Publications

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April 11, 2010
Article

Solving Jobs Crisis Won't Be a Quick Fix

By: William W. George

Keywords: Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Problems and Challenges

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December 2001 (Revised April 2003)
Case

Delays at Logan Airport

By: V.G. Narayanan and George Batta

Logan Airport is facing mounting delays for flights landings and takeoffs, especially in inclement weather. An additional runway and peak-period pricing are two alternatives being considered. View Details

Keywords: Price; Problems and Challenges; Decision Making; Mathematical Methods; Air Transportation Industry; Service Industry; Boston

21 Oct 2002
Research & Ideas

The Parable of the Bungled Baggage And the Unhappy Customer

Late-arriving luggage proved to be a parable about customer service for Harvard Business School professor W. Earl Sasser. In this excerpted transcript from a new video CD presentation, Sasser discusses how a seemingly harmless budget trim upended an airline's plan to... View Details

Keywords: by W. Earl Sasser

August 2018 (Revised September 2018)
Case

National Storage Affiliates: The REIT IPO Decision

By: Charles F. Wu, Max de la Bruyére and Gregory D. Himmel

In 2015, two years after founding National Storage Affiliates (NSA), Arlen Nordhagen and Tamara Fischer had an important decision to make. Should they proceed with NSA’s IPO? Although they had targeted to receive $15–17 a share, it was now apparent that the figure was... View Details

Keywords: Initial Public Offering; Problems and Challenges; Decision Making; Real Estate Industry

05 Dec 2012
What Do You Think?

Should Managers Bother Listening to Predictions?

Summing Up Can Managers Afford to Ignore Predictions in Planning? There is a healthy skepticism when it comes to the reliability of predictions as a basis for planning. Donald Kortalon, commenting on this month's column, cites a number of experts whose predictions have... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

August 1987 (Revised June 1989)
Background Note

Note on Financial Contracting: ""Deals""

By: William A. Sahlman

Describes the issues involved in designing and evaluating financial contracts between users and suppliers of capital and between companies and employees. A simple conceptual framework is introduced and some critical issues addressed: 1) How is cash allocated? 2) How is... View Details

Keywords: Contracts; Framework; Problems and Challenges; Corporate Finance

Article

China Gambles on Modernizing Through Urbanization

By: Kristen Looney and Meg Rithmire

Contemporary discussions of urbanization and urban construction in China tend to focus on “ghost towns” on the one hand or urbanization as China’s silver bullet to growth and reform on the other. In this paper, we detail what China calls its “New Urbanization Policy.”... View Details

Keywords: Urban Development; Development Economics; Problems and Challenges; China

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January 2001
Case

World Bank and Knowledge Management, The: The Case of the Urban Services Thematic Group

By: William E. Fulmer and W. Earl Sasser

The World Bank has implemented a knowledge management initiative. One of its communities of practice is to take the lead in a $50 billion commitment to address urban slums. The community of practice is struggling with its mission and how knowledge management can help. View Details

Keywords: Urban Development; Knowledge Management; Problems and Challenges; Financial Services Industry

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21 Mar 2025
News

What We Can Learn From “The Oracle of Wall Street”

and he was constantly evolving and like changing his views, but he also was in his late 80s and had a set way of doing things and was not always the most flexible in certain ways. This was a challenge that I learned to mitigate. But I... View Details

Keywords: Finance

25 Jan 2013
Research & Ideas

Why a Harvard Finance Instructor Went to the Kumbh Mela

I'm in a winter coat and hat in the January pre-dawn cold and dark, standing on sandbags on a riverbank in the middle of Uttar Pradesh, India. Pilgrims and the faithful and the respectful come to the river this morning by the hundreds, clad in the minimum, praying and... View Details

Keywords: by John D. Macomber; Construction; Real Estate

1993
Chapter

Marketing Practice: Source of Problems and Insights for Advancing Marketing Knowledge

By: S. A. Greyser

Keywords: Marketing; Practice; Knowledge Acquisition; Knowledge Dissemination; Problems and Challenges

2012
Book

Harder Than I Thought: Adventures of a Twenty-First Century Leader

By: Robert D. Austin, Richard L. Nolan and Shannon O'Donnell

Being a great leader today is much harder than you think—meet Jim Barton. He's a newly minted CEO, rising leader of a firm in transition, and manager of massive complexity—thanks to our incredibly networked and increasingly unpredictable world of business. What if you... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Complexity; Crisis Management; Problems and Challenges; Volatility

June 2011
Case

Trouble in Islandia; Computer Associates 2001 - 2004

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Melissa Barton

The Board of Directors of Computer Associates deals with pressure from the U.S. Department of Justice as its members try to gain better insight into the accounting practices of the company's top management team. View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Corporate Governance; Management Teams; Ethics; Practice; Florida; United States

August 2000 (Revised November 2001)
Background Note

Liability Reporting

By: Paul M. Healy and Preeti Choudhary

By examining key criteria for recognizing a liability, this case explores liability recognition in straightforward situations and then examines the most difficult reporting issues in recording liabilities. These often arise when: 1) uncertainty arises about whether an... View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Legal Liability; Valuation; Problems and Challenges; Accounting Industry

October 1997
Case

L'Oreal of Paris: Bringing 'Class to Mass' with Plenitude

By: Robert J. Dolan

L'Oreal's strategy is to "trickle down" technology over time from high-end outlets like department stores to mass-markets, such as drugstores. The mass market brand Plenitude has become the market leader in France, but even eight years after introduction in the United... View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Marketing Strategy; Brands and Branding; Globalization; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Retail Industry; France; United States

October 1984
Teaching Note

NIKE (F): The Apparel Division, Teaching Note

Teaching Note for (9-385-039). View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Management Succession; Strategy; Business Divisions; Apparel and Accessories Industry

October 2022
Supplement

Henkel: Building a Winning Culture (C)

By: Robert L. Simons and Carolyn Deller

This three-page case is the second update to Henkel: Building a Winning Culture (A). In this supplement, dated 2015, managers discuss the problems that are emerging with the company’s performance management system and offer several potential solutions that students can... View Details

Keywords: Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Problems and Challenges

October 1992 (Revised May 1993)
Background Note

Diversity in Accounting Principles: A Problem, a Strategic Imperative, or a Strategic Opportunity?

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

Provides an introduction to the diversity of generally accepted accounting principles. An example shows how financial reports in one firm could differ depending on accounting methods and principles selected. Presents arguments that this may be a problem, an imperative... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Problems and Challenges; Strategy; Opportunities