Publications

16 Mar 2021
News

How Microsoft stays on Washington’s good side

April 2016 (Revised November 2017)
Case

InMobi: Reimagining Mobile Advertising

By: Sunil Gupta and Saloni Chaturvedi

InMobi, a mobile advertising company, considered one of India's first unicorns, has launched a new product called Miip. InMobi hopes that the product will grow its revenue eight times by 2018. Visually identified by a mascot, Miip seeks to reimagine adverting by... View Details

Keywords: Mobile App; Advertising; India; Applications and Software; Globalization; Digital Marketing; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Advertising Industry; China; India

July 2004 (Revised December 2004)
Case

RelayHealth

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and Elizabeth Kind

RelayHealth provides secure, online communications for doctors, patients, and health plans. The company's services include online consultations, prescription renewals, and appointment scheduling. RelayHealth's business model derives subscription revenue from doctors... View Details

Keywords: Communication Technology; Internet and the Web; Consumer Behavior; Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Growth and Development Strategy; Health Industry; Telecommunications Industry

Article

Tread Lightly Through These Accounting Minefields

By: H. David Sherman and S. David Young

In the current economic climate, there is tremendous pressure—and personal incentive for managers—to report sales growth and meet investors' revenue expectations. As a result, more companies have been issuing misleading financial reports, according to the SEC,... View Details

Keywords: Derivatives; Benchmarking Performance; Accounting; Revenue Recognition; Assets

Find at Harvard

Register to Read

September 1992 (Revised September 2010)
Background Note

Executive Stock Options

By: Henry B. Reiling

After a brief comment on the practical problems associated with taxing options and the possible occasions on which taxation might occur, the note describes the current policy imbedded in the Internal Revenue Code and gives examples of this policy in operation. The... View Details

Keywords: Stock Options; Policy; Taxation; Executive Compensation; Employee Stock Ownership Plan

Find at Harvard

March 9, 2023
Article

Linking Growth and the Frontline

By: Frank V. Cespedes, Jay Galeota and Michael Wong

Most strategies are about growing the business. But about one quarter of companies do not grow at all and, even before the pandemic, only one in eight achieved more than 10% revenue growth annually, according to data from S&P Global regulatory filings. One reason is a... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Customer Focus and Relationships; Competency and Skills

Read Now

December 2014 (Revised August 2015)
Case

Improving Melanoma Screening: MELA Sciences

By: Regina E. Herzlinger, Kevin Schulman and Frédéric Dijols

MELA is a start-up medical device company looking to develop a novel technology to help physicians diagnose a deadly skin cancer, melanoma. The case reviews the FDA medical device development process, the development path pursued by MELA, and the regulatory and... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare Industry; Health Care; Health; Health Care and Treatment; Health Testing and Trials; Health Industry; United States

December 2004 (Revised July 2006)
Case

Celtel International B.V.

By: G. Felda Hardymon and Ann Leamon

Mo Ibrahim, chairman of Celtel International, the largest provider of cellular services in sub-Saharan Africa, must decide on his company's future. After an amazing six years that took it from minority positions in three countries to nearly $1 billion in revenues and... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Initial Public Offering; Business Growth and Maturation; Mergers and Acquisitions; Entrepreneurship; Wireless Technology; Telecommunications Industry; Africa

26 Jun 2015
News

Shutting Down Stores Doesn’t Have to Be Bad for Business

29 Apr 2021
News

‘the Whole Milton Friedman Thing Is Dead’

06 Oct 2015
First Look

October 6, 2015

States and the European Union. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=49803 Online Network Revenue Management Using Thompson Sampling By: Ferreira, Kris Johnson, David Simchi-Levi, and He Wang Abstract—We... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

David A. Thomas

David Thomas is H. Naylor Fitzhugh Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. His research addresses issues related to executive development, cultural diversity in organizations, leadership and organizational change. He recently served as a... View Details

Keywords: biotechnology; consulting; consumer products; education industry; financial services; media

November 2005 (Revised December 2016)
Case

Bally Total Fitness (A): The Rise, 1962–2004

By: John R. Wells, Elizabeth A. Raabe and Gabriel Ellsworth

From a single, modest club in 1962, Bally Total Fitness had grown to become—in management’s words—the “largest and only nationwide commercial operator of fitness centers” in the United States in 2004. Bally had faced its share of challenges, but the last couple of... View Details

Keywords: Bally Total Fitness; Fitness; Gyms; Health Clubs; Chain; Securities And Exchange Commission; Paul Toback; Weight Loss; Exercise; Contracts; Personal Training; Retention; Accounting; Accounting Audits; Accrual Accounting; Finance; Advertising; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Customers; Customer Satisfaction; Public Equity; Financing and Loans; Revenue; Revenue Recognition; Geographic Scope; Multinational Firms and Management; Health; Nutrition; Business History; Lawsuits and Litigation; Management; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing; Operations; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Public Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Business and Shareholder Relations; Business Strategy; Competition; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Segmentation; Trends; Cost Management; Profit; Growth and Development; Leadership Style; Five Forces Framework; Private Ownership; Opportunities; Motivation and Incentives; Competitive Strategy; Health Industry; United States; Illinois; Chicago

October 2014 (Revised December 2018)
Case

Jean-Claude Biver (A): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry

By: Ryan Raffaelli

In the early 1980s, the Swiss watch industry was near collapse after failing to adapt to Japanese competition from battery-powered quartz technology. In 1982, Jean-Claude Biver purchased Blancpain, a watch company that had been out of business since 1961 but had once... View Details

Keywords: Re-emergence; Leading Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Transformation; Leadership; Personal Development and Career; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Switzerland

Shikhar Ghosh is a Professor of Management Practice in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit. He currently teaches in the elective curriculum and is the course head for 3 Technologies that will Change the World. Shikhar received the Apgar Award for innovation in... View Details

April 2023
Case

Fizzy Fusion: When Data-Driven Decision Making Failed

By: Michael Parzen, Eddie Lin, Douglas Ng and Jessie Li

This is a case about a fictional New York beverage company called Fizzy Fusion. The business is facing supply chain and inventory management challenges with its new product, SparklingSip. Despite seeking help from a data science consulting firm, the machine learning... View Details

Keywords: Supply Chain Management; Production; Risk and Uncertainty; Analytics and Data Science; Food and Beverage Industry