Publications

May 1984 (Revised August 1987)
Case

Raymond Mushroom Corp.

By: Benson P. Shapiro

In April 1984 Deborah Raymond, president of Raymond Mushrooms was deciding whether or not to raise prices on Raymond canned mushrooms in conjunction with an advertising promotional program to build consumer preference. View Details

Keywords: Product Positioning; Advertising; Decisions; Price; Management Teams; Food and Beverage Industry

February 1998 (Revised January 1999)
Case

Rob Parson at Morgan Stanley (C) (Abridged)

A year after Rob Parson's manager decided to postpone Parson's promotion, Parson's new manager Gary Stuart faces the decision of promotion again. Stuart considers whether the efforts Parson had made were sufficient. View Details

Keywords: Management; Personal Development and Career; Performance Evaluation; Financial Services Industry

July 1994 (Revised January 1997)
Case

Steamboat Ski & Resort Corporation

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

The largest ski resort in Colorado must determine how to select customer segments to focus its promotional and service-delivery efforts. Making segmentation work depends on reordering its pricing policy and "service packages." View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Service Delivery; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Colorado

15 Mar 2019
News

‘I want to make it felt’

May 2011 (Revised March 2013)
Case

Marshall & Gordon: Designing an Effective Compensation System (A)

By: Heidi K. Gardner and Kerry Herman

CEO Kelly Browne wrestles with the design of a new compensation system to promote the collaboration and cross-selling necessary for supporting her firm's new strategy. Marshall Gordon International, a global public relations (PR) firm, has recently expanded its service... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Customer Relationship Management; Compensation and Benefits; Retention; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Organizational Culture; Partners and Partnerships; Motivation and Incentives; Alignment; Public Relations Industry

September 2005 (Revised July 2006)
Case

Kingsford Charcoal

By: Das Narayandas and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

Since the 1980s, Kingsford had continued to enjoy steady, moderate growth of 1% to 3% in revenues each year. During most of this time, the charcoal category as a whole grew as well. However, the summer of 2000 represented the first softening in the category in several... View Details

Keywords: Price; Marketing Strategy; Business Growth and Maturation; Advertising; Brands and Branding; Consumer Products Industry; United States

12 Nov 2019
Video

Christoph Schiess

Christoph Schiess, President of TANICA, a Chilean business group with diversified activities in real estate, tourism and hotels, mineral water, and other activities,... View Details

2023
Working Paper

Point Four and the Politics of Foreign Direct Investment in the United States during the Early Cold War

By: Melanie Sheehan

This article traces business influence in the formulation of the Point Four technical assistance program, the first US Cold War-era international development program. It focuses specifically on business interest associations’ efforts to secure federal incentives to... View Details

Keywords: Point Four Program; Business Interest Association; International Development; Cold War; Foreign Direct Investment; Business History; Business and Government Relations

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March 2009
Case

Barbara Norris: Leading Change in the General Surgery Unit

By: Boris Groysberg, Nitin Nohria and Deborah Bell

Barbara Norris struggles to address the many problems facing her as a recently promoted nurse manager in the General Surgery Unit (GSU) at Eastern Massachusetts University Hospital (EMU). She has inherited a unit with the lowest employee satisfaction scores and highest... View Details

Keywords: Employee Relationship Management; Leading Change; Service Delivery; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Groups and Teams; Motivation and Incentives; Satisfaction; Health Industry

2014
Book

Critical Knowledge Transfer: Tools for Managing Your Company's Deep Smarts

By: Dorothy A. Leonard, Walter Swap and Garvin Barton

When highly skilled subject matter experts, engineers, and managers leave their organizations, they take with them years of hard-earned, experience-based knowledge—much of it undocumented and irreplaceable. Organizations can thereby lose a good part of their... View Details

Keywords: Knowledge Management

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13 Apr 2018
News

The Indies: Threatened, But Thriving

December 1978 (Revised January 1986)
Case

Pepsi-Cola (A)

By: Walter J. Salmon and Steven R. Palesy

Combining aspects of a functionally organized marketing management system, with a franchised channel of distribution network. Focuses on extending an innovative promotional program to a market where competitive conditions differ. View Details

Keywords: Innovation Strategy; Management; Marketing; Marketing Reference Programs; Network Effects; Distribution; Organizational Design; Franchise Ownership; Competition; Food and Beverage Industry

Find at Harvard

03 May 2015
News

Why Companies Are Driving Social Change

Blog

Why Does Your Company Exist?

When was the last time you thought about your company's mission statement? Maybe it appears on a slide deck that employees see in their onboarding process, or spotlighted in the annual report. Or perhaps your company's website features some aspirational statements or... View Details

February 2010 (Revised February 2021)
Case

The Vitality Group: Paying for Self-Care

By: Regina E. Herzlinger

Vitality is part of a $2 billion start-up South African and U.K. health insurance firm. It has achieved excellent results in rewarding people for promoting their health. It is now contemplating how to enter the U.S. market. View Details

Keywords: Market Entry and Exit; Insurance Industry; South Africa; United Kingdom; United States

19 Apr 2018
Video

SHLD Final Pitch New Venture Competition 2018 Social Enterprise Track

July 2002 (Revised October 2002)
Case

Taj Hotel Group

By: Thomas J. DeLong and Vineeta Vijayaraghavan

R.K. Krishna Kumar, managing director and head of Taj Hotel Group, has to decide whether to reexamine a promotion decision. In an attempt to deliver a level of service quality that met global standards at the Indian hotel chain, Kumar had introduced new personnel... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Human Resources; Leadership Development; Management Teams; Organizational Culture; Alignment; India

September 2010 (Revised March 2013)
Case

Capital for Enterprise Limited (CfEL): Bridging the SME Early-Stage Finance Gap

By: Josh Lerner, Eli Talmor, Ananth Vyas Bhimavarapu and Thibaud Simphal

The CEO of the company set up to manage a British government effort to promote the venture capital industry considers the progress made to date, as well as how the program can be adjusted. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Financing and Loans; Business and Government Relations; Financial Services Industry; Public Administration Industry; United Kingdom