• March 1988 (Revised September 1993)
• Case

United Services Automobile Association (USAA)

Under the leadership of Robert F. McDermott, USAA has been transformed from a property and casualty insurance company with $200 million in assets in the late 1960s to a $11 billion financial services empire in 1988. The case illustrates the value of having a CEO drive... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Leadership; Information Technology; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States

Citation

Educators

Purchase

Related

Vitale, Michael R. "United Services Automobile Association (USAA)." Harvard Business School Case 188-102, March 1988. (Revised September 1993.)

• February 2022 (Revised July 2022)
• Supplement

InstaDeep: AI Innovation Born in Africa (B)

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Esel Çekin

Karim Beguir and Zohra Slim were the co-founders of InstaDeep, a deep tech startup focusing on artificial intelligence (AI) solutions. Instadeep was one of the few companies globally that were partnering with DeepMind, an AI subsidiary of Google [Alphabet Inc.].... View Details

Keywords: AI; Artificial Intelligence; Entrepreneurship; Operations; Business Subsidiaries; Brands and Branding; Innovation and Invention; Growth and Development Strategy; AI and Machine Learning; Technology Industry; Africa

Citation

Purchase

Related

Ghosh, Shikhar, and Esel Çekin. "InstaDeep: AI Innovation Born in Africa (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 822-105, February 2022. (Revised July 2022.)

• 14 Sep 2010
• First Look

First Look: September 14, 2010

productivity effects of organizational practices remains a challenge for future research. Does Intellectual Property Rights Reform Spur Industrial Development? Authors:Lee Branstetter, Ray Fisman, C. Fritz... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

• September 2023
• Technical Note

Free and Open Source Software and Hardware

By: Frank Nagle

This technical note surveys the concepts of free and open source software and hardware. It introduces the concepts in general, providing a brief history of their development and numerous examples of how companies employ them in practice. Further, it identifies various... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Technological Innovation; Nonprofit Organizations; Competitive Strategy; Patents; Information Technology; Business Model; Open Source Distribution; Applications and Software; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry

Citation

Educators

Purchase

Related

Nagle, Frank. "Free and Open Source Software and Hardware." Harvard Business School Technical Note 724-380, September 2023.

• 2023
• Working Paper

Algorithm Failures and Consumers' Response: Evidence from Zillow

By: Isamar Troncoso, Runshan Fu, Nikhil Malik and Davide Proserpio

In November 2021, Zillow announced the closure of its iBuyer business. Popular media largely attributed this to a failure of its proprietary forecasting algorithm. We study the response of consumers to Zillow’s iBuyer business closure. We show that after the iBuyer... View Details

Keywords: Algorithmic Pricing; Price; Forecasting and Prediction; Consumer Behavior; Real Estate Industry

Citation

SSRN

Related

Troncoso, Isamar, Runshan Fu, Nikhil Malik, and Davide Proserpio. "Algorithm Failures and Consumers' Response: Evidence from Zillow." Working Paper, July 2023.

• 19 Mar 2007
• Research & Ideas

Handicapping the Best Countries for Business

competitiveness of her exports and the costs of her imported inputs. In a microeconomic sense, the business person also cares about tariffs (which affect trade), industrial policies, tax policies (on business directly, but also policies... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

• 21 Jul 2009
• First Look

First Look: July 21

for making CBA more effective, rather than eliminating CBA as a decision-making tool. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/10-001.pdf Reputation and Competition: Evidence from the Credit Rating Industry (revised) Authors:Bo... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

• April 2011 (Revised January 2015)
• Case

The Eleganzia Group

By: Elie Ofek, Elena Corsi, Bharat Sajnani, Sorina Casian-Botez and Francesco Tronci

Eleganzia Group management faces tough decisions heading into the summer of 2010. With tourism on the decline due to the global economic recession, General Manager Giannuzzi must decide how to set prices at the Forte Village Resort, the Group's most well-known... View Details

Keywords: Pricing; Pricing Strategy; Customer Management; Branding; Customer Relationship Management; Price; Luxury; Business Strategy; Brands and Branding; Accommodations Industry; Accommodations Industry; Italy

Citation

Educators

Purchase

Related

Ofek, Elie, Elena Corsi, Bharat Sajnani, Sorina Casian-Botez, and Francesco Tronci. "The Eleganzia Group." Harvard Business School Case 511-115, April 2011. (Revised January 2015.)

