Publications

January 2021 (Revised February 2021)
Case

TCS: From Physical Offices to Borderless Work

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury and Malini Sen

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a multinational IT services company headquartered in Mumbai, is a subsidiary of one of India’s most reputed conglomerates, the Tata Group. In 2020, TCS was valued at $144.7 billion, the highest for any company in the IT sector,... View Details

Keywords: Remote Work; Organizational Structure; Change Management; Transformation; Decision Choices and Conditions; Customer Satisfaction; Information Technology Industry; India; Asia; United States; Europe

November 2008 (Revised March 2011)
Case

a-connect: In Search of Talent Partners (A)

By: Robert G. Eccles and Dilyana Karadzhova

a-connect was started in 2002 by three former McKinsey partners who wanted to develop an alternative business model consulting firm, which they have positioned as a high-end staffing company. The company has been very successful, growing to revenues of CHF 30 million... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Decision Choices and Conditions; Initial Public Offering; Selection and Staffing; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketplace Matching; Expansion; Consulting Industry

February 1997 (Revised April 1997)
Case

Harrington Financial Group

By: Robert C. Merton and Alberto Moel

In early 1997, Harrington Bank, a small Indiana savings and loan (thrift) wondered what its next move should be. Harrington was acquired in 1988 by the principals of Smith Breeden Associates, a money-management and consulting firm specializing in the application of... View Details

Keywords: Banks and Banking; Mergers and Acquisitions; Price; Risk Management; Mortgages; Contracts; Asset Management; Investment; Financial Services Industry

Andy Zelleke is the MBA Class of 1962 Senior Lecturer of Business Administration. A member of the General Management unit, he is the Faculty Chair of HBS’ Middle East & North Africa Research Center.

Since Spring 2021, Dr. Zelleke has taught “Unpacking... View Details

Keywords: federal government; professional services; defense; financial services

E. Scott Mayfield

Scott Mayfield is a Senior Lecturer of Business Administration in the Finance Unit at the Harvard Business School. Prior rejoining the faculty in 2011, Professor Mayfield was an assistant professor and member of the Finance Unit at HBS from 1997 to... View Details

September 2021 (Revised June 2023)
Supplement

Serving Bud Moore (B)

By: David G. Fubini and Patrick Sanguineti

In only his third year at a Leading Strategy Consulting firm (LSC), Gregory Davis has been assigned to a select group tasked with advising General Motors (GM), one of the largest companies in the world by revenue, on how to reorganize their entire North American... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Relationships; Outcome or Result; Groups and Teams; Management Skills; Restructuring

2024
Working Paper

Don’t Expect Juniors to Teach Senior Professionals to Use Generative AI: Emerging Technology Risks and Novice AI Risk Mitigation Tactics

By: Katherine C. Kellogg, Hila Lifshitz-Assaf, Steven Randazzo, Ethan Mollick, Fabrizio Dell'Acqua, Edward McFowland III, François Candelon and Karim R. Lakhani

The literature on communities of practice demonstrates that a proven way for senior professionals to upskill themselves in the use of new technologies that undermine existing expertise is to learn from junior professionals. It notes that juniors may be better able... View Details

Keywords: Rank and Position; Competency and Skills; Technology Adoption; Experience and Expertise

SSRN

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Michael Montelongo is a Lecturer of Business Administration in the Technology and Operations Management Unit at Harvard Business School. He teaches Managing Service Operations in the MBA elective curriculum that shows how to effectively design, manage, and improve... View Details

October 2005 (Revised February 2006)
Case

Reactivity: A Case of Re-Invention

By: Myra M. Hart and Sylvia Sensiper

By the time Glenn Osaka joined Reactivity as its new CEO in January 2001, the Internet bubble had burst, the financial markets had turned, and the company's core businesses were drying up. He was not hired to lead a turnaround, but Osaka found that the firm's future... View Details

Keywords: Management Style; Venture Capital; Organizational Culture; Applications and Software; Leadership Style; Product; Transformation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Consulting Industry; Consulting Industry

