Publications

December 2005 (Revised May 2009)
Case

C.R. Smith and the Birth of American Airlines

By: Anthony Mayo and Laura Gaie Singleton

Presents an overview of the path that C.R. Smith pursued to build American Airlines into one of the largest airlines in the world in the 20th century. Over the course of his 30-year tenure as president of American Airlines, Smith deployed a three-pronged... View Details

Keywords: Leadership Style; Growth and Development Strategy; Industry Growth; Operations; Air Transportation Industry; United States

June 2011 (Revised August 2012)
Case

Coca-Cola in 2011: In Search of a New Model

By: David B. Yoffie and Renee Kim

Muhtar Kent, CEO of the Coca-Cola Company, faced a critical decision in 2011 after closing a $12 billion deal to buy its troubled North America bottling operations from its biggest bottler, Coca-Cola Enterprises. The decision was prompted by several changes in the U.S.... View Details

Keywords: Beverage Industry; Strategic Positioning; Mergers And Acquisitions; Competition; Business Model; Vertical Integration; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Franchise Ownership; Investment; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

November 1999 (Revised March 2000)
Case

Sam Huttenbauer: Entrepreneurship in Food Preservation and Nutraceuticals

By: Ray A. Goldberg, Carin-Isabel Knoop, Stacey J. Bell and David Benedict Pearcy

Sam Huttenbauer is trying to get two companies, in high-pressure food preservation and in nutraceuticals, off the ground. This case covers strategic, marketing, and financing challenges. It also looks at innovative technologies in the food industry and the role of the... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Food; Problems and Challenges; Corporate Strategy; Marketing; Finance; Technological Innovation; Commercialization

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools

01 Sep 2011
News

The Business and Environment Initiative at HBS

Henderson notes that there are about 200 HBS-authored cases on the environment extant, with more to come at the rate of about 30 to 40 a year. “We’ve launched several new MBA courses and are looking at how we can get more involved in the... View Details

June 2023
Case

Investing in the Climate Transition at Neuberger Berman

By: George Serafeim and Benjamin Maletta

By mid-2023, Neuberger Berman (NB), an active asset manager, had grown its assets under management to about half a trillion dollars and took pride in its client centricity and innovative spirit. Responding to client demand for investment products that integrated... View Details

February 2007 (Revised April 2010)
Teaching Note

Innovation and Collaboration at Merrill Lynch (TN)

By: Boris Groysberg and Amanda Cowen

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Cooperation; Financial Services Industry

July 2010
Supplement

Marketing Analysis Toolkit: Pricing and Profitability Analysis (CW)

By: Thomas J. Steenburgh and Jill Avery

Pricing is one of the most difficult decisions marketers make and the one with the most direct and immediate impact on the firm's financial position. This toolkit will introduce the fundamental terminology and calculations associated with pricing and profitability... View Details

Keywords: Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Marketing Strategy; Decisions; Strategic Planning; Price; Partners and Partnerships; Cost; Demand and Consumers; Revenue; Profit; Mathematical Methods; Measurement and Metrics

07 Apr 2022
Blog Post

Product Management at HBS: Roll Up Your Sleeves and Learn by Doing

learning transferred to product management. At the beginning of the PM 101 class, we defined the role itself, and although the responsibilities of a PM can be at times amorphous, we concluded that product management focuses on a... View Details

2015
Book

Land Bargains and Chinese Capitalism: The Politics of Property Rights under Reform

By: Meg Rithmire

Land reforms have been critical to the development of Chinese capitalism over the last several decades, yet land in China remains publicly owned. This book explores the political logic of reforms to land ownership and control, accounting for how land development and... View Details

Keywords: Property; China

16 Feb 2018
News

Spotted at LearnLaunch 2018: Speakers Address Career Pathways, Alternative Credentials, and Skills Vs. Degrees

Article

Productivity Orientation and the Consumption of Collectable Experiences

By: Anat Keinan and Ran Kivetz

This research examines why consumers desire unusual and novel consumption experiences and voluntarily choose leisure activities, vacations, and celebrations that are predicted to be less pleasurable. For example, consumers sometimes choose to stay at freezing ice... View Details

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Innovation and Invention; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Performance Productivity

March 2025 (Revised May 2025)
Case

Primetime Partners: Investing in Healthspan, Wealthspan, and Workspan

By: Rembrand Koning, Nicole Tempest Keller and Susan Wilner Golden

In the fall of 2024, Abby Miller Levy (HBS ’01), co-founder and managing partner of Primetime Partners, was preparing to raise a second fund. Founded in 2020 with veteran investor Alan Patricof, Primetime was a horizontal fund focused on early-stage companies serving... View Details

Keywords: Investment Funds; Age; Social Issues; Financing and Loans; Investment Return; Business Strategy; Financial Services Industry; United States

December 1999 (Revised May 2002)
Case

CNBC (A): NBC and Its Startup Friends

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter

NBC expands further on to the Internet with CNBC.com. NBC's Internet strategy, supported by corporate parent General Electric, involves numerous investments as well as new ventures like CNBC.com. Soon after CNBC.com is launched in 1999, NBC brings in a new CEO, Pamela... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Change Management; Management Teams; Corporate Strategy; Leadership Development; Internet and the Web; Expansion; Media; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry

October 2015
Article

Exposed: Venture Capital, Competitor Ties, and Entrepreneurial Innovation

By: Emily Cox Pahnke, Rory McDonald, Dan Wang and Benjamin Hallen

This paper investigates the impact of early relationships on innovation at entrepreneurial firms. Prior research has largely focused on the benefits of network ties, documenting the many advantages that accrue to firms embedded in a rich network of inter-organizational... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Intellectual Property; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

Read Now

Article

Population and Nutrition: A Case for Integration

By: James E. Austin and F. James Levinson

Keywords: Nutrition; Integration; Groups and Teams

August 2005 (Revised October 2005)
Case

Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots (A)

By: John R. Wells and Travis Haglock

What happens when an MBA buys a football team and hires a bunch of MBAs and a coach with an economics degree to run it? In this case, a historic three Super Bowls in five years. The end run Bob Kraft (HBS '65) used to acquire the New England Patriots. Why Kraft ignored... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Management Style; Motivation and Incentives; Leading Change; Management Practices and Processes; Leadership Style; Sports; Management Teams; Sports Industry; United States

2007
Working Paper

Facts and Fallacies about U.S. FDI in China

By: Lee Branstetter and C. Fritz Foley

Despite the rapid expansion of U.S.-China trade ties, the increase in U.S. FDI in China, and the expanding amount of economic research exploring these developments, a number of misconceptions distort the popular understanding of U.S. multinationals in China. In this... View Details

Keywords: Macroeconomics; Trade; Foreign Direct Investment; Multinational Firms and Management; Expansion; China; United States

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August 2021
Case

BYJU’S: EdTech Giant Investing in Brick and Mortar

By: John J-H Kim and Rachna Tahilyani

The founder and CEO of BYJU’S, India’s largest edtech firm and one of the world’s most valuable edtech companies, is considering acquiring Aakash Educational Services (Aakash), one of India’s largest brick-and-mortar test-prep firms, for $1 billion. Is this a good... View Details

Keywords: Edtech; Business Strategy; Diversification; Investment; Acquisition; Education Industry; Asia; India; United States