Publications

August 2006 (Revised September 2007)
Supplement

Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer

Follows on from the cases Istituto Clinico Humanitas (A) and (B). Describes the design and running of the new Humanitas Emergency Department. Istituto Clinico Humanitas has developed a very efficient operating system for dealing with elective (largely surgical)... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Service Operations; Service Delivery; Customer Focus and Relationships; Health Industry; Italy

February 2001 (Revised October 2002)
Background Note

Entrepreneurial History: A Conceptual Overview

By: Nancy F. Koehn

Analyzes HBS cases on five entrepreneurs and the companies they built: Josiah Wedgwood, Henry Heinz, Marshall Field, Howard Schultz of Starbucks, and Michael Dell. These five cases and their accompanying teaching notes comprise a course module on entrepreneurial... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Demand and Consumers; Competition; Business History; Entrepreneurship; Customer Focus and Relationships; Business Strategy; Society

02 Nov 2016
What Do You Think?

Are Employees Becoming Job 'Renters' Instead of 'Owners'?

“It may not be possible for every employee (to) value the company as if it were his own. The next best thing is to make the customer the focus of everyone’s work. When customer service is enculturated... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

25 Aug 2022
News

Case Study: Sound Check

making sure our existing customers still win and that we can still grow in that market,” says Pemberton. Should LS stick with the formula that’s been working, or should they make the leap to enterprise sales and commit to the scaling it... View Details

Keywords: Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

12 PM – 1 PM EDT, 30 Sep 2014
Webinars: Trending@HBS

Building a Global Brand: Why You Aren't Buying Venezuelan Chocolate

Building a Global Brand: Why you arent buying Venezuelan chocolate The next wave of global challengers will be firms from emergent market countries like Brazil, China, and India. Who are these companies and what are the barriers they are trying to overcome? View Details

01 Dec 2018
News

Alumni and Faculty Books for December 2018

the author’s debt to Belvedere College and the Jesuits as the great influence on his life philosophy and life choices. McEvoy also reflects on how Irish banks morphed from being customer oriented, conservative, dull, and profoundly honest... View Details

15 Oct 2012
Research & Ideas

Why Business IT Innovation is so Difficult

has to be implemented across a large, distributed organization. "Large firms definitely had some work to do to adopt," says McElheran. "But it seems that the best firms had practices in place to deal with the complexity. The real stumbling block was that their View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish

25 Mar 2019
News

Rent The Runway Joins the Unicorn Club

two core tenets, saying that “Rent the Runway has consistently demonstrated an ability to innovate and improve its customer experience and technology.” READ MORE View Details

Keywords: Clothing and Clothing Accessories Stores; Retail Trade

01 Apr 1998
News

The Cole Room: A Wealth of Resources for Job-Seekers

wide range of resources on hand. In addition, Cole Room librarians will perform customized job research for alumni for a fee. These searches can range from screening for lists of companies based on industry and geographic criteria, to... View Details

9 AM – 10 AM EDT, 12 Jun 2019
HBS Online

HBS Online Disruptive Strategy

Make innovation a reality with strategies from two-time World's Most Innovative Business Thinker, Clayton Christensen. June 12, 2019 - July 10, 2019 View Details

9 AM – 10 AM EDT, 03 Apr 2019
HBS Online

HBS Online Disruptive Strategy

Make innovation a reality with strategies from two-time World's Most Innovative Business Thinker, Clayton Christensen. Program Dates: April 3, 2019 - May 15, 2019 View Details

01 Apr 2002
News

Professorship Brings Brierley's HBS Connection Full Circle

members, Epsilon engineered many of the ‘customer relationship' techniques that make today's customer loyalty programs so successful," says Brierley, who served as Epsilon's president and CEO for its first ten years. In 1980, serving... View Details

Keywords: Charles M. Williams; Epsilon Data Management; Computer Systems Design and Related Services; Professional Services

February 2000 (Revised April 2001)
Case

CNET 2000

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Pauline M Fischer

CNET's managers explain the strategic analysis that led to their decision to increase their annual marketing budget from $1 million to $100 million. CNET is an online information intermediary that helps consumers make purchase decisions about PC hardware and software,... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Corporate Strategy; Budgets and Budgeting; Financial Strategy; Decisions; Growth and Development; Customer Focus and Relationships; Business Divisions; Marketing Strategy; Distribution Channels; Consumer Behavior; Online Technology; Information Technology Industry

Find at Harvard

January 2018 (Revised August 2020)
Background Note

Continuous Software Development: Agile's Successor

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Samuel Clemens and Olivia Hull

In recent years, the twin software development methodologies of continuous delivery and continuous deployment have risen to prominence in the start-up world and beyond. These methods have enabled technology companies large and small to accelerate their product... View Details

July 2003 (Revised October 2013)
Case

Model N Inc.

By: Marco Iansiti and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

The CEO of a Silicon Valley start-up needed to make organizational and product changes to deliver a new software solution to a Fortune 500 customer. He was wondering how he should structure the company to best meet the requirements for this particular customer, while... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Startups; Trends; Communication; Customer Focus and Relationships; Selection and Staffing; Time Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business Strategy; Software; Computer Industry

August 1999 (Revised May 2000)
Case

E Ink

By: Teresa M. Amabile and Susan Archambault

E Ink is a high-technology start-up attempting to revolutionize print communication through electronic ink displays. The founders and top managers of this two-year-old firm are striving to translate a technological breakthrough into a working prototype, move from... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Entrepreneurship; Technological Innovation; Business or Company Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Industry Structures; Organizational Structure; Commercialization; Technology; Information Technology Industry