Publications

November 2008 (Revised November 2012)
Case

For several months, things had been spiraling downwards at Savage Beast, the music-recommendation company started three years before by Tim Westergren. The company's founder-CEO recently left due to pressures both at home and within the venture. Dozens of investors... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Lawsuits and Litigation; Leadership; Groups and Teams

October 2023 (Revised November 2023)
Case

Rheaply: Circularity For Every Business

By: Rembrand Koning and Alicia Dadlani

In March 2023, Garry Cooper, cofounder and CEO of Chicago-based Rheaply, needed to demonstrate that Rheaply’s expanded vision could translate into building cash flows and metrics needed to raise a Series B and turn the business into a model for financial and... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Social Entrepreneurship; Technological Innovation; Environmental Sustainability; Entrepreneurial Finance; Technology Industry; Green Technology Industry; United States; Illinois; Chicago

April 2021 (Revised August 2024)
Case

The Turnaround at Ford Motor Company

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Olivia Jung

This case describes the corporate turnaround of the Ford Motor Company under the charismatic leadership of Alan Mulally. Ford was in deep trouble in the early 2000s as its prices and debt ratings plummeted and employee morale suffered. In 2006, the company anticipated... View Details

Keywords: Turnaround; Transformation; Restructuring; Organizational Culture; Leading Change; Performance Improvement; Auto Industry; North America

20 Oct 2020
Working Paper Summaries

Flight to Safety: How Economic Downturns Affect Talent Flows to Startups

Keywords: by Shai Benjamin Bernstein, Richard Townsend, and Ting Xu

19 Nov 2019
News

Do You Seek Out New Experiences? Or Stick With the Things You Know and Love?

03 May 2012
News

Clay Christensen's Life Lessons

28 Oct 2015
News

The Life And Times of Tom Stemberg

December 2023
Article

Self-Orienting in Human and Machine Learning

By: Julian De Freitas, Ahmet Uğuralp, Zeliha Uğuralp, Laurie Paul, Joshua B. Tenenbaum and T. Ullman

A current proposal for a computational notion of self is a representation of one’s body in a specific time and place, which includes the recognition of that representation as the agent. This turns self-representation into a process of self-orientation, a challenging... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Behavior; Learning

16 Jan 2020
News

12 Books on Diversity and Inclusion Coming Out in the First Half of 2020 That Every Leader Should Have on Their Radar

30 Jan 2018
News

The erosion of worker compensation

15 Mar 2021
Blog Post

REFLECTIONS ON MY TIME AS BEI DIRECTOR

At the end of March, I will retire from my role as Director of the HBS Business and Environment Initiative and turn the reins to BEI’s new Director Lynn Schenk and Coordinator Elise Clarkson. What has changed since I started in the... View Details

December 2010 (Revised January 2012)
Supplement

Vodafone in Japan (B)

By: Juan Alcacer, Mary Furey and Mayuka Yamazaki

By 2005, Vodafone Group was losing its footing in the sophisticated Japanese telecom market. What were they doing wrong? Should they cut their losses and leave Japan, or could they learn from mistakes and turn things around? View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Profit; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Knowledge Acquisition; Market Entry and Exit; Operations; Adaptation; Diversification; Expansion; Telecommunications Industry; Japan

September 1995 (Revised March 1998)
Case

Argentina's YPF Sociedad Anonima (B)

By: Michael Y. Yoshino and Carin-Isabel Knoop

YPF, a recently privatized and restructured Argentine-based oil company now turns its attention to international expansion and faces an opportunity to acquire Maxus, a troubled U.S. oil company. The case discusses whether the company should go ahead with the proposed... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Non-Renewable Energy; Globalization; Emerging Markets; Market Entry and Exit; Privatization; Natural Environment; Expansion; United States; Argentina

08 Nov 2020
News

Kominers’s Conundrums: It’s the Final Countdown

April 2019 (Revised October 2019)
Case

Sanjeev Kapoor: The Recipe for Success

By: Boris Groysberg and Mahima Rao-Kachroo

India's most recognized celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor has been an integral part of the country's food industry since 1993. As a celebrity chef, Kapoor enjoyed a 17-year run of his hit TV cooking show “Khana Khazana,” published more than 100 cookbook titles in multiple... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Business Ventures; Change; Decision Making; Entrepreneurship; Food; Leadership; Management; Markets; Media; Organizations; Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Quality; Relationships; Technology; Food and Beverage Industry; India; South Asia

15 Jul 2013
News

What Makes Content Go Viral? Scientists Examine Data On Reddit Posts, Facebook Shares

October 2002 (Revised May 2003)
Case

Dynatrol Corporation: Andover Assembly Division

By: H. Kent Bowen, Janice H. Hammond and Ramchandran Jaikumar

While grappling with glitches in the design and operation of its production system, Andover Assembly must also launch a new sensor product line to meet ultimatums issued by frustrated Signatron vice presidents. The financial returns of the division are not meeting... View Details

Keywords: Production; Product Development; Product; Performance Productivity; Problems and Challenges; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Manufacturing Industry; United States