Publications

January 2022
Case

Walmart USA—Searching for Growth

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Maria P. Roche

In 2022, Doug McMillon, president and CEO of Walmart, and his team looked back at a difficult but ultimately successful past year. The global pandemic had posed enormous challenges, but the company had weathered the storm successfully, raising same-store sales growth,... View Details

Keywords: Health Pandemics; Growth and Development Strategy; Sales; Business Strategy; Business and Shareholder Relations; Retail Industry

September 2003
Case

Driving Change at Seagate

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter, Douglas A Raymond and Lyn Baranowski

A new CEO, Steve Luczo, together with COO Bill Watkins, have led a turnaround of Seagate, raising productivity dramatically and increasing innovation through teamwork, cross-functional collaboration, and other transformations in the culture of this manufacturer of disk... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development; Transformation; Business and Shareholder Relations; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Groups and Teams; Performance Productivity; Initial Public Offering; Going Public; Information Technology Industry

05 Mar 2009
What Do You Think?

How Frank or Deceptive Should Leaders Be?

all organizations in all cultures, in times of success as opposed to decline, when talking about the past as opposed to the future, or in dealing with employees of all generations. As many respondents to this month's column pointed out,... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

November 2018
Case

The Bundesliga in the U.S.

By: Stephen A. Greyser, Sascha L. Schmidt and Florian Holzmayer

The Bundesliga, Germany’s premier football (soccer) league, is assessing its global broadcast and marketing strategy, with special focus on the very lucrative but highly competitive U.S. market. Its CEO Christian Seifert believed that a strong international position... View Details

Keywords: Media; Sports; Global Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Sports Industry; United States

A self-described “human Venn diagram” Christina Wallace has crafted a career at the intersection of business, technology, and the arts. She is a Senior Lecturer in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: arts; venture capital industry; consumer products; service industry; internet

February 2008
Case

Moët Hennessy España

By: Tiziana Casciaro, Vincent Dessain and Elena Corsi

Since being appointed CEO of Moët Hennessy España (MHE), the Spanish subsidiary of the wine & spirits business of Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH), the world's leading luxury products group, Ramiro Otano had overseen a spectacularly successful run at the company by... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Culture; Performance Effectiveness; Groups and Teams; Food and Beverage Industry; Spain

April 2016 (Revised November 2017)
Case

InMobi: Reimagining Mobile Advertising

By: Sunil Gupta and Saloni Chaturvedi

InMobi, a mobile advertising company, considered one of India's first unicorns, has launched a new product called Miip. InMobi hopes that the product will grow its revenue eight times by 2018. Visually identified by a mascot, Miip seeks to reimagine adverting by... View Details

Keywords: Mobile App; Advertising; India; Applications and Software; Globalization; Digital Marketing; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Advertising Industry; China; India

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

January 2024
Case

The Financial Times (FT) and Generative AI

By: Andrew Rashbass, Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Jordan Mitchell

In September 2023, John Ridding, CEO of the Financial Times, was considering the possible impact of Generative AI on the industry and his business. Having navigated successfully the seismic shift from print to digital, and reporting record results, the company... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Technology Adoption; Change Management; Journalism and News Industry

December 2010 (Revised April 2013)
Case

Kepak and the Future of the Irish Beef Industry

By: David E. Bell, Damien P. McLoughlin and Mary Shelman

As Ireland's third largest beef processor, Kepak faces new opportunities as well as significant challenges from the collapse of the "Celtic Tiger." The government has identified food and agriculture as one way the country could significantly grow exports. However, the... View Details

Keywords: Animal-Based Agribusiness; Economic Sectors; Policy; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing; Competition; Cooperation; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Republic of Ireland

July 2010
Supplement

AdMob (B)

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski and David Chen

CEO is deciding between international expansion and increasing the number of publishers to strengthen the company's advantage in the mobile advertising industry. AdMob displayed advertising on global devices, and powered 6,000 websites and 1,000 applications, and... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Capital; Global Strategy; Resource Allocation; Product Positioning; Competitive Strategy; Expansion; Mobile Technology; Advertising Industry; Telecommunications Industry

08 Sep 2016
News

Train your successor before you need one

July 2010 (Revised December 2010)
Case

AdMob (A)

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, Samuel Cohen and Nithya Vaduganathan

AdMob's CEO is deciding between international expansion and increasing the number of publishers to strengthen the company's advantage in the mobile advertising industry. AdMob displayed advertising on global devices, powered 6,000 websites and 1,000 applications, and... View Details

Keywords: Digital Marketing; Growth and Development Strategy; Resource Allocation; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Expansion; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Advertising Industry

March 2007 (Revised March 2007)
Case

Burt's Bees: Leaving the Hive

Rapid growth is pushing Burt's Bees' natural personal care products into mass distribution channels, with products and brand elements that are less quirky, more commercial than they used to be. Indeed, CEO John Replogle believes that by focusing on efficacious,... View Details

Keywords: Growth Management; Consumer Behavior; Asset Pricing; Entrepreneurship; Distribution Channels; Product Development; Brands and Branding; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; United States

January 2018
Case

John Rogers, Jr.—Ariel Investments Co.

By: Steven Rogers and Greg White

John Rogers Jr., the founder and CEO of Ariel Investments, an enormously successful finance firm with $12 billion of invested capital, is one of the few African Americans in the asset management industry. As one of the high profile leaders in the black business... View Details

Keywords: Advocacy; Diversity; Investment Management; Affirmative Action; Disruption; Cost vs Benefits; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Fairness; Moral Sensibility; Values and Beliefs; Corporate Accountability; Leading Change; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Problems and Challenges; Financial Services Industry; Chicago

September 1994
Case

Bob Fifer

By: David A. Thomas and Doug Cohen

Explores the life and concerns of Bob Fifer, HBS class of 1979 and CEO of Kaiser Associates. Explores the many influences on Bob's development and his subsequent career choices. It is written as a biography with extensive quotes from interviews with Bob. He describes... View Details

Keywords: Personal Development and Career; Entrepreneurship; Identity; Leadership Style; Ethnicity; Management Teams

December 2021 (Revised May 2025)
Case

Bed Bath & Beyond: The New Strategy to Drive Shareholder Value

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel W. Fisher

At one time, Bed Bath & Beyond was one of the most successful specialty retailers in the United States—its growth and profit margins far exceeded both peer retailers in the home goods market as well as many other discount retailers. But in 2014, its stock price peaked,... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Value Creation; Diversification; Corporate Governance; Leading Change; Performance Evaluation; Valuation; Investment Activism; Retail Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States