Publications
Publications
Show Results For
- All HBS Web
(996)
- Faculty Publications (346)
- January 2023 (Revised April 2023)
- Case
Cobalt Robotics: Scaling Workplace Robotics
By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Nicole Tempest Keller and Kyung Keun Park
Founded in 2016, Cobalt Robotics, based in Fremont, California, was a Robot-as-a-Service (RaaS) company that built autonomous workplace robots that were designed to replace or supplement human security guards. Outfitted with over 60 sensors, Cobalt robots patrolled... View Details
- November 2022 (Revised October 2024)
- Case
'A Marshall Plan for Africa': James Mwangi and Equity Group Holdings
By: Caroline M. Elkins, Debora L. Spar, Zeke Gillman and Julia M. Comeau
Financial Inclusion. Dignity. Trust. These were the core principles driving James Mwangi’s transformation of Equity Building Society, insolvent in 1991, into what is, today, Equity Group Holdings, East and Central Africa’s largest retail banking institution. Raised in... View Details
- October 2022
- Case
EducationSuperHighway 2.0
By: William A. Sahlman, Allison M. Ciechanover and Emily Grandjean
In 2012, Evan Marwell launched EducationSuperHighway (ESH) to address a major problem: though most public K-12 schools in the US had access to the Internet, only roughly 30% had true broadband access that would enable every student to have high speed connectivity. ... View Details
- August 3, 2022
- Article
How Will Amazon Approach U.S. Primary Care?
By: Robert S. Huckman and Bradley Staats
Amazon has a playbook for reinventing businesses that it enters. It includes simplifying processes, experimenting to determine which new approaches work best, and continuously recombining its existing assets to come up with a better way to do things. It is likely to... View Details
- June 2022
- Case
Zalando: Becoming the Starting Point for Fashion
By: Antonio Moreno, Leela Nageswaran, Emilie Billaud and Federica Gabrieli
Born in 2008 as a small startup selling flip flops, by mid-2021 Zalando had turned into an online fashion company with an assortment of more than 4,500 international brands, 45 million active customers, and a presence in 23 European markets. An essential component in... View Details
Keywords: Transition; Customer Value and Value Chain; Digital Platforms; Distribution; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Infrastructure; Logistics; Service Operations; Strategy; Business Strategy; Fashion Industry; Fashion Industry; Fashion Industry; Fashion Industry; Fashion Industry; Fashion Industry; Fashion Industry; Fashion Industry; Europe
- Article
Capture New Value from Your Existing Tech Infrastructure
By: Stefan Thomke and Anthony Rodrigo
When senior managers think about how to respond to the threats and opportunities of technological change, they often dream of the same thing: If they just could start a new company or division that isn’t held back by conventional thinking or outdated business models.... View Details
- April 2022
- Teaching Note
Transforming BlackBerry: From Smartphones to Software
By: Ranjay Gulati and Eppa Rixey
Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 421-052. View Details
- March 2022 (Revised November 2023)
- Case
Doubling Down: Elon Musk's Big Bets in 2022
By: David Yoffie and Daniel Fisher
2021 was a banner year for Elon Musk. CEO of the electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla, the aerospace manufacturer SpaceX, and a few smaller startups, Musk became the richest person on Earth after Tesla reached a market capitalization of $1 trillion and SpaceX a private... View Details
Keywords: Innovation and Management; Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Transportation; Strategic Planning; Leadership Style; Leading Change; Goals and Objectives; Aerospace Industry; Aerospace Industry; Aerospace Industry; United States; Europe; China
- March 2022 (Revised April 2023)
- Case
Pittsburgh: A Successful City?
