interest and valuing bonds. View Details

Keywords: Bonds; Valuation

TeachingInterests

Strategy Execution

By: Dennis Campbell

This course takes strategy as given and teaches what students need to know to execute and win in highly competitive markets. Using fundamental building blocks based on accountability systems and structures, this course is divided into seven modules:

1.... View Details

Article

Health Care Challenges for Leaders

By: R. E. Herzlinger

From ancient times to today, perceptive leaders have galvanized people by appealing to commonly shared values. Indeed, a discussion of leadership is virtually impossible without talking about values. As the articles in this issue demonstrate,Values are what animate... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Values and Beliefs

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February 2011 (Revised April 2012)
Case

Braddock Industries, Inc.

By: William E. Fruhan

This case examines the drivers of economic value creation for shareholders, and how these drivers are reflected in various incentive compensation programs for management. The case also looks at how the economic performance of business units can be evaluated using... View Details

Keywords: Business Units; Investment; Executive Compensation; Measurement and Metrics; Performance Evaluation; Business and Shareholder Relations; Motivation and Incentives; Value Creation

05 Jun 2013
News

Resisting The Temptation To 'Win' When Investing

March 2019 (Revised May 2019)
Case

Philips Lighting: Light-as-a-Service

By: Mark R. Kramer, Thijs Geradts and Bhanuteja Nadella

As LEDs with a 25-year lifespan replace incandescent lightbulbs, Philips Lighting faced major disruption and began to explore a new shared value business model of selling light as a service. Although it offers better profit margins and a reduced environmental... View Details

Keywords: Disruptive Innovation; Business Model; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Competitive Strategy

October 2019 (Revised January 2020)
Supplement

Dulcie Madden (B)—A Difficult Choice

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Shweta Bagai

This is part of a three-case series that follows Dulcie Madden's journey as a founder over five years. Case (A) is about managing growth and cash flow; Case (B) is about the exit decision and conditions on a sale; Case (C) shows Madden dealing with adversity and the... View Details

March 2022 (Revised February 2024)
Case

Applied Intuition: Powering Autonomy

By: Andy Wu, Rocio Wu and Matt Higgins

Applied Intuition, a leader in autonomous vehicle simulation software, has just closed on a $175 million round of Series D financing that values the four-year-old firm at $3.6 billion. With the immediate future secure, CEO Qasar Younis must now chart a strategic course... View Details

Keywords: Autonomous Vehicles; Software; Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Valuation; Auto Industry; Technology Industry; California; Detroit

November 2019 (Revised April 2021)
Technical Note

Rechargeable Batteries, 2017: Gigafactory Wars in the Offing?

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

In 2017, the global market for rechargeable lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries was 126 gigawatt-hours (GWh) valued at $37 billion, growing by $10 billion in two years. Once confined largely to consumer electronics and appliances, the rapid increase in demand was spurred by... View Details

August 2001 (Revised March 2008)
Case

NerveWire, Inc.

By: Nitin Nohria and Anthony Mayo

NerveWire, a management consulting and systems integration provider based in Newton, MA, was closing in on its second anniversary. In the beginning days of NerveWire, the major challenge was recruiting--finding the right people who embodied its values and business... View Details

Keywords: Values and Beliefs; Leadership; Mission and Purpose; Behavior; Internet; Newton

October 1991 (Revised September 2004)
Case

Buying Time

By: William J. Bruns Jr. and Susan Harmeling

A self-contained explanation and simple practice examples to introduce students to the concepts of compound interest, present value loans, bonds, and leases. Necessary present value tables are included. The study questions provide simple exercises to enhance student... View Details

Keywords: Bonds; Financing and Loans; Learning

September 2020
Case

Drinkworks: Home Bar by Keurig

By: Sunil Gupta, Jonathan Levav and Julia Kelley

In the summer of 2018, Drinkworks CEO Nathaniel Davis needed to make a number of go-to-market decisions ahead of his company’s upcoming product launch. Formed through a joint venture between Keurig Dr. Pepper and Anheuser-Busch InBev, Drinkworks had developed an... View Details