Disruptive Change - Publications - Faculty & Research

January 2025
Case

A Tiger in the Tank: Exxon Sues Investors

By: Clayton S. Rose, Sarah Sasso and James Weber

In June 2024, investors were trying to make sense of ExxonMobil’s (Exxon) lawsuit against two impact investors, Arjuna Capital (Arjuna) and Follow This, that had just been dismissed by the U.S. District Court of Northern Texas. Exxon’s suit challenged the rights of two... View Details

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21 Feb 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: February 21

external entities. Firms pursuing these approaches change how they conduct business and interact with their environments. This paper considers these three strategies together highlighting similarities and differences between platform,... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

21 Apr 2020
Research & Ideas

7 Successful Battle Strategies to Beat COVID-19

business applications, aimed at empowering teams to better respond to changing customer and competitive threats, are already au fait with this idea of using military strategy to guide project decision-making. Many Agile-immersion... View Details

Keywords: by Euvin Naidoo

05 Aug 2015
What Do You Think?

What Happened to the ‘Innovation, Disruption, Technology’ Dividend?

change fast enough for the U.S. to have the workers it needs in any near-term way.” Tema Frank went even further, commenting that “ we are still reliant on the human factor so a lot of potential productivity is wasted through bad... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Computer; Technology

21 Mar 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research, March 21

obstruct change necessitated by unexpected deviations from the plan. More broadly, by contrasting vigorous missionary work and reluctant evangelism as alternative pathways, we demonstrate how market-creation efforts can undermine... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

22 Aug 2006
First Look

First Look: August 22, 2006

current strategy or change its approach? Includes color exhibits. Purchase this case: http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=805067 New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc. Harvard Business School Case 606-094 Considers... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

03 Mar 2003
What Do You Think?

Are Conditions Right for the Next Accounting Scandal?

separating audit from consulting, you may have two of the Big Four serving your business, and the other two ... serving your competitor." Edward Hare laments that "conditions have not materially changed ... further scandals are... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Accounting; Financial Services

November 2020 (Revised April 2021)
Case

Roll-Ups and Surprise Billing: Collisions at the Intersection of Private Equity and Patient Care

By: Trevor Fetter and Kira Seiger

This case describes the increasing investment by private equity (PE) firms in patient care and other healthcare services. The case focuses on investments in physician staffing firms and roll-up strategy investments in physician practice management (PPM). Included in... View Details

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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

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28 Sep 2015
Research & Ideas

Six Lessons from Mobile Money Ventures in Developing Countries

launched a mobile money service, eZ Pay, only 13,000 customers signed up. The CBSL later allowed customers to register without having a bank account and also allowed for remote customer registration through a mobile phone. With these View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Financial Services; Telecommunications

29 Dec 2019
Research & Ideas

Read Our Most Popular Research Stories of 2019

them—and all soon-to-be managers—make the shift. These 4 CEOs Created a New Standard of Leadership At the height of the 2008 financial crisis, these four corporate leaders stepped forward—and changed how we think of leadership forever.... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

14 Oct 2013
Research & Ideas

Time that Government Reopens for Business

extension, which historically has not been a matter of contention. The juxtaposition with a change in leadership at the Federal Reserve also adds to the concern. And finally, I think that businesspeople have long had an attitude that,... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner

06 Feb 2007
First Look

First Look: February 6, 2007

that did not enforce and did not change enforcement of non-compete laws, we find that relative mobility decreased by 34 percent in Michigan after the state reversed its policies. Moreover, this effect was amplified 14 percent for... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

January 2019 (Revised February 2019)
Supplement

The a2 Milk Company

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Daniel Fisher and Greg Saldutte

The a2 Milk Company (a2MC) became the most valuable company listed on the New Zealand stock exchange in 2018 by capitalizing on a biochemical discovery related to the protein composition of cow's milk. Because many people find the A1 protein difficult to digest, and... View Details

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10 Aug 2020
Research & Ideas

COVID's Surprising Toll on Careers of Women Scientists

responses from faculty, principal investigators, post-doctoral researchers and others, or about 1.6 percent of the original inquiry mailing. They concentrated on scientists in Europe and the United States. The pandemic is particularly View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Pharmaceutical; Biotechnology; Health

February 2025 (Revised April 2025)
Case

Institutional Neutrality, Restraint or Convenience?

By: Clayton S. Rose, Nicole Zelazko and Alexis Lefort

In the fall of 2023 and winter of 2024, college campuses across the U.S. experienced protests and encampments in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023 terrorist attack on Israel by the Islamist militant group Hamas, and Israel’s subsequent invasion of Gaza. These... View Details

Keywords: Distribution; Cost vs Benefits; Ethics; Governance; Leadership; Crisis Management; Risk Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Civil Society or Community; Social Issues; Adaptation; Disruption; Communication Strategy; Higher Education; United States

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24 Jan 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: January 24, 2017

costs to firms of changing strategy. The costs associated with strategy modifications, which we term “repositioning costs,” are particularly relevant to competitive interactions involving major changes to... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

25 Apr 2014
Research & Ideas

To Pay or Not to Pay: Argentina and the International Debt Market

of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) in the United States in 1976 changed all that. After the passage of the FSIA, sovereign debtors started to waive their sovereign immunity. Private institutions could now sue foreign... View Details

Keywords: by Laura Alfaro

10 Jan 2011
Research & Ideas

Is Groupon Good for Retailers?

full price? A: We've seen two main effects. First, some discount voucher services send users to merchants en masse. The day after a Groupon is released, hundreds of buyers tend to swamp a small business unprepared for the rush. That barrage of customers can View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Advertising; Technology

April 2008 (Revised December 2008)
Case

Leveraged Loans 2007

By: Andre F. Perold and Erik Stafford

The leveraged loan market was in a crisis during the summer of 2007, following many years of low realized volatility (less than 4% per annum), an index of leveraged loans had fallen over 5% in the month of July. A sudden drop in capital market prices for an asset class... View Details