Publications

October 2023
Case

CornerUp: Digitizing the Corner Store

By: Álvaro Rodríguez Arregui, Stacy Straaberg and Diego Zainos De La Sota Riva

In July 2023, Jason Diaz, co-founder and CEO of CornerUp, assessed the progress of his business-to-business e-procurement software application (app) startup, founded in January 2022. CornerUp began as a fast-moving consumer packaged goods (FMCG) distributor in New York... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Business Startups; Small Business; Transition; Decisions; Social Entrepreneurship; Geographic Location; Disruptive Innovation; Market Participation; Digital Platforms; Trust; Business Strategy; Expansion; Information Infrastructure; Internet and the Web; Technology Adoption; Value Creation; Technology Industry; United States

November 15, 2022
Article

Using Simulations to Upskill Employees

By: Frank V. Cespedes, Trond Aas, Alex Hunt and Huw Newton-Hill

Reskilling employees tops the agenda in many organizations, according to a LinkedIn report. Korn Ferry estimates an 85-million person talent shortage by 2030, and McKinsey likens the challenge to the shift from agricultural to manufacturing work that occurred in the... View Details

Keywords: Employee Engagement; Managing People; Talent Development; Training; Human Capital; Experience and Expertise; Talent and Talent Management; Retention; Personal Development and Career

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September 1994
Case

BayFunds

By: Alvin J. Silk, Lisa Klein Pearo and Jamie Harper

In June, 1994, the Senior Vice President of BayBank's Investment Management Group is preparing a strategic plan for her organization's line of mutual funds. Sixteen months earlier, BayBank, Massachusetts's leading retail bank, had entered the mutual fund business by... View Details

Keywords: Banks and Banking; Marketing Strategy; Brands and Branding; Investment Funds; Product Marketing; Integration; Financial Services Industry

October 2010 (Revised June 2014)
Case

Volkswagen do Brasil: Driving Strategy with the Balanced Scorecard

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Ricardo Reisen de Pinho

A new management team at VW do Brazil develops and deploys a strategy map and Balanced Scorecard to accomplish a turnaround and cultural change after eight consecutive years of financial losses and market share declines. The team uses the strategy map to align... View Details

Keywords: Business Cycles; Developing Countries and Economies; Management Teams; Leadership; Balanced Scorecard; Strategic Planning; Balance and Stability; Motivation and Incentives; Communication Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Auto Industry; Brazil; Germany

December 2007 (Revised March 2013)
Case

Queensland Sugar Limited

By: David E. Bell and Mary L. Shelman

Until industry deregulation in 2006, Queensland Sugar ran Australia's single desk marketing system for raw sugar exports. Since deregulation, eight of the ten Queensland sugar millers have elected to continue collective marketing through QSL. However, several millers... View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Goods and Commodities; Trade; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Competition; Marketing Strategy; Supply Chain; Network Effects; Supply and Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Australia

September 2020
Case

West Side United: Hospitals Tackle the Racial Health and Wealth Gap

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Paul Stramaglia

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. David Ansell, Darlene Hightower, and Ayesho Jaco, leaders of West Side United (WSU), a coalition of Chicago hospitals, community residents, banks, and small businesses conceived in 2016, reviewed progress toward WSU’s goal of ending... View Details

Keywords: COVID; COVID-19; Hospital; Coalition; Health Pandemics; Race; Health; Wealth and Poverty; Equality and Inequality; Change; Leadership; Chicago

August 2007 (Revised May 2008)
Case

Rebuilding the New Orleans Public Schools: Turning the Tide? (Abridged)

After Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans Public School System is faced with rebuilding from the ground up. The challenge is enormous, as is the opportunity to remake the lowest-performing public school system in Louisiana and one of the lowest-performing in the nation.... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Transformation; Entrepreneurship; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Natural Disasters; Conflict and Resolution; Education Industry; New Orleans

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2025
Working Paper

Tracking the Short-Run Price Impact of U.S. Tariffs

By: Alberto Cavallo, Paola Llamas and Franco Vazquez

This paper examines the short-run impact of the 2025 U.S. tariffs on consumer prices using a unique integration of high-frequency retail pricing data, product-level country-of-origin information, and detailed tariff classifications. By linking daily prices from major... View Details

Keywords: Tariffs; Trade; Price; Inflation and Deflation

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June 2020
Case

RBC: Transforming Transformation (A)

By: Ethan Bernstein, Francesca Gino and Aldo Sesia

In 2017, the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), a Canadian financial icon, mandated a swat team of “enablers of collaboration” (their job description) to support the personal and commercial bank in the enterprise-wide RBC Cultural Transformation initiative. Historically,... View Details

Keywords: Service Delivery; Information Technology; Transformation; Change Management; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Management; Decision Making; Human Resources; Management Systems; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Groups and Teams; Management Teams; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; Canada

October 2020 (Revised June 2021)
Case

The Bronx Community Foundation

By: Brian Trelstad and Aldo Sesia

Derrick and Desmon Lewis were both successful professionals in the consulting and banking industries. They were born and raised in The Bronx, New York City’s poorest borough. The Lewis brothers had always wanted to give back to the community. In 2016 they launched a... View Details

Keywords: Community Foundations; Social Enterprise; Social Entrepreneurship; Relationships; Business Model; Social Issues; New York (city, NY); United States

September 1993
Case

Manufacturing at ALZA: The Right Prescription? (A)

By: Dorothy A. Leonard

ALZA, a company specializing in drug delivery systems such as transdermal patches, considers manufacturing its own products. Until now, the company has conducted research and development on its patented system but has then licensed the technology to client-partner... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Technological Innovation; Innovation and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Problems and Challenges; Production; Research and Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Pharmaceutical Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

Keywords: Information Technology; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Design; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Organizational Culture; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Performance Productivity; Problems and Challenges; Management Practices and Processes; Business Divisions; Information Management; Information Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; United States

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February 1991 (Revised February 1992)
Case

Appex Corp.

By: Nitin Nohria

1990 Business Week named Appex Corp. the fastest growing high-technology company in the United States. Appex provided management information systems and intercarrier network services to cellular telephone companies. During its rapid growth, the company went through... View Details

Research Summary

Research overview

By: Julie Battilana

How can actors – be they individuals or organizations – diverge from deeply-seated norms and develop new ones, when their beliefs and actions are shaped by these very norms? This question lies at the heart of Professor Battilana’s research. To address it, she... View Details

12 Jul 2004
Research & Ideas

Michael Porter’s Prescription For the High Cost of Health Care

We believe that competition is the root of the problem with U.S. health care performance. But this does not mean we advocate a state-controlled system or a single-payer system; those approaches would only make matters worse. On the... View Details

Keywords: by Michael E. Porter; Health

03 Oct 2013
Research & Ideas

Lehman Brothers Plus Five: Have We Learned from Our Mistakes?

risk-taking activities. However, since market forces were shown to be an unreliable mechanism for ensuring the soundness of the financial system over the long term, there is real pressure for making fundamental View Details

Keywords: Re: Multiple Faculty; Banking; Financial Services; Construction; Real Estate

March 2018
Case

GiveDirectly

By: John Beshears, Joshua Schwartzstein, Tiffany Y. Chang and Brian J. Hall

How should nonprofits design compensation systems to attract and retain talent? GiveDirectly is a respected charitable organization with an unconventional approach. Instead of spending on traditional aid programs in areas such as health care and food access in... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofits; Charity; Effective Altruism; International Aid; Compensation; Goals; Bonuses; Incentives; GiveDirectly; Compensation and Benefits; Motivation and Incentives; Goals and Objectives; Recruitment; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving