Publications

November 1994
Case

Citibank European Strategy & Organization

By: Michael Y. Yoshino and Thomas W. Malnight

Examines strategic and organizational issues facing Citibank as it pursues a highly focused strategy in Europe in the face of increasing competition. Central in this consideration is the role of the European regional organization. View Details

Keywords: Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Design; Competitive Strategy; Competition; Banking Industry; Europe

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28 May 2008
First Look

First Look: May 28, 2008

national office. The national office proposes to play a screening role whereby a national growth committee will "green-light" the plans of local schools to create multi-site regions in selected... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

November 2010 (Revised August 2013)
Case

Chrysler Fiat 2009

By: J. Bruce Harreld, Paul W. Marshall and David Lane

In spring 2009, Chrysler entered a prepackaged bankruptcy and exited 40 days later in a deal with Fiat, the U.S. Treasury, and the UAW that kept the automaker alive. Looking forward, what was necessary for Chrysler to move beyond the life support it had received? What... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Leadership Development; Alliances; Business Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Growth and Maturation; Financial Condition; Auto Industry

April 2020 (Revised April 2023)
Supplement

TransDigm in 2017: The Beginning of the End or the End of the Beginning?

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher

TransDigm was a highly acquisitive company that manufactured a wide range of highly engineered aerospace parts for both military and commercial customers. Over the ten years ending in 2016, its stock price had increase ten times, and both EBITDA and revenues had grown... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Ethics; Private Equity; Financial Strategy; Growth Management; Performance Evaluation; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Horizontal Integration; Value Creation; Competitive Advantage; Aerospace Industry; Air Transportation Industry; United States

June 1998 (Revised January 2001)
Case

Browser Wars, 1994-1998, The

By: David B. Yoffie and Mary Kwak

Analyzes the competition between Netscape and Microsoft in the market for Web browsers and related products. Despite its first mover advantage, Netscape sees its market share fall once Microsoft becomes "hard-core" about the Internet. By the spring of 1998, the future... View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Internet and the Web; Innovation and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Competition; Supply and Industry; Information Technology Industry

October 2008 (Revised September 2009)
Case

Procter & Gamble in the 21st Century (A): Becoming Truly Global

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Matthew Bird

Since the 1980s, Procter & Gamble had leveraged its purpose, values, and principles (PVP) to create a global company. When P&G faced difficult times in 2000, the new CEO, A.G. Lafley, leveraged the PVP to drive P&G's turnaround, integrate global operations, and guide... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Values and Beliefs; Globalized Firms and Management; Leading Change; Growth Management; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Change and Adaptation

September 2020 (Revised January 2021)
Case

Comviva: Exploring New Frontiers (A)

By: Dante Roscini and Mahima Rao-Kachroo

Comviva, a mobile solutions provider active in India and 94 other countries, has had a rich history and been successful across many emerging and complex markets: Latin America, South-East Asia, Africa. What are the lessons learnt from expansion, cultural fits, and... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Acquisition; Emerging Markets; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Growth and Development Strategy; Telecommunications Industry; India; South Asia

May 2008 (Revised August 2009)
Case

Intel NBI: MXP Digital Media Processor

By: Willy C. Shih and Thomas Thurston

"Gila" was a high-performance image processor project housed in Intel's New Business Initiatives (NBI) group. NBI was an incubator for corporate entrepreneurs, and it had an established methodology for ensuring a degree of autonomy while these ventures got started. But... View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Startups; Change Management; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Integration; Semiconductor Industry; United States

03 Aug 2009
Research & Ideas

Corporate Social Responsibility in a Downturn

Kasturi "Kash" Rangan, the Malcolm P. McNair Professor of Marketing at Harvard Business School, argues that corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives are more necessary than ever. Rangan says that when carefully planned... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

February 2009 (Revised March 2013)
Case

Shanghai Diligence Law Firm (A)

By: Robert G. Eccles and Catherine Zhang

Shanghai Diligence Law Firm, started in January 2006, is a rapidly growing law firm in China's burgeoning legal services market. In addition to the usual challenges facing all professional service firms (picking and retaining talent and building a desired client... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Compensation and Benefits; Retention; Growth and Development Strategy; Service Operations; Motivation and Incentives; Legal Services Industry; China

11 Dec 2018
Research & Ideas

Free Trade Needs Nurturing—and Other Lessons from History

incredibly complex. When a phone is designed in America and assembled in China with supplies from 30 other countries, where is it from? By trying to manage trade flows in any specific product through tariffs... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Auto; Aerospace; Chemical; Consumer Products; Electronics; Energy; Industrial Products; Manufacturing; Shipping; Transportation

February 1999
Case

Lifeline Systems, Inc. (B)

By: H. Kent Bowen and Marilyn Matis

In 1997, Lifeline Systems continues to grow its service business to $32 million, 56% of the company's total revenues. More local hospital Lifeline programs turn over their monitoring service to Lifeline Central, expanding the company's subscriber base by 30%. The... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Information Technology; Expansion; Cost Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Partners and Partnerships; Change; Customer Relationship Management; Service Operations; Age; Investment; Health Industry; Technology Industry; Cambridge; Boston

Profile

Sheila Marcelo

position as an entrepreneur in residence at Matrix Partners. There she crafted her business plan for Care.com, which she launched in 2006. Care.com brings together Marcelo’s passion for helping others and... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Technology; Services

August 2013 (Revised November 2013)
Supplement

Ford vs. GM: The Evolution of Mass Production (B)

By: Willy Shih

This case explores the very different paths taken by the Ford Motor Company and the General Motors Corporation in the first three decades of the twentieth century. Henry Ford's Model T was a car for the masses. After considerable experimentation, Ford Motor... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Exploration; Dominant Design; Business Growth and Maturation; Business History; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Positioning; Product Design; Product Development; Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Vertical Integration; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Michigan

14 Apr 2015
First Look

First Look: April 14

In 2013 Ning Tang, who in 2006 founded CreditEase as a broker of P2P loans to unbanked individuals and small businesses in China, confronts the challenges of rapid growth and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 1986 (Revised November 2006)
Case

Peripheral Products Company: The 'Gray Market' for Disk Drives

By: Frank V. Cespedes

In mid-1985, the vice president of marketing for a large manufacturer of disk drives is considering how to deal with a growing "gray market" for his company's products. The case provides good background material on the evolution of gray markets throughout the disk... View Details

Keywords: Price; Growth and Development; Code Law; Leadership; Marketing; Distribution; Production; Salesforce Management; Strategy; Distribution Industry

January – February 2008
Article

The Dangers of Wishful Thinking

By: Richard S. Tedlow and David Ruben

Too many U.S. businesses (including tires, super-markets, and information technology) have been infected with the disease of denial. The answer? In Lincoln's words, “We must disenthrall ourselves.” View Details

Keywords: Knowledge Acquisition; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Success; Behavior; Cognition and Thinking

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08 Dec 2020
Blog Post

2+2 Where Are They Now Spotlight: Brooke Carter (MBA 2019)

other environments where you present and defend your ideas daily in front of 90 people. How long was your deferral (2, 3, or 4 years)? My deferral was 2 years. I considered deferring longer, but I felt like I was at a natural point in my... View Details

January 2018
Case

Flying into the Future: HondaJet

By: Gary P. Pisano and Jesse Shulman

This cases examine Honda’s diversification into the light jet market. In 1985, Honda initiated a secret program to develop a small jet. Over the years, the program had many ups and downs (it was almost canceled several times). Then, a breakthrough in the configuration... View Details

Keywords: Diversification; Technological Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Innovation and Management; Air Transportation Industry