Publications

15 Dec 2003
Research & Ideas

The New Global Business Manager

moving that you can't haul all the information to the top for someone to make all those calls. In a world that's moving in nanoseconds, empowerment is driving more strategic decisions down to people who are closest to the customers,... View Details

Keywords: by Cynthia Churchwell

January 2021 (Revised March 2021)
Case

Jumia's Path to Profitability

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Pippa Tubman Armerding and Gamze Yucaoglu

The case opens in September 2019 as Sacha Poignonnec and Jeremy Hodara, co-founders and co-CEOs of Jumia, the leading Pan-African e-commerce platform, are contemplating the company’s path to profitability in the aftermath of a fragile investor sentiment, as the company... View Details

Web

Case Studies - Social Impact Collaboratory

of current and future teachers, calls for values-motivated screening or divestment always posed an inherently complex challenge. Having spearheaded the development of Principles for a Responsible Civilian Firearm Industry released on... View Details

July 2021 (Revised October 2021)
Case

Trouble at Basecamp: Managing Politics, Polarization, and Conflict in the Workplace (A)

By: Nour Kteily, Deepak Malhotra and David Lane

As founders of the software company Basecamp, Jason Fried and David H. Hansson were used to being the subjects of social media attention. Both maintained active and dedicated Twitter followings for their unique perspectives on management and life. But on April 26,... View Details

12 Oct 2022
Blog Post

11 Stories from HBS PRIDE for National Coming Out Day

inspired by the stories of these students. Visit @prideathbs on Instagram for more information and features about the LGBTQ+ community at HBS. Eduardo Avalos (he/him/his), Class of 2024 “Te quiero, mijo.” When my six-year relationship... View Details

July 2016 (Revised March 2024)
Case

Alphabet Eyes New Frontiers (A)

By: Juan Alcacer, Raffaella Sadun, Olivia Hull and Kerry Herman

In October 2015, Google restructured into Alphabet, a holding company, which analysts said would facilitate innovation among its diverse subsidiaries. But when news reports surfaced revealing struggles within Alphabet companies including Nest, the smart thermostat... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Conglomerates; Corporate Restructuring; Google; Corporate Strategy; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Innovation Strategy; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Research and Development; Diversification; Financial Reporting; Talent and Talent Management; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; California; United States

September–October 2017
Article

Managing Our Hub Economy: Strategy, Ethics, and Network Competition in the Age of Digital Superpowers

By: Marco Iansiti and Karim R. Lakhani

A small number of digital superpowers—Alibaba, Amazon, Microsoft, and others—have become “hub firms” because they control access to billions of mobile customers coveted by all kinds of product and service providers. These hubs drive increasing returns to scale and... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Strategic Planning; Auto Industry; Auto Industry

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11 Mar 2001
Research & Ideas

Merchants to Multinationals: British Trading Companies in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

pioneered new industries, from jute manufacture in India and cotton textile manufacture in China, to the oil industry in California."The improvements in transport and communications from the 1870s resulted in opportunities and... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones

November 2015 (Revised April 2018)
Case

Flipkart (A): Transitioning to a Marketplace Model

By: Das Narayandas, Sunil Gupta and Rachna Tahilyani

In 2015, Sachin and Binny Bansal, co-founders of India’s largest e-commerce company, are wondering if it is time to move from a hybrid model to a full marketplace. While Amazon runs a hybrid model, Alibaba operates a marketplace. In addition, Flipkart has been losing... View Details

Keywords: Marketplaces; Online Retail; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Emerging Markets; E-commerce; Retail Industry; India

September 2016
Case

Hewlett Packard Enterprise: The Dandelion Program

By: Gary P. Pisano and Robert D. Austin

This case describes Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s “Dandelion Program," which has developed a new service offering for the company’s clients by drawing on the special talents of people with autism. The company has deployed “pods” organized around 8 or 9 employees with... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Behavior; Information Technology; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leadership; Talent and Talent Management; Service Operations; Training; Diversity; Innovation and Invention; Technology Industry

14 Aug 2012
First Look

First Look: August 14

Case provides confidential information for students assuming the role of senior executives of Keurig, a startup that has developed an innovative "portion pack" coffee brewing solution, in a negotiation to license View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Jun 1999
News

Ikenna Okezie

rotation was tough but enjoyable. "I liked the juxtaposition of discussing a marketing case in Aldrich and then crossing the river to see a patient in Cambridge," he says. This year, as part of an HBS field study, Okezie has formulated a business plan for AccessMED, a... View Details

Keywords: Judith A. Ross

October 1990 (Revised August 2009)
Case

Cambridge Software Corporation

Cambridge Software Corp. must decide whether or not to offer multiple versions of a new software product. The firm has identified five market segments for the software and is deciding which, if any, of three product versions (a high end "industrial" version, a... View Details

Keywords: Software; Decision Making; Product Marketing; Information Technology Industry