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Fiction
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- July–August 2016
- Article
Stick to the Strategy or Make the Sale?: A Manufacturer of High-tech Streetlights Considers an Exception to Its New Subscription Model
By: Mitchell Weiss
A manufacturer of high-tech streetlights considers an exception to its new subscription model. A fictionalized case study based on the HBS Case 816-005, "Bigbelly," by Mitchell Weiss and Christine Snively. This case is an example of public entrepreneurship. View Details
- 2013
- Working Paper
Management: Theory and Practice, and Cases
By: Richard L. Nolan
This working paper reports on a major Harvard Business School project designed to enhance MBA and practicing executives in case learning. The work is built on the foundation of HBS field cases employing the monomyth "hero's journey" classic story structure along... View Details
Keywords: Innovation; CIO; CEO; Hero's Journey; Monomyth; Management; Practice; Cases; Theory; Innovation and Invention
- April 2013
- Article
In Search of a Second Act: Riding the Popularity of a Great First Product Is Easy; Finding the Next One Is Hard
By: Elie Ofek and Jill Avery
The article presents a fictional case study on new product development and improvement after the successful launch of a first breakthrough product. Topics include business planning for brand name products, finance and investment for the development of educational toys,... View Details
Keywords: Innovation; Growth Strategy; Consumer Marketing; Marketing; Brand Management; Market Research; New Product Development; Marketing Management; Technology Commercialization; Technology; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; Consumer Products Industry; Electronics Industry; Technology Industry; North and Central America; United States
- January 2013 (Revised December 2024)
- Case
MuMaté
By: Thomas Eisenmann and Alex Godden
MuMaté, a fictional cult beverage company, requires capital to fund national expansion. Its cofounders, who have bootstrapped to this point, are now negotiating with venture capital firms to raise a $3 million funding round. The case describes MuMaté's inception, early... View Details
- January 2013 (Revised March 2013)
- Supplement
MuMaté (B-1): Confidential for Maxwell
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Alex Godden
MuMaté, a fictional cult beverage company, requires capital to fund national expansion. Its cofounders, who have bootstrapped to this point, are now negotiating with venture capital firms to raise a $3 million funding round. The case describes MuMaté's inception, early... View Details
- January 2013 (Revised March 2013)
- Supplement
MuMaté (B-2): Confidential for Cantor
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Alex Godden
MuMaté, a fictional cult beverage company, requires capital to fund national expansion. Its cofounders, who have bootstrapped to this point, are now negotiating with venture capital firms to raise a $3 million funding round. The case describes MuMaté's inception, early... View Details
- January–February 2013
- Article
Will Our Partner Steal Our IP?
By: Willy C. Shih and Jyun-Cheng Wang
This fictionalized case looks at the spillover of intellectual property (IP) from a critical component supplier to an original equipment maker in the Chinese auto industry. What are the challenges to holding on to proprietary know-how when a customer wishes to use... View Details
- 2012
- Book
Harder Than I Thought: Adventures of a Twenty-First Century Leader
By: Robert D. Austin, Richard L. Nolan and Shannon O'Donnell
Being a great leader today is much harder than you think—meet Jim Barton. He's a newly minted CEO, rising leader of a firm in transition, and manager of massive complexity—thanks to our incredibly networked and increasingly unpredictable world of business. What if you... View Details
- May 2011
- Article
Challenge the Boss or Stand Down
By: W. Earl Sasser
This HBR Case Study includes both the case and the commentary. For teaching purposes, this reprint is also available in two other versions: case study-only, reprint R1105X, and commentary-only, R1105Z. Tom Green, an aggressive young sales executive at self-service... View Details
- 2010
- Book
Buy-In: Saving Your Good Idea from Getting Shot Down
By: John P. Kotter and Lorne A. Whitehead
You've got a good idea. You know it could make a crucial difference for you, your organization, your community. You present it to the group but get confounding questions, inane comments, and verbal bullets in return. Before you know what's happened, your idea is dead,... View Details
- January 2009
- Article
From Regional Star to Global Leader
By: Nitin Nohria
Yang Jianguo was recently promoted from country manager for China to global head of product development at a staid French perfume maker. He was chosen for his technical smarts and his knowledge of emerging markets—a critical avenue for growth, given that sales in the... View Details
- January 2008
- Article
How to Change the World
Alan Wilson has a decision to make. The CEO of his company, Grepter, wants him to relocate to Zurich, where he can gain valuable experience for a rise to the top. Karl, his best friend, hopes to lure him to a hedge fund that promises big money fast. Shiori, an enticing... View Details
- September 2006 (Revised July 2012)
- Case
PSI India—Will Balbir Pasha Help Fight AIDS? (A)
By: Elie Ofek and Peter Wickersham
In 2002, Population Services International (PSI) was committed to curbing the growing HIV/AIDS epidemic in India. Sanjay Chaganti, program director of HIV/AIDS at PSI India, has to decide on the best communication strategy to achieve this goal. Up to this date most... View Details
- August 2006 (Revised September 2006)
- Case
Scopie's Enlarged Gland Shrinker
Describes a firm that markets a laser for a fictional problem. Asks readers to evaluate Scopie's marketing and production strategy (it plans to start in India and then expand to the United States) and its long-term viability. View Details
- April 2006 (Revised April 2020)
- Case
"The Case of Leadership Inertia"
The CEO of an international bank has raised the bank's performance by emphasizing a new culture of leadership that empowers people at all levels. Managers are rated both on their business results and their leadership—how they model new behaviors—but 12 senior managers... View Details
- June 2005 (Revised September 2005)
- Case
Accounting at MacCloud Winery
By: David F. Hawkins, Robert S. Kaplan and Gregory S. Miller
Uses a fictional new winery to introduce accounting concepts and practices such as assets, liabilities, expenses, the matching principle, and contingent activities. Designed to approach the subject at a conceptual level, allowing class discussion to focus on the... View Details
- October 2004 (Revised February 2006)
- Case
Staffing in Professional Service Firms
By: Ashish Nanda
This case discusses the problem of balancing demand and supply of professionals over time using a fictional scenario. View Details
- August 2004 (Revised February 2006)
- Case
Marketing James Patterson
By: John A. Deighton
Can a successful novelist use direct-to-consumer marketing to grow his brand? The author, who in a previous career ran a major advertising agency, uses advertising with great success to build his stature as a crime fiction writer. Further, he applies his experience at... View Details
- October 2003 (Revised January 2016)
- Exercise
The BCPC Internet Strategy Team: An Exercise
By: Amy C. Edmondson and Laura Feldman
This short fictional case forms the basis of a team decision-making exercise. The case, inspired by a real decision facing a major telecommunications company, describes a cross-functional management team convened by the CEO for the purpose of developing a... View Details
- June 2003 (Revised May 2004)
- Exercise
The Pacific Sentinel: Role for Alex Martinez
By: Kathleen L. McGinn and Dina R. Pradel
A new publishing company has just purchased the Pacific Sentinel, a fictional West Coast newspaper. The new publisher is willing to invest $1 million in the future success of the paper and has asked the executive editor and advertising manager to develop a joint plan... View Details