Publications

October 1997 (Revised January 2008)
Case

Asda (A)

By: Michael Beer and James Weber

In the mid-1980s, Asda was one of the most successful retail companies in the United Kingdom. By 1991, the chain of 200 grocery stores had a lack of direction, a demoralized workforce, declining profits, rising debt, collapsing stock price, and was facing bankruptcy.... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Crisis Management; Management Teams; Business Strategy; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United Kingdom

October 1984
Teaching Note

NIKE (D): Leisure Shoes, Teaching Note

Teaching Note for (9-385-031). View Details

Keywords: Luxury; Decisions; Performance Effectiveness; Management Practices and Processes; Management Teams; Apparel and Accessories Industry

March 2012
Case

The Agnellis and Fiat: Family Business Governance in a Crisis (A)

By: John A. Davis, Bernardo Bertoldi and Roberto Quaglia

After the death of Umberto Agnelli in 2004, the Agnelli family, led by John Elkann, needs to decide whether to keep Fiat CEO Giuseppe Morchio. The Fiat Group is in a delicate financial position, and John Elkann, the new family leader, is untested in this role. The... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Family Ownership; Management Teams; Leadership; Corporate Governance; Crisis Management; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Italy

14 Apr 2003
Research & Ideas

Pay-for-Performance Doesn’t Always Pay Off

naturally enough, driven by a transition to self-managed teams in production. Managers launched a program of team goals coupled with team-based pay with three possible levels... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

March 1994 (Revised January 1995)
Case

Cardinal Health, Inc.

By: Jay W. Lorsch

Robert D. Walter, chairman and CEO of Cardinal Health, Inc., responds to questions regarding Cardinal's board and its influence on the acquisition of and merger with Whitmire Distribution. View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Governing and Advisory Boards; Power and Influence; Management Teams; Distribution Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Health Industry

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November 1999 (Revised March 2000)
Case

Florida Department of Citrus

By: Ray A. Goldberg, Carin-Isabel Knoop and David Benedict Pearcy

The Florida Department of Citrus (FDOC) is a state agency responsible for the welfare of the Florida citrus industry. This case describes the FDOC's efforts to turn around grapefruit juice consumption. Using a health message, Dan Santangelo, the FDOC's new director,... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Management Teams; Product Marketing; Demand and Consumers; Food and Beverage Industry; Florida

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November 2009 (Revised September 2010)
Case

Discovering Hidden Gems: The Story of Daryl Morey, Shane Battier, and the Houston Rockets (A)

By: Frances X. Frei and Matthew Todd Perlberg

As NBA Commissioner David Stern approached the podium, silent anticipation gripped the 4,000 Houston Rockets fans gathered at the Rockets Draft Party. "With the 8th pick in the 2006 NBA draft," Stern began, "the Houston Rockets select Rudy Gay from the University of... View Details

Keywords: Sports; Talent and Talent Management; Competitive Strategy; Operations; Groups and Teams; Sports Industry

26 Jan 2004
Research & Ideas

What Developing-World Companies Teach Us About Innovation

ideas. This isn't traditional benchmarking, since managers don't simply copy something they see elsewhere. Rather, they take pieces of practice or technology that they find and recombine them in novel ways to solve customer problems. The... View Details

Keywords: by Donald N. Sull, Alejandro Ruelas-Gossi & Martin Escobari

12 Jan 2023
News

A Better Approach to After-Action Reviews

July 2015
Article

Executives' 'Off-the-Job' Behaviors and Financial Reporting Risk

By: Robert Davidson, Aiyesha Dey and Abbie Smith

We examine how executives' behavior outside the workplace, as measured by their ownership of luxury goods (low “frugality”) and prior legal infractions, is related to financial reporting risk. We predict and find that chief executive officers (CEOs) and chief financial... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Behavior; Personal Characteristics; Crime and Corruption; Governance Compliance; Financial Reporting; Organizational Culture

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Read Now

17 Apr 2017
HBS Case

This Turkish Debt Collector Is Customer-friendly

turn-around artist who had saved many companies from financial distress, Guvenal started by learning as much as he could about Turkasset’s debtors. He and his team discovered many of them were small-business owners suffering from poor... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services

Shirish Nimgaonkar

Shirish is the co-founder of an AI enabled predictive automation software company. and a Natural Language Processing company focused on enhancing customer experience through AI. In the past, he has been a part of the senior management... View Details

05 May 2003
Research & Ideas

How Bank of America Turned Branches into Service-Development Laboratories

America's Innovation & Development Team quickly realized that it would be very difficult to conduct a diverse array of experiments within the confines of a traditionally designed bank branch. Experiments require frequent changes in... View Details

Keywords: by Stefan Thomke; Banking; Financial Services

25 Mar 2021
Research & Ideas

Steer Clear of the Blind Spots That Derail Experiments

managers valuable insights, but there are potential pitfalls, Luca says. They include: Failing to tie experiments with managerial decision-making. Some organizations tend to relegate testing to specialized View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

21 Jan 2022
News

How Leaders Can Build Connection in a Disconnected Workplace

01 Dec 2013
News

Alumni News | Bookshelf: A Manager's Responsibility in the 21st Century

(Palgrave Macmillan) make clear, the blowout that killed 11 people and created an ecological miasma could have been prevented by any one of dozens of managers or executives speaking up about eight serious signs of trouble. Authors LaRue... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne; oil spill; Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

March 2004 (Revised May 2004)
Case

Governance Reform at MCI

By: Lynn S. Paine and Bridget Gurtler

Richard Breeden proposed corporate governance reforms for MCI. Breeden is a former chairman of the SEC who was a court-appointed "corporate monitor" for the troubled company (formerly WorldCom). The company must adhere to the proposals unless excused by a court order. View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Restructuring; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Business or Company Management; Management Teams