Publications

January 2018
Case

Blue Harbour's Activism at Babcock & Wilcox

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Quinn Pitcher

The case describes Blue Harbour Group's investment in Babcock & Wilcox and its transformation into BWX Technologies. In 2004, activist hedge fund Blue Harbour Group invested in Babcock & Wilcox, an energy and construction company. Blue Harbour developed an investment... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Investment Activism; Leading Change; Energy Industry; Energy Industry; United States

May 2009 (Revised August 2013)
Case

The DiagnoFirst Opportunity

By: Robert C. Pozen and Rukmini Balu

John Mason, a principle at Oldwell Partners, was facing a decision of whether or not to invest in DiagnoFirst, a molecular diagnostics firm. DiagnoFirst's key product was a genetic test that identified a subset of prostate cancer patients with a high risk of clinical... View Details

Keywords: Genetic Engineering; Genetically Modified; Genomics; Venture Capital; Patents; Genetics; Decision Choices and Conditions; Laws and Statutes; Investment; Science-Based Business; Biotechnology Industry

Web

Published Materials - Creating Emerging Markets

Published Materials 26 Nov 2024 Hachette Book Group The Enduring Enterprise: How Family Businesses Thrive in Turbulent Conditions 18 SEPT 2023 Book Faculty Research Precarious Ties: Business and the State in Authoritarian Asia By: Meg... View Details

January 1990 (Revised October 1993)
Case

Monsanto's March into Biotechnology (A)

By: Gary P. Pisano

Very early in the history of biotechnology (about 1979), Monsanto made a major commitment to move into this field. This case recounts the history from the point of view of the eminent scientist hired to head up corporate R&D. He took Monsanto from a very traditional... View Details

Keywords: History; Transition; Biotechnology Industry; Biotechnology Industry

June 2014
Supplement

Intuit Inc.: Project AgriNova PowerPoint Supplement

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann

In late 2008, a team from Intuit's office in Bangalore, India, is evaluating an opportunity to launch a new venture that would use SMS to deliver crop price information to farmers in India. The case describes the structure of Indian agriculture and the problems... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Venturing; Entrepreneurship; Research; Business Ventures; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Bangalore

Web

Executive Education - Entrepreneurship

family. W ho should attend: Family business teams of 4-8 people, including owners and managers, multiple generations, and perhaps a non-family executive. Launching New... View Details

September 2008
Case

Samoa Tala

By: Joshua D. Coval, Bhagwan Chowdhry and Konark Saxena

This case examines currency risks faced by Microfinance Institutions, and evaluates strategies to hedge them in countries with pegged currency regimes and no derivatives markets. An MFI based in Western Samoa borrows in different currencies like the US dollar and the... View Details

Keywords: Cash Flow; Currency Exchange Rate; Microfinance; Risk and Uncertainty; Financial Services Industry; Samoa

February 2008 (Revised June 2008)
Case

Shoppers' Stop Group (SSG)

By: Rajiv Lal and Virginia Fuller

As B.S. Nagesh thumbed through the 2006-2007 Annual Report for Shoppers' Stop Group (SSG), action shots of healthy-looking people dressed in the latest fashions amid the words "Redefining Retail" brought a smile to his face. As managing director of SSG-a Rs 8.9 billion... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Initial Public Offering; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Emerging Markets; Retail Industry; India

February 2018
Case

Health Savings Accounts: Enabling Consumer Participation

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and James Wallace

Health savings accounts (HSAs), a creation of the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act, had become an integral part of the drive toward consumer-driven health care. Coupled with high-deductible health plans, HSAs allowed consumers to directly control a significant part of... View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Healthcare Costs; Health Insurance; Health Care and Treatment; Cost; Insurance; Innovation and Invention; Health Industry; United States

October 2007
Case

Colgate Max Fresh: Global Brand Roll-Out

By: John A. Quelch

In February 2005, Nigel Burton, in his third year as president of global oral care at Colgate-Palmolive Company (CP), had every reason to feel optimistic. Worldwide market shares were strong and Colgate Max Fresh (CMF), a new toothpaste that had helped drive Colgate to... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Global Strategy; Brands and Branding; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; China; Mexico

Web

The 20th Century Zeitgeist - Leadership

door for conglomerate business model Influence: Medium-High 70 1970 s 19 Deregulation of oil and airline industries New energy policies and... View Details

November 2017
Case

Outrageous Ambition: Duke University

By: William C. Kirby and Yuanzhuo Wang

Duke University had grown from a one room schoolhouse in rural North Carolina in 1859 to one of the leading research universities in the U.S. and the world. Since the late 1950s, Duke’s leaders had consciously used the process of strategic planning to guide the... View Details

Web

Buy Now, Pay Later: Home Finance

Great Depression, when foreclosures on residential properties soared alongside farm foreclosures. Scholars still know relatively little about the American real estate industry before World War II. The U.S. Commerce Department did not... View Details

August 2010 (Revised January 2013)
Supplement

Urban Water Partners (B)

By: Karthik Ramanna, George Serafeim and Aldo Sesia

The case explores a new business venture to bring clean water to residents of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, who otherwise cannot afford it. Management has enough money to get their company through August 2010, but needs more capital thereafter. An HBS alumnus is interested... View Details

Keywords: Human Needs; Accrual Accounting; Financial Statements; Health Industry; Health Industry; Dar es Salaam

February 2014
Article

Responses to Entry in Multi-Sided Markets: The Impact of Craigslist on Local Newspapers

By: Robert Seamans and Feng Zhu

How do firms respond to entry in multi-sided markets? We address this question by studying the impact of Craigslist, a website providing classified-advertising services, on local U.S. newspapers. We exploit temporal and geographical variation in Craigslist's entry to... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Market Entry and Exit; Internet and the Web; Newspapers; Advertising; Advertising Industry; Advertising Industry

Find at Harvard

October 2006
Case

Lean at Wipro Technologies

Wipro Technologies, a rapidly growing software services firm based in India, decided to use principles from the Toyota Production System (also known as lean) to fundamentally change their operating model. Looks at why Wipro chose to use lean and how they went about... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Competitive Advantage; Applications and Software; Operations; Information Technology Industry; India

Profile

Brandon Graves

Coming to HBS is like Entering a new world in which the words “not possible” or “no” don’t exist. HBS fosters an environment that constructively challenges my self-imposed limits and assumptions.... View Details

Web

Building Entrepreneurial Organizations - Health Care

Harvard Life Lab Rock Entrepreneurs-in-Residence (students) New Venture Competition The New Venture Competition is an annual student and alumni competition sponsored by the... View Details

October 2013 (Revised February 2016)
Supplement

Cynthia Carroll at Anglo American (B)

By: Gautam Mukunda, Lisa Mazzanti and Aldo Sesia

In 2007, Cynthia Carroll, the newly-appointed chief executive of mining giant Anglo American, ordered the temporary shutdown of Anglo American Platinum's Rustenburg, South Africa mines in response to a spate of deaths at the operations. The case lays out Carroll's... View Details

Keywords: Safety; Ethics; Mining; Mining Industry; South Africa