Publications

November 1990 (Revised January 2008)
Case

Regency Plaza

By: William J. Poorvu and Richard E Crum

Designed to examine the process of project management during the development cycle of a luxury condominium building, exploring the issue of how the design, development strategy, project organization, and project personnel are interrelated. More specifically, looks at... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Design; Construction; Housing; Management Practices and Processes; Projects; Luxury; Real Estate Industry

August 2003 (Revised March 2004)
Case

Waltz on the Danube

By: Arthur I Segel, Vincent Dessain and Anais Loizillon

Describes the intricate parts of an early real estate deal from the standpoint of the developer including feasibility analysis, market choice, acquisition of land, project development, design and construction issues, investment returns, and equity financing issues.... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Management; Property; Project Finance; Real Estate Industry; Germany; Hungary

January 2014
Case

Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor: India's Road to Prosperity?

By: John Macomber and Vidhya Muthuram

The Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) was an ambitious $90 billion infrastructure project covering the 1483-km distance between Delhi and Mumbai. The project would create new industrial townships, high speed freight lines, six-lane expressways, airports, ports... View Details

05 Dec 2017
News

What We've Learned from 101 Entrepreneurs in Emerging Markets

12 Oct 2017
HBS Seminar

Benjamin Marx, MIT

September 2004 (Revised August 2007)
Case

Enterprise IT at Cisco (2004)

By: Andrew P. McAfee, F. Warren McFarlan and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

Illustrates the challenges associated with centralizing IT decisions at Cisco after a decade of decentralized planning and project funding. When Brad Boston became Cisco's new CIO in 2001, he found that managers were starting to get frustrated with the results of their... View Details

Keywords: Management; Resource Allocation; Information Technology; Problems and Challenges; Business Ventures; Change Management; Entrepreneurship; Projects; Planning; Corporate Finance; Information Technology Industry

16 Sep 2020
Blog Post

Turning a Moment into a Movement: Interview with Anti-Racism Fund Co-Founders Kenneth and Kevin Chenault

current energy and passion around issues of racism in the US and make long-term change. The team transformed the Anti-Racism Fund GoFundMe project into a nonprofit organization, ARF, and then set off to make that organization the best it... View Details

15 Dec 2006
Working Paper Summaries

The Business of Free Software: Enterprise Incentives, Investment, and Motivation in the Open Source Community

Keywords: by Marco Iansiti & Gregory L. Richards; Video Game; Web Services

January 2019 (Revised January 2022)
Case

Chinese Infrastructure Investments in Sri Lanka: A Pearl or a Teardrop on the Belt and Road?

By: Meg Rithmire and Yihao Li

In 2015, a surprise presidential election result seemed to imperil Chinese investments in Sri Lanka, which were associated with China’s Belt and Road Initiative to build global infrastructure. In the previous decade, China had undertaken two major projects in the... View Details

Keywords: Belt And Road Initiative; Investment; Infrastructure; China; Sri Lanka

09 May 2016
News

‘Big Teaming,’ Audacious Innovation, and the Uncompleted Dream of a Smart City

October 2008
Case

Hrad Technika

Examines a struggling IT outsourcing project from the perspective of the IT services provider-Hrad Technika. When used in conjunction with "Tegan c.c.c." (9-609-038), it provides an opportunity to see both sides of the issue. When Hrad enters into a contract to create... View Details

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Globalized Firms and Management; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Projects; Information Technology; Wales

October 2003 (Revised February 2004)
Background Note

Introduction to the Large-Scale Investment (LSI) Course at Harvard Business School

By: Benjamin C. Esty

Introduces students to the Large-Scale Investment (LSI) course taught at Harvard Business School. LSI is a case-based course about project finance that is designed for second-year MBA students. The course is about project finance, which involves creation of a legally... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Project Finance; Investment; Projects

Find at Harvard

January 1996
Case

Biogen, Inc.: rBeta Interferon Manufacturing Process Development

By: Steven C. Wheelwright

Biogen, Inc., a Cambridge, MA-based biotechnology company, is wrapping up a project to develop a new manufacturing process for a new drug product that will reposition the company from a purely research-oriented company to a fully integrated pharmaceutical manufacturing... View Details

Keywords: Learning; Technological Innovation; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Product Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Projects; Research and Development; Corporate Strategy; Biotechnology Industry

July 1999 (Revised January 2004)
Case

Chrysler and BMW: Tritec Engine Joint Venture

By: H. Kent Bowen and Courtney Purrington

A gifted project leader lacks significant new product development experience. The case highlights the issues and procedures related to defining the project strategy: organizing senior management approvals and support for creating a "heavyweight" team; aligning the... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Joint Ventures; Projects; Business Strategy; Management Teams; Groups and Teams; Machinery and Machining; Design; Business Processes; Product Design; Product; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Auto Industry

October 2001 (Revised September 2022)
Case

Le Petit Chef

By: Alan D. MacCormack, Sandra J. Sucher and Suraj Rangashayi

Brigitte Gagne, Le Petit Chef's director of microwave R&D, is deciding on the product development agenda for next year. She has to decide which of the available projects to fund, and evaluate the overall portfolio of projects currently under development. The recent... View Details

Keywords: Production; Product Development; Projects; Planning; Research and Development; Performance; Problems and Challenges; Management Teams; Resource Allocation

January 2022
Case

Fueling a Cleaner Future: ACWA Power and Green Hydrogen

By: Dennis Yao and Alpana Thapar

In January 2020, Paddy Padmanathan, president and CEO of ACWA Power, was reflecting on the company’s sixteen-year record of success and thinking about its future growth plans. Founded in 2004, ACWA Power was a Saudi Arabian developer, owner, and operator of power and... View Details

Keywords: Green Hydrogen; Energy; Climate Change; Supply Chain; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Green Technology; Projects; Alliances; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Energy Industry; Saudi Arabia; Middle East; North Africa

Research Summary

Research Focus of Chris Gordon

Chris Gordon's main area of interest and expertise is the delivery of complex capital projects. These projects can take the form of government sponsored infrastructure projects such as highways and utilities, private real estate development such as commercial and... View Details

March 2017 (Revised October 2018)
Case

Catalant: The Future of Work?

By: Thomas Eisenmann, Jeffrey F. Rayport and Christine Snively

Catalant, founded in 2013 as an online marketplace where MBAs could bid on consulting projects posted by small- to medium-sized businesses, had expanded by 2016 to provide Fortune 1000 companies with access to over 35,000 independent experts. The founders envisioned... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Human Resources; Recruitment; Labor; Market Platforms; Growth and Development Strategy; Employment Industry; Consulting Industry; United States