Publications

February 2018 (Revised December 2019)
Case

Rise of the Drones: Identified Technologies

By: Andy Wu and George Gonzalez

The founder and CEO of Identified Technologies, a Pittsburgh-based drone software and services company, faces a dilemma when San Francisco–based DroneDeploy begins to disrupt the industry with its drone software platform. Identified Technologies needs to consider... View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Digital Platforms; Disruption; Network Effects; Web Services Industry; Web Services Industry; Pittsburgh; San Francisco

14 Aug 2023
Blog Post

Crossing the Bridge: A Reflection on the HKS/HBS Joint Degree Program

have had coffee chats with a former United States Governor, Fortune 500 CEOs, revered thought leaders, and international diplomats solely because of events on campus and in the classroom. I have been elected... View Details

October 1976 (Revised April 1983)
Case

Federal Express (A)

Federal Express is a small-package airline operating throughout the United States. After initial heavy losses it is now profitable. Management is examining the services offered by the firm and believes that there is great potential for "Courier Pak", an overnight... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Product Marketing; Sales; Service Industry; Service Industry; United States

July 2025 (Revised July 2025)
Case

Microsoft’s Performance Across Three CEOs

By: George Serafeim

This case traces Microsoft’s evolution from its founding through 2025. Students analyze how changes in operating segments both reflected and shaped Microsoft’s strategy, culture, and financial communication. The case provides rich quantitative exhibits (segment... View Details

Keywords: Financial Accounting; Financial Statement Analysis; Disclosure; Disclosure Strategy; Disclosure Tone; Organizational Transformations; Transformation; AI; Digital; Organizational Change; Accounting; Financial Statements; Strategy; Organizational Structure; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; United States

March 2016
Supplement

Compass Group: The Ascension Health Decision

By: Ryan W. Buell

In 2012, Compass Group (Compass) was on the verge of closing a $2 billion deal with Ascension Health (Ascension), one of the largest healthcare systems in the United States. Under the deal, Compass would provide foodservice management and cleaning services for 86 of... View Details

Keywords: Operations Strategy; Sectorization; Operational Focus; Customer Compatibility; Service Operations; Service Delivery; Operations; Customer Focus and Relationships; Service Industry; Service Industry; United States

October 2013 (Revised October 2016)
Case

Steward Health Care System

By: Robert F. Higgins and Noah Fisher

Steward Health has raised private equity and has converted from not-for-profit to for-profit. The case describes its Accountable Care Organization (ACO) and asks whether it should continue this experiment. View Details

Keywords: Accountable Care Organization; ACO; Medicare; Medicaid; Medical Services; Cerberus; Caritas; Health Care Policy; Health Care Industry; Provider Organizations; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry; United States

January 2005 (Revised October 2005)
Case

Private Capital and Public Policy: Standard & Poor's Sovereign Credit Ratings

By: Rawi E. Abdelal and Christopher Bruner

Describes Standard & Poor's sovereign credit ratings business. Provides background on the history of credit ratings agencies, the meaning of credit ratings, the expansion of the sovereign ratings business over recent decades, and the market for credit ratings. Also,... View Details

Keywords: Sovereign Finance; History; Policy; Business and Government Relations; International Finance; Country; Globalized Economies and Regions; Decision Choices and Conditions; Capital Markets; Debates; Financial Services Industry; United States

Co-Chair, Driving Digital Strategy

Sunil Gupta is the Edward W. Carter Professor of Business Administration and co-chair of the executive program on Driving... View Details

Keywords: financial services; financial services; financial services; financial services; financial services; financial services; financial services; financial services; financial services

12 Jul 2006
Research & Ideas

Competition the Cure for Healthcare

the wrong things and doesn't create value for the consumer. In this Q&A, Porter discusses his research.Roger Thompson: What went wrong with the American model? On paper it looks ideal. It's private, it's competitive, yet it doesn't seem to work. Michael E. Porter:... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson; Health

June 2020 (Revised March 2024)
Case

Deloitte's Pixel (A): Consulting with Open Talent

By: Michael L. Tushman, John Winsor and Kerry Herman

Deloitte Consulting’s General Manager Balaji Bondili, head of Pixel, considers how best to grow Deloitte Consulting’s use of open (on-demand) talent, as consulting companies and their clients face transformative change in the way client engagements and projects get... View Details

Keywords: Disruption; Talent and Talent Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Consulting Industry; United States

April 2007
Case

ABN AMRO Bank N.V.: Global Change Agents

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter, Lance P. Pierce and Ryan Leo Raffaelli

ABN AMRO Global Banking Group developed its risk management function in response to expansion, and increasingly focused on environmental and social risks. The head of the function needed to influence policies and business decisions in a highly decentralized context in... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Banks and Banking; Expansion; Change; Governing and Advisory Boards; Social Enterprise; Leadership Development; History; Service Industry; Service Industry; Brazil; India; United States

31 May 2016
First Look

May 31, 2016

units up to the contract quantity selected in the previous period. We prove that in each period and at each such stage, there are three base-stock levels that characterize an optimal policy, two for the inventory policy and one for the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

14 Aug 2007
Working Paper Summaries

Improving Patient Outcomes: The Effects of Staff Participation and Collaboration in Healthcare Delivery

Keywords: by Ingrid M. Nembhard, Anita L. Tucker, Jeffrey D. Horbar & Joseph H. Carpenter; Health

Article

Innovation Contests for High-Tech Procurement

By: Jin Hyun Paik, Martin Scholl, Rinat A. Sergeev, Steven Randazzo and Karim R. Lakhani

Innovation managers rarely use crowdsourcing as an innovative instrument despite extensive academic and theoretical research. The lack of tools available to compare and measure crowdsourcing, specifically contests, against traditional methods of procuring goods and... View Details

Keywords: Open Innovation; Contests; Crowdsourcing; Nasa; Evaluation; Acquisition; Information Technology; Innovation and Invention; Performance Evaluation; Framework

Find at Harvard

Read Now

Richard F. Meyer is Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. Professor Meyer received his Ph.D. from Harvard University and spent the first ten years of his career in the Management Services Division of Arthur D. Little, Inc., serving as a... View Details

02 Feb 2021
Blog Post

Finding My Focus in Health care Amidst a Global Pandemic

I applied to the HBS and Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) MBA/MPP (Master of Public Policy) Class of 2023 to learn about the interplay between the public and private sectors in health care. Health care spending in the United View Details

Summer R. Jackson

Summer Jackson is an Assistant Professor of Management in the Organizational Behavior unit at Harvard Business School. She teaches LEAD in the MBA required curriculum.

Professor Jackson is an organizational ethnographer... View Details

October 2018 (Revised January 2019)
Case

Social Finance, Inc.

By: Shawn Cole and Fanele Mashwama

This case begins in February 2019 as Tracy Palandjian, co-founder and CEO of Social Finance Inc., prepares for a board meeting that will determine the future strategy of the social enterprise. Social Finance is a non-profit in the impact investment space founded in... View Details

Keywords: Impact Investment; Social Enterprise; Growth and Development Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions