Publications

April 2019 (Revised June 2019)
Case

Western Governors University: 10x Vision

By: William R. Kerr and Susie L. Ma

Western Governors University (WGU) was a nonprofit institution of higher education whose online learning model served more than 100,000 students in 2019 and was scaling rapidly. President Scott Pulsipher wanted to expand WGU’s reach to millions more with a plan called... View Details

Keywords: Online Education; Enrollment; Scaling; Higher Education; Internet and the Web; Business Model; Expansion; Growth and Development Strategy; Education Industry; United States

Career Coach

Meredith Hamilton

Meredith [she/her] has served as a mentor and coach to innumerable mid-career staff as well as several CEOs in the social sector. She is committed to creating a safe space for students and alumni to explore questions of professional identity and career progression... View Details

Keywords: Education; Entrepreneurship; Impact Investing; Financial Services (All); Government; Real Estate; Social Enterprise

14 Oct 2014
First Look

First Look: October 14

information for plants in over 100 countries, we construct a spatially continuous index of pairwise-industry agglomeration and investigate the patterns and determinants underlying the global economic geography of multinational firms. Our... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

August 1995 (Revised August 1995)
Case

CIGNA Property and Casualty Reengineering (A)

By: Richard L. Nolan, Donna B. Stoddard, Chiara Francalanci and Elise C Martin

Reengineering was introduced at CIGNA Corp. in 1988. CIGNA entered a second wave reengineering effort through a major project at CIGNA P&C, one of CIGNA's larger businesses. P&C was in financial crisis and as a result brought in a new executive team in 1991 to head the... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Cost vs Benefits; Design; Growth and Development; Analytics and Data Science; Growth and Development Strategy; Balanced Scorecard; Financial Crisis; Crisis Management; Projects; Information Technology; Insurance Industry

2020
Working Paper

Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 2 Transactions in a Task Network

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

From the 1930s through today, many economists have conceived of large technical systems for the production of goods and services as a series of transactions. This point of view has led eminent economists to assert that transactions are the fundamental unit of analysis... View Details

Keywords: Modularity; Information Technology; Organizations

SSRN

Read Now

September 2022 (Revised June 2025)
Case

York Capital CLOs and WorldStrides International

By: Victoria Ivashina and William Vrattos

The case follows the debt restructuring of WorldStrides International, a travel program provider in the education market, after the onset of COVID-19. The pandemic severely impacted the travel industry, creating challenges for many companies like WorldStrides, which... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Debt Restructuring; CLO; Compliance; Debt Securities; Financing and Loans; Decision Making; Travel Industry; Education Industry

August 2004 (Revised April 2005)
Case

MK Taxi: Private Chauffeur Service

MK Taxi Tokyo has developed a system to allow customers to use their mobile phones to find and contact the cab closest to them, bypassing the dispatch center. The system, called the Private Chauffeur Service (PCS), makes use of NTT's i-mode service, which essentially... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Entrepreneurship; Customer Focus and Relationships; Transportation; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Transportation Industry; Service Industry; Tokyo

09 Apr 2013
First Look

First Look: April 9

Cases & Course Materials Harvard Business School Case 612-016 Lowell General Physician Hospital Organization This case focuses on the Alternative Quality Contract (AQC), a novel payment program designed to incentivize providers to deliver less costly, high... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2025 (Revised March 2025)
Case

Good for the Seller, Good for the Buyer and Good for Society: Sampo-yoshi, Sustainability and Trust at ITOCHU

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Bethelehem Y Araya

In 2024, ITOCHU CEO Masahiro Okafuji was at a crossroads. As the thirteenth CEO since ITOCHU’s founding in 1858, he had fueled the company’s growth since 2011 by bringing ITOCHU’s founding philosophy of Sampo-yoshi (good for the seller, good for the buyer and... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Trust; Profit; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Mission and Purpose; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Japan

July 2003 (Revised June 2010)
Case

FrontPoint Partners

By: Jay O. Light

A hedge fund platform, a new and unique kind of asset management firm, contemplates various client markets for its services. View Details

Keywords: Asset Management; Investment; Demand and Consumers; Digital Platforms; Service Delivery; Financial Services Industry

Find at Harvard

06 Mar 2006
What Do You Think?

The China Dilemma for U.S. Firms: Comply, Resist, or Leave?

not see any threat or moral hazard when the service provider makes clear to its customer the potential threat of use or sharing of the information by the intelligence or other authorities. Forewarned is forearmed. . . . As in Buddhist... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Technology

Teaching Interest

Overview

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang

Launching Technology Ventures
Launching Technology Ventures (LTV) is designed for students who are actively working on their own startups or who will work at early-stage startups. The course material is, in particular, focused on new businesses in the... View Details

15 Nov 2010
Lessons from the Classroom

Connecting Goals and Go-To-Market Initiatives

and making alignment of strategy and sales difficult. Performance management practices. Performance management is not just performance measurement or compensation, although both are important. Performance... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

June 1995
Case

Northern Telecom and Tong Guang Electronics (A1): Getting to Know Each Other

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Pamela A. Yatsko

In its second year of operation, the joint venture between Northern Telecom (Nortel) of Canada and Tong Guang Electronics of China to manufacture telecommunications equipment in China has hit a crisis. The Chinese partner has asked Northern Telecom to replace its... View Details

Keywords: Mobile and Wireless Technology; Joint Ventures; Change Management; Organizational Culture; Crisis Management; Financial Crisis; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Leadership; Telecommunications Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Canada; China

Find at Harvard

April 1999
Teaching Note

Issues in Technology Strategy TN

By: Clayton M. Christensen

Provides instructors with an overview for the module in the Managing Innovation course, Issues in Technology Strategy. Provides an overview of the frameworks introduced in the module that can help managers in their efforts to formulate strategies relating to several... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Investment; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Research; Technology Adoption; Technology Industry