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& Co., Ltd. By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Akiko Saito In 2025, Kenichi Hori, President and CEO of Mitsui & Co., Ltd.—one of Japan’s most prominent Sogo Shosha (investment and trading companies with sprawling global... View Details

June 2007 (Revised September 2021)
Case

Thomas J. Watson, IBM and Nazi Germany

By: Geoffrey Jones, Grace Ballor and Adrian Brown

Considers the strategy of U.S.-owned IBM, then a manufacturer of punch cards, in Nazi Germany before 1937. Opens with IBM CEO Thomas J. Watson meeting Adolf Hitler in his capacity as President of the International Chamber of Commerce. IBM had acquired a German company... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Values and Beliefs; Multinational Firms and Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Investment; Business and Government Relations; Germany; United States

October 2016
Case

The Quiet Ascension of LA Fitness

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

In 2016, LA Fitness was the largest chain of non-franchised fitness clubs in North America, operating 676 clubs, serving 4.9 million members, and generating revenues of over $1.9 billion. Founded by Chinyol Yi, Louis Welch, and Paul Norris in 1984, the privately held... View Details

Keywords: LA Fitness; Health Clubs; Fitness; Gyms; Chain; Exercise; Personal Training; Retention; Bally Total Fitness; 24 Hour Fitness; Planet Fitness; Buildings and Facilities; Acquisition; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Customers; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Demographics; Age; Gender; Income; Residency; Borrowing and Debt; Capital; Capital Structure; Cash; Cash Flow; Cost; Private Equity; Financial Condition; Financial Liquidity; Financing and Loans; Investment Return; Price; Profit; Revenue; Geographic Location; Geographic Scope; Multinational Firms and Management; Business History; Employees; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Human Capital; Contracts; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Operations; Service Operations; Leasing; Private Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Sales; Salesforce Management; Situation or Environment; Opportunities; Sports; Strategy; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Segmentation; Information Technology; Mobile Technology; Technology Platform; Health Industry; United States; California; Los Angeles

August 2024
Case

Cristina Ventura: The Career of a Catalyst

By: Linda A. Hill, Allison J. Wigen and Ruth Page

This multimedia case follows the career of Chief Catalyst Officer for the Lane Crawford Joyce Group (LCJG), Cristina Ventura. After beginning her career in luxury in Europe and Asia, Ventura was recruited in 2011 to open Apple’s flagship stores in Hong Kong and South... View Details

Keywords: Innovation Leadership; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Leadership Style; Leading Change; Entrepreneurship; Luxury; Family Business; Personal Development and Career; Fashion Industry; Retail Industry; Technology Industry; Asia; China; Hong Kong

March 2009 (Revised April 2009)
Case

AFSCME vs. Mozilo...and "Say on Pay" for All! (A) (Abridged)

By: Fabrizio Ferri and James Weber

Richard Ferlauto, director of pensions and benefits policy at the AFSCME, the largest public sector workers union in the U.S., was responsible for protecting the pensions of its members. Because pensions were invested for decades, Ferlauto wanted the companies in which... View Details

Keywords: Voting; Investment; Investment Activism; Corporate Governance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Governing and Advisory Boards; Executive Compensation; Ownership Stake; Business and Shareholder Relations; United States

February 2009 (Revised September 2010)
Case

JWT China: Advertising for the New Chinese Consumer

By: Elisabeth Koll

This case analyzes the business strategy and expansion of JWT China from the late 1990s to 2008. As part of the world's fourth largest marketing communications network, JWT China grew into one of the largest integrated communications companies in China operating from... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Business and Government Relations; Business Strategy; Expansion; Advertising Industry; China

15 Feb 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Embracing Commitment and Performance: CEOs and Practices Used to Manage Paradox

Keywords: by Tobias Fredberg, Michael Beer, Russell Eisenstat, Nathaniel Foote & Flemming Norrgren

Using the Crowd as an Innovation Partner

From Apple to Merck to Wikipedia, more and more organizations are turning to crowds for help in solving their most vexing innovation and research questions, but managers remain understandably cautious. It seems risky and even unnatural to push problems out to vast... View Details

