Publications

November 2023
Case

From Imitation to Innovation: Zongshen Industrial Group (Abridged)

By: Willy Shih and Nancy Dai

Like other small shops based in Chongqing, China, Zongshen Industrial Group started by assembling motorcycles from "standard" parts. The quality of its early products was good enough for rural Chinese buyers, though wealthier consumers usually purchased premium... View Details

Keywords: Disruptive Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Competitive Strategy; Supply Chain; Product Positioning; Manufacturing Industry; Motorcycle Industry; China

March 2010 (Revised November 2010)
Case

Pandora Radio: Fire Unprofitable Customers?

By: Willy C. Shih and Halle Alicia Tecco

Pandora Radio is at a crossroads. Founder Tim Westergren has just been told by a well known VC to get rid of his unprofitable customers in order to get his costs down, but Westergren is not sure that such actions are consistent with his company's business model.... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Customer Satisfaction; Music Entertainment; Venture Capital; Profit; Growth and Development Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Internet; Media and Broadcasting Industry

07 Dec 2016
HBS Case

Why Millennials Flock to Fintech for Personal Investing

customization. The strategy Wealthfront has pursued has resulted in growth of assets under management from $100 million to over $3.7 billion by September 2016, placing it in the top 100 independent... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services

Web

Board Diversity Network: 2024 Fall Events Recap - Blog: RGE Report

conversations on talent and organizational structure . Directors also advise on everything from go-to- market strategies and how to ramp up growth to enterprise risk management and leveraging AI. Joining a... View Details

02 Nov 2020
Blog Post

WE RISE

make more money.” The data back up that philosophy. A 2016 survey of publicly traded companies from the Peterson Institute for International Economics found that the presence of more women in top positions of corporate management... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Other Financial Services; Venture Capital / Private Equity

June 2010 (Revised June 2010)
Case

Virginia Mason Medical Center (Abridged)

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer

In 2000, Dr. Gary Kaplan became CEO of the Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, Washington. The hospital was facing significant challenges: it was losing money for the first time in its history, staff morale had plummeted, and area hospitals presented ardent... View Details

Keywords: History; Competition; Operations; Leadership Style; Problems and Challenges; Change Management; Health Care and Treatment; Business Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Health Industry; Seattle

April 2007 (Revised November 2007)
Case

Bankinter: Growing Through Small and Medium Enterprises

Surveys the overall sequence of processes needed for the success of a strategy based on customer analytics. In particular, it charts the formulation and implementation of this strategy by a Spanish bank that decided to expand into the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME)... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Data and Data Sets; Knowledge Acquisition; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Segmentation; Banking Industry; Spain

19 Oct 2011
Research & Ideas

Designing Cities for a Sustainable Future

On a June day in Manhattan with temperatures heading into the 90s, a straphanger named Mike is taking his customary subway ride to work. People are grumbling about the heat, but hey, it's summer, it's supposed to be hot, and besides, "Whaddya gonna do?" New Yorkers... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons; Construction; Real Estate

14 Dec 2010
First Look

First Look: Dec. 14

about the role of marketplace institutions and the timing of transactions. Download the paper: http://papers.nber.org/papers/W16556 Cases & Course MaterialsCDG: Managing in China's Economic Transformation Roy Y.J. Chua, Shaohui... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

25 Mar 2025
Blog Post

ClimateCAP 2025 & ClimateCAP Fellowship

ClimateCAP is an initiative manage by Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business whose mission is to prepare business leaders to understand and respond to the climate challenge. They provide learning resources for MBA students interested in the intersection of business... View Details

02 Mar 2010
First Look

First Look: March 2

leadership and management is to prioritize among competing accountability demands. This involves deciding both to whom and for what they owe accountability. This paper provides an overview of the accountability pressures facing nonprofit... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

01 Mar 2013
News

Sizing Up Social Impact

nonprofit leaders today," says Associate Professor Alnoor Ebrahim, a member of the School's General Management Unit and Social Enterprise Initiative who focuses on the challenges of performance management, accountability, and governance... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Crop Production; Agriculture; Administration of Economic Programs; Government; Administration of Housing Programs, Urban Planning, and Community Development; Government; Water, Sewage and Supply Systems; Utilities

31 Jan 2011
Research & Ideas

Taking the Fear out of Diversity Policies

often, then, companies will adopt diversity policies more out of fear than anything else, the researchers argue. And this can lead to nonproductive situations. For example, a manager may shy away from constructively criticizing a minority... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

January 2024 (Revised June 2024)
Case

School of Rock: Tuning into Structured Empowerment (A)

By: Tatiana Sandino, Jeffrey Rayport, Samuel Grad and Stacy Straaberg

In summer 2021, School of Rock was a youth-oriented music education company with 291 franchise- and company-owned schools globally. Before CEO Rob Price’s hire in 2017, School of Rock’s nonconformist rock ‘n’ roll culture led to variability in teaching styles,... View Details