Publications

Feb 02 2017
Testimonial

Making Better Decisions

11 Oct 2024
Blog Post

Committing to Work and Family: Allison Boxer (MBA 2012)

Learn about the career resources available to HBS alumni through HBS Career & Professional Development I found my professional North Star as an undergraduate student while studying abroad in rural Tanzania. Our work in clean water access was a light bulb moment for... View Details

02 Feb 2017
Video

Making Better Decisions

April 1995 (Revised May 1995)
Case

Kraft General Foods: The Merger (B)

By: David J. Collis and Elizabeth Wynne Johnson

Discusses the recent decision to blend the previously separate Kraft and General Foods units into one operating company with a focus on the creation of a single massive sales force. View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Salesforce Management; Corporate Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

17 Nov 2023
Blog Post

HBS Veteran Spotlight: Rex Willis (MBA 2024)

School as an active-duty service member has been an immensely enriching experience, blending my military background with a dynamic academic environment. The school's emphasis on leadership and diverse perspectives has allowed me to... View Details

May 2000
Case

CMGI: Organizational and Market Innovation

By: Josh Lerner

CMGI is considering acquiring yesmail, an e-mail marketing firm. In assessing the potential acquisition, it must assess the fit with its own organization, which consists of a unique blend of venture capital investments and publicly traded subsidiaries. View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Mergers and Acquisitions; Organizational Structure; Venture Capital; Business Subsidiaries

09 May 2019
News

Private Colleges Team Up with Harvard Business School Online to Create Unique Hybrid Learning Program

06 Nov 2013
What Do You Think?

Is Top-Down Resource Allocation on the Rise?

Summing Up Is Business Agility a Product of Top-Down or Bottom-Up Resource Allocation? Respondents to this month's column provided possible explanations for greater reliance on top-down resource allocation processes (RAPs) while reminding us that a View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

October 2000 (Revised October 2000)
Case

3PLex.com

By: Myra M. Hart and Judith Marie Dror

A start-up team is faced with the challenge of building a senior management team with relevant industry experience. The marriage of e-commerce and the transportation logistics industry creates unusual problems in blending "old economy" employees and employee practices... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Executive Compensation; Employee Stock Ownership Plan; Organizational Culture; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Technology Adoption; Transportation Industry

07 Aug 2000
Research & Ideas

Rocket Science Retailing

because in seeking to understand the differences in those forecasts, managers can explore the assumptions implicit in their forecasting techniques. Take Old Navy, a division of the Gap. The company blends bottom-up and top-down... View Details

Keywords: by Marshall L. Fisher, Ananth Raman & Anna Sheen McClelland; Retail

Hybrid Work’s Sweet Spot

As organizations across the United States wrestle with post-COVID office policies, researchers at Harvard Business School (HBS) present evidence for an optimally productive blended office-and-home schedule. Their findings may help managers cope with the shift to... View Details

23 Jul 2019
Video

MS/MBA Biotechnology: Life Sciences Webinar

October 1981 (Revised August 2010)
Case

Quabbin Cablevision Company

By: Henry B. Reiling

Several entrepreneurs are considering the purchase of an existing cable TV business with the financial assistance of several investors. They must decide whether to establish the company as a partnership or a corporation, and how to capitalize the company for an optimal... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Organization; Television Entertainment; Entrepreneurship; Capital Structure; Taxation; Telecommunications Industry; Massachusetts

March 2013
Article

Do You Really Want to Be an eBay?

By: Andrei Hagiu and Julian Wright

Most companies that serve as intermediaries between buyers and sellers face a fundamental strategy decision: Should they be resellers (like supermarkets), acquiring and then reselling products or services? Should they operate as multisided platforms (like eBay),... View Details

Keywords: Multi-sided Platforms; Business Models; Strategy; Digital Platforms