Publications

September 2013
Case

United Rentals (A)

By: Jay W. Lorsch, Kathleen Durante and Emily McTague

In December 1997 United Rentals (URI) went public on the NYSE. Ten years later, during the peak of the economic meltdown, the company's performance was in decline. United Rentals had experienced its share of problems in the prior years and was still struggling to... View Details

Keywords: Board Of Directors; Board Dynamics; Accounting Fraud; Governance; Board Committees; Merger; Corporate Governance; Construction Industry; United States

2021
Chapter

Sostenibilidad y negocios verdes en América Latina

By: Geoffrey Jones

This chapter in the first-ever business history textbook on Latin America examines the impact of modern business enterprise on the natural environment of the region between the 19th century and the present day. It argues that although global capitalism created much... View Details

Keywords: Environment; Business History; Environmental Sustainability; Latin America; North and Central America

April 2013
Supplement

AIG and the American Taxpayers (B)

By: Karthik Ramanna and Matthew Shaffer

Explores the decision faced by AIG's board on whether to join shareholder and ex-CEO Maurice Greenberg's lawsuit against the U.S. government. The suit, argued by super-lawyer David Boies (of Bush v. Gore and California Gay Marriage fame), claims that in September 2008... View Details

Keywords: Financial Markets; Financial Policy; Property Rights; Financial Institutions; Financial Crisis; Financial Management; Insurance Industry; United States

April 2025 (Revised June 2025)
Case

Governing Sustainability in a Shifting Context (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz

In early 2025, boards of directors had to rethink corporate responsibility and sustainability efforts amid rapidly-shifting social, legal, regulatory, and economic forces. While just a few years earlier, calls to address racial justice and climate change reached into... View Details

May 2022
Case

From GOP to NFT: Anthony Scaramucci and the Launch of Flatter NFT

By: Lauren Cohen, Richard Ryffel and Grace Headinger

Anthony Scaramucci, Managing Director of SkyBridge Capital, considered whether he should officially greenlight the launch of SkyBridge’s own NFT platform — Flatter NFT. He had led the investment firm to push first into Bitcoin and then Ethereum to make SkyBridge a... View Details

September 1994
Case

Marks & Spencer: Sir Richard Greenbury's Quiet Revolution

By: Joseph L. Bower and John B. Matthews Jr.

Marks & Spencer (M&S) is one of the world's greatest companies. In 1994, its management was chosen the most admired in Europe by 637 peers. The case explores how Sir Richard Greenbury, appointed the new chairman of the company in 1991, transformed his inheritance into... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Business or Company Management; Business Strategy; Management Teams; Global Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Europe; United States

Find at Harvard

June 1995
Case

Polaroid Corporation: European Distribution System

By: Janice H. Hammond and Afroze A Mohammed

Describes distribution operations in Polaroid Europe. In the late 1980s, Polaroid senior management in the United States proposed moving from a system of 12 decentralized warehouses to a centralized distribution system in which all inventory for European retailers... View Details

Keywords: Distribution; Operations; Risk Management; Distribution Channels; Logistics; Transition; Strategy; Problems and Challenges; Industry Structures; Consumer Products Industry; Europe; European Union; United States

Web

United Fruit Company Photograph Collection - Photography Collections - Historical Collections

countries of Central and South America and the West Indies. Loading bananas from tram car to Railroad car, Puerto Castilla, Honduras, Nov. 29, 1926 This collection of 75 albums holds approximately 10,400... View Details

12 Mar 2024
Research & Ideas

Publish or Perish: What the Research Says About Productivity in Academia

To succeed in academia, professors often feel the pressure to “publish or perish.” But in evaluating professors’ productivity based on total published studies and grant funding, are institutions overlooking other factors that affect a faculty member’s ability to... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Education

April 2013 (Revised June 2016)
Case

AIG and the American Taxpayers (A)

By: Karthik Ramanna and Matthew Shaffer

Explores the decision faced by AIG's board on whether to join shareholder and ex-CEO Maurice Greenberg's lawsuit against the U.S. government. The suit, argued by super-lawyer David Boies (of Bush v. Gore and California Gay Marriage fame), claims that in September 2008... View Details

Keywords: Property Rights; Financial Institutions; Financial Markets; Financial Crisis; Property; Insurance Industry; United States

21 Dec 2010
First Look

First Look: December 21

level of sustainable growth. The Report has been developed by Vietnam's Central Institute for Economic Management and the Singapore-based Asia Competitiveness Institute upon the request of Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai. View the... View Details

14 Sep 2023
Research & Ideas

Working Moms Are Mostly Thriving Again. Can We Finally Achieve Gender Parity?

So much has changed since a groundbreaking study found that daughters of working moms often perform better in their own careers than daughters of stay-at-home moms—and are just as happy, to boot. Diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts across higher education and... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin

August 2023 (Revised September 2023)
Case

T.G.S. Transportation: Battery Electric or Hydrogen?

By: Willy C. Shih

Peter Schneider, the President of T.G.S. Transportation, Inc., faced a choice. His company operated drayage trucks that moved containerized cargo between the Ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Oakland to customers across the State of California, with a focus on the... View Details

Keywords: Decarbonization; Clean Technology; Energy; Energy Policy; Renewable Energy; Environmental Sustainability; Truck Transportation; Transportation Industry; United States; California

January 2008 (Revised August 2011)
Case

ProntoWash: Washing the World's Cars to a Tango Beat

ProntoWash management considers whether franchising and the Balanced Scorecard could be combined to help customer-facing employees provide consistent service across the world and capture relevant management information. In 2007, ProntoWash, an international car-wash... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Growth and Development Strategy; Balanced Scorecard; Management Systems; Franchise Ownership; Performance Consistency; Argentina

29 Feb 2024
HBS Case

Beyond Goals: David Beckham's Playbook for Mobilizing Star Talent

Superstar talent brings the kind of wattage that can power a business to the next level, as recent high-stakes decisions facing soccer legend David Beckham show. Two new Harvard Business School case studies examine the questions Beckham and his team pondered as he... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman; Sports

December 1996
Supplement

Cleveland Turnaround: Leadership in Action

By: James E. Austin, Jaan Elias and Andrea L Strimling

Consists of three separate parts. Part 1, The Cleveland Turnaround, describes Cleveland's decline until its bankruptcy in 1978. This is followed by the remedial actions taken by community leaders, starting with the election of a new mayor, the formation of new... View Details

Keywords: Leading Change; Business Cycles; Development Economics; Urban Development; Social Issues; Business and Community Relations; Cleveland