Publications

January 2007 (Revised December 2007)
Case

Digital China Holdings Limited: Managing the Transition from a Product-oriented to a Service-oriented Company

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Guoqing Chen, Kai Reimers and Xunhua Guo

Digital China is the largest Chinese independent systems integrator (IBM and HP are larger). Describes their history and their current strategy and invites the student to advise them as to how they should continue to grow in the future. This is the closest China... View Details

Keywords: History; Information Technology; Service Operations; Growth and Development Strategy; Technology Industry; China

September 1989 (Revised June 1993)
Case

Depreciation at Delta and Pan Am

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

Depreciation policies of Delta Air Lines and Pan Am Corp. are compared and contrasted against a summary of operating data from each airline. Questions with the case require projection of future depreciation on a new aircraft using the policies of each company. View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Management Systems; Economic Growth; Policy; Cost; Financial Strategy; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Activity Based Costing and Management; Air Transportation Industry

October 2013 (Revised November 2015)
Case

Southwire and 12 For Life: Scaling Up? (A)

By: Jan W. Rivkin and Ryan Lee

Southwire, a leading maker of cable based in rural Georgia, has partnered with the local school system to staff a factory with at-risk high school students. The positive impact on student outcomes has been remarkable, and the factory makes a profit for the company. Now... View Details

Keywords: Partners and Partnerships; Production; Education; Business and Community Relations; Manufacturing Industry; Education Industry

August 2006
Case

Dreyer's Slow Churned(TM) Ice Cream

By: Noel H. Watson, Steven C. Wheelwright and Brian DeLacey

Examines capacity forecasting and planning in a complex new product introduction scenario. The introduction at Dreyer's, a large dairy snack manufacturer, involves not only a new product but a new manufacturing process and product package, thus implying a significant... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Forecasting and Prediction; Growth and Development Strategy; Brands and Branding; Product Launch; Product Development; Planning; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

19 Feb 2013
First Look

First Look: Feb. 19

opportunities and challenges posed by global climate change. The case analyzes the operations of Colbún to illustrate the complexities associated with conducting business under the influence of global energy markets, political... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

22 Jun 2009
Research & Ideas

“Too Big To Fail”: Reining In Large Financial Firms

unwittingly created the mother of all moral hazards—implicit rescue guarantees as far as the eye can see? No doubt about it, says HBS professor and economic historian David Moss. "The extension of implicit guarantees to all systemically... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson; Banking; Financial Services

November 2005 (Revised December 2005)
Case

County Department of Public Health: Organizing for Emergency Preparedness and Response

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Ajay Vinze and Minu Ipe

The anthrax attacks of 2001 exposed serious inadequacies in the response of the U.S. public health system to meet such grave threats. The public health infrastructure required rebuilding to respond to any type of large-scale health emergency. The Public Health... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Change Management; Crisis Management; Health Care and Treatment; Infrastructure; Public Administration Industry; Health Industry; United States

08 May 2012
First Look

First Look: May 8

borne by JCDecaux alone. The two parties opted to renegotiate their contract, which would impact prices, revenue sharing, cost allocation, and the operation of the system as a whole. Could the parties agree... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

January – February 2012
Article

When One Business Model Isn't Enough

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Jorge Tarzijan

Trying to operate two business models at once often causes strategic failure. Yet LAN Airlines, a Chilean carrier, runs three models successfully. Casadesus-Masanell, of Harvard Business School, and Tarziján, of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, explore how... View Details

Keywords: Integration; Failure; Business Model; Service Operations; Asset Management; Value; Complexity; Competency and Skills; Business Strategy; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Risk and Uncertainty; Customer Relationship Management; Air Transportation Industry

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February 2021
Case

Enterprise Agility at Komerční Banka

By: Euvin Naidoo, Suraj Srinivasan and Sarah Gulick

In 2017, Jan Juchelka, the new CEO of Komerční Banka, identified the need for the bank to start an enterprise wide agile transformation. He started by working to create a sense of urgency to kick-start a process to enable the level of service delivery to customers he... View Details

Keywords: Agile; Agility; Transformation; Organizational Structure; Business Headquarters; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Management Systems; Banking Industry; Czech Republic

05 Nov 2024
Book

Building the Road to 'Small Business Utopia' with AI and Fintech

of a portal from which the business owner could operate all their financial activities? What if this intelligent platform knew when the business might need credit and could offer relevant options which were prequalified? And better yet,... View Details

Keywords: by Karen G. Mills; Financial Services

April 1993 (Revised June 1993)
Case

Northern Telecom (B): The Norstar Launch

By: Robert J. Dolan

Northern Telecom has spent $50 million to develop a new family of telephone systems for small businesses. The investment proposal was justified on the basis of appreciable market share impact. Now, the project team must develop the appropriate supporting marketing... View Details

Keywords: Communication Technology; Investment; Product Launch; Product Development; Telecommunications Industry; Canada; United States

2013
Book

Manufacturing Morals: The Values of Silence in Business School Education

By: Michel Anteby

Corporate accountability is never far from the front page and Harvard Business School trains many future business leaders. But how does HBS formally and informally ensure its members embrace proper business standards? Relying on his faculty experience, Michel Anteby... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Moral Sensibility; Business Education; Higher Education; Education; Education Industry; United States

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Corporate accountability is never far from the front page and Harvard Business School trains many future business leaders. But how does HBS formally and informally ensure its members embrace proper business standards? Relying on his first-hand faculty... View Details

February 2015
Case

Beckman Coulter, 2011

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

In early 2011, Danaher was contemplating the acquisition of Beckman Coulter. With $3.7 billion of revenues in 2010 and $431 million in operating profits, California-based Beckman Coulter was a global leader in blood cell count diagnostic systems and also supplied a... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

Web

Live from Klarman Hall - Alumni

the very concept of how a company is put together. AI-centric organizations exhibit a new operating architecture, redefining how they create, capture, share, and deliver value. Professor Karim Lakhani discusses how reinventing the firm... View Details

December 2006 (Revised October 2007)
Case

Monsanto: Realizing Biotech Value in Brazil

By: David E. Bell and Mary L. Shelman

In 2003, Monsanto's patented "Roundup Ready" technology was used illegally on 70-80% of the soybean area in southern Brazil. Under pressure from U.S. soybean growers, who were paying to license the technology, the firm implemented an innovative delivery-based... View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Patents; Lawfulness; Emerging Markets; Product Development; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Biotechnology Industry; Brazil