• April 2011 (Revised September 2011)
• Case

Willy Jacobsohn and Beiersdorf: Managing Expropriation and Anti-Semitism

By: Geoffrey G. Jones and Christina Lubinski

This case examines the management of home and host country risk by Beiersdorf during the interwar years. It can be used both in business history courses and more generally to teach political risk management by multinational corporations. Beiersdorf, a German personal... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; War; Business History; Multinational Firms and Management; Global Strategy; Ownership; Government and Politics; Business and Government Relations; Consumer Products Industry; Germany

Citation

Educators

Purchase

Related

Jones, Geoffrey G., and Christina Lubinski. "Willy Jacobsohn and Beiersdorf: Managing Expropriation and Anti-Semitism." Harvard Business School Case 811-060, April 2011. (Revised September 2011.)

• 27 Mar 2007
• First Look

First Look: March 27, 2007

microprocessor industry in new directions. However, in 2006 it was not clear whether Opteron's success in the server segment would translate into success in other microprocessor segments, notably corporate desktop and laptop, and whether... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

• January 2001
• Background Note

Country Analysis in a "Global Village"

By: Bruce R. Scott

Substantially rewritten to establish the relevance of countries in the global context. It does so in terms of their differing economic performance in recent decades, and also by contrasting those that have "converged" toward the rich country norm (as theory would... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Economies and Regions; Macroeconomics; Trade; Business Strategy; Performance Evaluation; Industry Growth; Currency; Policy; Development Economics

Citation

Educators

Purchase

Related

Scott, Bruce R. Country Analysis in a "Global Village". Harvard Business School Background Note 701-074, January 2001.

• March 2009
• Case

Incept LLC and Confluent Surgical (A)

By: Bhaskar Chakravorti, Toby E. Stuart and James Weber

A venture capitalist must decide whether to invest in a medical technology company that licenses intellectual property from a privately held IP holding company based on a platform technology. Entrepreneurs Amar Sawhney and Fred Khosravi founded Incept LLC to... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Entrepreneurship; Intellectual Property; Rights; Agreements and Arrangements; Partners and Partnerships; Trust; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

Citation

Educators

Purchase

Related

Chakravorti, Bhaskar, Toby E. Stuart, and James Weber. "Incept LLC and Confluent Surgical (A)." Harvard Business School Case 809-062, March 2009.

• 2019
• Working Paper

Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 17 The Wintel Standards-based Platform

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

The purpose of this chapter is to use the theory of bottlenecks laid out in previous chapters to better understand the dynamics of an open standards-based platform. I describe how the Wintel platform evolved from 1990 through 2000 under joint sponsorship of Intel and... View Details

Keywords: Open Platforms; Bottlenecks; Wintel Platform; Disintermediation; Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Business History; Digital Platforms; Computer Industry

Citation

SSRN

Read Now

Related

Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 17 The Wintel Standards-based Platform." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 20-055, November 2019.

• January 2011 (Revised July 2012)
• Case

Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged)

By: Arthur A. Daemmrich

Arcadia Biosciences is seeking to introduce genetically modified rice to China that will lower farmers' costs and generate environmental benefits through reduced greenhouse gas emissions. The case describes challenges facing this small agricultural biotechnology... View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Intellectual Property; Genetics; Environmental Sustainability; Science-Based Business; Climate Change; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Biotechnology Industry; China

Citation

Educators

Purchase

Related

Daemmrich, Arthur A. "Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged)." Harvard Business School Case 711-050, January 2011. (Revised July 2012.)

• March 2011
• Article

Restaurant Organizational Forms and Community in the U.S. in 2005

By: Glenn R. Carroll and Magnus Thor Torfason

Recent sociological theory and research highlights food, drink, and restaurants as culturally meaningful and related to social identity. An implication of this view holds that the prevalence of corporate chain restaurants affects the sociological character of... View Details

Keywords: Demographics; Age; Supply Chain Management; Culture; Balance and Stability; Income Characteristics; Research; Civil Society or Community; Identity; Theory; Society; Service Industry; United States

Citation

Find at Harvard

Read Now

Related

Carroll, Glenn R., and Magnus Thor Torfason. "Restaurant Organizational Forms and Community in the U.S. in 2005." City & Community 10, no. 1 (March 2011): 1–25.