Publications

March 2016
Supplement

Compass Group: The Ascension Health Decision

By: Ryan W. Buell

In 2012, Compass Group (Compass) was on the verge of closing a $2 billion deal with Ascension Health (Ascension), one of the largest healthcare systems in the United States. Under the deal, Compass would provide foodservice management and cleaning services for 86 of... View Details

Keywords: Operations Strategy; Sectorization; Operational Focus; Customer Compatibility; Service Operations; Service Delivery; Operations; Customer Focus and Relationships; Service Industry; Health Industry; United States

September 2013
Case

Advanced Leadership Pathways: Junko Yoda and Her Collaboration to Address Sex Trafficking in Asia

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter, Juliane Calingo Schwetz and Patricia Bissett Higgins

In 2011, Junko Yoda with Pam McCambridge launched CLinked, a venture aimed to reduce human trafficking of women and children for sexual exploitation. Since incorporation, they launched several different pilot programs in partnership with local non-governmental... View Details

Keywords: Expansion; Social Issues; Non-Governmental Organizations; Public Administration Industry; Indonesia

24 Apr 2014
News

Training great principals to lead great schools

impact on more than 300,000 students in schools nationwide. The idea for New Leaders was developed by Fenton and a group of other Harvard students in 2000 as an approach to an impending shortage of school... View Details

January 2014 (Revised May 2015)
Case

Open English

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Lisa Mazzanti

Open English, a Miami-based startup offering online English language learning services, had more than 30,000 active students across Latin America in 2012. The company had just closed a $43 million financing round in order to rapidly scale its service to the next level.... View Details

Keywords: Technology Strategy; Product Management; Startup; Online Learning; Digital Platforms; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Technology Industry; Miami; Venezuela

September 2018 (Revised October 2018)
Supplement

Lexoo: Building a Long-Lasting Platform

By: Chiara Farronato and Elena Corsi

Lexoo, a UK-based online marketplace for legal services, was facing the strategic choice of how to grow from early start-up to mature platform. Daniel van Binsbergen, Lexoo's CEO, and web developer Chris O'Sullivan, CTO, had set up Lexoo to help Small and Medium-Sized... View Details

Keywords: Marketplaces; Legal Services; Growth Strategy; Technology Ventures; Pivot; Service Operations; Digital Platforms; Growth and Development Strategy; Small Business; Decision Making; Legal Services Industry

January–February 2025
Article

Want Your Company to Get Better at Experimentation?: Learn Fast by Democratizing Testing

By: Iavor Bojinov, David Holtz, Ramesh Johari, Sven Schmit and Martin Tingley

For years, online experimentation has fueled the innovations of leading tech companies, enabling them to rapidly test and refine new ideas, optimize product features, personalize user experiences, and maintain a competitive edge. The widespread availability and lower... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; AI and Machine Learning; Analytics and Data Science; Product Development; Competitive Advantage

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19 Mar 2018
Sharpening Your Skills

8 Ways To Be An Environmentally Conscious Manager

organize a project that spans professions, industries, and even nations? A new book by Amy Edmondson and Susan Salter Reynolds describes the approach of 'big teaming' with a case study of a high-profile smart city. Don’t be afraid View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Energy

July 2024
Case

Knowledge-Enabled Financial Advice: Digital Transformation at Edward Jones

By: Lauren Cohen, Richard Ryffel, Grace Headinger and Sophia Pan

Edward Jones, a wealth management advisory firm that prided itself on its interpersonal connections and face-to-face interactions, was eager to augment their services with AI capabilities. Built on 1-to-1 close-knit relationships, the firm had more than 15,000 offices... View Details

01 Aug 2012
What Do You Think?

Should CEOs Worry About ‘Too Big to Succeed?’

cause the lack of sufficient organic growth as opposed to the growth by mergers and acquisitions. As he put it, "Toobigs are enormously complex, with massive, self defeating strategies at war within,... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Manufacturing; Financial Services

09 Mar 2021
News

Empowering School Leaders to Meet Today's Challenges

you to approach these challenges more formulaically, with a sound, proven rationale and strategy behind your decision-making process,” she explains. “That’s been critically... View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Gillespie

01 Apr 2015
Research & Ideas

The Slow, Steady Battle to Fix Cancer Care

Developed in 2006, the Value-Based Health Care Delivery strategy includes a seven-part agenda to restructure health care. Part one calls for creating "integrated practice units," each organized... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Health

01 Mar 2012
News

Learning to Speak the Language of Business

Mikitani Main article: Where Innovation Rules Case study: Englishnization at Rakuten From Pinterest to Kobo, how Japan's Rakuten is building a global internet giant (Wired.co.uk) You might call Hiroshi Mikitani (MBA 1993) the Jeff Bezos... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; e-commerce; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management; Miscellaneous Store Retailers; Retail Trade

22 Aug 2011
Research & Ideas

Getting to Eureka!: How Companies Can Promote Creativity

to determine the best ways to develop prize competitions to maximize participation, the evidence shows that they can be a valuable approach View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

02 Jun 2015
News

Pointing the Way to a Better World

no problem in presenting facts that lead to change. An in-depth look at proven, evidence-based strategies, A Path Appears is a kind of primer on how anyone—indeed, WuDunn hopes, everyone—can help to make the... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley

12 Jun 2019
Research & Ideas

Investors Have More Than Money to Offer Entrepreneurs

Venture Partners, said she’s often tapped by her portfolio companies to help with developing data strategies and answer questions about data rights. Find out who the experts are in these firms and they’ll... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Austin

April 2018
Teaching Note

Formlabs: Selling a New 3D Printer

By: Frank Cespedes

Teaching Note for HBS No. 817-001. Formlabs is a venture that manufactures and sells 3D printers used in a variety of industries and applications. As the young company prepares to ship its latest model, the head of Customer Development is tasked with developing a... View Details

18 Nov 2022
HBS Case

What Does It Take to Safeguard a Legacy in Asset Management?

networking-based hiring. Success presents a strategy dilemma Brown Capital’s flagship fund was closed to new investors in 2013. By 2021, the year examined in the case study, it was fast View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Financial Services

March 2016 (Revised February 2020)
Teaching Note

Compass Group: The Ascension Health Decision

By: Ryan W. Buell

In 2012, Compass Group (Compass) was on the verge of closing a $2 billion deal with Ascension Health (Ascension), one of the largest healthcare systems in the United States. Under the deal, Compass would provide foodservice management and cleaning services for 86 of... View Details

Keywords: Operations Strategy; Sectorization; Operational Focus; Customer Compatibility; Service Operations; Service Delivery; Operations; Customer Focus and Relationships; Service Industry; Health Industry; United States