Publications

September 1990 (Revised April 1993)
Case

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

Following the company's purchase as a part of a leveraged buyout, the new management team of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. had to decide what to do about the build-up of excess inventory of its independent wholesale customers. The case introduces students to the problems... View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Customer Satisfaction; Business or Company Management; Business Growth and Maturation; Consumer Products Industry

Find at Harvard

February 2007
Case

South African Airways (A)

By: Joshua D. Margolis, Laura Morgan Roberts and Laura Winig

Amid efforts to engineer a turnaround at South African Airways (SAA), the CEO confronts an impending strike at the struggling company. How should the company address questions of distributive and procedural justice in post-Apartheid South Africa, and how should the CEO... View Details

Keywords: Fairness; Crisis Management; Employees; Employment; Growth and Development; Developing Countries and Economies; Air Transportation Industry; South Africa

November 2001
Case

IBM Network Technology (B)

By: Michael L. Tushman

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Organizational Design; Management Teams; Leadership Style; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Growth Management; Information Technology Industry

18 Apr 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, April 18, 2018

forthcoming Academy of Management Journal Ideological Misfit? Political Affiliation and Employee Departure in the Private-Equity Industry By: Bermiss, Y. Sekou, and Rory McDonald Abstract—Though organizations are increasingly active... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

04 May 2010
First Look

First Look: May 4

We propose that firms' corporate governance and firms' strategic business activities within an industry are interlinked. By conducting a simultaneous economic analysis of business strategy and corporate governance, scholars can better... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

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

June 2009
Supplement

Mary Kay Inc.: Asian Market Entry (B)

By: John A. Quelch

By 2008, over half of Mary Kay Cosmetics' $2.8 billion sales were from outside the U.S. Sales from China exceeded $500 million in 2008 through over 450,000 beauty consultants. China was Mary Kay Cosmetics' second most important national market with revenues growing at... View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Brands and Branding; Emerging Markets; Market Entry and Exit; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Asia; China

Web

Courses by Faculty Unit - Course Catalog

Benjamin N. Roth Natalia Rigol Spring 2026 Q3Q4 3.0 Business Solutions for the Poor (Global and Local) (also listed under General Management and Marketing) Kash Rangan Benjamin N. Roth Natalia Rigol Fall 2025 Q1Q2 3.0 Challenges and Opportunities in the Restaurant... View Details

29 Oct 2021
Blog Post

Helping Women in Mexico to Live Fulfilled and Healthy Lives

Giovanna Abramo (MBA 2022) spent the last three years prior to HBS working at Bain & Company in Mexico City where she worked on performance improvement, strategy, and operational model redesign projects across industries like consumer... View Details

15 Jan 2020
News

The Business of Access

take Lisle’s business know-how—she had led revenue generation and growth opportunities in the private sector at companies like Oracle, Zefer, and Wellbourne International—and apply it to nonprofits rooted in the social services. The... View Details

Keywords: Maureen Harmon

October 2000 (Revised January 2001)
Case

Polycom, Inc.: Visualizing Culture

By: Clayton M. Christensen

Polycom is a rapidly growing maker of video conferencing and teleconferencing equipment. Management is attempting to use "natural work groups" as an organizing mechanism, and to build into the culture implicit rules that will cause desired behaviors to be... View Details

Keywords: Communication Technology; Growth Management; Organizational Design; Groups and Teams; Organizational Culture; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry

01 Dec 1999
News

Covering the Issues

Bulletin coverage of technology centered on areas such as aviation, energy, and automation. A 1928 article on radio, for example, noted that "with the exception of aviation, no other industry has so swiftly passed from the stage of... View Details

Keywords: Susan Young, Deborah Blagg, and Garry Emmons

September 1994
Case

Otis Elevator Company: China Joint Venture (D)

By: Michael Y. Yoshino

Describes a set of challenges facing Otis Elevator's joint venture in China as it seeks to expand to other regions of the country. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Expansion; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; Globalization; Construction Industry; Construction Industry; China

June 2011
Case

Leaders Who Make a Difference: Sam Palmisano's Smarter IBM: Day 1

By: Joseph L. Bower and Sonja Ellingson Hout

Sam Palmisano explains the moves he made to transform IBM into a faster-growing, more profitable company focused on IT solutions to the problems of companies, cities, and nations. View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Transformation; Growth and Development Strategy; Business or Company Management; Information Technology Industry

January 2010 (Revised February 2012)
Case

Meetup

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski and David Chen

Meetup, an on-line company providing means of arranging face-to-face meetings, is deciding between two options of increasing its revenue by investing to: (i) increase new sign ups, (ii) improve the engagement of existing users. View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Decision Choices and Conditions; Business Strategy; Web Services Industry