Publications

February 1999 (Revised August 2004)
Case

Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)

By: Stephen A. Greyser

Chronicles the background of the founding of the WNBA, its basic business concept, some of the key research information used by the NBA in launching it, and other related information. Students must analyze the "basic business model" involved and compare it to that of... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Research; Outcome or Result; Sports; Gender; Sports Industry

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January 2016 (Revised December 2024)
Case

Airbus Versus Boeing (A)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell

Looks at the development of the competitive actions between Airbus and Boeing from 1992 to 2006. Begins with the question of whether Airbus and Boeing should collaborate on the development of a VLCT (Very Large Commercial Transport) or whether Airbus should develop... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Decision Choices and Conditions; Competition; Cooperation; Strategy; Air Transportation Industry

April 1998
Case

Jim Lyons and GenRad

Lyons, currently CEO of Harry Gray Associates, a consulting and investment firm, had just been approached by an executive recruiter representing GenRad, a 78-year-old electronics company headquartered in Concord, MA. The company, which manufactured integrated software... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Management Succession; Personal Development and Career; Consulting Industry; Massachusetts

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November 2000 (Revised March 2001)
Case

Alaska Airlines and Flight 261 (A)

Weeks after the crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261, 64 mechanics claim that they have been "pressured, threatened, and intimidated" into taking shortcuts. After briefly describing Alaska Airlines' history and CEO John Kelly, the case details how the airline responded... View Details

Keywords: Safety; Air Transportation; Crisis Management; Labor and Management Relations; Air Transportation Industry; Alaska

September 2021
Case

Vignettes on Professional Service Firm Governance

By: David G. Fubini, Suraj Srinivasan and Li-Kuan Ni

The two vignettes within “Vignettes on Professional Service Firm Governance” (HBS No. 122-024) present various issues relating to governance in professional service firms (“PSFs”). In the first, the Managing Director of a U.S. consulting firm contemplates whether to... View Details

Research Summary

Strategic participation of social movement organizations

Social movements and related social movement organizations (SMOs) play an important role in the formation of new industries and market niches, as well as the emergence of new organizational forms. I argue that as SMOs become more sophisticated and... View Details

12 Mar 2013
First Look

First Look: March 12

a district-industry predicts a greater share of subsequent entrepreneurs will be female. Moreover, higher female ownership of local businesses in related industries (e.g., those sharing similar labor needs,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

02 Jan 2024
Research & Ideas

10 Trends to Watch in 2024

The lightning-fast ascent of generative AI isn’t the only sea change on the horizon for businesses in the new year. The global economy is in flux as war, climate change, trade issues, and infrastructure problems demand attention. Many companies continue to struggle to... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

20 Oct 2020
Blog Post

Exploring Technology and Public Impact Through the HBS/HKS Joint Degree Program

technologies -- responsibly manage innovation without sacrificing profitability? What is the role of government in mitigating harms and establishing safeguards?? I came to the HBS and Harvard Kennedy School MBA/MPP joint degree program interested in exploring these... View Details

Dutch Leonard

Herman B. ("Dutch") Leonard is Eliot I. Snider and Family Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School and the George F. Baker, Jr. Professor of Public Sector Management at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. In... View Details

Keywords: education industry; education industry; education industry; education industry; education industry

September 2005 (Revised November 2006)
Case

AmorePacific: From Local to Global Beauty

By: Pankaj Ghemawat, Carin-Isabel Knoop and David Kiron

Suh Kyung-Bae, the President and CEO of AmorePacific, a South Korean cosmetics company, was an ardent globalizer. In its home market, AmorePacific had held off major multinational players such as L'Oreal and Estee Lauder and had engaged them in markets around the... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Local Range; Global Range; Global Strategy; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; South Korea

Research Summary

Overview

I am an ethnographer and field researcher studying how people experience and interpret their work and cultural contexts, as well as how this shapes inequality and organizational outcomes like normative control. I specialize in utilizing in-depth, inductive field... View Details

2007
Book

An Experiment in Fair Value Accounting? The State of the Art in Research and Thought Leadership on Accounting for Life Assurance in the UK and Continental Europe

By: Joanne G Horton, Richard H. Macve and George Serafeim

"Fair value" is currently the central topic of debate in the development of accounting standards. While it has now been defined to mean an exit price in US GAAP, the IASB is still considering its own definition, and some commentators are arguing for versions of entry... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Financial Instruments; Framework; Market Entry and Exit; Insurance; Revenue Recognition; Fair Value Accounting; Standards; United Kingdom

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August 2013 (Revised November 2015)
Case

Prudential Financial - General Motors Pension Risk Transfer: Back to the Future?

By: Luis M. Viceira and Emily A. Chien

In November 2012, Prudential Financial and General Motors closed on a $25.1B pension risk transfer (PRT) transaction, the largest of its kind to date by an order of magnitude both in the U.S. market and globally. In exchange for an in-kind transfer of $25.1B in... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Asset Management; Insurance; Retirement; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry

January 2014 (Revised June 2015)
Case

Amgen Inc.: Pursuing Innovation and Imitation? (A)

By: Ian W. Mackenzie

Set in 2009, the (A) case explores whether Amgen, a leading innovator of biotech-based drugs, should enter the emerging business of biosimilars (BS), which are essentially 'me-too' products. There appear to be sound reasons to explore this related diversification:... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States

August 1999 (Revised February 2000)
Case

Cisco Systems, Inc.: Acquisition Integration for Manufacturing (A)

By: Steven C. Wheelwright, Charles A. Holloway, Nicole Tempest and Christian G. Kasper

Describes the procedures and processes used by Cisco Systems in its acquisition of high-technology firms. Its goal is to retain key engineering talent and to leverage existing product development efforts, but to quickly merge acquired companies its own systems and... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Leveraged Buyouts; Acquisition; Integration; Mergers and Acquisitions; Production; Activity Based Costing and Management; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Management; Technological Innovation; Talent and Talent Management; Human Resources; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; England

21 Oct 2008
First Look

First Look: October 21, 2008

door-to-door marketing of a home water purification solution. We find that higher prices screen out those who use the product less. By contrast, we find no consistent evidence of sunk-cost effects. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/07-034.pdf Local... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Article

Bureaucratic Norms and State Capacity in India: Implementing Primary Education in the Himalayan Region

By: Akshay Mangla

Himachal Pradesh has surged ahead of other Indian states in implementing universal primary education. Through a combination of field research methods, this paper connects these achievements to bureaucratic norms, unwritten rules within the state that guide the behavior... View Details

Keywords: India; Bureaucracy; Norms; State Capacity; Education; Government and Politics; Education Industry; India