Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(1,969)
- Faculty Publications (436)
- November 1998 (Revised July 2012)
- Case
Explo Leisure Products
Tim Trowac and Dave Rahall, two former investment bankers, skillfully execute the leveraged buyout of a golf ball recycling company after working intensely on their due diligence, writing a business and financial plan, and developing the investment memorandum. Six... View Details
- October 1998 (Revised December 1999)
- Case
Gene Research, the Mapping of Life and the Global Economy
By: Ray A. Goldberg and Juan Enriquez-Cabot
A new firm is being created to speed up the process of mapping humans, animals, and plants by combining gene technology with rapid gene identification to improve the health and well being of the human population and the productivity of crops and animals. How does one... View Details
- November 1997 (Revised January 2003)
- Case
Martin Smith: January 2002
By: Josh Lerner
An MBA student must choose between offers from three private equity organizations. Each organization has distinct strengths and weaknesses, and different implications for the student's career development. The case presents compensation and employment data about the... View Details
- July 1997
- Case
Technology Crisis and the Future of Agribusiness: Antibiotic Resistance in Humans and Animals
By: Ray A. Goldberg and Juan Enriquez-Cabot
- February 1997 (Revised July 1997)
- Case
Vermeer Technologies (A): A Company Is Born
By: Ashish Nanda
Charles Ferguson has just heard from a venture capital (VC) consortium that it is willing to finance Vermeer Technologies, a company he has cofounded for developing Internet software. The funds are sorely needed, but the VCs have imposed some onerous conditions,... View Details
- October 1996 (Revised December 1996)
- Case
United Electric Controls
By: H. Kent Bowen, Jody H. Gittell and Sylvie Ryckebusch
United Electric Controls (UE) was a small, traditional family-owned manufacturing company when Dave Reis, the youngest member of the Reis family, took over the business. This case describes Reis's efforts to change UE's traditional work practices in order to make the... View Details
- August 1995
- Article
Can Computer Personalities Be Human Personalities?
By: C. I. Nass, Y. Moon, B. J. Fogg, B. Reeves and D. C. Dryer
- July 1995 (Revised April 1996)
- Case
Cambridge Technology Partners (A)
By: Teresa M. Amabile, George P. Baker III and Michael Beer
Cambridge Technology Partners uses a highly innovative product strategy, supported by a human resources strategy, that has been very successful. However, high growth rates jeopardize product quality while tension about relative compensation levels between sales and... View Details
- October 1994 (Revised March 1999)
- Case
Ritz-Carlton: Using Information Systems to Better Serve the Customer
By: W. Earl Sasser, Thomas O. Jones and Norman Klein
Explores the interface of an information system that keeps track of guests and their preferences, and the people systems that deliver multiple services at Ritz-Carlton hotels. The luxury hotel chain's unique service credo and commitment to quality principles are... View Details
- May 1994 (Revised July 1995)
- Case
Taco Bell--1994
Taco Bell CEO, John Martin, boldly proclaims a growth goal of 200,000 points of access by the year 2000 (the company had approximately 3,600 in 1991). To realize such growth, Martin embraces a philosophy of continual change. The implications for Taco Bell are dramatic... View Details
Keywords: Information Technology; Food; Organizational Structure; Organizational Culture; Human Resources; Brands and Branding; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Goals and Objectives; Change Management; Expansion; Business Growth and Maturation; Communication; Growth and Development Strategy; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States
- January 1994
- Case
ABC Sales and Service Division: A Case Study of Personal and Organizational Transformation
By: D. Quinn Mills, Brock W. Orwig, Janet M. Pumo, Todd C. Stilson and Richard C. Wei
In the midst of dramatic changes in the information systems industry and declining profits at the ABC Co., the vice president in charge of the sales and service division, Jeff, and his managers attempt to transform their division. The transformation gets off to a good... View Details
- June 1992 (Revised March 2006)
- Case
Concordia Casting Company
Describes five years of development in a centralized data processing activity serving a highly decentralized corporation. Data processing manager discovers that a major software system conversion is a full year behind schedule, and subsequently makes several managerial... View Details
- January 1992 (Revised December 1994)
- Background Note
Note on E-Mail and Privacy: U.S. Law and Company Policies
By: Lynn S. Paine
Describes the legal landscape of employee privacy as it applies to e-mail interception: the various legal theories on which a privacy claim might be based and proposed federal legislation relevant to the subject. Also describes the policies companies like UPS,... View Details
- July 1990 (Revised August 1995)
- Case
Symantec--1982-90
By: Nitin Nohria
As Symantec grew from a small, upstart software development company to a major player in the software development industry, the channels of information flow and the internal communication needs of the company became more complex. The geographically-dispersed structure... View Details
- May 1990 (Revised December 1998)
- Case
Technology Transfer at a Defense Contractor (Abridged)
By: Linda A. Hill
Covers the same material concerning the specific transfer of technology as described in the longer version but summarizes the environmental and organizational context of the transfer. Most appropriate when the instructor wishes to focus on the action questions. View Details
- February 1990 (Revised July 1990)
- Case
Internal Revenue Service: Automated Collection System
By: Nitin Nohria
Describes how the IRS's collection operations changed from a largely manual system (COF) to an automated system (ACS). A central aspect of ACS was the electronic scheduling and maintaining of work. While with ACS the IRS accomplished significant improvements in the... View Details
- November 1988 (Revised July 1997)
- Case
Technology Transfer at a Defense Contractor
By: Linda A. Hill
At a time of great changes in the corporate environment, Larry Yoshino, a design lab manager at Parsons Controls Corp., faces a delay in a costly defense project due to the inability of one of his subordinates to gain the cooperation of engineers at Parsons'... View Details
- August 1988 (Revised April 1998)
- Case
IBM 360: Giant as Entrepreneur
By: Joseph L. Bower
Presents the ingredients that went into a major entrepreneurial shift by IBM--investing $5 billion into a new product line that would obsolete any existing computer product line offered by the competition, or by IBM itself. The economic and technical challenges of this... View Details
- September 1985 (Revised January 1986)
- Case
Peter Wendell
Contains a description of a decision confronting an employee of IBM in late 1981. Should he leave IBM to become head of a new venture capital fund which will specialize in technology investments? The case is designed to expose students to the nature of the opportunity... View Details
- December 1982 (Revised December 1984)
- Case
Hi-Tech Corp.
By: Fred K. Foulkes and William E. Fruhan Jr.
Hi-Tech examines the financial implications of a reduction in the work force via a voluntary severance program which offers up to two and a half times annual pay if an employee voluntarily terminates employment. View Details