Publications

March 2022
Case

The Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Program: 2009-2021

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger and Julia Kelley

In December 2021, more than a decade after its founding, Goldman Sachs’s 10,000 Small Businesses program was still going strong — and the firm now needed to evaluate potential program modifications to reach a wider group of small business owners. Launched in the... View Details

January 2022 (Revised February 2022)
Case

Introducing EVA at ISS: A Better Way to Evaluate CEO Performance and Compensation?

By: Jonas Heese, Charles C.Y. Wang and James Weber

In early 2019, Anthony Campagna, the global director of fundamental research at ISS EVA, a unit of the proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), was preparing to release ISS's analyses of public company performance and CEO compensation ahead of Say... View Details

Keywords: Jobs and Positions; Compensation and Benefits; Performance; Performance Productivity; Measurement and Metrics; Analytics and Data Science; Value; Business or Company Management; Performance Evaluation; Business and Shareholder Relations

2020
Book

Capitalism at Risk: How Business Can Lead

By: Joseph L. Bower, Dutch Leonard and Lynn S. Paine

Who should take the lead in fixing market capitalism? Business—not government alone. The spread of capitalism worldwide has made people wealthier than ever before. But capitalism's future is far from assured. Pandemics, income inequality, resource depletion, mass... View Details

Keywords: Capitalism; Business And Society; Economic Systems; Economic Growth; Policy; Leading Change; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Community Relations; Corporate Strategy

Find at Harvard

October 2019
Case

Agility Africa

By: Juan Alcacer, Caroline M. Elkins and Esel Çekin

This case illustrates the challenge and opportunities that firms face when developing and executing new business models in high-risk, low-infrastructure, low-trust countries. It features a global logistics group, Agility, that aimed to become the leader in supplying... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Business Model; Innovation and Invention; Expansion; Emerging Markets; Decision Choices and Conditions; Real Estate Industry; Distribution Industry; Africa

2018
Working Paper

After the Carnival: Key Factors to Enhance Olympic Legacy and Prevent Olympic Sites from Becoming White Elephants

By: Isao Okada and Stephen A. Greyser

In recent years, the total spending on hosting the Olympic Games has snowballed. The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games spent $40 billion on infrastructure development, and the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics reached $50 billion. Even when the glorious but costly Olympic Games come... View Details

Keywords: Olympic Venue; Effective Reuse; White Elephant; Sustainability; Buildings and Facilities; Sports

Read Now

25 Aug 2003
Research & Ideas

Why IT Does Matter

the past. The economics of financial transactions have continually dropped from dollars to cents. New entrants have joined many industries and have focused on taking strategic advantage of IT's associated economics. Company boundaries have become permeable, organic,... View Details

Keywords: by F. Warren McFarlan & Richard L. Nolan

01 Oct 2014
What Do You Think?

Is Too Much Focus a Problem?

and defuse causes of the recent Great Recession without understanding the system itself), and a tendency to discount the future (ignoring long-term effects on global warming in making short-term decisions). Possible antidotes start with a... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

16 May 2005
Research & Ideas

Nonprofit Networking: The New Way to Grow

was serving around 10 million through its many networks, with a global budget of less than $10 million, said Wei-Skillern. The contract was that if high quality was not maintained, Guide Dogs would take control again. Barry decided to... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

Web

Ellen Desmarais | About

high-impact growth initiatives in global media and learning companies such as McGraw-Hill Education, The Wall Street Journal, and Getty Images. As Managing Director, Digital Strategy, she modernized HBP Education group’s approach to... View Details

06 Nov 2018
Research & Ideas

8 Ways to Make Olympic Stadiums Useful After the Games End

with lower construction costs after many Japanese recoiled at its projected $2.7 billion price tag. "Hosting the Olympics, especially the larger Summer Games, is a globally recognized initiative for nation-branding via big... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Sports

22 Jan 2016
Blog Post

Case Protagonists at HBS

pursued an MBA to prepare to do what he loved. Next year, he’ll be joining Samsung’s global strategy consulting group in Seoul. What’s it like to learn through the case method? The case method is, hmm Nervousness. Confidence. Inspiration.... View Details

February 2000 (Revised December 2000)
Case

Coca-Cola's New Vending Machine (A): Pricing To Capture Value, or Not?

By: Charles King III and Das Narayandas

Chairman and CEO M. Douglas Ivester stumbles when he tells a Brazilian newsmagazine about a new Coke vending machine that can automatically raise prices in hot weather. Reaction around the world is swift and negative. View Details

Keywords: Price; Strategy; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Product Development; Global Range; Public Opinion; Value Creation

03 May 2010
Research & Ideas

What Is the Future of MBA Education?

emphasized analytics, models, and statistics. Yet MBA graduates increasingly need to be more effective: they need to have a global mindset, for example, develop leadership skills of self-awareness and self-reflection; and develop an... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Education

April 2019
Case

Walmart Update, 2019

By: David B. Yoffie and Daniel Fisher

In 2019 Walmart was still the world's largest company, with over $500 billion in annual revenue and operations around the world. Although it had mostly vanquished its rival discount retailers in the U.S., it was struggling to find the right growth strategy. Facing a... View Details

Keywords: E-Commerce Strategy; Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Business Growth and Maturation; Growth and Development Strategy; Global Range; Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; E-commerce; Retail Industry

March 2022
Supplement

Pakistan Rising: Bazaar's Growth Story (B)

By: Paul A. Gompers and Gamze Yucaoglu

The case opens in January 2022 as Hamza Jawaid and Saad Jangda, co-founders of Bazaar technologies (Bazaar), the Pakistani high growth B2B e-commerce marketplace, are looking over the performance of the newly launched “buy now, play later” feature. The traction looks... View Details

Keywords: B2B; Business Model; Emerging Markets; For-Profit Firms; Strategy; Digital Platforms; Information Technology; Value Creation; Globalization; Competition; Expansion; Profit; Resource Allocation; Diversification; Corporate Strategy; Pakistan