Publications

Read Now

May 1994
Case

Laura Ashley (D)

By: Richard L. Nolan

Describes the resignation of the CEO hired three years earlier to transform the company. View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Resignation and Termination; Management Succession; Performance Evaluation

13 Jun 2014
Op-Ed

World Cup Soccer: 770 Billion Minutes of Attention

stadiums, are borne by national and local governments. In terms of human capital costs, FIFA itself employs only 400 people, according to the organization's website. Even if each of its 209 country members... View Details

Keywords: by Thales Teixeira; Sports

June 2009
Supplement

Midland Energy Resources, Inc.: Cost of Capital, Instructors Spreadsheet (Brief Case)

By: Timothy A. Luehrman and Joel L. Heilprin

Keywords: Risk Assessment; Risk Management; Valuation; Capital Structure; Cash Flow

30 May 2000
Lessons from the Classroom

Entrepreneurship’s Wild Ride

you ought to own or employ everything you need. For example, good entrepreneurial firms often hire the most specialized talent on a temporary basis. The fifth, managing through networked relationships, contrasts with the old paradigm that... View Details

Keywords: by William Mahoney

November 2000 (Revised December 2000)
Case

Loewen Group Inc., The

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Jose Camacho

A publiclytraded funeral home and cemetery consolidator faces imminent financial distress. The company has aggressively grown through use of debt. Restructuring the debt is potentially very costly to creditors, shareholders, suppliers, and other corporate stakeholders.... View Details

Keywords: International Accounting; Restructuring; Capital Structure; Cost of Capital; Debt Securities; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Crisis Management; Business and Shareholder Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Service Industry

02 Dec 2002
What Do You Think?

How Will We Respond to the “Moment of Truth” in Option Plans?

Summing Up Are We Getting More Sensible About Management Incentives? Respondents to this month's column suggest ways of fixing or selectively using various methods of providing incentives to management. They join the chorus of voices... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

January 2002
Case

Metromove.com Business Plan

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Sheila Marcelo

Enables analysis of a business plan in a volatile market. Also enables analysis of the decisions entrepreneurs must make as they start a new business, develop the concept, choose partners, and find funding. View Details

Keywords: Business Plan; Decisions; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Business or Company Management; Partners and Partnerships

October 1987 (Revised May 1993)
Case

National Demographics & Lifestyles (A)

Describes National Demographics and Lifestyles (NDL), a Colorado-based company that compiles a database from product "warranty registration cards" and sells mailing lists from this database. The company has burned through more rounds of financing than ever intended,... View Details

Keywords: Demographics; Venture Capital; Financing and Loans; Management; Marketing; Information Industry; Colorado

December 2010 (Revised November 2013)
Case

Talent Recruitment at frog design Shanghai

By: Robert G. Eccles, Amy C. Edmondson and Yi Kwan Chu

This case illustrates the complexity and importance of hiring decisions in the Chinese operation of a global design and innovation firm. View Details

Keywords: Selection and Staffing; Recruitment; Talent and Talent Management; Decision Making; Complexity; Innovation and Invention; Shanghai

September 2008
Case

Israeli Special Forces: Selection Strategy

By: Boris Groysberg, Tal Riesenfeld and Eliot Sherman

Ron Guntz, commander of recruiting for Israel's Special Forces, had been instructed by his superiors to evaluate the process by which he selected solders for a 20-month-long training program. Was the Army conducting this process in an ideal manner? The case examines... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Training; National Security; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Public Administration Industry; Israel

March 2019 (Revised June 2019)
Supplement

Gender and Free Speech at Google (C)

By: Nien-hê Hsieh and Sarah Mehta

This case reveals Google’s response to a list of employee demands aiming to combat sexual misconduct in the workplace. This case should accompany the (A) and (B) cases, “Gender and Free Speech at Google” (318-085) and (319-085). View Details

Keywords: Free Speech; Ethnicity; Gender; Race; Employees; Employee Relationship Management; Recruitment; Labor; Employment; Lawsuits and Litigation; Technology Industry; United States; California

March 2010 (Revised November 2010)
Case

Pandora Radio: Fire Unprofitable Customers?

By: Willy C. Shih and Halle Alicia Tecco

Pandora Radio is at a crossroads. Founder Tim Westergren has just been told by a well known VC to get rid of his unprofitable customers in order to get his costs down, but Westergren is not sure that such actions are consistent with his company's business model.... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Customer Satisfaction; Music Entertainment; Venture Capital; Profit; Growth and Development Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Internet; Media and Broadcasting Industry

28 Jan 2014
First Look

First Look: January 28

exercise a huge impact on management studies more generally, especially strategy and the study of entrepreneurship. Publisher's link: View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

16 Mar 2010
First Look

First Look: March 16

Managing such a firm in the era of globalization posed enormous challenges. The book covers the company's strategies and provides compelling evidence of its decision making, marketing, brand management, innovation, acquisition strategies,... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

24 Jul 2013
Op-Ed

Detroit Files for Bankruptcy: HBS Faculty Weigh In

forgiven. Liberia is not yet in the clear, but it is politically stable, its economy is rapidly growing, and its citizens are returning to lives enhanced by a more egalitarian power structure. Without the fiscal fresh start, investments in infrastructure and View Details

Keywords: by John Macomber, Robert C. Pozen, Eric D. Werker & Benjamin Kennedy; Auto

April 2011 (Revised July 2011)
Case

Renewing GE: The Africa Project (A)

By: David A. Thomas and Stephanie J. Creary

This case profiles the evolution of General Electric's African American Form (AAF), an employee affinity group, and its efforts to increase the company's involvement in Africa. The AAF formed in 1991 to help advance GE's recruitment, retention and development of black... View Details

Keywords: Diversity; Global Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Employees; Employee Relationship Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Africa; United States

2021
Working Paper

Time Dependence and Preference: Implications for Compensation Structure and Shift Scheduling

By: Doug J. Chung, Byungyeon Kim and Byoung G. Park

This study jointly examines agents’ time dependence—period effects within instantaneous utility—and time preference—behavior on discounting future utility. The study considers the start- and end-of-period effects for time dependence and exponential and hyperbolic... View Details

Keywords: Time Preferences; Present Bias; Hyperbolic Discounting; Compensation; Dynamic Structural Models; Identification; Time Management; Motivation and Incentives; Behavior; Performance; Compensation and Benefits

SSRN

Read Now

May 2004 (Revised April 2005)
Case

United States Army

By: Rajiv Lal and Laura Coleman

After three months of close collaboration, the Leo Burnett USA/Worldwide agency and partner Cartel and Images advertising/creative team were poised to unveil to senior Army officials at the Pentagon their replacement to the "Be All You Can Be" campaign to help increase... View Details

Keywords: Advertising Campaigns; Decisions; Globalization; Recruitment; Management Teams; Marketing Strategy; United States

April 1994 (Revised August 1996)
Case

American Express (A)

By: Jay W. Lorsch

In January 1993, the American Express board met to decide who would succeed James D. Robinson, III as chairman and CEO. The board needed to act in the spotlight of intense media and investor scrutiny, and after leaks had revealed that there was a conflict among the... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Corporate Governance; Resignation and Termination; Leadership; Management Succession; Performance Evaluation