Publications

August 2009
Teaching Note

Procter & Gamble in the 21st Century (A): Becoming Truly Global (TN)

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Matthew Bird

Teaching Note for [309030]. View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Value; Multinational Firms and Management; Change Management; Mergers and Acquisitions; Problems and Challenges; Decision Making; Consumer Products Industry

13 Nov 2006
Research & Ideas

Science Business: What Happened to Biotech?

the industry, and what lessons managers might learn from an industry in structural disharmony. Sean Silverthorne: Biotech has not lived up to its expectations, either in providing outstanding returns for... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Biotechnology

11 Apr 2000
Research & Ideas

Financial Services 24/7

reacting to similar challenges. As trendy financial dot-coms with huge technology and advertising budgets emerge offering everyone an equal—and inexpensive—chance to trade stock, apply for a loan, buy insurance, or pay a bill, traditional... View Details

Keywords: by Susan Young

September 2010
Case

Aaron's: Household Goods for the U.S. Base of the Pyramid

By: Michael Chu and Charles Augustus Smithgall IV

With $2.5 billion system-wide revenues, Aaron's, a major rent-to-own supplier to the U.S. base of the pyramid, continues to grow in the recession, but CEO R.C. Loudermilk, Jr. wonders how long the company can sustain the fast growth rate of its past. Founded in 1955,... View Details

Keywords: Fairness; For-Profit Firms; Renting or Rental; Financial Crisis; Demand and Consumers; Social Enterprise; Income; Goods and Commodities; Competitive Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; United States

September 2010 (Revised May 2011)
Case

Leadership in Corporate Reporting Policy at Tata Steel

By: Karthik Ramanna and Rachna Tahilyani

The case describes the challenges faced by Tata Steel, India's largest private sector steel company, as it transitions from Indian GAAP to IFRS. It first describes those challenges in the context of the institutional voids that make IFRS adoption difficult in India.... View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; International Accounting; Multinational Firms and Management; Policy; Leadership; Emerging Markets; Standards; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Steel Industry; India

September 2019 (Revised September 2019)
Case

Facebook Fake News in the Post-Truth World

By: John R. Wells, Carole A. Winkler and Benjamin Weinstock

In August 2019, Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, was surrounded by controversy. The first major storm of protest followed the surprise election of Donald Trump as President of the United States on November 8, 2016; many put the blame at the door of fake... View Details

01 Jun 2008
News

America the Difficult

destination end up being so much less attractive despite the relative absence of this usual litany of investment obstacles? Part of the answer may lie precisely in how these obstacles tilt the playing field between local firms View Details

Keywords: Mihir A. Desai; foreign investors; Finance

February 2001 (Revised January 2002)
Case

Tracmail

By: Paul W. Marshall, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Suma Raju

Tracmail, an online customer service company based in India, is trying to handle support services (e-mail and chat) for companies worldwide. In its quest to break into global markets, Tracmail is contemplating a joint venture with a U.S. call center. Tracmail is also... View Details

Keywords: Salesforce Management; Globalized Firms and Management; Business Startups; Joint Ventures; Service Industry; Information Technology Industry; India; United States

Find at Harvard

May 2001
Supplement

Mike Levett, CEO Old Mutual

By: Tarun Khanna

Discusses issues related to the transformation of Old Mutual from a mutual company to a stock corporation, and from a South African insurer to a global financial institution. Emphasis is on understanding effects of South African institutional context. View Details

Keywords: Financial Institutions; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Globalized Firms and Management; Financial Services Industry; South Africa

March 2003
Case

Zara

Fashion retailer ZARA has achieved spectacular growth via a distinctive design-on-demand operating model. This case describes this model and outlines a number of challenges facing the company, with a particular emphasis on its international expansion. Includes color... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Globalized Firms and Management; Production; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Fashion Industry; Retail Industry

15 Apr 2008
First Look

First Look: April 15, 2008

specializing in building and managing prisons. Students must assess the firm's strategy and risks, evaluate key financial reports, derive forecasts of future performance, View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

August 2009
Teaching Note

Procter & Gamble in the 21st Century (C): Integrating Gillette (TN)

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Matthew Bird

Teaching Note for [309032]. View Details

Keywords: Integration; Mission and Purpose; Value; Problems and Challenges; Transition; Business Units; Governance Controls; Multinational Firms and Management; Consumer Products Industry

08 May 2015
News

Adopting a common language can strengthen global companies

Multinational firms are increasingly mandating a common language—typically English—to gain efficiencies and enhance collaboration overall. Associate Professor Tsedal Neeley has... View Details

October 2010 (Revised July 2013)
Case

ActionAid International: Globalizing Governance, Localizing Accountability

By: Alnoor Ebrahim and Rachel Gordon

As a global NGO working in 45 countries, ActionAid International aims to eradicate poverty by addressing its underlying causes such as injustice and inequality. This case follows a series of radical transformations implemented by the organization's CEO, Ramesh Singh—a... View Details

Keywords: Local Range; Globalized Firms and Management; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Governance; Leading Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Nonprofit Organizations; Power and Influence; Johannesburg; London

28 May 2013
First Look

First Look: May 28

management team is rare. Next, we ask when an independent director is more likely to dissent and who is more likely to dissent. Controlling for firm View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

20 Nov 2006
Research & Ideas

Open Source Science: A New Model for Innovation

paper "The Value of Openness in Scientific Problem Solving," coauthored with Lars Bo Jeppesen, Peter A. Lohse, and Jill A. Panetta. It describes how broadcast search was used with 166 distinct scientific problems from the... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

2007
Chapter

The Complete Business of Serving the Poor: Insights from Unilever's Project Shakti in India

By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Dalip Sehgal and Rohithari Rajan

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Social Entrepreneurship; Poverty; Developing Countries and Economies; India

March 1987 (Revised July 1996)
Case

Kansas City Zephyrs Baseball Club, Inc.

By: Kenneth A. Merchant, Krishna G. Palepu and Joseph P. Mulloy

Describes a dispute between the owners of the major league baseball teams and the players' union about the profitability of the baseball teams. The issue is important because of the ongoing collective bargaining negotiations. A consultant is brought in to decide... View Details

Keywords: State Ownership; Compensation and Benefits; Entrepreneurship; For-Profit Firms; Accounting; Activity Based Costing and Management; Resource Allocation; Cost Accounting; Cost Management; Labor and Management Relations; Financial Management; Sports; Sports Industry; Kansas