Publications

July 2013
Case

Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate?

By: John A. Quelch and Diane Badame

Andrea Torres, director of new product development at a high-end chocolate confectionery company, leads her team through a carefully sequenced program of market research to support the development and launch of a new product, healthy dark chocolate with fruit. This is... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Food; Consumer Behavior; Nutrition; Product Launch; Product Development; Food and Beverage Industry; Switzerland; United States

01 Sep 2023
News

Global Outposts Expand HBS’s Intellectual Footprint

several obstacles faced by businesses operating in the country, contrasting these with efforts undertaken by the government to improve Argentina’s business climate. (Read related story.) MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA RESEARCH CENTER... View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Gillespie

August 2004 (Revised June 2005)
Case

Fate of the Vasa, The

By: Alan D. MacCormack and Richard Mason

In 1628, the royal warship Vasa was launched. It was Sweden's most expensive naval vessel ever built, costing over 5% of GNP. On its maiden voyage, the ship sailed 1,400 yards in its own harbor, heeled over to the side, and then sank. One third of the 150 crew and... View Details

Keywords: History; Risk and Uncertainty; Technological Innovation; Ship Transportation; Product Design; Technology Adoption; Failure; Business and Government Relations; Product Development; Sweden

01 Jun 2023
News

Cultivating Prosperity in Afghanistan

Kimberly Jung, pictured in a field of crocuses, returned to Afghanistan to understand how she and her cofounders could import saffron to the United States. Photo courtesy of Kimberly Jung During their first semester at HBS, former United States Army engineer officers... View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Gillespie

Web

HBS - Key Metrics

2022 Annual Report From The Dean Key Metrics Financials PDF Downloads Key Metrics Financials (in millions) 2022 2021 2020 2019 Revenues $966 $805 $861 $925 Expenses 908 779 831 821 Cash from Operations 58 26 30 104 Capital Investments 43... View Details

May 2017 (Revised March 2018)
Case

David Dao on United Airlines

By: Benjamin Edelman and Jenny Sanford

In widely circulated videos, United staff and Chicago security forcibly remove a passenger from his paid seat on an aircraft, injuring him severely. United leadership must decide how to respond to public outcry. View Details

Keywords: Crisis Management; Service Operations; Air Transportation; Contracts; Reputation; Air Transportation Industry; Chicago

23 Jun 2022
News

All Those Zoom Meetings May Boost Connection and Curb Loneliness

November 1990 (Revised April 1999)
Case

General Motors: Packard Electric Division

By: Steven C. Wheelwright

Packard Electric is the division of General Motors (GM) that does all of the electrical wiring and cabling for GM automobiles. They developed a new approach for passing the cables through the firewall between the engine and passenger compartments. The new technology... View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Cost; Management Style; Product Design; Product Development; Production; Projects; Groups and Teams; Conflict and Resolution; Technology; Auto Industry

Profile

Meagan Hill

founders and management teams to help their companies grow. She will be involved in sourcing new deals and enhancing operations in the firm's current portfolio. "BASE is a team that loves rolling up its sleeves and working on the... View Details

Keywords: Financial Services

15 Dec 2003
Research & Ideas

The New Global Business Manager

their global competitiveness. Their approach was simple: They centralized huge scale and built all the Toyotas in Toyoda City. Or they produced all the Panasonic VCRs out of Osaka. These huge, centralized, scale-intensive operations drove... View Details

Keywords: by Cynthia Churchwell

April 2012
Article

Retail Doesn't Cross Borders: Here's Why and What to Do about It

By: Marcel Corstjens and Rajiv Lal

Most companies assume that the easiest way to grow is by investing overseas and that the developing world offers the best opportunities for boosting revenues and profits today. However, success abroad varies widely, and research shows that it's often tough to... View Details

Keywords: Operations; Growth and Development Strategy; Globalization; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Local Range; Retail Industry

Read Now

Web

Invention of the Polarizer - Edwin H. Land & Polaroid | Harvard Business School

several years Land and Wheelwright set up operations at various locations in the Boston area where they continued to expand their laboratory and manufacturing facilities to design and build specialized equipment and machines that would... View Details

14 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

Restarting Under Uncertainty: Managerial Experiences from Around the World

rapidly leveraging new ways of doing things, both from an operational and commercial standpoint, quickly became a number one priority. Keeping up to date with the latest governmental information was a useful starting point for many, but... View Details

Keywords: by Raffaella Sadun, Andrea Bertoni, Alexia Delfino, Giovanni Fassio, and Mariapaola Testa

01 Jun 2022
News

In My Humble Opinion: Home Base

firms, and investment houses, to Pfizer, Disney, Lincoln Center, and even the US Air Force. “These organizations are talent-driven and operate in demanding circumstances and markets,” Dowling notes. “They want actionable, resonant... View Details

Keywords: April White

19 Jun 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, June 19, 2018

Summer 2018 RAND Journal of Economics Scale versus Scope in the Diffusion of New Technology: Evidence from the Farm Tractor By: Gross, Daniel P. Abstract—Although tractors are now used in nearly every agricultural field operation and in... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

October 2005 (Revised October 2008)
Case

Virginia Mason Medical Center

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer and Erika Ferlins

In 2000, Dr. Gary Kaplan became CEO of the Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, Washington. The hospital was facing significant challenges: It was losing money for the first time in its history, staff morale had plummeted, and area hospitals presented ardent... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Production; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Problems and Challenges; Quality; Competition; Seattle

01 Jun 2023
News

An Engine of Innovation

Startup life can often feel like a solo sport, says Matt Segneri (MBA 2010), the Bruce and Bridgitt Evans Executive Director of the Harvard Innovation Labs: “What the three labs in our ecosystem do is to make building a venture something that happens within a truly... View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Gillespie

August 2019
Case

Walmart's Omnichannel Strategy: Revolution or Miscalculation?

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Karen Elterman

This case describes Walmart's omnichannel strategy in 2018 as it battled Amazon for online retail market share. The case discusses Walmart's early forays into online retail, as well as its 2018 strategy, which aimed to integrate Walmart's enormous brick and mortar... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Strategy; Internet and the Web; Distribution; Distribution Channels; Competition; Retail Industry; Bentonville; Arkansas; New Jersey; Seattle; United States

June 2000
Case

Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts

Four Seasons has a love/hate relationship with technology, including the best Web site in the industry. This case examines how a leading service delivers high-tech/high-touch, and looks at its progressive human resource strategy. View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Service Operations; Accommodations Industry