Publications

May 2004 (Revised April 2006)
Case

Ultra: The Quest for Leadership (A)

By: Dwight B. Crane and Ricardo Reisen de Pinho

Ultra is one of a small group of competing Brazilian petrochemical companies, each of which buys raw material and is a minority owner of Copene, a "cracking" company that provides ethylene and other materials. Because of an industry restructuring, an auction of shares... View Details

Keywords: Capital; Capital Budgeting; Investment; Risk and Uncertainty; Risk Management; Industry Structures; Cash Flow; Cost of Capital; Valuation; Bids and Bidding; Economy; Ownership Stake; Chemical Industry; Brazil

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April 2010 (Revised April 2010)
Case

Mercadona

This case presents the predicament of a company trying to do right by its customers and its employees as the economic crisis of 2008 hits home. Fifteen years earlier, this Spanish supermarket chain had adopted its own version of total quality management, called the... View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Compensation and Benefits; Employee Relationship Management; Service Operations; Business Processes; Retail Industry; Spain

25 Jul 2005
Research & Ideas

Fool vs. Jerk: Whom Would You Hire?

them to rate all the other people in the company in terms of how much they personally liked each one and how well each did his or her job. These two criteria—competence and likability—combine to produce four archetypes: the competent... View Details

Keywords: by Tiziana Casciaro & Miguel Sousa Lobo

01 Dec 2021
News

18 Books Every Business Leader Should Read

28 Apr 2020
Blog Post

A Crash Course in Saving a Family Business

return home to Queens, NY, to both complete her first-year MBA studies online, and launch an e-commerce site to help her parents’ small business, Bean&Bean Coffee Roasters, stay afloat. “It’s been surreal. This morning, I had a... View Details

October 1984 (Revised July 1988)
Case

Mark Twain Bancshares, Inc.

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr.

Describes the history, management, and organization of an extremely successful bank holding company. The company has had a very charismatic chairman, has made MBAs bank presidents at very early ages, and has a long record of innovation. Now deregulation and a coming... View Details

Keywords: Management Style; Financial Services Industry

December 1993 (Revised January 1994)
Case

Montana Land Reliance

By: Forest L. Reinhardt and Thomas Patterson

The Montana Land Reliance is a small not-for-profit organization in the business of creating conservation easements on private lands in Montana. The easements preserve the scenic character and recreational value of the lands by precluding subdivision and other forms of... View Details

Keywords: Private Ownership; Motivation and Incentives; Business or Company Management; Natural Environment; Nonprofit Organizations; Property; Environmental Sustainability; Government and Politics; Montana

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07 Mar 2022
News

Workforce Trends You Need to Know, How COVID Impacted Digital Transformation, & Why Low Wage Jobs Are So Hard to Fill

07 Mar 2022
News

Workforce Trends You Need to Know, How COVID Impacted Digital Transformation, & Why Low Wage Jobs Are So Hard to Fill

May 2024
Case

A New Aiera for Equity Research

By: Joseph Pacelli, Charles CY Wang and James Barnett

Aiera (pronounced “era”) co-founder and CEO Ken Sena considers strategic pathways to growth for the artificial intelligence (AI)-powered platform used to source, verify, and transcribe earnings calls, company presentations, and other corporate events. View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Financial Statements; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; AI and Machine Learning; Growth and Development Strategy; Accounting Industry; Financial Services Industry; Technology Industry; United States

25 Feb 2013
Research & Ideas

Lean Strategy Not Just for Start-Ups

Lean start-up strategies aren't just for start-ups anymore. That was the key message that Intuit cofounder Scott Cook (HBS MBA '76) shared in a small seminar with Harvard Business School faculty recently. Since its launch in 1983, the... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Financial Services

20 Jun 2008
News

Winners of 2008 Harvard Business School Business Plan Contest Ring Opening Bell at New York Stock Exchange

22 Mar 2022
News

Frank from Harvard Talks Sales

October 2013 (Revised April 2015)
Case

Myomo: Getting Sales in Motion

By: Frank V. Cespedes, Shikhar Ghosh and Matthew Preble

In late 2012, the management team of Myomo, a startup which had designed a unique myoelectric arm brace for patients with dysfunctional arms, was deciding which of the three sales models the company had tested to pursue as its sales strategy going forward. Each model... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Information Technology; Marketing Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Health Care and Treatment; Business Startups; Sales; Growth and Development Strategy; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Health Industry

October 2023 (Revised April 2024)
Case

TetraScience: Unlocking the Power of Scientific Data

By: Satish Tadikonda and William Marks

After pivoting from a focus on hardware to a focus on scientific data, TetraScience, led by veteran SaaS executive, Patrick Grady and Founder Spin Wang, has embarked on a journey from nearly cash-out to a player in the scientific data management space. This case... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Change Management; Entrepreneurship; Information Management; Business Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Information Technology Industry

Web

Browse All Articles, Research, & Case Studies - HBS Working Knowledge

Popular Browse All Articles About Us Newsletter Sign-Up RSS Page 1 of 5,369 Results 12 Nov 2024 HBS Case Inside One Startup's Journey to Break Down Hiring (and Funding) Barriers by Avery Forman How can formerly incarcerated people reintegrate into society if few View Details

2016
Working Paper

Alternative Paths of Green Entrepreneurship: The Environmental Legacies of The North Face's Doug Tompkins and Patagonia's Yvon Chouinard

By: Geoffrey Jones and Ben Gettinger

This working paper examines the impact of two entrepreneurs who offered alternative paths to reach their shared goal of a more sustainable world. Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins were respective founders of the prominent outdoor apparel brands Patagonia and The North... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Entrepreneurship; Environmental Sustainability; Apparel and Accessories Industry

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February 2009 (Revised April 2011)
Case

Mistry Architects (A)

By: Amy C. Edmondson, Robert G. Eccles and Mona Sinha

Describes an architecture firm founded and run by a husband and wife team, Sharukh and Renu Mistry, that emphasizes "green" building. The firm presents an unusual mix of projects-spanning the spectrum from larger corporate projects to small private homes. The mix also... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Customer Focus and Relationships; Design; Housing; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Community Relations; Environmental Sustainability; Nonprofit Organizations; Conflict and Resolution