Publications

September 2008 (Revised October 2008)
Case

Shareholder Activists at Friendly Ice Cream (A1)

By: Fabrizio Ferri, V.G. Narayanan and James Weber

Two activist investors, one a founder and one a hedge fund manager, seek to improve board oversight at a chain restaurant company. Prestley Blake founded Friendly Ice Cream in 1935 with his brother, and the two created a chain of full-service restaurants. In 1979, they... View Details

Keywords: Investment Activism; Governing and Advisory Boards; Lawsuits and Litigation; Business or Company Management; Business and Shareholder Relations; Conflict of Interests; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

June 2017 (Revised October 2017)
Case

Uber in 2017: One Bumpy Ride

By: Suraj Srinivasan, Jay W. Lorsch and Quinn Pitcher

Uber Technologies Inc., the popular ride-hailing company, entered 2017 having doubled its bookings in 2016 and achieving a valuation of nearly $70 billion, making it the largest venture capital-backed company in the world. Co-founder and CEO Travis Kalanick embodied... View Details

Keywords: Governance; Information Technology; Transportation; Venture Capital; Organizational Culture; Technology Industry; Transportation Industry; United States

18 Aug 2011
Lessons from the Classroom

Business Plan Contest: 15 Years of Building Better Entrepreneurs

the power to impact the health of millions rallied the team, recalls Jon Puz (MBA '08), a director of account management at the health-care consultancy Carol Corp. (Puz... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Education

Report on Racial Inclusion in the Boardroom

While many efforts are underway to add more demographically diverse directors to boards, very few are focused on inclusion—creating an environment where differences are valued, and all members have equal opportunity to exercise influence and move into leadership... View Details

November 1999 (Revised November 2000)
Case

Cortlandt Town Center

By: William J. Poorvu and Arthur I Segel

CBL & Associates is trying to decide whether to go ahead with the development of a 790,000 square-foot power center with retailers such as Home Depot and Barnes & Noble. The costs are such that the developer needs to renegotiate its land acquisition price. Then the... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Decision Making; Entrepreneurship; Cost; Negotiation; Projects; Strategy; Construction Industry; Retail Industry

08 Jul 2002
What Do You Think?

Have We Carried the Concept of Alignment Too Far?

on my face, especially considering that during the last five years the U.S. has lectured Asia on ending collusion and cronyism." There is a general tone in responses to this month's column that there are few antidotes, including alignment, to greedy leaders and... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

September 8, 2009
Article

The New Governance Paradigm

By: Nathaniel Foote and Michael Beer

Boards members of failed banks in 2008 or of the many companies like Enron who were caught up in scandals are by and large honorable, well intentioned, and competent people. So what went wrong and what can be done about it. This article argues that the problem lies in... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Competency and Skills; Banks and Banking; Failure; Goals and Objectives; Leadership; Management Practices and Processes; Ethics; Performance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Crime and Corruption

Find at Harvard

24 Sep 2018
Blog Post

Working to Keep Pirates At-Bay: My Summer in Cyber Security

After spending three years working in consulting before coming to HBS, I knew I wanted to use my summer to expand beyond the world of Board of View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship

Jeffrey F. Rayport

Jeffrey F Rayport is a faculty member in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at Harvard Business School, where he teaches in the School’s MBA and Executive Education Programs and on HBS Online. His primary focus in teaching and research is growth-stage technology... View Details

December 2024 (Revised March 2025)
Case

Strategy and CEO Succession at Starbucks

By: Krishna G. Palepu and David Lane

On August 13, 2024, Starbucks announced that Laxman Narasimhan who was appointed as the CEO only in September 2023, was stepping down as CEO and board director “with immediate effect.” Laxman would be replaced on September 9 by Brian Niccol, CEO since 2018 of Chipotle... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Corporate Governance; Leadership; Management Succession; Cost Management; Labor Unions; Working Conditions; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Service Operations; Investment Activism; Governing and Advisory Boards; Resignation and Termination; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

01 Oct 2001
Research & Ideas

Organizing the Family-Run Business

Figure 1. Senior management is the organizing mechanism and voice of the employees. The family council and family assembly are the organizing mechanisms and voice of the family. The View Details

February 2013
Article

Exceptional Boards: Environmental Experience and Positive Deviance from Institutional Norms

By: Judith Walls and Andrew J. Hoffman

This paper explores the phenomenon of positive organizational deviance from institutional norms by establishing practices that protect or enhance the natural environment. Seeking to explain why some organizations practice positive environmental deviance while others do... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Networks; Organizational Culture; Governing and Advisory Boards; Environmental Management

Find at Harvard

01 Oct 2001
News

Looking for a Leader: The Role of Executive Search Firms

At a recent gathering of chief executives in New York City, the heads of two companies shared pleasant dinner conversation. The first led a large, successful corporation; the second also happened to serve as... View Details

Keywords: Peter K. Jacobs; Telecommunications; Information

June 2001 (Revised July 2001)
Case

Boston Lyric Opera

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Dennis Campbell

The Boston Lyric Opera was the fastest growing opera company in North America during the 1990s. Having successfully completed a move to a larger facility in 1999, the board and general director recognize the need to develop a formal strategic planning and governance... View Details

Keywords: Balanced Scorecard; Strategic Planning; Arts; Growth and Development Strategy; Governing and Advisory Boards; Fine Arts Industry; Massachusetts

21 Mar 2022
News

AI Chip Startups Pull In Funding as They Navigate Supply Constraints

August 2016
Case

CEO Succession at Cisco (A): From John Chambers to Chuck Robbins

By: Boris Groysberg, J. Yo-Jud Cheng and Annelena Lobb

A smooth transition from former CEO John Chambers to new CEO Chuck Robbins had put Cisco in a position of strength. Looking back, the board reflected on what they had done well and what they might have done differently, and pondered whether another company might be... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Management Succession; Technology Industry

October 2018
Supplement

African Bank Investments Limited (B)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz

Less than a year after joining the board of African Bank Investments Limited (ABIL), the newest director finds himself in difficult discussions with other directors about removing the struggling company’s CEO. The case is set in South Africa in mid-2014 as shares in... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Personal Finance; Corporate Accountability; Governing and Advisory Boards; Corporate Governance; Crisis Management; Insurance; Leadership; Management; Risk Management; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; Insurance Industry; Africa; South Africa

April 2018 (Revised June 2020)
Case

Tesla's CEO Compensation Plan

By: Krishna G. Palepu and Sarah Mehta

Tesla’s board of directors proposed an unusual compensation plan for the company’s CEO Elon Musk. The plan payouts were entirely contingent on achieving very ambitious market value, sales, and EBIT targets over the next ten years. If all the targets were achieved,... View Details

Keywords: CEO Compensation; Compensation Committee; Corporate Governance; Executive Compensation; Governing and Advisory Boards; Business and Shareholder Relations; Auto Industry; United States

April 1988 (Revised July 1989)
Case

Precista Tools AG (A)

A young woman manager in a Swiss family firm finds that her role as a managing director becomes bitterly unpleasant once her older brother decides to leave an engineering career and join the family business. That is what the father, who was head of the business had... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Family Business; Family and Family Relationships; Gender Characteristics; Switzerland