31 Aug 2020
Blog Post

Five Important Steps before Taking the Entrepreneurial Leap

Nina Mullen and Hilary Quartner are both from the HBS MBA Class of 2017. Nina has deep strategy and consumer products experience, notably at Bain & Company and Harry’s (where she focused on launching Harry’s at Target). Most recently,... View Details

November 2019 (Revised April 2020)
Case

Danone: Changing the Food System

By: David E. Bell, Federica Gabrieli and Daniela Beyersdorfer

Emmanuel Faber, Chairman and CEO of the food and beverage company Danone, believed that humankind had only ten years to bend the curve on climate change and restore the biodiversity that the global food and agricultural ecosystem was critically dependent on. Upon... View Details

Keywords: Animal-Based Agribusiness; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Food; Nutrition; Quality; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Environmental Sustainability; Climate Change; Business Model; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; France

29 Mar 2010
Research & Ideas

Ruthlessly Realistic: How CEOs Must Overcome Denial

business model for decades. Shrewd observers knew it. The company did not transform itself because it could continue to coast along, living in the reflected aura of its past glory. GM's leadership acted in 2008 as if it were 1998 or 1988.... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Auto; Retail; Technology

January 1985 (Revised February 1997)
Case

Lotus Development Corp.

By: William A. Sahlman

Contains a description of the history and venture capital financing of Lotus Development. Focuses on issues related to the possible terms of investment in Lotus by a major venture capital firm. The pedagogic objectives in the case are: to explore the elements of the... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Business or Company Management; Venture Capital; Organizational Structure; Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Outcome or Result; Corporate Finance; Planning; Computer Industry

April 2013
Article

Using the Crowd as an Innovation Partner

By: Kevin J. Boudreau and Karim R. Lakhani

More and more organizations are turning to crowds for help in solving their most vexing innovation and research questions, but managers remain understandably cautious. It seems risky and even unnatural to push problems out to vast groups of strangers distributed around... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Research and Development

Find at Harvard

2016
Working Paper

Decision-Making by Precedent and the Founding of American Honda (1948 – 1974)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and John Heilbron

American Honda was founded in 1959 as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Honda Motor Company to facilitate sales and distribution in the United States. The details of American Honda’s early history have long served as evidence in debates among scholars and practitioners... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Business Subsidiaries; Decision Making; Auto Industry; Retail Industry; United States

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2012
Teaching Note

Beyondsoft Co., Ltd. (B) (TN)

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Donghong Li and Hong Zhang

The case "Beyondsoft Co., Ltd. (A)" completed in early 2010 described the strategic path of Beyondsoft over its history of more than 10 years since its foundation in 1995, containing its major business lines and the relations with the major customers at that time, the... View Details

Keywords: Computer Software; Entrepreneurship; Information Technology; Outsourcing; Strategy; China; Applications and Software; China

February 1992 (Revised September 2019)
Case

The House of Tata

By: James E. Austin and Ashish Nanda

The case traces the evolution of the Tata group, one of the largest and highly respected Indian business houses, from its 19th century founding and early growth in diverse industries, to its response to changes in government regulation in independent India, up to its... View Details

Keywords: Indian Economy; International Business; Government And Business; Government Regulation; Synergy; Conglomerates; Business Conglomerates; Developing Countries and Economies; Business and Government Relations; Business History; Steel Industry; Electronics Industry; Chemical Industry; Insurance Industry; Air Transportation Industry; India

31 Oct 2017
First Look

New Research and Ideas, October 31, 2017

healthcare system. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=53401 Business and Sustainability: New Business History Perspectives By: Bergquist, Ann-Kristin Abstract—This working paper provides a long-term business... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

October 2001 (Revised December 2001)
Case

EU Takeover Directive

By: Guhan Subramanian and Michelle Kalka

The draft 13th Company Law Directive, originally written in the 1980s and first formally proposed in 1990, was intended to harmonize the takeover laws of the member states of the European Union (EU). From its inception, though, this bill was controversial. Nations... View Details

Keywords: Conflict of Interests; Mergers and Acquisitions; Laws and Statutes; Policy; Problems and Challenges; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Germany; United Kingdom; European Union