Publications

February 2022 (Revised November 2022)
Case

Nuritas

By: Mitchell Weiss, Satish Tadikonda, Vincent Dessain and Emer Moloney

Nora Khaldi had built a technology “to unlock the power of nature” in the service of extending human lifespan and improving health, and now in April 2020 was debating telling her Board of Directors she wanted to put on ice some of her discoveries. Nuritas, the company... View Details

Keywords: Cash Burn; Cash Flow Analysis; Pharmaceutical Companies; Founder; Artificial Intelligence; AI; Entrepreneurship; Health Testing and Trials; Health Care and Treatment; Decision Making; Market Entry and Exit; AI and Machine Learning; Pharmaceutical Industry

January 2022
Case

FIFA and The World Cup: The Future of Football

By: Anita Elberse, Oliver Band and Howard Johnson

Should FIFA host its biggest event—the FIFA World Cup—every two years instead of every four, as it has been doing since the event’s inception in the 1930s? In September 2021, Gianni Infantino, the president of the International Federation of Association Football... View Details

Keywords: Sports; Soccer; Football; Entertainment; Media; Talent Development; Globalization; Marketing; Strategy; General Management; Governance; Decision Making; Governing and Advisory Boards; Problems and Challenges; Brands and Branding; Sports Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

October 2021
Case

Financial Reporting at Mattel

By: Aiyesha Dey, Trung Nguyen, Marshal Herrmann and Julia Kelley

In September 2020, Diana Ferguson was nearing her first Audit Committee meeting as the newly appointed Audit Committee chair of Mattel, Inc. Mattel was just recovering from an accounting scandal which had revealed the company’s poor internal controls and weak board... View Details

October 2021 (Revised May 2023)
Case

Engine No. 1: An Impact Investing Firm Engages with ExxonMobil

By: Mark Kramer, Shawn Cole, Vikram S. Gandhi and T. Robert Zochowski

ExxonMobil, the world's fifth largest source of carbon emissions, remained committed to aggressively expanding its oil & gas business despite global warming. During the COVID pandemic this strategy resulted in massive losses as the price and demand for oil declined. ... View Details

Keywords: Carbon Emissions; Global Warming; Impact Investment Funds; Hedge Fund Activism; Leadership Development; Business Model; Renewable Energy; Resource Allocation; Decision Choices and Conditions; Governing and Advisory Boards

June 2021
Case

One Family Textiles: Stepping Back to Move Forward?

By: V.G. Narayanan, Alpana Thapar and Fares Khrais

This case explores how a family business builds a board that includes independent directors that helps to professionalize and strengthen governance in the company. The case relates to One Family Textiles, an Abu Dhabi-headquartered manufacturer of garments. The company... View Details

Keywords: Governance; Growth and Development Strategy; Operations; Governing and Advisory Boards; Business History; Decision Making; Accounting

May 2021
Teaching Plan

Middlebury College: Energy2028

By: Brian Trelstad and Michael Norris

Teaching Plan for HBS Case No. 320-029. In 2018, Middlebury College’s board of trustees is considering a proposal called Energy2028 that would push the small, liberal arts and sciences college in Vermont to become a net zero carbon emitter, decrease energy usage by... View Details

Keywords: Divestment; Energy; Higher Education; Energy Conservation; Climate Change

April 2021
Case

Transforming BlackBerry: From Smartphones to Software

By: Ranjay Gulati and Nicole Tempest Keller

On the verge of failure, BlackBerry brought in John Chen as CEO in 2013 to orchestrate a bold turnaround of the company. Once an iconic leader in the smartphone market, BlackBerry was best known for its tactile QWERTY keyboard, strong security, and a focus on business... View Details

Keywords: Pivot; Managing Change; Turnaround; Smartphone; Change Management; Leading Change; Transformation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Digital Platforms; Change; Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Competitive Strategy; Cybersecurity; Technology Industry; Transportation Industry; Canada

March 2021 (Revised August 2024)
Case

Hotwire.com: Navigating Through Turbulence

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Manny de Zarraga and Eric Levine

On September 10, 2001, after speaking at an industry conference at New York’s World Trade Center, Hotwire co-founder Spencer Rascoff boarded a flight from Newark to San Francisco. After returning home, Rascoff awoke the next morning to a phone call informing him that... View Details

Keywords: September 11; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business Growth and Maturation; Disruption; Decisions; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Growth Management; Digital Platforms; Problems and Challenges; Risk and Uncertainty; Expansion; Internet and the Web; Leading Change; Leadership Style; Air Transportation Industry; Tourism Industry; San Francisco

February 2021 (Revised April 2021)
Case

Board Director Dilemmas—Back the SPAC?

