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01 Jan 2014
News

IDEO’s Culture of Helping

June 2021
Case

One Family Textiles: Stepping Back to Move Forward?

By: V.G. Narayanan, Alpana Thapar and Fares Khrais

This case explores how a family business builds a board that includes independent directors that helps to professionalize and strengthen governance in the company. The case relates to One Family Textiles, an Abu Dhabi-headquartered manufacturer of garments. The company... View Details

Keywords: Governance; Growth and Development Strategy; Operations; Governing and Advisory Boards; Business History; Decision Making; Accounting

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System

rules, individuals are repeatedly conducting experiments, testing in operation the hypotheses built into the designs of individual work activities, customer-supplier connections, pathways, and improvement... View Details

Keywords: by H. Kent Bowen & Steven Spear; Manufacturing; Transportation; Auto

Article

Manage the Suppliers That Could Harm Your Brand: Know When to Avoid, Engage, or Drop Them

By: Jodi L Short and Michael W. Toffel

The pandemic has placed a new spotlight on working conditions in factories that supply global companies. To avert problems, firms often impose codes of conduct on their suppliers and perform audits to assess compliance. Do these measures help identify unethical... View Details

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April 2019
Case

Afterpay U.S.: The Omnichannel Dilemma

By: Antonio Moreno, Donald Ngwe and George Gonzalez

In 2018, Nick Molnar, the founder of the Australia-based online payment service Afterpay began its expansion to the U.S. market. The service had gained a loyal following in Australia by enabling customers to pay for online purchases through four interest-free... View Details

April 2025
Case

Breezm: Innovative 3D-Printed Eyewear (A)

By: Juan Alcácer, Brian Mao Fu and Adina Wong

In 2023, Breezm, a South Korean startup, faced a strategic decision about how to grow its innovative 3D-printed, custom-fit eyewear business. Co-founded in 2017 by Zenma Park and Wooseok Sung, Breezm combined facial scanning, AI, and in-house production to solve the... View Details

Keywords: 3D Printing; Eyeyewear; Growth; Business Startups; AI and Machine Learning; Technological Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Risk and Uncertainty; Expansion; South Korea

May 2020
Teaching Note

Talismark

By: Richard S. Ruback, Royce Yudkoff and Ahron Rosenfeld

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 211-097. Talismark negotiated waste hauling contracts for small and medium size companies. Its owners, Charles Muszynski and Marshall Staiman, were able to grow the business by more than 30% per year since it was founded, but believed... View Details

Keywords: Small Business; Small Business Administration; Infrastructure; Restructuring; Business Processes; Information Management; Sales; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Wastes and Waste Processing

10 Jun 2008
First Look

First Look: June 10, 2008

Group has navigated through the significantly different political and economic changes in China to succeed as a global leader in the auto parts industry and to develop into a broad business conglomerate. Beginning in 1994, when it first began its View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Career Coach

Robert Kimmel

outside of work. Robert has been a Project Leader at Boston Consulting Group and has worked with private-equity-backed companies as part of the Portfolio Improvement Group at Audax Private Equity. His direct View Details

Keywords: Consulting; Consumer Products; Entrepreneurship; Manufacturing; Private Equity; Financial Services (All)

March 2013
Teaching Note

Automating the Paris Subway (TN) (A) & (B)

By: Michel Anteby and Ayn Cavicchi

In 2001, the head of the Paris Subway reflected on how to transform Line 1 into a driverless line without triggering a social conflict. After the shock of the 2000 Notre Dame de Lorette subway accident, in which a train derailed and caused 25 injuries in a Paris subway... View Details

Keywords: Labor Relations; Unions; Organizational Behavior; Change; Information Technology; Rail Transportation; Labor Unions; Infrastructure; Change Management; Employment; Organizations; Labor and Management Relations; Transportation Industry; Rail Industry; Paris

November 2009 (Revised August 2011)
Case

Warner Bros. Entertainment

By: Gary P. Pisano and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

Examines the process used by a major motion picture studio to develop and select movie projects. Warner Bros.' strategy is to focus its efforts on a small number of major "event" films (i.e., films with the potential to generate gross box office receipts of $300... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Film Entertainment; Risk Management; Product Development; Strategic Planning; Projects; Sales; Motion Pictures and Video Industry

December 2017 (Revised January 2018)
Case

NatureSweet

By: Jose Alvarez, Forest Reinhardt and Natalie Kindred

This case describes the business model and workplace philosophy of NatureSweet, a privately owned, vertically integrated greenhouse grower and marketer of fresh tomatoes with sales across the United States and $329 million in 2016 revenues. CEO Bryant Ambelang treated... View Details

12 Jul 2022
Cold Call Podcast

Can the Foodservice Distribution Industry Recover from the Pandemic?

Keywords: Re: David E. Bell; Service; Food & Beverage

23 Apr 2012
Research & Ideas

How to Brand a Next-Generation Product

significant changes and improvements for each successive model. Even though participants had no information about the actual features of the products, participants predicted much greater change when the latest version was named MagiColor... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

09 Jul 2012
Research & Ideas

The Unconscious Executive

addition, unconscious thought might be more dependable than conscious thought when we are low on energy. Preliminary research also indicates that using odor or sound cues during sleep might activate our unconscious mind and improve... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

Research Summary

Overview

Patient Portals: The Provider Role
Patient portals are widespread, but evidence of impact is limited. In this study, we use a large dataset spanning 2 years and >1 million patients across 650 primary care practices to explore the "other side" of portals: health... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare Technology; Electronic Health Records; Health Care Delivery

Web

Doctoral

the changing world of business, society, and education. PhD Programs Accounting & Management Business Economics (Includes Finance) Health Policy (Management) Marketing Organizational Behavior Strategy Technology & Operations Management... View Details

Rob Markey

Rob Markey is a Senior Lecturer of Business Administration in the Technology and Operations Unit at Harvard Business School. He teaches Managing Service Operations in the MBA elective curriculum. The course focuses on how to effectively design,... View Details

September 2023
Supplement

CMA CGM: Reducing the Carbon Footprint of Container Shipping

By: Willy C. Shih

Marine transport is the most cost-effective way to move large volumes over long distances, and container shipping is the backbone of international trade in goods. Yet shipping contributed 3% of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions, and the deep-sea segment, which... View Details

Keywords: Container Shipping; Trade Links; Decarbonization; Environmental Strategies; Environmental Impact; Globalization; Trade; Environmental Regulation; Supply Chain; Logistics; Shipping Industry; European Union; Asia; North America