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June 2024 (Revised October 2024)
Case

Equifruit

By: Elizabeth A. Keenan and Annelena Lobb

Jennie Coleman, president of Fairtrade banana company Equifruit, considered how best to position her firm and brand to increase sales of Fairtrade bananas in the U.S. and Canada. She saw her biggest challenge as convincing retailers that consumers would be OK spending... View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Food; Goods and Commodities; Brands and Branding; Product Positioning; Sales; Social Enterprise; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Ecuador; Guatemala; Canada; United States

July 2010
Case

Mekong Capital: Building a Culture of Leadership in Vietnam

By: Christopher Marquis, Vinay Ganti, Kevin Smith and Doug Guthrie

Mekong Capital, a private equity firm specializing in investing in Vietnam, had grown dramatically since its inception in 2002 and faced numerous organizational issues in 2007. There was a shortage of qualified middle managers, an overall lack of leadership, and a... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Leading Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Performance Improvement; Groups and Teams; Alignment; Financial Services Industry

January 2016
Case

SAP SE: Autism at Work

By: Gary P. Pisano and Robert D. Austin

This case describes SAP's "Autism at Work" program, which integrates people with autism into the company's workforce. The company has a stated objective of making 1% of its workforce people with autism by 2020. SAP's rationale for the program is based on the belief... View Details

Keywords: Software; Human Resource Management; Diversity Management; Germany; Selection and Staffing; Innovation and Management; Applications and Software; Recruitment; Diversity; Information Technology Industry; Germany

May 2010
Case

CEIBS: A Global Business School Made in China

By: John A. Quelch

In 2009, just 15 years after it was founded, the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) has achieved the remarkable 8th position in the Financial Times Global MBA rankings. The case describes the short history of the school and the reasons for its success.... View Details

Keywords: Product Positioning; Quality; Business History; Competitive Advantage; Business Education; Global Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Education Industry; China

March 2010 (Revised October 2018)
Case

Toby Johnson (A): Leading After School

By: Boris Groysberg, Leslie Danford, Amy Lodge and Tereh Sayles

After completing her MBA in 2007, Toby Johnson, a former army pilot with the 18th Airborne Corps Rapid Deployment Force, joined PepsiCo's Leadership Development Program (LDP). For her first assignment with PepsiCo, Johnson accepted a position as a manufacturing-manager... View Details

Keywords: Leading Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Compensation and Benefits; Business or Company Management

August 2020 (Revised September 2020)
Technical Note

Assessing Prediction Accuracy of Machine Learning Models

By: Michael W. Toffel, Natalie Epstein, Kris Ferreira and Yael Grushka-Cockayne

The note introduces a variety of methods to assess the accuracy of machine learning prediction models. The note begins by briefly introducing machine learning, overfitting, training versus test datasets, and cross validation. The following accuracy metrics and tools... View Details

Keywords: Machine Learning; Statistics; Econometric Analyses; Experimental Methods; Data Analysis; Data Analytics; Forecasting and Prediction; Analytics and Data Science; Analysis; Mathematical Methods

2014
Chapter

Bringing Agency Back Into Network Research: Constrained Agency and Network Action

By: Ranjay Gulati and Sameer Srivastava

We propose a framework of constrained agency grounded in the actors' resources and motivations within their structurally constrained context. Structural positions influence the resources available to actors and color the motivations that shape their actions. Resources... View Details

Keywords: Networks; Agency Theory

May 2009 (Revised June 2009)
Case

Areva

By: V.G. Narayanan and Lisa Brem

Areva, the world's market leader in civilian nuclear power, was positioned to take advantage of the resurgence of nuclear power. However, three issues clouded the positive outlook: (1) a 1.7 billion euro loss on the construction of the first next generation nuclear... View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Financial Statements; Energy Generation; Cash Flow; Investment; Energy Industry; Europe

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2008
Working Paper

The Flattening Firm and Product Market Competition: The Effect of Trade Liberalization

By: Maria Guadalupe and Julie Wulf

This paper establishes a causal effect of competition from trade liberalization on various characteristics of organizational design. We exploit a unique panel dataset on firm hierarchies (1986-1999) of large U.S. firms and find that increasing competition leads firms... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Managerial Roles; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy

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07 Aug 2015
News

SoulCycle: You Say ‘Cult.’ I Say ‘Loyal Customer Base.’

December 2018
Supplement

Formula E Championship Racing (B)

By: Robert F. Higgins, Susie Ma and James Weber

Formula E's season three is nearly complete. CEO Alejandro Agag needs to examine his business model to ensure the racing series is positioned to grow sustainably in the years to come. View Details

Keywords: Electric Car Racing; Entrepreneurship; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy

March 2020
Article

Knowing When to Ask: The Cost of Leaning-in

By: Christine L. Exley, Muriel Niederle and Lise Vesterlund

Women's reluctance to negotiate is often used to explain the gender wage gap, popularizing the push for women to “lean-in" and negotiate more. Examining an environment where women achieve positive profits when they choose to negotiate, we find that increased... View Details

Keywords: Negotiations; Leaning-in; Selection; Negotiation Participants; Negotiation Style; Gender

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Video

Reuel J. Khoza

Reuel J. Khoza, Chairman of South Africa's Dzana Investments and Discovery Bank, details his involvement with university student politics and advocacy during apartheid, which led to his firing from a faculty position in 1974. View Details

August 2020 (Revised November 2020)
Case

Gogoro: From Electric Scooter to Energy Platform

By: Tarun Khanna and Billy Chan

The founder of Gogoro had always wanted to revolutionize the energy market from day one since he started the electric scooter business that featured an innovative battery swapping technology. Over the course of five years, he had developed a premium line of electric... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Information Technology; Energy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategy; Taiwan

12 Sep 2023
Cold Call Podcast

Can Remote Surgeries Digitally Transform Operating Rooms?

Keywords: Health

24 Sep 2010
News

Small biz, banks may spurn Obama's $30 bln program

October 1981 (Revised June 1985)
Case

Vicks Health Care Division: Project Scorpio (B)

Reveals that Vicks chose a multi-condition positioning for the product. Describes testing of name and concept, and extensively reports on a four-city test market. Students are expected to evaluate both the design and results of the test, and face options ranging from... View Details

Keywords: Product Positioning; Health Care and Treatment; Product Launch; Health Industry