By: Suraj Srinivasan, David G. Fubini and Amram Migdal

This case focuses on a board director of a diversified holding company. The firm’s longtime CEO had always exhibited a cautious, methodical approach to growth. Now, the CEO is raising the idea of joining with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) to spin off... View Details

Keywords: Board Director; Strategy; Change Management; Decision Making

February 2021
Case

Board Director Dilemmas—New Year, New Timing

By: Suraj Srinivasan, David G. Fubini and Amram Migdal

This case focuses on a junior partner at a private equity (PE) firm who sits on the board of one of the firm’s portfolio companies. In the case, the board member asks the CEO to accelerate a cost-cutting initiative and looks to a seasoned industry veteran who is also a... View Details

Keywords: Board Directors; Governing and Advisory Boards; Strategy; Decision Making

February 2021
Teaching Plan

Soofa: Displaying the Right Path?

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Amy Klopfenstein

This teaching plan serves as a supplement to the case “Soofa: Displaying the Right Path?” HBS 820-098. The case explores the tension between two different financing and expansion plans for a startup, and explores issues related to business model pivots and industry... View Details

January 2021 (Revised October 2024)
Case

Aptiv PLC Board of Directors (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz

Aptiv’s board must decide whether a joint venture with an auto maker is the right next step in the company’s efforts to develop and commercialize a production-ready autonomous driving system. While many commentators believed that Aptiv’s self-driving technologies had... View Details

January–February 2021
Article

Compensation Packages That Actually Drive Performance

By: Boris Groysberg, Sarah Abbott, Michael R. Marino and Metin Aksoy

By aligning executives’ financial incentives with company strategy, a firm can inspire its management to deliver superior results. But it can be hard to get pay packages right. In this article four experts break down the key elements of compensation and explain how to... View Details

Keywords: Executive Compensation; Compensation and Benefits; Motivation and Incentives; Strategy; Performance

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October 2020 (Revised November 2020)
Case

Wilderness Safaris: Impact Investing and Ecotourism Conservation in Africa

By: James E. Austin, Megan Epler Wood and Herman B. "Dutch" Leonard

In 2018 the majority ownership of publicly owned Wilderness Safaris, the leading high-end ecotourism company in Africa with safari operations in eight countries, was acquired by The Rise Fund, one of the world’s largest private social impact investing funds, and by FS... View Details

October 2020
Article

IQ from IP: Simplifying Search in Portfolio Choice

By: Huaizhi Chen, Lauren Cohen, Umit Gurun, Dong Lou and Christopher J. Malloy

Using a novel database that tracks web traffic on the SEC’s EDGAR servers between 2004 and 2015, we show that mutual fund managers gather information on a very particular subset of firms and insiders, and their surveillance is very persistent over time. This tracking... View Details

Keywords: Tracked Trades; Return Predictability; Institutional Trading; Insider Trading; Institutional Investing; Information; Investment Portfolio; Decisions; Management

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July 2020
Background Note

Gender Diversity on Boards: Views from Norway

By: Aiyesha Dey

The issue of gender diversity on boards has received increased attention in U.S markets over the past few years. In 2018, California introduced a law which required boards of U.S-listed firms with headquarters in California to include at least one female director by... View Details

Keywords: Board Of Directors; Board Decisions; Gender; Diversity; Governing and Advisory Boards; Norway; United States

July 2020
Case

Mortgage Backed Securities and the Covid-19 Pandemic

By: Emil N. Siriwardane, Luis M. Viceira and Dean Xu

In April 2020, global financial markets were still reeling as the COVID-19 pandemic spread rapidly across the world. Global equity markets had initially fallen by 30% in response to the pandemic, and high-yield credit markets had dropped by nearly 20%. In contrast,... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Mortgage-backed Securities; Health Pandemics; Financial Markets; Assets; Resource Allocation; Financial Instruments; Decision Making

July 2020 (Revised March 2021)
Case

Board Diversity at Amazon (A)

By: Aiyesha Dey and Anu Atluru

The case revolves around the decisions that the board of directors of ecommerce giant Amazon would need to make in response to the controversial letter that activist shareholder CtW investment group sent to Amazon’s shareholders, urging them to vote in favor of a... View Details

Keywords: Board Of Directors; Boards; Governing and Advisory Boards; Diversity; Gender; Race; United States

July 2020
Supplement

Board Diversity at Amazon (B): The Board's Decision

By: Aiyesha Dey and Anu Atluru

Keywords: Board Of Directors; Diversity; Gender