Publications

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March 2010 (Revised May 2011)
Case

Dubai in Crisis

By: Noel Maurer

On November 25, 2009, the small city-state of Dubai shook financial markets across the world when the Dubai World holding companies announced that it would ask its creditors to standstill its debts. After three decades of phenomenal growth, something had gone off the... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Development Economics; Financial Crisis; Borrowing and Debt; Business History; Business and Government Relations; Dubai

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Article

Can the Virtuous Mouse and the Wealthy Elephant Live Happily Ever After?

By: James E. Austin and Herman B. "Dutch" Leonard

What happens when small iconic socially oriented businesses are acquired by large corporations? Such mergers create significant opportunities for creating both business value and substantially expanded social value, but they also pose unusually difficult challenges... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Management Style; Agreements and Arrangements; Social Enterprise; Social Issues

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2008
Working Paper

Can the Virtuous Mouse and the Wealthy Elephant Live Happily Ever After?

By: James E. Austin and Herman B. Leonard

What happens when small iconic socially-oriented businesses are acquired by large corporations? Such mergers create significant opportunities for creating both business value and substantially expanded social value, but also pose unusually difficult challenges because... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Management Style; Agreements and Arrangements; Social Enterprise; Social Issues

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05 Apr 2011
First Look

First Look: April 5

709-469 Zopa, a U.K.-based peer-to-peer lending company, connected individual lenders and borrowers via an online interface. The company charged a small fee for completed loan transactions but has not turned... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

August 2023
Teaching Note

Huawei: A Global Tech Giant in the Crossfire of a Digital Cold War

By: William C. Kirby and Noah B. Truwit

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 320-089. By 2020, Ren Zhengfei, CEO of Huawei, had transformed the small telephone switch manufacturer he founded in 1987 into a $120 billion telecommunications company poised to lead the lucrative rollout of fifth-generation (5G)... View Details

Keywords: Geopolitical Units; Business and Government Relations; International Relations; Communication Strategy; Telecommunications Industry; China

Why do advertising campaigns and new products often fail? Why do consumers feel that companies don't understand their needs? Because marketers themselves don't think deeply about consumers' innermost thoughts and feelings. Marketing Metaphoria is a groundbreaking book... View Details

December 1986 (Revised December 1993)
Case

Johnsonville Sausage Co. (A)

Describes the evolution of Johnsonville Sausage through a generation of management and from a small operation to a large concern of over 500 employees. Describes how each of the functional areas in the firm has evolved, and how its structure and systems have changed... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business or Company Management; Transformation; Growth and Development; Food and Beverage Industry

01 Nov 2022
Research & Ideas

A Penny for Your Thoughts? For Big-Picture Ideas, the Right Pay Structure Matters

upgrading its management techniques. Hoping to spur employees to develop ideas for bettering the company’s performance, the firm launched a system in which workers who put forth ideas were recognized with small sums of money. The View Details

Keywords: by Scott Van Voorhis

March 2017
Case

Swagbucks

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport and Matthew G. Preble

In early 2016, Chuck Davis, chairman and CEO of Prodege LLC, parent company of the brand promotion business Swagbucks, and Josef Gorowitz, Prodege’s founder and president, must decide whether to acquire MyPoints, a competitor to Swagbucks, after the company’s... View Details

17 Oct 2019
Research & Ideas

‘Chick Beer’ for Women? Why Gender Marketing Repels More Than Sells

considered if the company hadn’t hyped their gender, according to a study by Harvard Business School. Why do these gender appeals alienate the very audience they aim to attract? People resist being categorized—or made to feel like they... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Consumer Products

January 1990 (Revised October 1993)
Case

Monsanto's March into Biotechnology (A)

By: Gary P. Pisano

Very early in the history of biotechnology (about 1979), Monsanto made a major commitment to move into this field. This case recounts the history from the point of view of the eminent scientist hired to head up corporate R&D. He took Monsanto from a very traditional... View Details

Keywords: History; Transition; Biotechnology Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

April 2012
Case

Pret A Manger

By: Frances X. Frei, Rick Goldberg and Stephanie van Sice

Pret A Manger, a London-based chain of sandwich shops, was known for its fast, genuine service and pre-packaged sandwiches prepared on-site daily. Instructed by its board to grow at 15 percent per year, Pret considered opening "twin" shops in locations too small to... View Details

Keywords: Customer Service Excellence; Growth Planning And Management; Employee Performance Management; Information Management; Production Planning; Employee Attitude Development And Empowerment; Employee Retention; Leadership Development And Career Planning; Service Delivery; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Model; Innovation and Invention; Employees; Performance; London