Publications

March 2020 (Revised January 2023)
Case

Nadine Vogel: Transforming the Marketplace, Workplace, and Workforce for People with Disabilities

By: Lakshmi Ramarajan, Hannah Riley-Bowles and Michael Norris

In 2019, Nadine Vogel, founder and CEO of Springboard Consulting, a firm that worked with Fortune 500 companies on issues related to disability and their workforce, faced the decision of the best path forward to grow her small company. Should she build more and better... View Details

Keywords: Diversity; Entrepreneurship; Personal Development and Career; Decision Choices and Conditions; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Development; Market Entry and Exit; Consulting Industry; United States; Florida; New York (state, US)

August 2022
Teaching Plan

Janet Ames (A), (B), (C), (D)

By: Brian Trelstad

Teaching Plan for HBS Case Nos. 320-076, 320-077, 320-078, and 322-051. The series of Janet Ames cases follow a fictional alumna of Harvard Business School into her consulting career in Boston. Over the series of cases, Ames is first offered the opportunity to join... View Details

Keywords: Philanthropy; Board; Non-profit Management; Career Changes And Transitions; Evaluation; Personal Development and Career; Opportunities; Decision Choices and Conditions; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Governing and Advisory Boards; Social Enterprise; Social Entrepreneurship; Nonprofit Organizations; Management; United States

December 2023
Case

Davivienda Bank's Upskilling and Reskilling Strategy in Colombia

By: Jorge Tamayo, Raffaella Sadun and Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago

Set in 2022, this case describes the digital transformation strategy of Davivienda— a leading player in Colombia’s commercial banking and one of the companies belonging to Grupo Bolívar, a major Colombian financial conglomerate—and the bank’s upskilling and reskilling... View Details

October 2009 (Revised June 2011)
Case

Zappos.com 2009: Clothing, Customer Service, and Company Culture

By: Frances X. Frei, Robin J. Ely and Laura Winig

On July 17, 2009, Zappos.com, a privately held online retailer of shoes, clothing, and other soft line retail categories, learned that Amazon.com, a $19 billion multinational online retailer, had won its board of directors' approval to offer to merge the two companies.... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Customer Focus and Relationships; Decision Choices and Conditions; Governing and Advisory Boards; Service Delivery; Organizational Culture; Internet and the Web; Valuation; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry

November 2007 (Revised March 2009)
Case

OppenheimerFunds and Take-Two Interactive (A)

By: Jay W. Lorsch, Andrew Hill and Kaitlyn Simpson

Describes the dilemma faced by Emmanuel Ferreira, a fund manager at OppenheimerFunds. As the largest shareholder and a long-time investor in software publisher Take-Two Interactive, Ferreira contemplates whether or not to get involved with other investors in trying to... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Decision Choices and Conditions; Investment; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Business and Shareholder Relations

Find at Harvard

October 2023
Case

Fixie and Conversational AI Sidekicks

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Carin-Isabel Knoop

In March 2023, Fixie Co-Founder and Chief Architect Matt Welsh and co-founders had the kind of meeting no founders want to have. The president of leading artificial intelligence (AI) research and deployment firm OpenAI, which had catapulted into fame with its ChatGPT... View Details

Keywords: Large Language Model; Entrepreneurship; Decision Choices and Conditions; AI and Machine Learning; Technological Innovation; Competitive Strategy; Technology Industry; United States

01 Jun 2000
News

Of Dugouts and Sweatshops

from his coveted duties, but he reasoned that the case amounted to a violation of public trust and bore no comparison to the sweatshop conditions that originally inspired child labor protections. That... View Details

Keywords: Eileen K. McCluskey

August 2011 (Revised October 2014)
Case

High Wire Act: Credit Suisse and Contingent Capital (A)

By: Clayton S. Rose and Aldo Sesia

Late in 2010, Credit Suisse CEO Brady Dougan and his team closed in on the decision of whether or not to issue contingent capital, which Swiss regulators would require by 2019. There were a number of substantial issues facing Dougan and his team, including whether... View Details

