Publications

August 2011
Teaching Note

Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc. (TN)

By: Robert G. Eccles and Erin McFee

Teaching Note for 408-066. View Details

Keywords: Investment; Information Technology; Opportunities; Internet and the Web; Business Model; Risk and Uncertainty; Employment Industry

February 2019
Case

Al Islami Foods: Partnering for Growth

By: Lynda Applegate and Michael Norris

In 2018, Al Islami Foods CEO Marwan Al Garem and Chairman Saleh Saeed Lootah have to decide on a potential investment partner. They hope to find the best match for a strategic investment in their Dubai-based halal foods company from a list of three global food... View Details

Keywords: Animal-Based Agribusiness; Investment; Partners and Partnerships; Strategy; Food; Growth and Development Strategy; Ownership Stake; Business Model; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Dubai

May 2007 (Revised July 2011)
Case

The West German Headache Center: Integrated Migraine Care

By: Michael E. Porter, Clemens Guth and Elisa M. Dannemiller

Describes the joint efforts of the German health plan KKH and Essen University Hospital to develop an integrated practice unit (IPU), and the West German Headache Center's efforts to improve the quality of migraine care. Provides an overview of the German health care... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Health Care and Treatment; Medical Specialties; Industry Structures; Service Delivery; Integration; Health Industry; Germany

February 2000 (Revised December 2000)
Case

Staples.com

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Joanna M. Jacobson and Gillian Morris

Staples.com, the online unit of the U.S. office supplies retailing chain Staples, faces a range of strategic and organizational issues as it accelerates its growth. Should it pursue only existing Staples customers or consumers who do not shop in Staples stores? How... View Details

Keywords: Supply Chain; Business Units; Business Model; Growth and Development; Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Business Strategy; Service Industry; United States

January 2010 (Revised March 2013)
Teaching Note

Western Union: Our World, Our Family® (TN)

By: Christopher Marquis and Bobbi Thomason

Teaching Note for [410050]. View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Financial Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Diversity; Financial Services Industry

June 2016
Supplement

Duff & Phelps: Scaling an Entrepreneurial Venture (B)

By: Lynda M. Applegate and David Lane

In September 2005, Duff & Phelps closed on a deal to acquire a much larger firm that quadrupled its size to 500 employees. Almost immediately, the company faced challenging integration issues. Gottdiener and Silverman realize that they must now turn away from the... View Details

Keywords: Duff ＆ Phelps; Entrepreneurial Management; Mergers ＆ Acquisitions; Entrepreneurial Financing; Entrepreneurship; Mergers and Acquisitions; Integration; Business Model; Organizational Structure; Management

21 Nov 2013
News

Case Study: BlackBerry and Thorsten Heins

BlackBerry Messenger limit his market? Was the decision to release a touch-screen version before the phone with a physical keyboard—a favorite of the business class—a strategic error? Should he have re-focused on enterprise users? Willy... View Details

Keywords: Telecommunications; Information; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management

01 Sep 2015
News

Data-Driven Diligence

that sold them on Casper—it was the numbers. The company had tested well in a revolutionary predictive model built by the venture firm. The idea to vet possible investments in such a way hit Coats about a decade ago: Maybe, he figured, he... View Details

Keywords: Francis Storrs

08 May 2015
News

Ubiquitous digital connectivity is now essential to competitiveness

rethink their business models to identify new opportunities for creating and capturing value. The fundamental properties of digital technology (exact replication infinite times at zero marginal costs), along... View Details

29 Feb 2016
HBS Case

Bigbelly's Big Bet on the Digital Trash Can

self-compacting solution to keep streets clean. Last year, however, the Massachusetts-based company’s CEO shared plans to change its business model from selling a product—waste and recycling stations—to... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Energy

24 Feb 2023
News

Dean Datar Meets with Alumni in Palm Beach

Emeritus Bill Sahlman (MBA 1975). During his remarks, Dean Datar talked about several innovative initiatives that he anticipates will have lasting value for the School and that place the School at the cutting edge of addressing the challenges facing View Details

Web

Introduction - Option Pricing in Theory & Practice: The Nobel Prize Research of Robert C. Merton - Exhibits - Historical Collections

the course of economic theory and financial practice. With the option pricing model firmly in place, Merton's research as a member of the Harvard Business School faculty continues to evolve as he turns his... View Details

01 Dec 2014
News

Ask the Expert: A Fair Share

learn how to support these sorts of shared business models? If you were the CEO of an insurance company, how would you address the conflicts between this model (splitting ownership and usage) and the... View Details

01 Sep 2011
News

Charged Up

each faces a distinct set of business and strategy challenges. In the case “A123 Systems,” HBS professor Richard Vietor presents the issues confronting a manufacturer of the complex, evolving technology of lithium-ion batteries. Based in... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; batteries; Electrical Equipment, Appliance, and Component Manufacturing; Manufacturing

October 2021
Supplement

Diversifying P&G's Supplier Base (B)

By: Kris Ferreira, Kym Lew Nelson, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Sarah Mehta

This (B) case accompanies the (A) case of the same title. View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Model; Business Organization; Family Business; Joint Ventures; Demographics; Diversity; Ethnicity; Race; Fairness; Ownership; Supply Chain Management; Consumer Products Industry; Service Industry; United States; Ohio

Summer 2025
Article

Dynamic Competition for Customer Memberships

By: Cristian Chica, Julian Jimenez-Cardenas and Jorge Tamayo

A competitive two-period membership (subscription) market is analyzed. Two symmetric firms charge a “membership” fee that allows consumers to buy products or services at a given unit price for both periods. Firms can choose between long- or short-term memberships. When... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Price Discrimination; Membership; Dynamic Competition; Competition; Price; Consumer Behavior; Business Model

October 2024
Supplement

NOW PT (A)

By: George A Riedel, Allison J. Wigen and Dave Habeeb

Pre-Abstract: Instructors should consider the timing of making videos available to students, as they may reveal key case details.

Abstract: In fall 2021, a team of students from the HBS Impact Investing Fund considered Neurologic Optimal Wellness Physical... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Medical Specialties; Investment; Business Model; Health Industry; United States