Publications

July 2000 (Revised September 2005)
Case

BMG Entertainment

By: Jan W. Rivkin and Gerrit Meier

As dramatic changes in technology and customer tastes roil the music industry, the top executives of BMG Entertainment, one of the world's largest record companies, must decide how to organize for digital distribution of music. This case includes a brief history of the... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Competitive Strategy; Distribution Channels; Organizational Structure; Technological Innovation; Industry Structures; Customer Focus and Relationships; Growth and Development Strategy; Information Technology; Music Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

14 Dec 2009
Research & Ideas

Can Entrepreneurs Drive People Movers to Success?

Q: What sorts of questions should managers at Vectus or other PRT businesses ask themselves going forward? A: I'm convinced that PRT creates huge value—reducing automobile congestion, and getting passengers to their desired destinations... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Transportation

October 2016
Supplement

24 Hour Fitness (B): Ownership Changes, 2005–2016

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

In 2016, 24 Hour Fitness was the number-two fitness chain in the United States, generating revenues of $1.4 billion from 441 clubs serving 3.8 million members. Based in San Ramon, California, 24 Hour Fitness operated clubs in 13 states. Having grown rapidly to become... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Advertising Campaigns; Buildings and Facilities; Acquisition; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Business Organization; For-Profit Firms; Customers; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Age; Training; Private Equity; Financing and Loans; Price; Profit; Revenue; Geographic Location; Geographic Scope; Health; Nutrition; Business History; Human Resources; Employees; Employee Relationship Management; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Journals and Magazines; Human Capital; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Teams; Marketing; Brands and Branding; Marketing Channels; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Social Marketing; Demand and Consumers; Market Entry and Exit; Media; Organizational Design; Private Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Groups and Teams; Sales; Salesforce Management; Situation or Environment; Welfare or Wellbeing; Sports; Strategy; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Segmentation; Information Technology; Internet; Mobile Technology; Online Technology; Software; Web Sites; Value; Valuation; Health Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United States; California; San Francisco

02 Oct 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, October 2, 2018

corporate profitability, Japan introduced the JPX-Nikkei400 in 2014. The index highlighted the country's “best-run” companies by annually selecting the 400 most profitable among Japan's large and liquid firms. We find that managers... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

October 2019
Case

GRIT Fitness

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Olivia Hull

In December 2018, GRIT Fitness was a growing chain of boutique fitness studios offering a variety of workout classes, including weightlifting, high intensity interval training, and cardio dance. With 400 members and three Dallas studios, CEO Brittani Rettig believed... View Details

16 Dec 2011
Research & Ideas

Reintroducing Intellectual Ambition to the Study of Business History

entrepreneurship, innovation, and economic growth; exploring the relationship between business and democracy; and the role entrepreneurs and firms, not governments or markets, have played in driving globalization. "Important subjects... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones & Walter Friedman

01 Feb 2011
First Look

First Look: Feb. 1

clamor for accountability, it is tempting to accept the popular normative view that more accountability is better. But is it feasible, or even desirable, for nonprofit organizations to be accountable to everyone for everything? The challenge for leadership and View Details

March 1994 (Revised October 1994)
Case

Reading Energy

By: Forest L. Reinhardt

Reading Energy builds facilities that produce energy from nontraditional fuels. A privately held, entrepreneurial organization, it has spent six years developing a plan to build a waste-to-energy plant in the town of Robbins, Illinois. The plant would burn municipal... View Details

Keywords: Energy Generation; Wastes and Waste Processing; Business and Community Relations; Business Plan; Agreements and Arrangements; Contracts; Risk and Uncertainty; Government and Politics; Environmental Sustainability; Business Strategy; Energy Industry; Utilities Industry; Illinois

Find at Harvard

27 Nov 2006
Research & Ideas

Manly Men, Oil Platforms, and Breaking Stereotypes

each of these indices of safety and performance, they were exemplars of the company's efforts to create a new kind of offshore operating environment. Our discussions with senior managers led us to believe that organizational features of... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Energy; Utilities

17 Sep 2001
Research & Ideas

Why E-commerce Didn’t Die With the Fall of Webvan

direct-to-consumer would have to involve direct relationships with multiple manufacturers—or seem to; I don't know if it has to require that. And no one has found the model to do that. Q: Do you think part of Webvan's demise was a problem... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Consumer Products; Retail

September 2019 (Revised May 2020)
Supplement

Keroche (F): Future Growth Plans

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Pippa Tubman Armerding

This case describes Keroche co-founder Tabitha Karanja’s 2012 decision to invest in additional production capacity. In November 2012, with a loan from Barclay’s bank, Keroche began constructing a new state-of-the-art beer brewery using German technology. The new plant,... View Details

March 2024
Case

Nomad: A License to Bank

By: Paul A. Gompers and Pedro Levindo

In late 2023, Lucas Vargas, CEO and co-founder of Nomad, a fintech that offered financial services in the United States for Brazilian residents, had to decide what to do to ensure the company’s continued expansion. Nomad launched its first product, a U.S. digital bank... View Details

10 Nov 2003
Research & Ideas

The Hard Numbers on Social Investments

capital through their network. Results would also help IC members discuss the larger question about the relationship of financial returns and social returns. In short, should capital providers expect some lesser degree of financial... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls

15 Dec 2015
First Look

December 15, 2015

moving upmarket to challenge the industry leaders. They point out that Uber, commonly hailed as a disrupter, doesn’t actually fit the mold, and they explain that if managers don’t understand the nuances of disruption theory or apply its... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

Article

Strong Leadership and Teamwork Drive Culture and Performance Change: Ohio State University Medical Center 2000–2006

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger, Fred Sanfilippo, Neeli Bendapudi and Anthony Rucci

Several characteristics of academic health centers have the potential to create high levels of internal conflict and misalignment that can pose significant leadership challenges.

In September 2000, the positions of Ohio State University (OSU) senior vice... View Details

Keywords: Employee Relationship Management; Customer Value and Value Chain; Organizational Structure; Performance Improvement; Customer Satisfaction; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leading Change; Service Delivery; Satisfaction; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry; Ohio

Read Now

13 Jul 2010
First Look

First Look: July 13

venture capital. The program provides "IP for equity" and has proven very successful in achieving its main goals—improved morale among researchers who like knowing their technology is being used, improved relationships with the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

19 May 2016
Research Event

Crowdsourcing, Patent Trolls, and Other Research Insights Highlighted at Harvard Business School Symposium

co-chair of the School’s Global Energy Seminar; Daniel J. Needleman, the Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Physics at SEAS and Principal Investigator at the Needleman Lab; and Vicki Sato, who servers both as Professor of Management... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman & Carmen Nobel

September 2019 (Revised May 2020)
Supplement

Keroche (E): Considering Additional Capacity

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Pippa Tubman Armerding

This case describes Keroche’s growth after entering the beer business in 2008. Although the company was operating at full capacity and not able to fulfill all of its orders, Tabitha Karanja had set a goal of growing Keroche’s share of the Kenyan beer market from... View Details