Publications

08 May 2012
First Look

First Look: May 8

size of its stores), the decline of mall-based shopping, poor floor-level sales capabilities, lack of appeal to younger consumers, intensifying competition, and an overall dearth of future growth... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

21 Aug 2019
Blog Post

Leveraging Academic Opportunities to Attain My Post-HBS Job

leverage two opportunities during my final semester. One was an Independent Project (IP), and the other was the final project for the Scaling Technology Ventures course. Career Exploration Using... View Details

05 Dec 2017
Research & Ideas

What We've Learned from 101 Entrepreneurs in Emerging Markets

understanding the factors that govern business growth in emerging markets. Leaders interviewed in 20 countries include Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, founder and chair, of Bangladesh’s BRAC microfinance company;... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

March 1993 (Revised April 1995)
Case

Singapore

By: Forest L. Reinhardt and Edward Prewitt

Since winning independence in 1965, Singapore achieved some of the world's highest rates of economic growth. A large part of GDP and employment came from direct investment by multinational companies in low-cost assembly work, but in the 1990s Singapore's rising wage... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Decision Choices and Conditions; Development Economics; Economic Growth; Foreign Direct Investment; Multinational Firms and Management; Employment; Wages; Singapore

January – February 2008
Article

The Dangers of Wishful Thinking

By: Richard S. Tedlow and David Ruben

Too many U.S. businesses (including tires, super-markets, and information technology) have been infected with the disease of denial. The answer? In Lincoln's words, “We must disenthrall ourselves.” View Details

Keywords: Knowledge Acquisition; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Success; Behavior; Cognition and Thinking

16 Nov 2021
Blog Post

Building an Internship Program at Your Startup: An Interview with Facily’s Diego Dzodan (MBA 1999)

co-founders were committed to the company’s success, and as the business grew it was time to hire. They brought on strong talent, like their head of strategy, who has helped the company to grow and View Details

September 1997
Case

Radiology Management Sciences

Radiology Management Sciences (RMS) analyzes diagnostic imaging claims to help HMOs and insurers control utilization. As industry changes threaten RMS's profitability, the company's founders contemplate two alternative business models. View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Industry Growth; Service Industry; Health Industry

28 May 2013
First Look

First Look: May 28

non-American CEO, aims to reinvigorate the medical device maker's growth by focusing on emerging markets, therapy innovation, and creative business models. In 2012, budget constraints in mature economies,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 1994
Background Note

Managing Market Complexity: A Three-Ring Circus

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

Proposes models of organization that address the various product-market environments posed by the product life cycle. Frames these changes along the two dimensions of uncertainty and diversity. Offers three sets of organizational characteristics to reflect the three... View Details

Keywords: Business Processes; Growth and Development Strategy; Complexity; Organizational Structure; Organizational Culture; Product Marketing; Markets; Product

March 1999
Case

Hans Fritz at Novartis Thailand (A): The First Month

By: Michael Y. Yoshino and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Dr. Hans Fritz is 37 years old when he arrives in Bangkok on March 1, 1998 to assume his position as general manager of Novartis Thailand. Novartis is the world's largest pharmaceutical company. He had lobbied to transition from a staff position to this line management... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Organizational Structure; Transition; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Working Conditions; Organizational Culture; Growth and Development Strategy; Crisis Management; Decision Making; Pharmaceutical Industry; Thailand

20 Nov 2012
First Look

First Look: November 20

advertising agency services and the slow pace of change over several decades. We model an agency's decision as a tradeoff between the fixed cost to the advertiser of establishing a relationship with an agency View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2002 (Revised February 2003)
Case

Remaking the Rainbow Nation: South Africa 2002

By: Rawi E. Abdelal, Debora L. Spar and Katherine E. Cousins

In April 1994, the world witnessed a political milestone in South Africa. After decades of repression and racial segregation, South Africa's black majority came to power at last, as the African National Congress (ANC), led by the celebrated Nelson Mandela, rode into... View Details

Keywords: Development Economics; Race; Political Elections; Economic Growth; Business and Government Relations; South Africa

Editorial

How to Turn Around a Country

By: Paul Kazarian and George Serafeim

Change is hard. Especially trying to change an entire country and its public sector that consists of more than 650,000 employees and has an annual budget of approximately 80 billion euros. This is the case of Greece, once the fastest-growing eurozone country, which has... View Details

Keywords: Greece; Europe; European Union; Turnaround; Accountability; Sovereign Finance; Leadership; Corporate Accountability; Public Sector; Accounting; Economic Growth; Change; European Union; Greece

Read Now

20 Oct 2014
Research & Ideas

Users Love Ello, But What’s the Business Model?

scale very well, and it costs nearly as much to serve the ten millionth member as the millionth. Little networks like LiveJournal exist, but they don't grow into Facebook any more than beetles grow to the... View Details

Keywords: Re: John A. Deighton & Sunil Gupta; Publishing; Financial Services

12 Aug 2008
First Look

First Look: August 12, 2008

business. It asks if the cultural and other factors behind its rapid growth can sustain the company as it seeks growth much further as a top-five beauty company. Purchase the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

April 1997
Case

Display Technologies, Inc.

By: Jonathan West, H. Kent Bowen and Ryota Matsui

Display Technologies, Inc. (DTI) is a new joint venture between Toshiba and IBM Japan that is manufacturing the most advanced form of flat panel displays. With success in achieving significant production volumes, DTI has been asked to double its output as quickly as... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Decision Choices and Conditions; Technological Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Development; Production; Performance Expectations; Electronics Industry

June 2005 (Revised March 2007)
Case

ACHAP (African Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Partnerships): the Merck/Gates Initiative in Botswana

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

By June 2004, ACHAP, a three-way partnership of The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Merck, and the Botswana government, had committed nearly $60 million of the $100 million toward various AIDS education, prevention, and treatment programs. It was time to evaluate... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Social Marketing; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Performance Evaluation; Business and Government Relations; Partners and Partnerships; Health Industry

September 2008
Case

TCS: The MCA 21 Project

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a leading outsourced software services provider based in India, must decide whether to bid on a high-profile government project within India. The project, if completed successfully, would mark another step in TCS's progression from a... View Details

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Developing Countries and Economies; Globalized Firms and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Service Operations; Projects; India