Publications

06 Oct 2015
Blog Post

Henry McGee: From HBO to HBS

countries. I can’t begin to tell you how exciting it is to teach in a classroom where you get to tackle key business issues from so many different perspectives. There’s also been huge growth in diversity... View Details

April 2025
Case

Pouring Oil on Troubled Waters: Vickers Oils and Resolving Family Conflict over Generations

By: Lauren Cohen, Octavian Graf Pilati and Sophia Pan

Will Vickers, a seventh-generation (G7) member of the Vickers Family, grappled with a pressing challenge: how to re-integrate family members into the firm to recover lost talent. His father, Peter Vickers, was the lone leader of the Vickers Oils—despite having stepped... View Details

Keywords: Shareholder; Involvement; Family Office; Family Firms; Family Business; Business Growth and Maturation; Experience and Expertise; Retention; Leadership Development; Business or Company Management; Management Succession; Organizational Structure; Family Ownership; Family and Family Relationships; Diversification; Conflict and Resolution; Consumer Products Industry; United Kingdom

February 2011 (Revised November 2012)
Case

Aquion Energy

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and David Kiron

Leaders at Aquion Energy, a Pittsburgh-based battery start-up, are deciding on a market entry strategy. Should they pursue the large but unproven grid utility market or a smaller, but higher margin market? View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Production; Business Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Innovation Strategy; Disruptive Innovation; Market Entry and Exit; Performance Capacity; Energy Industry

May 2006 (Revised June 2006)
Case

Codon Devices

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and David Kiron

In December 2005, 40-year-old John Danner was about to make his first presentation to the board of directors of Codon Devices, a one-year-old biotechnology start-up based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. After a month as the company's CEO, Danner was prepared to lay out... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Venture Capital; Intellectual Property; Governing and Advisory Boards; Genetics; Competitive Advantage; Science-Based Business; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Biotechnology Industry; Cambridge

Find at Harvard

April 2005
Case

Handleman Company

By: Janice H. Hammond and Kevin Dolan

Describes the organization and operations of the Handleman Co., an intermediary in the music industry that buys recorded music and resells it to mass retailers such as Wal-Mart. The company provides distribution, inventory management, retail merchandising, and category... View Details

Keywords: Business Organization; Music Entertainment; Cost Management; Growth and Development; Business or Company Management; Distribution Channels; Problems and Challenges; Risk and Uncertainty; Online Technology; Value Creation; Music Industry

Web

Launching Global Ventures - Course Catalog

uncertainty. Global ventures, or “born globals”, are enterprises that become distributed across multiple countries very early in their life cycle. For these businesses, globalization is a core component of their business model rather than... View Details

Web

Rhea Acharya | MBA

Rhea Acharya Applied Mathematics Eliot 2025 Cohort 7 Living through this unprecedented period of technological growth has presented us with both ground-breaking solutions and new challenges. As we navigate these unknowns, we must turn to... View Details

13 Jul 2017
News

Making Friends with Mother Nature

Donald K. Clifford Jr. wrote the book on how high-performance, midsize companies beat their competition, but growth in the world of nature has always been closest to his heart. “The natural world was always my great interest,” says... View Details

Keywords: Ralph Ranalli

Richard H. Jenrette

Jenrette founded DLJ in 1959 with Harvard Business School classmates William Donaldson and Dan Lufkin. Under Jenrette’s direction, the firm concentrated on in-depth analysis for institutional investors. In the process, DLJ raised View Details

Keywords: Finance

January 2022 (Revised August 2022)
Case

Hello Heart: The Next Generation of Chronic Disease Management Apps

By: Ariel D. Stern and Danielle Golan

Hello Heart, a hypertension management app debated whether to go deep and cover other heart conditions, or to expand its solution to other chronic conditions. View Details

product-market fit, and the application of artificial intelligence. He also assists in refining business strategies related to company operations, talent management, and fundraising, with a focus on enabling sustained View Details

02 Sep 2015
Research & Ideas

Explaining China's Crash

MBA 1988) is a professor of management practice at Harvard Business School. For two decades, he ran equity capital markets for Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, and Morgan Stanley. His casework focuses on international investment, sovereign... View Details

Keywords: by Christina Pazzanese; Financial Services

01 Sep 2011
News

Taking That Hill

sought challenging environments, and I get a lot of pleasure when people say they want to take that hill, and we take that hill together.” As PPG’s growth surges internationally, it’s overseas where new and different hills are... View Details

Keywords: Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management; Manufacturing; Motor Vehicle and Parts Dealers; Retail Trade

January 2011 (Revised November 2015)
Case

The National Geographic Society (A)

By: David A. Garvin and Carin-Isabel Knoop

In January 2010, John Fahey, president, CEO, and chairman of the board of trustees' executive committee of the Washington, D.C.-based National Geographic Society (NGS), must decide how best to organize the 121-year old mission-driven organization for a world of... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Information Publishing; Leadership Style; Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Managerial Roles; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Internet; Publishing Industry

June 2010
Teaching Note

American Well: The Doctor Will E-See You Now (TN)

By: Elie Ofek

Teaching Note for 510061. View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Information Technology; Innovation and Invention; Online Technology; Revenue; System; Opportunities; Technology Adoption; Growth and Development; Brands and Branding; Business Model; Health Industry; United States

February 2010
Teaching Note

Sealed Air China (TN)

By: Regina M. Abrami, William C. Kirby and F. Warren McFarlan

Teaching Note for [308051]. View Details

Keywords: Globalization; Investment; Growth and Development Strategy; Experience and Expertise; Market Entry and Exit; Production; Performance Efficiency; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Service Industry; China; Shanghai

Profile

Paola Lara

that, she needed “to address shortcomings in areas like finance and strategy. I’d like to understand and communicate clearly on all business issues.” Once she committed herself to getting an MBA, selecting the right program proved simple.... View Details

August 1993 (Revised April 1998)
Case

Filene's Basement

By: David E. Bell and Dinny Starr

Filene's Basement is in the process of deciding where, and if, to locate two new stores in its new Chicago area of operations. The existing Chicago area stores have been performing well, however, management is concerned with over saturation of the market. At the time... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Growth Management; Marketing Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Business Processes