Publications

July 2005 (Revised September 2016)
Case

24 Hour Fitness (A): The Rise, 1983–2004

By: John R. Wells, Elizabeth A. Raabe and Gabriel Ellsworth

In October 2004, Mark S. Mastrov, CEO of 24 Hour Fitness, reflected on how far his company had come in just over 20 years. From humble beginnings in 1983 in San Leandro, California, 24 Hour Fitness had grown to become the largest privately-owned health-club chain in... View Details

Keywords: 24 Hour Fitness; Mark Mastrov; Health Clubs; Fitness; Gyms; Chain; Weight Loss; Exercise; Personal Training; Retention; Sales Force Compensation; Incentive Systems; Buildings and Facilities; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Customers; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Private Equity; Revenue; Geographic Scope; Multinational Firms and Management; Nutrition; Business History; Employees; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Human Capital; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing; Operations; Service Operations; Private Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Sales; Salesforce Management; Sports; Strategy; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Segmentation; Information Technology; Internet; Technology Platform; Web; Web Sites; Capital Structure; Performance; Organizational Structure; Organizational Culture; Health Industry; United States; California; San Francisco

September 24, 2024
Article

4 Steps That Can Optimize Your Sales Process

By: Frank V. Cespedes, Scott Peterson and Daniel Weinfurter

Sales is a performance art where outcomes matter, so most advice here focuses on closing the sale. But a close is the result of actions and choices that occur earlier in the process: how much time and effort to spend on customer discovery (understanding what and to... View Details

Keywords: Sales; Customer Satisfaction; Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Advantage

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27 Apr 2020
Research & Ideas

How Remote Work Changes What We Think About Onboarding

New-Employee Orientation Cultural Disharmony Undermines Workplace Creativity How New BofA Executives Learn its ’Deep Smarts’ What do companies not understand about onboarding? Share your insights below. View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg

10 Nov 2015
Blog Post

Using an MBA for a Career Change

BrooklynSummer associate in International Strategy The company culture was everything it was hyped up to be. Quilts for curtains. Employee-led classes on how to watercolor greeting cards. But I missed... View Details

10 Oct 2017
News

Radical Transparency Can Reduce Bias — but Only If It’s Done Right

August 2011
Case

Martha Rinaldi: Should She Stay or Should She Go?

By: Linda A. Hill and Mark Renella

Martha Rinaldi has been an assistant product manager at leading beverage company Potomac Waters since graduating from business school. Rinaldi is frustrated by her relationships with her boss and a close co-worker. Even though she works hard to please her manager, she... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Relations; Management Styles; Managing Up; Career Planning; Conflict; Management Style; Interpersonal Communication; Personal Development and Career; Organizational Culture; Relationships; Performance Evaluation; Conflict and Resolution; Power and Influence; Food and Beverage Industry

04 Dec 2019
Book

Creating the Experimentation Organization

subtle tweaks to everything from varying shades of color to alternative placement of links and menu options for booking properties. It’s part of an innovative culture of experimentation that pervades every aspect of how the View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

Trevor Fetter

Trevor Fetter is a Senior Lecturer and the Henry B. Arthur Fellow on the faculty of Harvard Business School. He teaches two MBA required courses: Leadership and Corporate Accountability, and Financial Reporting and Control. At HBS he has also taught a Short... View Details

Pietro Satriano

Pietro Satriano is a Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School. He sits on the boards of CarMax, the largest omni-channel used car retailer in the U.S. and Metro, a large regional grocery retailer in Canada. Pietro advises a number of food-tech startups and acts... View Details

March 1991 (Revised July 1993)
Case

Kyocera Corp.

By: John P. Kotter

Examines the three factors critical to this company's remarkable success in the high tech field. The first factor is the founder, Dr. Inamori's powerful leadership. The second is the strong corporate culture or philosophy of the firm. The third element in Kyocera's... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Information Infrastructure; Leadership Style; Management Systems; Management Style; Organizational Culture; Practice; Profit; Planning; Technology Industry; Electronics Industry

May 2020 (Revised July 2022)
Case

Brand Storytelling at Shinola

By: Jill Avery, Giana M. Eckhardt and Michael B. Beverland

Detroit, Michigan, aka “The Motor City,” is most known as the birthplace of most of the American classic automotive brands. It is a city filled with the rich history of the industrial age, the pride of American manufacturing, and of the soulful sounds of Motown music.... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Brands and Branding; Marketing Communications; Advertising; Luxury; Consumer Products Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Retail Industry; Detroit; United States; North America

21 Aug 2019
Research & Ideas

What Machine Learning Teaches Us about CEO Leadership Style

in the Strategy Unit at HBS; Columbia Business School professor Dan Wang; and doctoral student Natalie Carlson. The skills that a CEO needs to command a company are varied, but the ability to communicate effectively is near the top. “The... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

November 2024 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Precision Agriculture at AGCO

By: Rajiv Lal, Alicia Dadlani and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

In 2024, AGCO, a leading agricultural equipment manufacturer, sought to improve its customers net farm income by 20% over five years by becoming a comprehensive one-stop precision agriculture solutions provider and strengthening its dual channel sales approach –... View Details

Keywords: Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

August 1983 (Revised June 1986)
Case

Johnson & Johnson (B): Hospital Services

By: Francis Aguilar

The main issue has to do with the lack of fit or incompatibility between the early environmental requirements for strategy and the cultural constraints on the organization. Describes the internal resistance to the proposed changes and top management's efforts to... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Change Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Health Care and Treatment; Growth and Development Strategy; Health Industry

Henry McGee joined the HBS faculty in 2013 after retiring as President of HBO Home Entertainment, the digital and DVD program distribution division of Home Box Office, the pioneering premium television company. A member of the Entrepreneurial Management Unit,... View Details

Keywords: television; motion pictures; media; e-commerce industry; entertainment; broadcasting; distribution; health care; journalism; wholesale; arts; nonprofit industry

January 2007 (Revised May 2008)
Case

Henry Luce and the American Century

By: Nitin Nohria, Anthony Mayo and Logan Wilcox

Henry Luce, founder of the publishing company which produced Time, Life, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated, created the largest media company in the world by the mid-20th century. Luce's flagship magazine, Time, was able to gross over $20 million in sales during its... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Business History; Leadership Style; Emerging Markets; Publishing Industry; United States

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Fall 2021
Article

Strategy as a Way of Life: Businesses Must Root Strategy in Moral Purpose to Thrive in a Complex, Rapidly Changing World

By: Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi

Doing the ordinary things in life a little bit better every day elevates individuals. All of us gained mother's wisdom by living with her, by watching her from behind her, by being scolded by her, and being told over and over again, to be honest, not to tell a lie or... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Moral Sensibility; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation