Publications

Find at Harvard

Register to Read

Career Coach

Nathan Lasche

Nathan interned in Product Management at Amazon and was the Co-President of the HBS TechMedia club. Prior to HBS, he spent two years in Uganda starting the Clinton Foundation HIV / AIDS Initiative’s country office, worked in feature film development at Sony Studios,... View Details

19 Mar 2014
News

3 Skills You Need To Lead Your Company BY Will Yakowicz

October 2004 (Revised November 2004)
Case

Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model

By: Myra M. Hart, Victoria Winston and Kristin Lieb

Mavens & Moguls is a "virtual" marketing-consulting firm of approximately 40 professionals. Examines the processes by which its founder, Paige Arnof-Fenn, learns the business, builds a power network of industry experts and potential customers, and uses this expertise... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Values and Beliefs; Work-Life Balance; Organizational Structure; Organizational Culture; Operations; Networks; Business Model; Growth Management; Business Growth and Maturation; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Consulting Industry

Frank Cespedes is Senior Lecturer in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit. He received his B.A. from the City College of New York, M.S. from M.I.T. and Ph.D. from Cornell University.

At Harvard, he has developed and taught a variety of MBA and executive... View Details

March 1997 (Revised January 1999)
Case

Cambridge Technology Partners: Corporate Venturing (August 1996)

By: Paul A. Gompers and Catherine M. Conneely

Concerns the decision of Jim Sims, president and CEO of Cambridge Technology Partners (CTP) to form a corporate venture capital subsidiary. CTP is a fast-growing information technology consulting firm that has been presented with many investment opportunities from... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Venture Capital; Leadership; Information Technology; Investment; Opportunities; Customer Focus and Relationships; Business Startups; Business Subsidiaries; Consulting Industry; Consulting Industry; Cambridge

Find at Harvard

January 2002 (Revised June 2002)
Background Note

The Rise and Decline of e-Consulting

By: Ashish Nanda and M. Julia Prats

E-consulting began as a specialized consulting service in the late 1990s. In January 2000, more than 100 firms were characterized as e-consultants. By December 2001, more than 50% of these firms had disappeared. This case tracks the rapid rise and sharp decline of... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Market Participation; Consulting Industry

Josh Krieger is an Associate Professor of Business Administration in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit. Josh’s research focuses on R&D strategy and the economics of innovation. His work examines project selection, R&D competition, and... View Details

Research Summary

The Meaning-Making of Meaningful Work

This stream of research considers cultural processes of meaning-making. In an ongoing inductive case study of a consulting firm, I examine what makes certain kinds of work meaningful and what role the interpretation of organizational communications plays in this... View Details

September 1988 (Revised January 1989)
Case

Unisys: The Merger of Burroughs and Sperry

Mike Blumenthal, CEO of Burroughs, successfully executes the merger of Burroughs and Sperry in 1986. The case discusses the putting together of the two firms in a fast time period in order to achieve cost savings, high earnings, and an integrated culture. Blumenthal... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Organizational Structure; Mergers and Acquisitions; Consolidation

April 1992 (Revised April 1996)
Case

Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.

By: Hugo Uyterhoeven

The board and management of General Cinema has to determine whether the acquisition of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (HBJ), thereby entering the publishing business, makes strategic sense. The case describes HBJ's involvement in several segments of the publishing industry:... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Boundaries; Supply and Industry; Segmentation; Publishing Industry

27 Apr 2018
HBS Seminar

Helen Riley, Moonshot Mission Controller at X (formerly Google [x])

January 2010 (Revised February 2010)
Supplement

IBM Retail Business Assessment at Dillard's, Inc.: Managing Staffing Levels to Improve Conversion (CW)

IBM consultants are convinced that there is a positive relationship with staffing levels and conversion rate. How should Dillard's, a large department store chain, use this insight to manage their staffing levels? View Details

Keywords: Selection and Staffing; Operations; Retail Industry

January 1999 (Revised March 2004)
Case

Absolute Sensors

Absolute Sensors is a new spin-off from a scientific consulting firm. Collins and his team must address issues such as: what market(s) to target, how and from whom to raise money, and to what extent they should engage in manufacturing their products. View Details

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Consulting Industry; Consulting Industry

June 2003 (Revised October 2003)
Case

An Ancient Fable

By: Ashish Nanda

This case presents a thinly disguised account of Andersen's collapse, followed by a tightening of the oversight of audit firms. It raises questions on who lost and who gained, as well as the long-term implications of the changes for the accounting profession and... View Details

Keywords: Accounting Audits; Consulting Industry

December 2012 (Revised August 2020)
Case

Rodan + Fields Dermatologists

By: Das Narayandas, Michael Roberts and Liz Kind

The case focuses on issues involved in managing the direct multilevel marketing sales consultants who sell R+F skin care products. The company is trying to better manage the inconsistent and highly variable recruitment behavior of the sales force i.e., the degree to... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Salesforce Management; Recruitment; Compensation and Benefits; Consumer Products Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; California

Philippe van der Beck is an Assistant Professor in the Finance Unit at Harvard Business School. He teaches the Finance I course in the MBA required curriculum. Philippe’s research interests are in empirical asset pricing, sustainable finance, and structural estimation.... View Details

February 2022 (Revised January 2024)
Supplement

Winning Business at Russell Reynolds (C)

By: Ethan Bernstein and Cara Mazzucco

In an effort to make compensation drive collaboration, Russell Reynolds Associates’ (RRA) CEO Clarke Murphy sought to re-engineer the bonus system for his executive search consultants in 2016. As his HR analytics guru, Kelly Smith, points out, that risks upsetting—and... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Talent and Talent Management; Compensation and Benefits; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Performance Evaluation; Motivation and Incentives; Consulting Industry

December 2004 (Revised April 2006)
Case

Managing a Public Image: Rob Thomas

By: Robin J. Ely and Ingrid Vargas

Rob Thomas describes some of the challenges he has faced as a white, middle-aged man who is managing director of a mid-size consulting firm where he is committed to increasing staff gender and racial diversity. Unwilling to risk the disapproval of any constituency,... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Age; Race; Identity; Failure; Gender; Consulting Industry

October 2000 (Revised November 2000)
Case

Bridgespan Group, The

By: Allen S. Grossman and John D. Kalafatas

Bain & Co., a consulting firm with a client list that ranges from entrepreneurial start-ups to global corporations, wanted to increase its involvement with nonprofit organizations. Rather than continuing to integrate the work into the existing organization, Bain... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Problems and Challenges; Leadership Style; Growth and Development Strategy; Consulting Industry