Publications

16 Aug 2024
In Practice

Election 2024: What's at Stake for Business and the Workplace?

important if the no-action side wins. Grassroots support for actions that benefit cities and regions will help creative local leaders move forward even when national or state policies are unfavorable. 2.... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

March 2016
Supplement

Trouble at Tessei

By: Ethan Bernstein and Ryan W. Buell

In 2005, Teruo Yabe is asked to revive Tessei, the 669-person JR-East subsidiary responsible for cleaning its Shinkansen ("bullet") trains. Operational mistakes, customer complaints, safety issues, and employee turnover are at or near all-time highs, even as the... View Details

Keywords: Service Management; Employee Engagement; Employee Motivation; Leadership And Managing People; Quality Improvement; Efficiency; Japan; Operational Transparency; Employee Coordination; Transparency; Leadership; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Employees; Quality; Transportation Industry; Japan

Web

Photography and Print Advertising - The High Art of Photographic Advertising - Baker Library | Bloomberg Center

was an expensive enterprise, and before World War I magazine and newspaper publishers tended to favor drawn illustrations over photographs. In the 1920s, the tremendous increase in View Details

17 Oct 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, October 17, 2017

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=50576 Effects of an Information Sharing System on Employee Creativity, Engagement, and Performance By: Li, Shelley Xin, and Tatiana Sandino Abstract—Many... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

10 Nov 2014
HBS Case

How Restaurants in Lima and Copenhagen Became Best in the World

Great chefs, like great artists, go far beyond their materials (in this case, food) to provoke an experience that fulfills their creative vision. Unlike artists, however, they are running a business that requires putting diners in the... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Food & Beverage

Web

The Business of Entertainment, Media, and Sports - Course Catalog

are creative businesses affected by - and how can they benefit from - the rise of online channels? The course ends with an examination of firms that fall outside the core entertainment View Details

15 Aug 2024
Blog Post

Learning from Mistakes and Leveraging Personal Experiences: Tiffany Kent (MBA 2001)

strategic choice that clashed with the industry norms of prioritizing rapid asset accumulation, requiring me instead to focus on relationship building. Most importantly, it aligned with my strengths and... View Details

Keywords: All Industries

24 Aug 2016
News

Entrepreneurs versus regulators

15 Aug 2024
Blog Post

Learning from Mistakes and Leveraging Personal Experiences: Tiffany Kent (MBA 2001)

expertise on this unique and growing clientele, ultimately setting myself apart in the industry. It was a strategic choice that clashed with the industry norms of prioritizing rapid asset accumulation,... View Details

October 1997 (Revised July 1999)
Case

Best Buy

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Balaji Chakravarthy

Documents the evolution of Best Buy, an electronics retailer, from its founding in 1966 to its very successful "Concept 2" strategy in 1996, boosting its sales ($7.2 billion) past industry #1 Circuit City. Its CEO Richard Schulze offers a new vision (Concept 3) to... View Details

Keywords: History; Business Model; Competitive Strategy; Adaptation; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customization and Personalization; Retail Industry

12 Sep 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, September 12, 2017

Business School’s Ranjay Gulati looks at how it tackled the challenge. He identifies several important takeaways for other multinationals: Give the local organizations clout, embrace creative abrasion, build strong functions, View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

23 Jul 2024
In Practice

The New Rules of Trade with China: Navigating Tariffs, Turmoil, and Opportunities

administration and is a reaction to the Chinese Communist Party’s own perception of insecurity at home and in the global economy. Increasing restrictions to transnational commerce in View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Fashion; Fashion; Fashion; Fashion; Fashion; Fashion; Fashion; Fashion

June 2008
Case

Threadless: The Business of Community

By: Karim R. Lakhani and Zahra Kanji

Threadless.com, the online, Chicago-based t-shirt company, was not your typical fashion apparel company. The company, run by Jake Nickell, Jacob DeHart, and Jeffrey Kalmikoff, turned the fashion business on its head by enabling anyone to submit designs for t-shirts and... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Startups; Innovation and Invention; Product Design; Partners and Partnerships; Social and Collaborative Networks; Apparel and Accessories Industry

06 Oct 2016
Blog Post

An Interview with Corporate Relations Director, Cathy Hutchinson

Tell us about your background before coming to HBS. I’m a born and raised New Englander. I grew up in the suburbs of Boston and then headed to Yale for college. I continued west to Los Angeles, where I... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Entertainment / Media / Sports

August 2012
Case

Polar Sports, Inc.

By: W. Carl Kester and Wei Wang

Polar Sports, Inc. is a fashion skiwear manufacturing company in Littleton, Colorado. The company has a unique design for skiwear using a special synthetic material that improves insulation and durability. The ski apparel industry is highly competitive and the best way... View Details

Keywords: Production; Decision Choices and Conditions; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Finance; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Colorado

05 Dec 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, December 5, 2017

likely to be overlooked for top assignments and promotions. As partners and friends, we are checked out and unhappy. Rebels—those who practice “positive deviance” at work—are... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

August 2014 (Revised May 2015)
Case

Teaming at Disney Animation

By: Amy C. Edmondson, David L. Ager, Emily Harburg and Natalie Bartlett

Jonathan Geibel, Director of Systems at Walt Disney Animation Studios (hereafter referred to as Disney Animation), walked through the workspace occupied by the group he had been tasked to lead. Geibel knew he was part of a creative and magical environment. The Disney... View Details

Keywords: Leading Change; Creativity; Organizational Structure; Animation Entertainment; Organizational Culture; Groups and Teams; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; United States

29 Oct 2021
Blog Post

Helping Women in Mexico to Live Fulfilled and Healthy Lives

Giovanna Abramo (MBA 2022) spent the last three years prior to HBS working at Bain & Company in Mexico City where she worked on performance improvement, strategy, and operational model redesign projects across View Details

March 2003
Case

Zara

Fashion retailer ZARA has achieved spectacular growth via a distinctive design-on-demand operating model. This case describes this model and outlines a number of challenges facing the company, with a particular emphasis on its international expansion. Includes color... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Globalized Firms and Management; Production; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Fashion Industry; Fashion Industry