Publications

01 Sep 2021
News

How Women Can Learn from Even Biased Feedback

28 Nov 2018
HBS Case

On Target: Rethinking the Retail Website

Minneapolis. “It was a big decision to stay in Silicon Valley,” Datar says. “The demand for data-science professionals is through the roof, so you have to go where the experts are. Desai credits the success of data science at Target to... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Retail

April 2011
Case

Felipe Calderón: Leading with Light and Power (A)

By: J. Bruce Harreld and David Lane

This sequence of cases explores how leaders get their team focused on framing, analyzing, and ultimately acting upon complex decisions. The A case provides an inside look as President of Mexico, Felipe Calderon, works with his cabinet ministers to decide how to... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Decisions; Public Sector; Leadership; Conflict and Resolution; Power and Influence; Urban Development; Welfare or Wellbeing

Find at Harvard

25 Jul 2023
Research & Ideas

Could a Business Model Help Big Pharma Save Lives and Profit?

our old ways of thinking with COVID.” Decision to adopt the model is a matter of equity Rangan, the Malcolm P. McNair Professor of Marketing, grew up in India where he says the travails of the extreme poor were always in sight. “Rich and... View Details

Keywords: by Esther Schrader; Pharmaceutical; Health

February 2009 (Revised February 2012)
Case

Exeter Group, Inc. (A)

By: Robert G. Eccles, Das Narayandas and Kerry Herman

Jonathan Kutchins and Mark Cullen, managing partners of IT consulting firm Exeter Group, Inc., are considering four potential client engagements. Three of them involve prominent universities, an area of market strength for the firm, and one involves a top-tier strategy... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Resource Allocation; Market Entry and Exit; Service Operations; Performance Capacity; Business Strategy; Information Technology; Consulting Industry

February 2016 (Revised July 2017)
Case

An Australian Ballot for California?

By: David Moss, Marc Campasano and Dean Grodzins

In early 1891, California lawmakers were considering a plan to reform the state's elections through the introduction of an “Australian” ballot. Under this new system, candidates from all qualifying parties would appear on official ballots, which would be printed by... View Details

Keywords: Voting; Ethics; Political Elections; Laws and Statutes; Change; California

16 May 2023
In Practice

After Silicon Valley Bank's Flameout, What's Next for Entrepreneurs?

status and manage tricky processes under pressure. For example, how to get a timely board resolution to temporarily tap into personal funds to make payroll during the SVB situation could translate into how to fast-track a decision on how... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman; Technology; Financial Services

22 Nov 2023
News

So You Want to Join a Startup

first and give them control over governance and decision making over major decisions in the company. That confers advantages on investors that really come into play primarily when the company is not doing... View Details

16 Jun 2021
HBS Case

Cruising in Crisis: How Carnival Is Riding Out the COVID-19 Storm

management, accepting the reality of the situation and taking big actions relatively quickly." Carnival’s success has been due in part to investors’ faith in the company’s ability to right itself, but corporate leaders also made some savvy business View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Travel

25 Nov 2008
First Look

First Look: November 25, 2008

decisions about whether to quit the job he loves at Hewlett-Packard to join Apple Computer, how to define his role within Apple, whether to take on Jobs as his co-founder, whether to accept a third co-founder proposed by Jobs, and how to... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

13 Nov 2023
Blog Post

HBS Veteran Spotlight: Lindsey Chrismon (MBA 2025)

orders or ensuring tasks are completed. It’s about understanding, empathy, and integrity. It is about building trust, not just as a leader, but as a fellow human being. Every decision I made, every action I took, was guided by the... View Details

01 Mar 2024
News

In My Humble Opinion: Role Model

One of four daughters of Pakistani immigrants, Salma Qarnain (MBA 2002) grew up in the midwestern “I” states of Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana before attending Stanford University. “It was my first experience feeling happy and comfortable in a place that had diversity,”... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; acting; theater; diversity; career path; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Arts, Entertainment

23 Jan 2024
News

A Wide Net

Growing up in Mumbai, Navroz Udwadia (MBA 2005) spent most of his time on the tennis court, where he was an internationally ranked athlete. Today, as cofounder and partner of Alpha Wave, a global investment group with a multibillion-dollar stake in India’s startup... View Details

Keywords: April White

19 Feb 2008
Research & Ideas

Radical Design, Radical Results

When furniture designer Herman Miller presented a prototype of its sleek, mesh Aeron chair to a consumer focus group, many asked if they could see a finished, upholstered version. Innovative product design can be a risky proposition. Yet as consumer purchases become... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Consumer Products

Research Summary

Bringing Individuals Back In: The Effects of Career Experience on New Firm Founding (forthcoming Industrial and Corporate Change, 2003)

By: Rakesh Khurana

In this paper (with Scott Shane) the link between the career experiences of potential entrepreneurs and the decision to found a new firm is explored. Because of methodological and theoretical obstacles, sociological research on organizational foundings has largely... View Details

September 2024 (Revised May 2025)
Case

Carrie Wang: Choosing Between the Family Firm and the Family Spirit

By: Lauren Cohen, Fei Wu and Sophia Pan

Carrie Wang, Investment Head of the Wang’s single-family office, contemplated her next career steps. As one of the first businessmen who had risen from China’s industrial rise, her father had grown his wealth to a considerable level, eventually requesting that his... View Details

Keywords: Family Office; Interests Of Consumers; Family Business; Business Growth and Maturation; Financial Management; Financial Strategy; Financial Markets; Investment Portfolio; Investment Return; Private Equity; Customer Relationship Management; Interests; Reputation; Work-Life Balance; Real Estate Industry; China

June 2024 (Revised September 2024)
Case

Driving Scale with Otto

By: Rebecca Karp, David Allen and Annelena Lobb

This case asks how startup founders make scaling decisions in light of their priorities for their business and for themselves. Otto was a technology company that applied artificial intelligence technology to sales. It deployed natural language processing to find sales... View Details

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Natural Language Processing; B2B; B2B Innovation; Scaling; Scaling Tech Ventures; Business Startups; AI and Machine Learning; Finance; Sales; Business Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Information Technology Industry; United States; Cambridge; New York (city, NY); Spain

February 2022 (Revised March 2022)
Case

National Electric Vehicles Sweden (NEVS): Materializing a Vision

By: Shane Greenstein and Elena Corsi

In 2021, the car manufacturer National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) faced the challenge of securing funding from its investor to launch an innovative mobility solution based on fleets of shared autonomous driving (AD) cars. The system was complex as it required the... View Details

Keywords: Autonomous Vehicles; Product Design; Sustainable Cities; Transportation Networks; Auto Industry; Sweden; Europe

April 2018
Case

Cisco Systems and OpenDNS: Strategic Integration

By: Andy Wu, George Gonzalez and David Wang

With more than 72,000 employees and revenues approaching the $50B mark, Cisco Systems is one of the largest information technology and networking firms globally. As the company grew and expanded into different lines of businesses, Cisco consistently looked outwards for... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Integration; Corporate Strategy; Change Management; Entrepreneurship; Organizational Culture; Information Technology Industry