Publications

2016
Blog

Building A Culture of Health - John A. Quelch: Creating A Culture of Health

By: John A. Quelch

All American companies are in the health business whether they like it or not. The private sector directly pays for one-fifth of the whopping 17.5% of GDP spent on healthcare in the United States. Rather than viewing health merely as an insurance expense to be... View Details

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June 2019
Case

Airbnb, Etsy, Uber: Expanding from One to Many Millions of Customers

By: Thales S. Teixeira

By 2019, two-sided online platforms (or marketplaces) were among the highest-growing internet startups around. These marketplaces sought to match suppliers of assets for rent, physical products, or services with customers demanding them. Among the most notable... View Details

Keywords: Airbnb; Etsy; Uber; Growth Hacking; Two-Sided Markets; Digital Marketing; Customer Acquisition; Two-Sided Platforms; Growth Management; Marketing Strategy; Customers; Acquisition; Organizational Change and Adaptation

03 Sep 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Supply Chain Screening Without Certification: The Critical Role of Stakeholder Pressure

Keywords: by Susan A. Kayser, John W. Maxwell & Michael W. Toffel

12 Nov 2014
News

Bank Regulators Making Up for Crisis Failures

December 2005 (Revised April 2007)
Case

Flagstar Companies, Inc. (Abridged)

By: Stuart C. Gilson

A large restaurant chain undergoes a leveraged buyout and subsequent recapitalization. Financial and operating problems at the company force it to consider various restructuring options, including a prepackaged Chapter 11 exchange offer to its public bondholders. Two... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Restructuring; Capital; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Debt Securities; Competition; Valuation; Financial Services Industry; United States

2011
Book

The Innovator's DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators

By: Jeffrey H. Dyer, Hal B. Gregersen and Clayton M. Christensen

Some people are just natural innovators, right? With no apparent effort, they discover ideas for new products, services, and entire businesses. It may look like innovators are born, not made. But according to Jeffrey Dyer, Hal Gregersen, and Clay Christensen anyone can... View Details

Keywords: Competency and Skills; Disruptive Innovation; Competitive Advantage

Find at Harvard

April 2010
Case

George Martin at The Boston Consulting Group (A)

By: Leslie A. Perlow and Kerry Herman

George Martin, managing partner at The Boston Consulting Group, is worried as some of his best performers have recently pulled him aside to discuss the challenges they face managing the demands of their work lives with their desire for more predictable time with their... View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Work-Life Balance; Management Teams; Interpersonal Communication; Jobs and Positions; Employees; Consulting Industry; Boston

Web

Comprehensive Leadership Programs

Whatever your role or career stage, our comprehensive leadership programs will prepare you for the challenges ahead. Fast-track your leadership growth—and your career—through a transformative learning experience. Each program journey... View Details

06 Mar 2012
News

HBS Professors Discuss US Outlook in NYC

November 1995
Case

Ernst & Young United Kingdom (B)

By: John J. Gabarro and Samantha Graff

Discusses progress made by mid-1995 on the three challenges identified by the change leadership at the end of 1993. First, it describes the decision-making process that resulted in a general consensus to reorganize the huge London office, and it highlights certain... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Leading Change; Management Teams; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Restructuring; Problems and Challenges; Decision Making; Adaptation; Perspective; United Kingdom; London

September 2011 (Revised July 2012)
Case

Building Watson: Not So Elementary, My Dear!

By: Willy Shih

This case is set inside IBM Research's efforts to build a computer that can successfully take on human challengers playing the game show Jeopardy! It opens with the machine named Watson offering the incorrect answer "Toronto" to a seemingly simple question during the... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Standards; Product Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Mathematical Methods; Research and Development; Information Technology

March 1953 (Revised August 1985)
Case

Rose Co.

An accounting executive is appointed plant manager, his first major "line" assignment. The plant is to be operated on a decentralized basis, contrary to the company's other plans. Administrative problems are anticipated. View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Operations

12 PM – 1 PM EST, 19 Jan 2017
Webinars: Trending@HBS

Public Entrepreneurship: Can Startups Help Solve our Biggest Public Problems?

There is a new generation of inventors, inside government and outside of it, turning problems into opportunities. The webinar will provide a sense for how public entrepreneurship can be deployed in companies and in government, and for how to tackle its trickier... View Details

2013
Working Paper

Improving Store Liquidation

By: Nathan Craig and Ananth Raman

Store liquidation is the time-constrained divestment of retail outlets through an in-store sale of inventory. The retail industry depends extensively on store liquidation, not only as a means for investors to recover capital from failed ventures, but also to allow... View Details

Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown; Financial Condition; Operations; Retail Industry

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Research Summary

Environmental Management

By: Forest L. Reinhardt

Forest L. Reinhardt is exploring the strategic and operational problems of firms in environmentally significant industries. His book, Down to Earth: Applying Business Principles to Environmental Management (published in 2000 by Harvard Business School Press),... View Details

09 Sep 2009
First Look

First Look: September 9

Working PapersOperational Failures and Problem Solving: An Empirical Study of Incident Reporting Authors:Julia Adler-Milstein, Sara J. Singer, and Michael W. Toffel Abstract... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

02 Apr 2007
Lessons from the Classroom

Making the Move to General Manager

arrive on their desk flagged as marketing or finance issues; part of the challenge is problem identification. Then the challenge is to design a feasible View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

March 2020 (Revised May 2020)
Case

Generation Investment Management

By: Vikram S. Gandhi and Sarah Mehta

By January 2020, sustainable investment firm Generation Investment Management (Generation), founded in London in 2004, had grown from a shared vision among seven founders to a 90-person firm managing $27 billion in public and private equity. Throughout its history,... View Details

April 2010 (Revised July 2014)
Case

Apple Inc. in 2010

By: David B. Yoffie and Renee Kim

On April 4, 2010, Apple Inc. launched the iPad, the company's third major innovation released over the last decade under its iconic CEO Steve Jobs. Apple's strategy of shifting its business into non-PC products had thrived so far, driven by the smashing success of the... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Product Launch; Product Positioning; Competition; Corporate Strategy; Computer Industry; Electronics Industry