Publications

April 2021
Case

Coca-Cola: Preparing for the Next 100 Years

By: Cynthia A. Montgomery and James Weber

In early 2020, James Quincey, the 14th chair of the 133-year old The Coca-Cola Company, was in the midst of a years-long transformation of Coca-Cola from being the leading carbonated soft drink (CSD) beverage company into a total beverage company. The company’s... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Diversification; Change Management; Organizational Culture; Environmental Sustainability; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

29 Jul 2013
Research & Ideas

A Manager’s Moral Obligation to Preserve Capitalism

Professor. Henderson and Ramanna agree with Friedman's moral framework—but only when certain conditions are met. In many cases, they say, it is incumbent upon managers to shift... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

08 Dec 2020
News

Why Trump’s Visa Ban Cost Fortune 500 Firms $100 Billion

October 1988 (Revised February 1990)
Case

HCC Industries

Describes a corporation that switches its philosophy of budgeting from "stretch" targets to "minimum performance standard" targets. The change has implications for management incentives, compensation, and corporate planning. Early results suggest the concept was not... View Details

Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Budgets and Budgeting

August 2023
Case

Floward

By: Krishna Palepu and Namrata Arora

In 2022, Abdulaziz B. Al Loughani, CEO and co-founder of Floward, an online flower and gifting company established in Kuwait in 2017, contemplated the firm's growth trajectory. Floward, an e-commerce enterprise that offered fresh-cut flowers sourced directly from... View Details

Keywords: Initial Public Offering; Expansion; Growth and Development Strategy; E-commerce; Information Technology Industry; Middle East; North Africa; Saudi Arabia; Kuwait; United Arab Emirates; Jordan

23 Jun 2016
Video

What is Your Best Self?

18 Apr 2000
Research & Ideas

Learning in Action

and, it was impossible to anticipate upcoming events. But it was possible to manage the change process more effectively. What was needed was a set of concepts, tools, View Details

Keywords: by David A. Garvin

January 2021 (Revised October 2021)
Case

eToro: Building the World's Largest Social Trading Network

By: Elie Ofek and Danielle Golan

Social trading platform eToro was preparing for the launch of its expanded offering in the U.S. The company faced critical decisions regarding product-market fit, go-to-market strategy, positioning and monetization. Moreover, it faced the challenge of how best to make... View Details

Keywords: Social Trading Platform; Investment; Social and Collaborative Networks; Marketing Strategy; Expansion; Digital Platforms

February 2019 (Revised March 2022)
Case

Mexico: Shifting Left with AMLO

By: Richard H.K. Vietor

Andrés Manuel López Obrador became president of Mexico on December 1, 2018. His election, and the victory of his new Party, MORENA, represent a sharp shift to the left by Mexico’s political system. Previously, President Peña Nieto and his party, the PRI, had initiated... View Details

Keywords: Political Economy; Pacto; Institutional Reform; Nationalism; Energy Reform; Government and Politics; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Economic Growth; International Relations; Mexico

November 2003 (Revised March 2004)
Case

Marv Tseu at Active Reasoning

By: William A. Sahlman and Christina Darwall

Describes a set of decisions confronting the management team of an early-stage software company. The company has made considerable progress in developing its software but will need additional capital to move forward. Unfortunately, conditions in the capital market are... View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Financing and Loans; Capital; Business Startups; Information Technology Industry

April 1997 (Revised July 2003)
Case

Viacom, Inc.: Video Supplement

By: Joseph L. Bower, Thomas R. Eisenmann and Sonja Ellingson Hout

Viacom reached a powerful position in the global entertainment industry through skillful and very bold acquisitions. Now its further expansion is challenged by the moves of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. Different businesses within Viacom have contradictory positions on... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Cost vs Benefits; Decisions; Entertainment; Competition; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

February 2011 (Revised December 2022)
Supplement

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah Abbott

One of the leading publishers of textbooks and other educational materials for the U.S. K-12 educational instruction market has suffered a dramatic decline in sales and profits in the wake of the 2008-2009 financial market crisis and economic recession, and it now... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Decisions; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Borrowing and Debt; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Profit; Crisis Management; Goals and Objectives; Sales; Competition; Publishing Industry; United States

June 1996 (Revised November 1996)
Background Note

Economic Gains from Trade: Comparative Advantage

By: Robert E. Kennedy and Nancy F. Koehn

How nations trade and whether they benefit from it are two of the oldest and most important questions in political economy. In the 170 years since David Ricardo formally developed the theory of comparative advantage, it has become one of the principles most widely... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Microeconomics; Trade; Cost Management; Business and Government Relations

29 Sep 2011
Sharpening Your Skills

Sharpening Your Skills: Leveraging Intellectual Property

Sharpening Your Skills dives into the HBS Working Knowledge archives to bring together articles on ways to improve your business skills. Questions To Be Answered What are the keys to monetizing IP? How should I think about file-sharing View Details

Keywords: Re: Multiple Faculty

Jerry R. Green

Jerry R. Green

David A. Wells Professor of Political Economy

John Leverett Professor in the University

Harvard University

Jerry Green is the John Leverett Professor in the University and the David A. Wells... View Details

Keywords: aerospace; education industry; insurance industry; professional services

2022
Book

Ripe for Revolution: Building Socialism in the Third World

By: Jeremy Friedman

A historical account of ideology in the Global South as the postwar laboratory of socialism, its legacy following the Cold War, and the continuing influence of socialist ideas worldwide.

In the first decades after World War II, many newly independent... View Details

Keywords: Socialism; Economic Systems; Globalization; Government and Politics; Developing Countries and Economies

March 2018 (Revised June 2018)
Case

City Year at 30: Toward Long-Term Impact

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and James Weber

In 2018, City Year was a 30-year-old nonprofit that recruited and organized teams of young-adult “volunteers” (corps teams) to provide a year of citizen service. It had 3,100 corps members serving in 327 schools located in 28 U.S. cities. In its early decades, City... View Details

Keywords: Education; Service Operations; Nonprofit Organizations; Growth and Development Strategy; Performance Efficiency; Resource Allocation; Change Management; Social Entrepreneurship; Middle School Education; Secondary Education; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Human Capital; Growth Management; Service Delivery; Organizational Design; Social Enterprise; Poverty; United States