Publications

August 1998
Case

HIMSCORP, Inc.

By: William A. Sahlman, Michael J. Roberts and Laurence E. Katz

Himscorp is an industry consolidation of records storage companies providing management and retrieval services of active medical records to healthcare institutions. Kent Dauten, a former general partner at Madison Dearborn Partners with 15 years of venture capital and... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Initial Public Offering; Business Exit or Shutdown; Business Growth and Maturation; Decision Choices and Conditions; Consolidation; Information Industry

11 Sep 2012
First Look

First Look: September 11

ambitious 20-year growth plan to transform her family's one-branch community bank into an institution with a substantial presence in southeastern Alabama. Harris Johnson was pleased, so far, with the results. Strategically they had... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

20 Feb 2008
First Look

First Look: February 20, 2008

organizational contexts and provides practical strategies for changing your decision-making processes and improving these processes so that they become part of your permanent... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

January 2024 (Revised June 2024)
Case

School of Rock: Tuning into Structured Empowerment (A)

By: Tatiana Sandino, Jeffrey Rayport, Samuel Grad and Stacy Straaberg

In summer 2021, School of Rock was a youth-oriented music education company with 291 franchise- and company-owned schools globally. Before CEO Rob Price’s hire in 2017, School of Rock’s nonconformist rock ‘n’ roll culture led to variability in teaching styles,... View Details

26 Mar 2007
Research & Ideas

Learning from Failed Political Leadership

international objectives are in jeopardy today. To the extent that business strategies are based on these same erroneous notions, they are also at great risk. Q: What can a business executive learn about... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

August 2014
Case

Rent the Runway (Abridged)

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Brent Goldfarb and David A. Kirsch

Two months after a successful launch In November 2009, the cofounders of Rent the Runway (RTR), a website that rented designer dresses, are debating whether to grow their startup at a measured pace and focus on improving operational effectiveness, or raise a new round... View Details

Keywords: Lean Startup; Electronic Commerce; Fashion; Expansion; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; E-commerce; Fashion Industry

June 2024
Case

SnapTravel: Betting on 'Super.com'

By: Reza Satchu and Tom Quinn

This case explores SnapTravel, a travel startup offering discounted hotel rooms, and its founders’ desire to pivot to a “super app” that saved customers money across many different purchase types. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Hussein Fazal and Henry Shi saw SnapTravel... View Details

04 Jul 2005
Research & Ideas

Should You Outsource Your Marketing?

still need to meet regularly with customers. Companies need chief marketing officers to drive marketing strategy and make the most of the company's customer relationships. And... View Details

Keywords: by Poping Lin

26 Jan 2010
First Look

First Look: Jan. 26

traffic are sufficiently improved relative to the offerings of the ad auctions when separate. When there is an insufficient improvement, such mergers can harm advertisers. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/10-055.pdf Investing in Improvement: View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

February 2003 (Revised October 2003)
Case

Peter Jacobs at Versity.com

By: Leslie A. Perlow

Peter Jacobs is Versity.com's new professional CEO. This case provides a behind-the-scenes look at his thoughts and feelings about the company's evolution as he takes charge and tries to establish a new direction for the company. View Details

Keywords: Perspective; Growth and Development Strategy; Planning; Leadership; Management Teams

Find at Harvard

19 Mar 2019
Blog Post

Leadership Fellow Ming Min Hui: Figuring Out Her Mission

Program job posting at Boston Ballet gave her a chance to explore it as a reality. Executive Director, Max Hodges (MBA 2010), was seeking a Chief of Staff with a business background and MBA skills in View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit / Government

November 1997 (Revised May 1998)
Case

ASIMCO: The Alliance Brewing Group

ASIMCO is a direct investment fund with $350 million invested in 17 Chinese joint ventures in the brewing and auto components industries. The CEO must decide whether to invest in distribution to grow the brewing business or to invest in additional manufacturing joint... View Details

Keywords: Production; Distribution; Joint Ventures; Decision Making; Investment Funds; Growth and Development Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; China

Find at Harvard

13 Mar 2007
First Look

First Look: March 13, 2007

Describes the challenges of using the Balanced Scorecard to implement a triple-bottom-line strategy for delivering excellent economic, environmental, and social performance. The owners View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

17 Oct 2006
First Look

First Look: October 17, 2006

Working PapersInstitutional Pressures and Environmental Strategies Authors: Magali A. Delmas and Michael W. Toffel Abstract This paper suggests how institutional theory can... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2003 (Revised February 2003)
Case

Office Depot, Inc.: Business Transformation (A)

By: James L. Heskett, Dan Maher, Daniel F. OBrien, Thomas Watson and Jeffrey F. Rayport

The company's management is considering the possibility of launching a rebranding campaign around the promises "What you need. What you need to know." The questions are whether and when to launch the campaign in view of the large number of training efforts and... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Advertising Campaigns; Brands and Branding; Business Strategy; Technology Adoption; Transformation; Market Timing; Growth and Development; Training; Retail Industry

21 Mar 2022
Blog Post

The Impact of Career Coaching | When Mission Meets Passion

Career Coach for his 40 years of experience in consulting. He is formerly a Senior Partner in the strategy practice of Deloitte Consulting LLP, where he focused on healthcare; currently he is a Partner at Sage Partners, advising boards... View Details

June 2009 (Revised October 2009)
Case

SABIS—A Global Educational Venture From Lebanon

Carl Bistany is struggling with how the global educational management company, SABIS, can grow 100-fold in the coming twelve years. Founded in 1886 in Lebanon, SABIS is the world's largest and only global education management organization (EMO), with schools in the US,... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Entrepreneurship; Business Education; Growth and Development Strategy; Education Industry; Lebanon