Publications

September 2023
Background Note

Amager Bakke: Municipal Waste to Energy

By: Willy Shih, Michael W. Toffel and Kelsey Carter

This background note describes the Amager Bakke waste-to-energy (WtE) plant in Copenhagen, which merges traditional waste incineration with a combined heat and power (CHP) plant and air pollution control (scrubbing) technology, and had plans to add carbon dioxide (CO2)... View Details

Program

Designing and Executing Corporate Revitalization

Know when and how to take advantage of financial restructuring and private equity Overcome inertia and pivot the organization Create plans for addressing current and prospective obstacles Infuse the organization with a sense of purpose... View Details

10 Sep 2024
Blog Post

Leading with Creative Problem Solving: Ron Kurtz (MBA 1967)

my job search and application process, and the tools to research companies ahead of interviews. HBS connected me with my first post-graduate job as a research assistant for a highly respected marketing professor where I gained deep exposure to the management and... View Details

Keywords: All Industries

10 Sep 2024
Blog Post

Leading with Creative Problem Solving: Ron Kurtz (MBA 1967)

marketing professor where I gained deep exposure to the management and decision processes of executives. While in this role, I worked with executives across several companies and ultimately accepted a job offer from one of them, also an... View Details

October 14, 2019
Article

The CEO's Guide to Retirement

By: Bill George

Some CEOs remain in the role too long, hurting investors, employees, and their own legacy. The author sees a frequent reason for that: CEOs don’t know how to identify the optimal time to retire, and they procrastinate because they can’t imagine what they will do after... View Details

Keywords: CEO; Executive Retirement; Retirement; Decision Making; Planning

Find at Harvard

Register to Read

July 2020
Supplement

Instabeat—Crossing the Finish Line

By: Shikhar Ghosh, Nicole Tempest Keller and Alpana Thapar

Lebanese entrepreneur Hind Hobeika was just 21 years old when she launched her startup, Instabeat, which had developed the first real-time bio-feedback device for swimmers to monitor and improve their performance. It had been an extremely testing 10-year journey to... View Details

Keywords: Start-up; Wearables; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Information Technology; Information Infrastructure; Strategy; Operations; Management; United States; Lebanon

March 2004 (Revised February 2006)
Case

Salt Lake Organizing Committee, The: 2002 Olympics

By: H. Kent Bowen, Bryce LaPierre and Courtney Purrington

After two and a half years of effort, Fraser Bullock, COO of the 2002 Winter Olympics, faced projected deficits and post-9/11 security requirements only five months before the opening ceremony. Summarizes the organizational structure and processes put in place by... View Details

Keywords: Framework; Knowledge Dissemination; Business or Company Management; Managerial Roles; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Planning; Practice; Risk and Uncertainty; Safety; Sports; System

December 2003 (Revised March 2004)
Case

FIRA: Confronting the Mexican Agricultural Crisis

By: James E. Austin, Michael Chu and Cate Reavis

In fall 2003, Mexico's agriculture sector was facing a crisis brought on largely by a surge in cheap U.S. imports resulting from NAFTA and inaccessible and/or expensive terms of credit for Mexican agricultural producers. It was getting harder for Mexican producers to... View Details

Keywords: Development Economics; Public Sector; Trade; Financial Instruments; Crisis Management; Markets; Strategic Planning; Partners and Partnerships; Competitive Strategy; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

Find at Harvard

November 2010 (Revised January 2011)
Case

Computerized Provider Order Entry at Emory Healthcare

By: Richard G. Hamermesh, F. Warren McFarlan, Mark Keil, Andrew Katz, Michael Morgan and David LaBorde

The Computerized Provider Order Entry at Emory Healthcare case presents one hospital system's efforts to implement computerized provider order entry (CPOE) across all of its hospitals and the challenges they faced in doing so. Issues such as standardization of care,... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Information Management; Management Systems; Standards; Service Delivery; Business Processes; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Projects; Information Technology; Applications and Software; Health Industry

19 Apr 2011
First Look

First Look: April 19

the right questions. The challenge lies in being able to step back, reflect, and ask the key questions that are critical to your performance and your organization's effectiveness. In What to Ask the Person in the Mirror, HBS professor and business leader Robert Kaplan... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

June 2001 (Revised November 2001)
Case

Plum Creek Timber (B)

By: Max H. Bazerman, Jack Troast, Hannah Bowles and Nicole Nasser

Plum Creek Timber Co. decides to go ahead with negotiations for a Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) on its Pacific Northwest properties. HCP represents a new form of public-private-sector collaboration and innovation to improve upon command-and-control environmental... View Details

Keywords: Conflict of Interests; Negotiation Process; Negotiation Participants; Environmental Sustainability; Business and Government Relations; Forest Products Industry; United States

Program

Driving Corporate Performance

Summary Corporate performance is about much more than financial results. How can your organization align its structures, systems, talent, and processes to execute a winning strategy? In Driving Corporate Performance, you will consider the... View Details

Program

Managing Innovation

explore the prototyping and experimentation practices of the world's top innovators, you will lay the foundation for transforming your business and sustaining growth through innovation the moment you return to work. Details Align plans... View Details

13 Jul 2009
Research & Ideas

Diagnosing the Public Health Care Alternative

Second, to the extent most proposals would offer a government plan as one option among many, the scale achieved by the government plan would result from individuals selecting it over a private plan. If such... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Health

November 2002 (Revised October 2003)
Case

Circles: Series D Financing

By: Paul W. Marshall and Kristin Lieb

Circles, a corporate concierge company on the verge of profitability, must make a decision whether to take a D-round venture capital despite ever-changing and ever-worsening terms. A four-year-old company with several major clients, it has met its business plan... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Financing and Loans; Management Teams; Growth and Development Strategy; Negotiation Process; Venture Capital; Governing and Advisory Boards; Entrepreneurship; Service Industry; Consulting Industry; Massachusetts

December 2007 (Revised April 2008)
Exercise

The Elcer Products Transaction: Confidential Information for Euro Elektrische Keramische Vorrichtungen (Euro EKV), GmbH

By: James K. Sebenius

In a six-party negotiation exercise, the TNDA Corp. plans to sell the Elcer Products Division to one of four potential buyers (industrial, financial, U.S., German). This case contains confidential information for the Euro Elektrische Keramische Vorrichtungen, GmbH... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Managerial Roles; Negotiation Deal; Negotiation Process; Negotiation Tactics

March 2008
Case

Cambrian House

By: Peter A. Coles, Karim R. Lakhani and Andrew P. McAfee

Cambrian House builds internet-based products and services by relying entirely on its user community for all aspects of its innovation and new product development process. Users suggest ideas for new products and services and also participate in a monthly voting... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Voting; Technological Innovation; Knowledge Management; Marketing Strategy; Open Source Distribution; Product Development; Strategic Planning; Business and Community Relations; Internet