Publications

February 2011 (Revised May 2011)
Case

Utilis: Designing, Producing, and Selling Rapid Deployment Shelters for a Troubled World

By: Herman B. Leonard, Daniela Beyersdorfer and Simon Harrow

How can a company that supplies disaster response and humanitarian agencies best handle the intrinsically unpredictable and highly volatile demand for its products? Utilis is a French supplier of rapid-deploy high-end tent solutions for civilian and military uses (such... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Demand and Consumers; Strategic Planning; Natural Disasters; Competitive Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Industrial Products Industry; France

April 2004 (Revised June 2004)
Case

Entrepreneurship Goes Global: ResMed's Gamble

By: Christopher A. Bartlett, Andrew N. McLean and Meg Glinska

On the basis of its innovative medical device for treating sleep apnea, CEO Peter Farrell has made Australian-born ResMed a successful global company. But the company is struggling to implement a strategy to expand the device from its focused core market to a much... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Globalization; Innovation and Management; Management; Marketing Channels; Production; Expansion; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

27 Feb 2006
Research & Ideas

Take Responsibility for Rising Stars

however, most boards have focused on CEO succession, giving short shrift to systematic leadership development. After all, there was little risk of a calamity occurring if the board didn't monitor the leadership pipeline. There was also... View Details

Keywords: by Jeffrey M. Cohn, Rakesh Khurana & Laura Reeves

September 2024
Case

Nvidia, Inc. in 2024 and the Future of AI

By: David B. Yoffie and Sarah von Bargen

Nvidia was one of the most successful companies in the world, reaching $3.4 trillion in valuation on June 18th, 2024. While Microsoft and Apple quickly recaptured the value crown, some analysts forecasted that Nvidia was so strongly positioned that it might become the... View Details

Keywords: Customer Value and Value Chain; Price; Technological Innovation; Competition; Vertical Integration; Valuation; Technology Industry

December 2016 (Revised January 2017)
Supplement

Accounting for the iPhone Upgrade Program (B)

By: Jonas Heese, Krishna G. Palepu, H. David Sherman and Monica Baraldi

In October 2016, Apple Inc. announced the financial results for its fiscal year 2016. CEO Tim Cook commented on a very successful fiscal year 2016 and focused on all the positive financial results. However, Apple’s 2016 annual report was also telling another story.... View Details

Keywords: Apple Inc.; iPhone 6s; Accounting; Revenue Recognition; California; United States

December 2009 (Revised March 2025)
Case

Phreesia: The Patient Intake Company

By: Regina E. Herzlinger, Sunaina Yarlagadda and Brian L. Walker

How should the co-founders of an organization that provides patient sign-in and billing services scale their company after five years of successfully targeting small private physician practices? Phreesia had deployed a direct mail and sales force strategy that resulted... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Social Entrepreneurship; Revenue; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry

March 2008
Case

Novartis AG: Science-Based Business

By: H. Kent Bowen and Courtney Purrington

Novartis is a science-based drug company, which has important implications for its business strategy. It is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world with over $38B in sales in 2007. Pharmaceuticals account for slightly over $24B of that total. In 2007,... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Resource Allocation; Product Development; Partners and Partnerships; Research and Development; Science-Based Business; Pharmaceutical Industry

16 Jul 2014
HBS Case

Marketing Obamacare

Massachusetts' successful health connector (which predated Obamacare) to run it. "When you have a CEO who is an ex-CMO, that is going to put the marketing tool kit front and center," says Quelch,... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Health

December 2003 (Revised February 2006)
Case

Jamie Dimon and Bank One (B)

By: Paul W. Marshall and Todd H Thedinga

To distribute only after discussion of HBS case 9-804-107. Describes the decisions made by Jamie Dimon as the new CEO in July 2000 and summarizes the progress of his turnaround over the next three years. View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Management Succession; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry

May 2021
Case

Inclusive Innovation at Mass General Brigham

By: Katherine Baldiga Coffman and Olivia Hull

Massachusetts General Brigham (MGB) Chief Innovation Officer Christopher Coburn had overseen a period of exciting transformation and growth in healthcare innovation at MGB. In November 2019, the health system was the largest recipient of National Institutes of Health... View Details

February 2016
Teaching Note

Akın Öngör's Journey

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

The case of Akın Öngör's Journey describes a highly successful former CEO with stellar leadership skills, who transformed a bank in Turkey into one of the world's best, steered it to contribute to his country's social agenda, influenced business practices of other... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Change Management; Social Entrepreneurship; Business and Community Relations; Turkey

April 2002
Case

In vivo to in vitro to in silico: Coping with Tidal Waves of Data at Biogen

By: Juan Enriquez-Cabot, Gary P. Pisano and Gaye Bok

Biogen is a successful biotech company facing a critical juncture. CEO John Mullen ponders how technological changes introduced into the research function will shape larger corporate decisions. This world in which biotechnology companies operated had changed... View Details

Keywords: Change; Decisions; Product Development; Research and Development; Expansion; Technology; Biotechnology Industry

01 Nov 2012
Research & Ideas

Book Excerpt: Judgment Calls

bear. Written by Harvard Business School Visiting Professor Thomas H. Davenport and independent consultant Brook Manville, the book shares the tales of organizations that made successful choices through team-led decisions. This excerpt... View Details

Keywords: by Thomas H. Davenport & Brook Manville; Consumer Products

June 2005 (Revised April 2008)
Case

Whole Foods Market, Inc.

By: John R. Wells and Travis Haglock

Can a short-sleeved, sandal-wearing, college dropout create a company manifesting love, joy, and happiness? Chainsaw John Mackey did. This CEO took a five-month sabbatical to hike the Appalachian Trail. More credentials: Sales-per-square foot of $690 and rising. Hiring... View Details

Keywords: Management Style; Motivation and Incentives; Food; Management Practices and Processes; Groups and Teams; Success; Leadership Style; Management Teams; Business Growth and Maturation; Emerging Markets; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Consumer Products Industry

08 Aug 2016
Lessons from the Classroom

Panic Management: Keep Your Eyes on the Road

rejiggering to compete in our ever-more-mobile, Internet-dependent society. Recovering from crisis requires more than a push-button response. Source: Olivier Le Moal Margolis, who co-wrote a Harvard Business Review article called How to Bounce Back from Adversity with... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

April 1998
Case

Jim Lyons and GenRad

Lyons, currently CEO of Harry Gray Associates, a consulting and investment firm, had just been approached by an executive recruiter representing GenRad, a 78-year-old electronics company headquartered in Concord, MA. The company, which manufactured integrated software... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Management Succession; Personal Development and Career; Consulting Industry; Massachusetts