Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(403)
- Faculty Publications (47)
- 2011
- Book
The Ultimate Question 2.0: How Net Promoter Companies Thrive in a Customer-Driven World
By: Fred Reichheld and Rob Markey
Defines the fundamental concept of Net Promoter, explaining its connection to your company’s growth and sustained success.
*Presents the closed-loop feedback process and demonstrates its power to energize employees and delight customers.
*Shares new and... View Details
*Presents the closed-loop feedback process and demonstrates its power to energize employees and delight customers.
*Shares new and... View Details
- May 2010 (Revised May 2010)
- Case
Data.gov
By: Karim R. Lakhani, Robert D. Austin and Yumi Yi
This case presents the logic and execution underlying the launch of Data.gov, an instantiation of President Obama's initiative for transparency and open government. The process used by Vivek Kundra, the federal CIO, and his team to rapidly develop the website and to... View Details
- December 2009
- Article
Closing the Customer Feedback Loop
By: Rob Markey, Fred Reichheld and Andreas Dullweber
Realizing that customer retention is more critical than ever, companies have ramped up their efforts to listen to customers. But many struggle to convert their findings into practical prescriptions for customer-facing employees. Some companies are addressing that... View Details
- Article
Can the Virtuous Mouse and the Wealthy Elephant Live Happily Ever After?
What happens when small iconic socially oriented businesses are acquired by large corporations? Such mergers create significant opportunities for creating both business value and substantially expanded social value, but they also pose unusually difficult challenges... View Details
- 2008
- Working Paper
Can the Virtuous Mouse and the Wealthy Elephant Live Happily Ever After?
By: James E. Austin and Herman B. Leonard
What happens when small iconic socially-oriented businesses are acquired by large corporations? Such mergers create significant opportunities for creating both business value and substantially expanded social value, but also pose unusually difficult challenges because... View Details
- December 2007 (Revised August 2014)
- Case
Xanadu on Broadway
By: Anita Elberse
Can one of Hollywood's biggest flops magically turn into a Broadway hit? Xanadu, an adaptation of a 1980 Olivia Newton-John roller-disco film described by one critic as "the epic failure to end all epic failures," opened on Broadway in July 2007. Producer Rob Ahrens,... View Details
- November 2006
- Case
Organics: Coming Center Stage?
By: James E. Austin and Reed Martin
The organics movement has certainly come a long way. From hippie farming communes and a scattering of natural food stores in the 1960s, organics outgrew its origins as a counterculture curiosity of the 1970s to become the fastest growing segment of the food industry in... View Details
- December 2005 (Revised January 2007)
- Case
Ben & Jerry's: Preserving Mission & Brand within Unilever
By: James E. Austin and James Quinn
In the months after Ben & Jerry's was acquired by Unilever, Ben & Jerry's head social mission faces challenges and opportunities unique in the company's history, including: how to manage employee morale; whether to include synthetic ingredients to meet consumer... View Details
Keywords: Brands and Branding; Problems and Challenges; Mergers and Acquisitions; Mission and Purpose; Social Enterprise; Management Teams; Governing and Advisory Boards; Value Creation; Corporate Governance; Employee Relationship Management; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Retail Industry; United States
- December 2004 (Revised April 2006)
- Case
Managing a Public Image: Rob Thomas
By: Robin J. Ely and Ingrid Vargas
Rob Thomas describes some of the challenges he has faced as a white, middle-aged man who is managing director of a mid-size consulting firm where he is committed to increasing staff gender and racial diversity. Unwilling to risk the disapproval of any constituency,... View Details
- November 2002 (Revised May 2006)
- Case
Forest Stewardship Council
By: James E. Austin and Ezequiel Reficco
In just a few years the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) made impressive progress toward its mission of promoting "environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable management of the world's forests." By 2001, 25.5 million hectares of forests in... View Details
- August 2001 (Revised April 2003)
- Case
International Trachoma Initiative
By: Diana Barrett, James E. Austin and Sheila McCarthy
In an effort to combat trachoma, a major eye disease, the Clark Foundation entered into a partnership with Pfizer Pharmaceuticals. After a successful pilot project, a joint initiative was established (the Trachoma initiative) that has as its goal to eradicate the... View Details
- July 2001 (Revised March 2002)
- Case
Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc., The
By: Andre F. Perold and Austin K Scee
NASDAQ's mission "to facilitate capital formation" is threatened by the emergence of Electronic Communication Networks, which are not as heavily regulated by the SEC. This case reviews the development of NASDAQ and its evolution from a loose network of broker-dealers... View Details
- January 2001 (Revised June 2001)
- Case
Local Initiatives Support Corporation
By: James E. Austin and Kim Slack
Local Initiatives Support Corp. (LISC) is a $74 million nonprofit social enterprise that combats poverty by helping community development organizations build affordable housing and create economic development opportunities through public-private partnerships. Poses a... View Details
- March 2000 (Revised November 2000)
- Case
IBM Corporation Turnaround
By: Robert D. Austin and Richard L. Nolan
Describes the details of IBM's dramatic corporate turnaround in the early 1990s led by CEO Louis V. Gerstner. Accounts of events are from interviews with IBM executives. Covers the factors that led to the company's decline and actions taken to recover. View Details
- October 1998 (Revised November 1998)
- Case
Newman's Own, Inc.
By: James E. Austin
Describes the creation and evolution of this food marketing corporation. All its after-tax profits are donated to charity by Paul Newman, the distinguished actor and social entrepreneur. The company has grown into a $100 million enterprise and donated cumulatively $89... View Details
- August 1998 (Revised October 2002)
- Case
Harbus Foundation, The
By: James E. Austin and Linda Carrigan
Describes the challenges faced by a group of HBS students as they create a foundation. Given surplus funds generated by the student-run newspaper, The Harbus leadership decides to find a meaningful use for the excess cash. Profiles both the entrepreneurial process used... View Details
- October 1997 (Revised January 1998)
- Case
Oxfam America
By: James E. Austin and James Kondo
Oxfam America, a nongovernmental organization providing grant assistance to organizations fighting hunger, poverty, and their causes, was engaged in a new strategy formulation process, led by its new president. View Details
- March 1992 (Revised June 1993)
- Case
Lada do Brasil
By: James E. Austin and Helen Shapiro
In an effort to capitalize on the entrepreneurial opportunity presented by the Brazilian government's trade liberalization, a Panamanian automobile trading company launched a business of importing the Russian made Lada cars into Brazil. The company confronts a complex... View Details
- February 1992 (Revised September 2019)
- Case
The House of Tata
By: James E. Austin and Ashish Nanda
The case traces the evolution of the Tata group, one of the largest and highly respected Indian business houses, from its 19th century founding and early growth in diverse industries, to its response to changes in government regulation in independent India, up to its... View Details
Keywords: Indian Economy; International Business; Government And Business; Government Regulation; Synergy; Conglomerates; Business Conglomerates; Developing Countries and Economies; Business and Government Relations; Business History; Steel Industry; Electronics Industry; Chemical Industry; Insurance Industry; Air Transportation Industry; India
- April 1990
- Case
Nestle Alimentana S.A. -- Infant Formula (Abridged)
By: James E. Austin
The new vice president of infant and dietetic products of Nestle Alimentana S.A. has to make recommendations on the company's marketing programs for its infant formulas in developing countries. The U.S. subsidiary is currently the target of a consumer boycott because... View Details