Keywords: Financial Institutions; Capital Markets; Financial Crisis; Decision Choices and Conditions; Leadership; International Finance; Financial Liquidity; Risk and Uncertainty; Competitive Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Switzerland

20 Feb 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, February 20, 2018

priors/worldviews, or relevant features of a problem not being top of mind. Most research studying such losses does not empirically distinguish between these mechanisms. Instead, we show that most highly cited papers in this area presume one mechanism underlies... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

August 2018 (Revised April 2019)
Case

Jackie Taylor: The Black Ensemble Theater

By: Steven Rogers and Dan Perkins

Jackie Taylor, an African American social entrepreneur, founded the Black Ensemble Theater in 1976. Since the ensemble’s inception, she has rented spaces where her group performed original musicals about black entertainers including Nina Simone, Etta James, and Marvin... View Details

Keywords: Theatre-company; Theatre Expansion; Theatre And Community; Black Theatre; Theater Entertainment; Buildings and Facilities; Strategic Planning; Decision Choices and Conditions; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Chicago

January 2018 (Revised April 2021)
Case

Capital Allocation at HCA

By: W. Carl Kester and Emily R. McComb

In early 2017, HCA Holdings, an investor-owned hospital management company, faced a strategically important capital allocation decision. After the exit of its private equity sponsors in 2016, HCA had to determine how best to allocate its substantial annual free cash... View Details

Keywords: Capital Allocation; Cash Distribution Policy; Dividends; Share Repurchases; Growth Strategy And Execution; Growth Investing; Capital Expenditures; Debt Management; Debt Reduction; Debt Policy; Hospital Management; Investor-owned Hospital Chains; Capital Budgeting; Capital Structure; Cash Flow; Corporate Finance; Decision Choices and Conditions; Health Industry; United States

2022
Conference Presentation

Organizational Competition: A Catalyst for Workplace Diversity and Desires for Uniqueness

By: Samantha N. Smith, Edward H. Chang, Erika L. Kirgios and Katherine L. Milkman

Competition is prevalent in organizations. For example, people often compete against their colleagues for status and recognition in the workplace or for opportunities for advancement. Workers also compete against others to get hired into organizations in the first... View Details

Keywords: Status and Position; Organizational Culture; Motivation and Incentives; Behavior

October 2023 (Revised February 2024)
Case

Bizongo and e-B2B in India

By: Álvaro Rodríguez Arregui and Radhika Kak

Bizongo, an Indian e-B2B platform was co-founded by three college graduates in 2015 with the goal of creating the "Alibaba of India" when the B2B e-commerce landscape was practically non-existent. The founders saw a significant opportunity in connecting mid-sized... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Entrepreneurship; Digital Platforms; E-commerce; Business Strategy; India

2003
Article

The Influence of Culture and Corporate Governance on the Characteristics that Distinguish Superior Analysts

By: Michael B. Clement, Lynn Rees and Edward Swanson

We identify characteristics of financial analysts that have been shown to be associated with relative forecast accuracy in the United States and examine these characteristics within 10 countries. We find that relative forecast accuracy is influenced by years of... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Performance Evaluation

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March 2007 (Revised March 2013)
Teaching Note

Edelnor (TN) (A) and (B)

By: Jordan I. Siegel

Teaching note to 707473 and 707530. View Details

Keywords: Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Restructuring; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Energy Industry; Chile

17 Dec 2020
Working Paper Summaries

How Do CEOs Make Strategy?

Keywords: by Mu-Jeung Yang, Michael Christensen, Nicholas Bloom, Raffaella Sadun, and Jan Rivkin

June 2009
Article

Highbrow Films Gather Dust: Time-inconsistent Preferences and Online DVD Rentals

By: Katherine L. Milkman, Todd Rogers and Max H. Bazerman

We report on a field study demonstrating systematic differences between the preferences people anticipate they will have over a series of options in the future and their subsequent revealed preferences over those options. Using a novel panel data set, we analyze the... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Forecasting and Prediction; Film Entertainment; Demand and Consumers; Renting or Rental; Power and Influence; Prejudice and Bias; Online Technology; Motion Pictures and Video Industry