Publications

May 1997 (Revised May 2004)
Case

Reto S.A.

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

A company must decide whether to acquire new equipment to offer a new product line. The question is whether equipment will meet return on investment targets considering depreciation and taxation of profits. The equipment is acquired, but one year later better equipment... View Details

Keywords: Machinery and Machining; Cost; Investment Return; Manufacturing Industry

In Extreme Productivity, Pozen reveals his secrets to workplace productivity and high performance. The antidote to a calendar full of boring meetings and a backlog of emails, his book shows professionals how they can achieve their goals by making a critical... View Details

November 2021 (Revised December 2022)
Case

Babban Gona: Great Farm

By: Kristin Fabbe, Tarun Khanna, Caroline M. Elkins, Zeke Gillman, Eleni Kyrkopoulou and Thomaz Teodorovicz

In 2020, Babban Gona was one of the world’s largest farming operations with over 140,000 acres of maize farms, an area over ten times as large as Manhattan, and over 80,000 member-farmers in Nigeria. According to the company, the average Nigerian farmer’s net income... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Value Creation; Agribusiness; Capital Budgeting; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Nigeria; Africa

Article

Trust: The Foundation of Leadership

By: Frances Frei and Anne Morriss

The authors contend that if leadership is about empowering others, in your presence and your absence, then trust is the emotional framework that allows that service to be freely exchanged. Based on their experiences advising individuals and organizations, their basic... View Details

Keywords: Trustworthiness; Authenticity; Empathy; Trust; Leadership; Competency and Skills; Behavior

Find at Harvard

Research Summary

Overview

According to McKinsey & Company, social interactions impact up to a third of all consumer purchases which accounts for US$940 billion in annual consumption in the US and Europe alone. Understanding social influence is important meeting consumer needs. In my research,... View Details

Keywords: Social Networks; Social Influence; Homophily; CRM; Mobile Gaming; Customer Lifetime Value; Forestry; Banking; Retail Banks

03 Apr 2020
News

Venture-Backed Firms Could Miss Out On Virus Relief Loans

04 Dec 2019
News

Amazon's Expansion In Baltimore

January 2009 (Revised December 2009)
Supplement

Playing with Fire at Sittercity (B)

By: Noam T. Wasserman and Rachel Gordon

To help her finance her aggressive expansion plans, Genevieve Thiers plans to raise venture capital for the first time. She has spent the last six long years building Sittercity into the nation's leading babysitting web service, larger than all of its competitors... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Problems and Challenges; Risk Management; Agreements and Arrangements; Service Operations; Family and Family Relationships; Competition; Expansion; Internet

January 2009 (Revised December 2009)
Case

Playing With Fire at Sittercity (A)

By: Noam T. Wasserman and Rachel Gordon

To help her finance her aggressive expansion plans, Genevieve Thiers plans to raise venture capital for the first time. She has spent the last six long years building Sittercity into the nation's leading babysitting web service, larger than all of its competitors... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Family and Family Relationships; Expansion; Venture Capital; Entrepreneurship; Agreements and Arrangements

July 2022 (Revised September 2024)
Case

York Capital and Enovix

By: William Vrattos, Jo Tango and Alys Ferragamo

In June 2020, Jeremy Blank prepared for a meeting with his fellow partners at York Capital to discuss an investment he had championed in Enovix, a company developing a state-of-the-art, silicon-based battery. Early-stage technology companies, like Enovix, were not... View Details

Keywords: Investment Evaluation; Partners and Partnerships; Investment Portfolio; Judgments; Opportunities

31 Mar 2011
Working Paper Summaries

What Do CEOs Do?

Keywords: by Oriana Bandiera, Luigi Guiso, Andrea Prat & Raffaella Sadun

06 Jan 2012
News

Is sustainability now the key to corporate success?

October 1993 (Revised September 1994)
Case

Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Kathleen Scharf

Describes Becton Dickinson's evolving attempt to develop products and strategies to meet worldwide competitive and market needs. Traces the evolution of a classic parent company-led product-market strategy to truly transnational product and strategy development.... View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Product Development; Innovation and Management; Competitive Advantage; Multinational Firms and Management

27 Sep 2010
News

Will It Be Cheerios or Life This Morning?

October 1991 (Revised January 2000)
Case

Workplace Safety at Alcoa (A)

By: Kim B. Clark and Joshua D. Margolis

Examines the challenge facing the managers of a large aluminum manufacturing plant in its drive to improve workplace safety. The CEO of the company has made safety a top priority. The plant has made good progress in reducing the injury rate, but now confronts the need... View Details

Keywords: Working Conditions; Safety; Problems and Challenges; Change Management; Operations; Resignation and Termination; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Manufacturing Industry; United States