Publications

January 1999 (Revised April 2004)
Case

Infox System GmbH

Apax, a private equity firm, has an opportunity to invest in a travel-related print-materials distribution business in Germany. Infox is typical of many buyout opportunities. One of the founders seeks to exit the business, and recently hired managers will have to... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Leveraged Buyouts; Entrepreneurship; Investment; Financial Services Industry; Germany

October 1997 (Revised March 1998)
Case

HansaBank AG

The top management of a prestigious German bank is trying to understand why it has failed to develop the next generation of management. View Details

Keywords: Leadership Development; Management Teams; Banking Industry; Germany

Find at Harvard

September 1994 (Revised January 2002)
Case

BMW: The 7-Series Project (B)

By: Gary P. Pisano and Sharon L. Rossi

Describes the decision made on the 7-Series project with respect to prototyping and its impact on quality. View Details

Keywords: Research and Development; Quality; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Germany

December 2005
Article

Functional Change and Bank Strategy in German Corporate Governance.

By: Dwight B. Crane and Ulrike Schaede

Keywords: Banks and Banking; Strategy; Corporate Governance; Change; Germany

Find at Harvard

September 1997
Case

Bayer AG (B)

By: John A. Quelch

Bayer's senior executives detail the communications challenge program that resulted from the company's reacquisition of its brand name and trademark cross, which gave Bayer one name worldwide for the first time since World War I. View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; War; Acquisition; Trademarks; Brands and Branding; Communication Strategy; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Germany

November 1993 (Revised September 2018)
Case

Rudi Gassner and the Executive Committee of BMG International (A)

By: Linda Hill and Katherine Seger Weber

Explores the roles of CEO Rudi Gassner and the 9-person executive committee in leading BMG International. BMG International is the international music subsidiary of Bertlesmann, a German company that is the second-largest media conglomerate in the world. Describes a... View Details

Keywords: Managerial Roles; Management Teams; Decision Making; Business Plan; Growth and Development Strategy; Global Strategy; Leadership Style; Organizational Culture; Business Subsidiaries; Business Conglomerates; Cost Management; Change Management; Music Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Germany

September 2004
Article

Relative Explanatory Power of Agency Theory and Transaction Cost Analysis in German Salesforces

By: Manfred Krafft, Sönke Albers and Rajiv Lal

Keywords: Theory; Cost; Sales; Employees; Germany

Find at Harvard

15 Nov 2016
News

Uncovering The Secrets of Mittelstand Success

HBS professors Ramon Casadesus‐Masanell, left, and Sunil Gupta, listened to a presentation about the layout of the Siemens Electronikwerk Amberg manufacturing facility during the faculty immersion in Munich. (photo by Willy C. Shih) The remarkable success of the... View Details

01 Dec 2015
News

Euro Vision

financial services. "But over time, those differences are going away," he says. "I wouldn't want to typecast any of them, because entrepreneurs move around very fluidly. You can do anything anywhere." If Rimer went to Germany looking only... View Details

Keywords: Jason Feifer

12 Apr 2011
News

Twelve Global Finalists Compete at HBS

LifeQube mobile clinic management Asia-Pacific HBS Club of Shanghai Oliver Segovia, MBA '10 Jennifer Kelly, MBA '10 AVA invitation-only shopping platform Canada HBS Club of Toronto Zaheed Poptia, MBA '06 CardSwap online giftcard marketplace Europe HBS Alumni... View Details

Keywords: Multiple alumni

01 Oct 1998
News

Andresen Becomes First European and First Exec. Ed. Graduate to Endow HBS Professorship

hardest days don't seem as long as they would if you were working for someone else." He especially relished his relationship with SABO's employees, and during his regime the company was one of only a handful of nonunionized manufacturers in View Details

06 Jun 2017
News

Many Rivers to Cross

to his MBA, Ospina has never underestimated the task's overall logistical, political, economic, and environmental complexities. “It’s taken us 20 years to get this far,” he observes, “and it will take at least another 20 to happen.” Ospina says that fact-finding trips... View Details

12 Sep 2011
Research & Ideas

The Untold Story of ‘Green’ Entrepreneurs

In the 1920s, on pitch black nights in rural eastern Montana, the farmhouse owned by the parents of brothers Marcellus and Joe Jacobs stood out for one reason: it had light, although located far from power lines and gasoline supplies. It was a beacon in the dark that... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

22 Feb 2022
News

A Focus on Latinx Entrepreneurs

David Perez (MBA 1996) readily admits that launching Avance Investment Management in May 2020, at the height of the pandemic, was “the worst timing ever.” But the Cuban native, who studied engineering in East Germany and saved his... View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Gillespie

01 Dec 2008
News

NYC Club Hosts Nonprofits

Northern California Events in conjunction with students Madrid and Barcelona Northern California Video conferences with faculty Pakistan Philippines Topics addressed at the events included “Innovation, Regulation, and Biomedical Business in View Details

June 1991
Teaching Note

Deutsche Bank Group, Teaching Note

By: Samuel L. Hayes III

Keywords: Banking Industry; Germany

January 2025 (Revised March 2025)
Case

Thomas Müller: Mr. Bayern Munich

By: Boris Groysberg, Sascha L. Schmidt, Alexander Liebhart and Sarah Abbott

In 2024, FC Bayern Munich superstar Thomas Müller announced his retirement from German national football. His contract with Bayern Munich runs through the end of the 2024-25 season. In 2025, Müller reflects on his long career in football, on the skills that have driven... View Details

Keywords: Soccer; Football; Data Science And Analytics Management; Bundesliga; Sports Data; ＂Sports Organizations,; Career Changes And Transitions; Career Management; Retirement Transition; Skills Development; Analysis; Competency and Skills; Decision Making; Performance; Personal Development and Career; Retirement; Transition; Sports Industry; Germany

October 2024 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Citizens of the World: The International Legacy of Gloria von Thurn und Taxis

By: Lauren Cohen, Maximilian Form and Sophia Pan

When her husband passed away and inheritance taxes struck, Princess Gloria von Thurn und Taxis took decisive action to preserve her family’s fortune and legacy. The Thurn und Taxis family, one of Europe’s oldest aristocratic dynasties, had built their wealth through... View Details

Keywords: Family Office; Real Estate; Legacy; International Business; Family Business; Economy; Macroeconomics; Financial Crisis; Financial Liquidity; Investment; Global Strategy; Reputation; Diversification; Wealth; Taxation; Germany

1 Mar 2012
Talk

German Health Care: Moving to a Value-Based System

By: Michael E. Porter

Michael E. Porter of Harvard Business School assesses the German health care system and offers suggestions for reforming to a value-based system, where rewards flow to those practices performing best. Introduced by Karl Lauterbach, professor of health economics and... View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry; Germany