Publications

January 2023 (Revised April 2025)
Case

Peloton Interactive (A)

By: Suraj Srinivasan, Lynn S. Paine and David Lane

Early in February 2022, the board of Peloton Interactive faced some knotty challenges. Immense pandemic demand for its stationary exercise bicycles and treadmills had prompted the firm to scale up production rapidly. But as gyms reopened and the virulence of the virus... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Growth Management; Investment Activism; Leadership; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Sports Industry; United States

December 2019
Supplement

Mãe Terra and Unilever (B)

By: Lynn S. Paine, Ruth Costas and Mariana Cal

Unilever is making strides to integrate the operations of Mãe Terra—one of Brazil's leading brands for packaged organic foods—into its own structures, after acquiring the company in 2017. Mãe Terra’s CEO, Alexandre Borges, must decide whether to implement his original... View Details

Keywords: Brand Management; Sustainability; Mergers and Acquisitions; Mission and Purpose; Social Enterprise; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Environmental Sustainability; Organizational Culture; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Brazil; Latin America

November 2024
Article

Stakeholder Amnesia in M&A Deals

By: Caley Petrucci and Guhan Subramanian

Public companies have increasingly embraced environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in the course of everyday business. However, these ESG considerations are virtually non-existent in merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions. Elon Musk’s recent acquisition... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Governing and Advisory Boards; Mergers and Acquisitions

Read Now

20 Jul 2011
News

Murdoch's Refusal to Take Responsibility May Undermine Credibility as CEO

Vikram Gandhi

Vikram S. Gandhi is the Gerald P. Kaminsky Senior Lecturer of Business Administration in the General Management Unit. He has developed and teaches two new courses in the Elective Curriculum of the MBA Program. The first is a finance and investing course, Sustainable... View Details

Keywords: financial services

08 Jun 2015
News

USA TODAY publisher Kramer to retire before Gannett print spinoff

Allison H. Mnookin

Allison Mnookin is a Senior Lecturer of Business Administration in the Technology and Operations Management (TOM) Unit at the Harvard Business School. She currently is the co-chair of the first-year MBA Technology and Operations Management course. In addition, she... View Details

Gary P. Pisano

Gary Pisano is the Harry E. Figgie, Jr. Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School where he has been on the faculty since 1988. From 2018-2023, Pisano was Harvard Business School’s Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Promotion and... View Details

Keywords: biotechnology; electronics; health care; manufacturing; pharmaceuticals

June 2002 (Revised January 2010)
Case

Delphi Corporation (A)

By: Jay W. Lorsch, Rakesh Khurana and Sonya Sanchez

The Delphi Corp.'s board of directors faces a transition as lead director Thomas Wyman approaches mandatory retirement. Chairman and CEO J.T. Battenberg reflects on Delphi's history and its successful reinvention by Wyman and Battenberg when it separated from its... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Leadership; Management Succession; Management Teams; Relationships; Corporate Strategy

November 2006 (Revised May 2007)
Case

Hewlett-Packard Company: The War Within

By: Krishna G. Palepu, Jay W. Lorsch, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Eliot Sherman

In September 2006 it was revealed that the Hewlett-Packard Company (HP) had been carrying out an extended investigation of its own employees, board members, and journalists outside the company. The investigation was launched in response to a series of leaks to the... View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Employee Relationship Management; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Communication Technology; Conflict and Resolution; Newspapers; Computer Industry; Information Technology Industry

September 8, 2015
Article

Making Better Decisions in Your Family Business

By: Josh Baron, Rob Lachenauer and Sebastian Ehrensberger

Family businesses face complex decisions, from CEO succession to business strategies. A "four-room" model helps structure decision-making in these businesses: Owner Room (ownership goals and board election), Board Room (performance monitoring and CEO appointment),... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Decisions; Business Strategy; Goals and Objectives; Management Succession; Talent and Talent Management

Register to Read