Publications

November 1974 (Revised May 1994)
Case

Science Technology Co.

By: Thomas R. Piper

The president of a medium-sized electronics company is evaluating the financial forecasts and proposed financing program submitted by the chief financial officer. The forecasts are prepared in constant dollars, on which basis the proposed financing plan seems... View Details

Keywords: Currency; Financial Strategy; Forecasting and Prediction; Inflation and Deflation; Risk and Uncertainty; Outcome or Result; Technology Industry; Electronics Industry

February 2012 (Revised July 2012)
Supplement

Caijing Magazine (B)

By: Karthik Ramanna and G.A. Donovan

In late 2009, Wang Boming, publisher of Caijing Magazine, widely regarded as China's most independent newsmagazine, gathered his core team for an urgent meeting. His pioneering editor Hu Shuli, described for her fiercely independent journalism as "the most dangerous... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Corporate Accountability; Restructuring; Corporate Disclosure; Organizations; Publishing Industry; China

Research Summary

State-Business Relations

By: Meg Rithmire

In Precarious Ties: Business and the State in Authoritarian Asia (Oxford University Press, 2023) and related papers, I examine the political foundations and economic effects of different patterns of state-business relations in authoritarian regimes with a... View Details

November 2013 (Revised August 2015)
Case

Janet Yellen and the Bernanke Fed

By: Matthew Weinzierl and Katrina Flanagan

The unelected Federal Reserve Chairman exerts exceptional influence over the U.S., in fact global, economy. As Janet Yellen prepared to take over the position, she would look back on Chairman Bernanke's tenure during the Great Recession. During that time, Bernanke was... View Details

Keywords: Monetary Policy; Nominal Rigidity And Aggregate Demand/Aggregate Supply; Phillips Curve; Taylor Rule; Central Bank Independence; Central Banking; Money; Policy; Financial Crisis; Power and Influence; Banking Industry; Public Administration Industry; United States

February 2012 (Revised October 2012)
Case

Caijing Magazine (A)

By: Karthik Ramanna and G.A. Donovan

In late 2009, Wang Boming, publisher of Caijing Magazine, widely regarded as China's most independent newsmagazine, gathered his core team for an urgent meeting. His pioneering editor Hu Shuli, described for her fiercely independent journalism as "the most dangerous... View Details

Keywords: Journals and Magazines; Publishing Industry; China

2010
Article

An Organizational Approach to Undoing Gender: The Unlikely Case of Offshore Oil Platforms

By: Robin J. Ely and Debra E. Meyerson

This case study of two offshore oil platforms illustrates how an organizational initiative designed to enhance safety and effectiveness created a culture that unintentionally released men from societal imperatives for "manly" behavior, prompting them to let go of... View Details

Keywords: Safety; Goals and Objectives; Behavior; Organizational Culture; Performance Effectiveness; Gender; Emotions

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April 2011 (Revised January 2024)
Case

The Greek Crisis: Tragedy or Opportunity?

By: Dante Roscini, Jonathan Schlefer and Konstantinos Dimitriou

After its 2009-2010 fiscal crisis shook the euro, could the Greek government stabilize debt, avoid default, and stay on the euro? This case looks at the Greek social and political road to fiscal crisis; the economics of that crisis and efforts to recover from it; the... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Borrowing and Debt; Currency; Financial Condition; Central Banking; Financial Markets; International Finance; Policy; Conflict Management; Cooperation; Public Administration Industry; Greece

September 2008
Supplement

Adobe Systems: Working Towards a "Suite" Release (B)

By: David A. Thomas and Lauren Barley

The case examines the tools a manager can use to keep her project on track and manage conflict and tension as Adobe prepares to launch Creative Suite 3, the biggest software release in the company's 25-year history. The protagonist, Yvonne Murray, is a group program... View Details

Keywords: Change; Interpersonal Communication; Crisis Management; Product Launch; Projects; Conflict of Interests; Integration; Software

December 2023
Case

The American Bully XL

By: Robin Greenwood, Richard S. Ruback, Johnathan Sun and Robert Ialenti

The American Bully XL, first introduced to the United Kingdom around 2014, had been held responsible for a disproportionate share of both dog-related attacks and deaths. The case discusses the announcement, in October 2023, that the dog breed would be added to a list... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Government Administration; Laws and Statutes; Risk and Uncertainty; United Kingdom

19 Sep 2011
Research & Ideas

Doomsday Coming for Catastrophic Risk Insurers?

Kenneth A. Froot spends more time thinking about natural disasters than the average business school professor. In addition to the rise and fall of the Dow and the long-term implications of the financial crisis in Greece, he has natural perils—hurricanes, earthquakes,... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish; Financial Services

April 1998
Case

Responding to 21st Century Financial Crisis

By: Huw Pill

During the 1990s, financial crises appear to have been almost annual events. Examples abound: the collapse of S & Ls in the United States; currency mayhem in Europe; Mexican devaluation and banking crisis; Japanese banks teetering on the verge of default; currency and... View Details

Keywords: Global Range; Financial Crisis

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January 1991 (Revised November 1994)
Case

Black Caucus Groups at Xerox Corp. (A)

In 1970 Xerox had a very progressive affirmative action program yet, once hired, black employees faced serious problems, due both to overt discrimination and to their exclusion from the informal networks of support, information and mentoring that the other salespeople... View Details

Keywords: Prejudice and Bias; Alliances; Race Characteristics; Employees; Consumer Products Industry; Electronics Industry; United States

October 2016 (Revised April 2018)
Case

JCPenney: Back in Business

By: Elie Ofek, K. Shelette Stewart and Christine Snively

In 2016, JCPenney was in the midst of a multi-year turnaround after coming dangerously close to bankruptcy. Under CEO Marvin Ellison, the company had identified three strategic objectives—a focus on omnichannel, private label goods, and increasing revenue per... View Details

Keywords: Retail; Customer Management; Omnichannel; Turnarounds; Private Label; Promotions; Marketing Strategy; Brands and Branding; Customer Relationship Management; Goals and Objectives; Competition; Retail Industry; United States

09 Feb 2009
Research & Ideas

Uncompromising Leadership in Tough Times

do practice work-life balance within the context of a very demanding job. Their life is not all about work. So they protect some time to be with their family. As for employees at large, there is a danger that commitment to the... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

February 2011 (Revised January 2017)
Case

Countrywide plc

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah L. Abbott

One of the world's leading investors in distressed companies, Oaktree Capital Management, is contemplating a "loan to own" investment in the debt of Countrywide plc, a financially troubled residential real estate agent based in the U.K. Only sixteen months earlier,... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Restructuring; Financial Crisis; Capital Structure; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Financial Management; Investment; Real Estate Industry; United Kingdom

June 2010
Article

Change for Change's Sake

By: Freek Vermeulen, Phanish Puranam and Ranjay Gulati

No one disputes that firms have to make organizational changes when the business environment demands them. But the idea that a firm might want change for its own sake often provokes skepticism. Why inflict all that pain if you don't have to? That is a dangerous... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Innovation and Invention; Leading Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Creativity; Power and Influence; Adaptation

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