Pittsburgh, PA, was once the crown jewel of American heavy industry. During the 19th and 20th centuries, the city was an undisputed leader in steel production, boasting some of the largest companies and wealthiest individuals in the world. Its abundance of... View Details
Keywords: Economic And Social Disparities; Economic Development; Local Economic Development; Contextual Intelligence; Contextual Knowledge; Context; City Growth; City Innovation; City Leadership; Pittsburgh; Local Government; Local Stakeholders; Business And Community; Business And Community Relations; Community Engagement; Community Relations; Cross-sector Collaboration; Innovation; Innovation Economy; Innovation Clusters; Innovation Ecosystems; Shared Prosperity; Equality Of Opportunity; Equity; Inclusion; Business And Government; Business ＆ Government Relations; Business And Government Relations; Business And Society; Neighborhoods; Race And Ethnicity; Innovation ＆ Entrepreneurship; Diversity; Ethnicity; Race; Household; Income; Economic Growth; Economic Sectors; Economics; Local Range; Urban Development; Urban Scope; City; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Government and Politics; Government Administration; Growth and Development; History; Leadership; Goals and Objectives; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Society; Civil Society or Community; Culture; Human Needs; Public Opinion; Public Sector; Social Issues; Poverty; Equality and Inequality; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States; Pittsburgh; Pennsylvania
- February 2022
- Case
US Foods: Driving Post-Pandemic Success?
By: David E. Bell, Olivia Hull and Amy Klopfenstein
In November 2021, US Foods CEO Pietro Satriano must decide his company’s trajectory following the COVID-19 pandemic. US Foods suffered due to business closures and social distancing during the height of the pandemic. While the situation improved following the return of... View Details
Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Agribusiness; Food; Goods and Commodities; Jobs and Positions; Job Design and Levels; Job Offer; Labor; Employment; Human Capital; Wages; Working Conditions; Operations; Distribution Channels; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Infrastructure; Logistics; Product Development; Diversification; Product Design; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Supply Chain Management; Social Psychology; Motivation and Incentives; Transportation; Truck Transportation; Transportation Networks; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; United States
- February 2022 (Revised April 2022)
- Case
BUA Group
By: John D. Macomber, Pippa Tubman Armerding and Wale Lawal
BUA Group must decide between investments in cement, road building, power generation, or sugar. Private businesses are important to economic development in Africa. Students must assess the competitive nature of each of these industries, the magnitude of capital... View Details
- February 2022 (Revised May 2022)
- Case
Buddy Valastro: Cake Boss
By: Boris Groysberg, Evan M.S. Hecht and Katherine Connolly Baden
Buddy Valastro, celebrity baker and business owner, inherited his father’s bakery—Carlo’s Bake Shop of Hoboken, New Jersey—at the age of seventeen. He had willed the shop to survive and gone on to fame through his television show, “Cake Boss”—the name most people now... View Details
Keywords: Bakery; Entrepreneur; Scalability; Digital; Systems; Process Improvement; Team Effectiveness; Team Building; COVID-19 Pandemic; Food; Entrepreneurship; Family Business; Crisis Management; Change Management; Leadership; Creativity; Operations; Groups and Teams; Brands and Branding; Food and Beverage Industry; United States
- January 2022 (Revised August 2022)
- Case
Geely SEA: New Electric Vehicle Platforms
By: Willy C. Shih and Shu Lin
Kent Bovellan, the Chief Engineer and Head of the Vehicle Architecture Center for Geely Holding, the Hangzhou, China headquartered global automotive group, was debating the platform choice for an upcoming "D" segment midsized battery electric vehicle (BEV). He had led... View Details
Keywords: Product Innovation; Product Architecture; Product Engineering; Platform Design; Platform Strategy; Information Infrastructure; Digital Platforms; Information Technology; Product Design; Product Development; Cost Management; Decision Making; Competitive Strategy; Industry Structures; Auto Industry; China; Sweden
- November 2021 (Revised January 2022)
- Case
KFA, Inc.: Building the Future
By: Lynda M. Applegate and Elizabeth M. Adams
In 2021, Greg Bush, Jr., owner, president, and CEO of KFA, Inc. is working with his leadership team to plan for the future. KFA provides consulting services on software and project management needs for infrastructure projects. Bush and his team have just debuted a new... View Details
