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03 Mar 2014
HBS Case

Decommoditizing the Canned Tomato

price no matter how many tomatoes were produced and a premium for better quality. Farmers were asked to harvest five days later than normal, which produces a riper, tastier product without adding sweeteners but increases the level of risk... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish; Agriculture & Agribusiness; Food & Beverage; Retail

01 Oct 2001
News

Carl M. Plochman III: A Savory Success

of antique mustard pots to posters from the Napa Valley Mustard Festival, where the company's product has earned more than a few gold medals. Less expected is the sculpture of a phoenix that graces the office of Plochman's president,... View Details

Keywords: Hanna, Julia; Food Manufacturing; Manufacturing

12 Jan 2009
Research & Ideas

The Value of a ‘Portable’ Career

League in the MIT Sloan Management Review. "As research on the National Football League reveals, sometimes the specific nature of a job determines whether a great performer at one company can replicate that performance at another," they... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Sports

July 2002 (Revised April 2004)
Supplement

GE's Digital Revolution

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Presents interviews with Gerry Podesta, VP of GE Plastics Component of General Electric Co., and Gary Reiner, senior VP and CIO of General Electric Co. A revised version of an earlier video. View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Corporate Strategy; Management Teams; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry

20 Feb 2020
Blog Post

Know Your Audience – Recruiting HBS Students for Technology

companies students are interested in as well, from startups to high growth to the Fortune 500. Product management continues to be a popular functional area for students eager to use their general View Details

Keywords: Technology

04 Jan 2021
What Do You Think?

How Do We Sustain Organization Diversity?

in new people? This is not as simple as it sounds. Inclusion is difficult. Research suggests that much of it does not lend itself to training. We can train managers to give “voice” to everyone in their organizations. What remains,... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

Profile

Frank Spencer

which became the national model for reform during the Clinton Administration. Since joining Habitat, Spencer has overseen a significant uptick in activity. In FY 2012, construction starts numbered 80; in the first four months of FY 2014, View Details

Keywords: Real Estate; Services

Web

Field Course: Startup Operations - Course Catalog

Organization: Structuring early teams and the processes by which to operate your business. Topics will include: Who to hire and when - from technical hires and managing freelancers/first hires to product... View Details

Career Coach

Matt Spielman

Matt (Columbia ’94, HBS ’99) is the Founder and Managing Partner of Inflection Point Partners, an executive coaching and leadership development firm dedicated to igniting careers and energizing lives. Matt and his team at Inflection... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products

October 2006 (Revised January 2009)
Case

Vitreon Corporation: The Hyalite Project

By: Roy D. Shapiro

Considers decisions facing the leader of a manufacturing staff project team assigned to a plant where yields have deteriorated sharply. The process is complex: the plant organization is not cooperative, and there are deep disagreements about what is wrong and how to... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Production; Organizational Culture; Performance Productivity; Groups and Teams; Conflict Management; Manufacturing Industry

June 2012 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Best Buy in Crisis

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

In June 2012, Best Buy was in crisis. In 1996, Best Buy overtook Circuit City as the world's leader in consumer electronics retailing; however, 18 years later, Best Buy now found this position threatened. With $51 billion in revenues, it was still the biggest CE... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Decision Choices and Conditions; Forecasting and Prediction; Competitive Strategy; Ethics; Management Teams; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry

January 2010
Teaching Note

Transforming ASUSTeK: Breaking from the Past (TN)

By: Willy C. Shih

Teaching Note for [610041]. View Details

Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Transformation; Contracts; Production; Product Design; Customers; Competition; Management Practices and Processes; Value; Performance Effectiveness; Brands and Branding; Disruptive Innovation; Computer Industry; Electronics Industry

08 Jul 2002
Research & Ideas

How to Fashion Your New E-Business Model

Information Age business innovations include: Digital production and distribution technologies (broadband and wireless networks, sophisticated content creation, flexible knowledge management) An operating model (integrated supply chains... View Details

Keywords: by Lynda M. Applegate

04 Sep 2007
Research & Ideas

Jumpstarting Innovation: Using Disruption to Your Advantage

More importantly, when the CEOs were asked "What's your past level of success in managing significant change?" only 15 percent said they had been "very successful." Another 15 percent said they had had "little or... View Details

Keywords: by Lynda M. Applegate

February 2007 (Revised September 2008)
Case

CMM versus Agile: Methodology Wars in Software Development

A CIO decides whether to adopt the "Capability Maturity Model" (CMM) within her IT department. The decision is proving surprisingly controversial; some of her best developers prefer adopting an "agile" methodological approach instead. Compares and contrasts the CMM and... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Product Development; Business Processes; Information Technology; Applications and Software

12 Mar 2014
Research & Ideas

Entrepreneurship and Multinationals Drive Globalization

the making of the global world over the last two centuries. Individual entrepreneurs and managers invented new products and shaped consumer demand. Firms created and diffused technologies and products,... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products

September 2020
Case

Merck: COVID-19 Vaccines

By: Willy C. Shih

COVID-19 infections were still climbing across the U.S. and many other parts of the world in September 2020, and it seemed that every time Ken Frazier, the CEO of Merck & Co. consented to an interview in recent months he always seemed to hear the same question,... View Details

Keywords: Vaccines; COVID-19 Pandemic; Health Pandemics; Health Testing and Trials; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Business Strategy; Product Launch; Pharmaceutical Industry

February 2009 (Revised April 2011)
Supplement

Mistry Architects (B)

By: Amy C. Edmondson, Robert G. Eccles and Mona Sinha

This case is a follow-up of Mistry Architects: Innovating for Sustainability (A) (Case 609-044). In Case (A) Sharukh and Renu Mistry found and run an architectural firm dedicated to being both client-oriented and environmentally responsible. The case uses a difficult... View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Emerging Markets; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Natural Disasters; Environmental Sustainability; Product Design; Innovation and Invention; Construction Industry