January 1999
Case

Prague Post, The

By: Paul A. Gompers

Lisa Frankenberg, co-founder of the Prague Post, is faced with several business and professional decisions. The English-language paper she founded is under pressure from competition and a Czech Republic recession. She must decide how to return the paper to... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Decisions; Decision Choices and Conditions; Profit; Competition; Financial Crisis; Personal Development and Career; Publishing Industry; Czech Republic

October 2019 (Revised August 2020)
Case

The Predictive Index

By: Lynda M. Applegate and James Weber

Mike Zani and Daniel Muzquiz needed to decide next steps to create a new category in the human resources consulting industry and scale their company.
Zani and Muzquiz, serial entrepreneurs, acquired Predictive Index in 2014. Previously, as clients of the... View Details

Keywords: Human Resources; Selection and Staffing; Talent and Talent Management; Recruitment; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Change Management; Disruptive Innovation; Digital Platforms; Growth and Development Strategy; Consulting Industry; Service Industry; United States

2014
Teaching Note

Fine Harvest Restaurant Group

By: Clara X. Chen, Kenneth A. Merchant, Tatiana Sandino and Wim Van der Stede

The Fine Harvest Restaurant Group cases A and B examine a company's design of a new system to evaluate the performance (and determine the bonuses) for its restaurant managers. Fine Harvest had traditionally evaluated restaurant managers based on store margins and had... View Details

Keywords: Incentive Systems; Relative Performance Evaluation; Restaurant Industry; Accounting; Economics; Human Resources; Measurement and Metrics; Labor; Performance; Salesforce Management; Retail Industry; North and Central America

Lynn Sharp Paine is a Baker Foundation Professor and John G. McLean Professor of Business Administration, Emerita, at Harvard Business School. A member and former chair of the General Management unit, she has served in numerous leadership positions including Senior... View Details

May 2019 (Revised February 2022)
Background Note

The Gig Economy: Leasing Skills to Pay the Bills

By: Joseph Fuller, William R. Kerr and Carl Kreitzberg

This primer provides a comprehensive exploration into the gig economy and how it is reshaping global business. It shows how the Uber driver, the freelancing programmer in India, and the independent corporate consultant are all different variants of the modern-day gig... View Details

Keywords: Gig Economy; COVID-19 Pandemic; Talent and Talent Management; Human Resources; Labor; Strategy; Management; Globalization; North America; Europe; United States; United Kingdom

28 Oct 2008
First Look

First Look: October 28, 2008

Course MaterialsAdobe Systems: Working Towards a 'Suite' Release (A) Harvard Business School Case 409-014 The case examines the tools a manager can use to keep her project on track and manage conflict and... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

January 1997 (Revised December 1999)
Case

OXO International

By: H. Kent Bowen, Marilyn Matis and Sylvie Ryckebusch

OXO, a kitchen tools and gadgets company, was started by a businessman who had 30 years of experience in the housewares industry. With his wife and son as founders, he creates a new niche in the gadgets industry for high-end gourmet stores. The company has headquarters... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Supply Chain Management; Production; Design; Ownership; Business Startups; Acquisition; Consumer Products Industry; Asia; New York (city, NY); Connecticut

June 2011 (Revised November 2014)
Case

Vehbi Koç and the Making of Turkey's Largest Business Group

By: Asli M. Colpan and Geoffrey Jones

The case describes the creation of Turkey's largest business group by Vehbi Koç. The foundation of this group in the interwar years, and its subsequent diversification into many industries, including automobiles, household goods, and services, is analysed. The case... View Details

Keywords: Emerging Markets; Entrepreneurship; Globalization; Organizational Structure; Diversification; Manufacturing Industry; Turkey

May 1996 (Revised October 2001)
Case

BAE Automated Systems (B): Implementing the Denver International Airport Baggage-Handling System

By: Lynda M. Applegate, H. James Nelson, Ramiro Montealegre and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Describes the negotiations between the City of Denver officials, airlines, consulting companies, and BAE for the construction of a backup baggage system to enable the Denver International Airport (DIA) to open. When DIA finally opens in February 1995, 16 months behind... View Details

Keywords: Performance Effectiveness; Management Practices and Processes; Projects; Negotiation; Outcome or Result; Problems and Challenges; Air Transportation Industry; Construction Industry; Colorado