- June 2021
- Case
Akira Fukabori and Kevin Kajitani at avatarin (A)
By: Linda A. Hill and Emily Tedards
In 2016, Akira Fukabori and Kevin Kajitani, aeronautical engineers at All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd., began to wonder why, in a world of accelerating globalization and digital connectivity, those who lived in far-remote villages or impoverished urban areas could not... View Details
Keywords: Agility; Ecosystem; Innovation Ecosystems; Crowdsourcing; Open Innovation; Partnership; Government; Collaboration; Co-creation; Purpose; Impact; Social Impact; Movement; Organizational Behavior; Organizational Ambidexterity; Ambidexterity; Culture; Culture Change; Global Teams; Experimentation; Space; Airline Industry; Start-up; Platform Business; Platform Strategy; Platform; Digital; Robotics; Robots; Mobility; Strategy; COVID-19; Intrapreneurship; Public-private Partnership; XPRIZE; Space Industry; Avatar; Telepresence; Innovation Lab; Innovation and Invention; Technological Innovation; Partners and Partnerships; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Alignment; Leadership; Leading Change; Diversity; Organizational Culture; Change Management; Entrepreneurship; Digital Platforms; Transportation Industry; Transportation Industry; Japan
- June 2021
- Case
Akira Fukabori and Kevin Kajitani at avatarin (A) (Abridged)
By: Linda A. Hill and Emily Tedards
In 2016, Akira Fukabori and Kevin Kajitani, aeronautical engineers at All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd., began to wonder why, in a world of accelerating globalization and digital connectivity, those who lived in far-remote villages or impoverished urban areas could not... View Details
Keywords: Agility; Ecosystem; Innovation Ecosystems; Innovation; Crowdsourcing; XPRIZE; Open Innovation; Partnership; Government; Collaboration; Co-creation; Purpose; Impact; Social Impact; Movement; Organizational Behavior; Organizational Ambidexterity; Ambidexterity; Culture; Culture Change; Global Teams; Experimentation; Space; Space Industry; Airline Industry; Start-up; Platform Business; Platform Strategy; Platform; Digital; Robotics; Robots; Avatar; Telepresence; Innovation Lab; Mobility; COVID-19; Intrapreneurship; Public-private Partnership; Innovation and Invention; Technological Innovation; Partners and Partnerships; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Alignment; Leadership; Leading Change; Diversity; Organizational Culture; Change Management; Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Digital Platforms; Transportation Industry; Transportation Industry; Japan
- 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; Technology Industry; Canada
- April 2021 (Revised June 2021)
- Case
IBM: Design Thinking
By: Srikant M. Datar, Amram Migdal and Paul Hamilton
This case describes the 2012-2020 effort at IBM to implement design thinking throughout the company and hire thousands of designers to serve on every product team alongside technical engineers and developers and product managers. IBM’s design transformation is told... View Details
Keywords: Business Ventures; Business Divisions; Business Units; Business Organization; Change; Change Management; Transformation; Competency and Skills; Talent and Talent Management; Design; Human Resources; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Innovation and Invention; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Jobs and Positions; Job Design and Levels; Leading Change; Management; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Management Practices and Processes; Operations; Product; Product Design; Product Development; Organizations; Business Processes; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Strategy; Adaptation; Adoption; Technological Innovation; Information Infrastructure; Information Technology; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; United States
- April 2021
- Supplement
Buy Online, Pickup in Store: CEO Supplement
By: Antonio Moreno, Santiago Gallino and Amy Klopfenstein
In April 2019, Sylvarella CEO Sylvia Coparella must assess the impact of the company’s Buy Online, Pickup in Store (BOPS) program on her company’s overall sales. To do so, she must review analyses of both e-commerce and brick-and-mortar sales data and compare the... View Details
- April 2021
- Case
Buy Online, Pickup in Store: Evaluating an Omnichannel Intervention in Retail
By: Antonio Moreno, Santiago Gallino and Amy Klopfenstein
In October 2018, fashion, wellness, and beauty retailer Sylvarella implemented a Buy Online, Pickup in Store (BOPS) program in an attempt to counteract a sales decline. While BOPS had the potential to meet customer expectations for a seamless order and fulfillment... View Details