Publications

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August 2002
Case

Siebel Systems: Anatomy of a Sale, Part 3

By: John A. Deighton and Das Narayandas

How does a $2 million software sale happen? This case traces efforts by Siebel Systems to sell lead management software to discount broker Quick & Reilly. The buying process is mapped out over four years. Covers in detail the last six months--from Siebel's initial... View Details

Keywords: Sales; Decision Choices and Conditions; Competitive Strategy; Customer Relationship Management; Product Marketing; Information Technology Industry

08 Apr 2008
First Look

First Look: April 8, 2008

ethanol as an automotive fuel. Its business largely consists of buying corn and turning it into ethanol. MME's 40-million-gallon-per-year plant began production in February... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

15 Sep 2008
Research & Ideas

The Coming Transformation of Social Enterprise

creating social value. As long as an organization creates significant social value, we don't care how it sustains itself—with internally generated surplus or with donor funds. Americans give roughly $300... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson

22 Apr 2016
Blog Post

Working With Organizations That Recruit at HBS: An Interview with Mary-Kate Johnson

with a live person on the other end of the line, it makes that next step a lot more inviting. Tell us a fun fact about yourself. I spent four months living and studying in Amman, Jordan my junior year of college. Reflecting back on my... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Products / Retail

November 2019
Supplement

United Technologies Corp.: Are the Parts Worth More Than the Whole?

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher

After spending more than 50 years creating a diversified industrial conglomerate that Fortune Magazine described as “arguably the most profitable conglomerate in America” in 2014, UTC’s CEO Greg Hayes was under pressure from activist investors (Dan Loeb and Bill... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Business Conglomerates; Financial Management; Corporate Governance; Organizational Structure; Diversification; Valuation; Investment Activism; Financial Strategy; Investment Funds; Value Creation; Industrial Products Industry; Industrial Products Industry; Industrial Products Industry; United States

20 Jun 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, June 20

leave for home by 5:30 p.m.? How did HUL develop a cheaper, better product to beat its competitor, Nirma? What do Taj Hotels, HDFC, HUL, L&T, and BPCL have in common? They are the win-win corporations!... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

07 Oct 2008
First Look

First Look: October 7, 2008

included Gap, Apple, Motorola, Armani, and American Express. The business model was structured to benefit partner companies by increasing consumer purchases—of (RED)-branded products such as red iPods and... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

11 Jul 2011
Research & Ideas

Non-competes Push Talent Away

for instance, a judge in California is not obligated to enforce the contract because it conflicts with California state law. "There's a saying out in California: You never stop hiring someone," says Marx (MBA '05, DBA '09), now an... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Technology

April 2025
Case

Pouring Oil on Troubled Waters: Vickers Oils and Resolving Family Conflict over Generations

By: Lauren Cohen, Octavian Graf Pilati and Sophia Pan

Will Vickers, a seventh-generation (G7) member of the Vickers Family, grappled with a pressing challenge: how to re-integrate family members into the firm to recover lost talent. His father, Peter Vickers, was the lone leader of the Vickers Oils—despite having stepped... View Details

Keywords: Shareholder; Involvement; Family Office; Family Firms; Family Business; Business Growth and Maturation; Experience and Expertise; Retention; Leadership Development; Business or Company Management; Management Succession; Organizational Structure; Family Ownership; Family and Family Relationships; Diversification; Conflict and Resolution; Consumer Products Industry; United Kingdom

2008
Chapter

Knowledge Work, Craft Work, and Calling

Social critics have often complained that industrial revolution management transfers control of a job away from workers, encourages human exploitation in pursuit of cost minimization, and alienates workers from their labor. But the arrangements of work that have been... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Working Conditions; Production; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Management Practices and Processes; Employees

November 2019 (Revised April 2021)
Case

United Technologies: Are the Parts Worth More Than the Whole?

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher

After spending more than 50 years creating a diversified industrial conglomerate that Fortune magazine described as “arguably the most profitable conglomerate in America” in 2014, UTC’s CEO Greg Hayes was under pressure from activist investors (Dan Loeb and Bill... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Business Conglomerates; Financial Management; Corporate Governance; Organizational Structure; Investment Funds; Value Creation; Industrial Products Industry; Industrial Products Industry; Industrial Products Industry; United States

June 2010 (Revised September 2010)
Case

athenahealth: Innovating in Response to a Crisis in Healthcare

When Jonathan Bush and his partner, Todd Park, realized that their revolutionary approach to delivering clinical care was being stymied by the inefficiencies in the healthcare system and insurance red tape, they turned their proprietary technology, athenaNet, to a new... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Information Management; Innovation and Invention; Brands and Branding; Product Development; Health Industry; United States

01 Jul 2008
First Look

First Look: July 1, 2008

b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=308065 ScriptLogic®: Point, Click, Done! Harvard Business School Case 508-114 ScriptLogic is a software company that has built a product portfolio that fits under a 'Point, Click, Done!' umbrella; View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

2017
Working Paper

Identifying Sources of Inefficiency in Health Care

By: Amitabh Chandra and Douglas O. Staiger

In medicine, the reasons for variation in treatment rates across hospitals serving similar patients are not well understood. Some interpret this variation as unwarranted and push standardization of care as a way of reducing allocative inefficiency. However, an... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Performance Efficiency; Performance Productivity; Mathematical Methods

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June 2010 (Revised January 2011)
Case

Scientific Glass Incorporated: Inventory Management

By: Steven C. Wheelwright and William Schmidt

Scientific Glassware is a fast-growing, privately held company that provides specialized glassware for laboratory and research facilities. Excess inventory is tying up extra capital needed to fund the company's expansion plans. The newly hired Manager of Inventory... View Details

Keywords: Inventory Control; Inventory Management; Materials Management; Order Processing; Warehousing; Salesforce Management; Logistics; Operations; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Finance; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry

15 Oct 2020
Blog Post

Celebrating Latinx Heritage Month at HBS

laughter and joy as well as anxiety and uncertainty. While the global pandemic has upended our lives at HBS, it has also reinforced the strength and resiliency of the LASO familia. LASO has been challenged to rethink hosting key events... View Details

02 Feb 2021
Blog Post

Finding My Focus in Health care Amidst a Global Pandemic

substantial policy change over the coming months and years. At Harvard, the combination of renowned faculty, endless student resources and a location at the epicenter of biopharma R&D made it the perfect place for me to learn more... 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