Publications

September 1992
Background Note

Note on the Financial Perspective: What Should Entrepreneurs Know?

By: William A. Sahlman

Identifies concepts and tools of finance that are useful to general managers and critical to entrepreneurs: cash, risk, and value. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Cash; Financial Strategy; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Managerial Roles; Risk Management; Value

Mengjie (Magie) Cheng is a Ph.D. student in Marketing at Harvard Business School. She received her B.S. in Finance from Chu Kochen Honors College at Zhejiang University and M.S. in Management Science and... View Details

June 2007
Case

Buddy March

Entrepreneurial general manager (GM) ignores specific directives from his boss (GVP) to discontinue a new venture that the GM is championing. View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Rank and Position; Management Teams

Find at Harvard

October 1997 (Revised March 1998)
Case

HansaBank AG

The top management of a prestigious German bank is trying to understand why it has failed to develop the next generation of management. View Details

Keywords: Leadership Development; Management Teams; Banking Industry; Germany

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September 1996 (Revised March 1999)
Case

EMDICO (A)

By: John A. Quelch

The general manager of Fuji Film's Saudi distributorship must decide on a relaunch strategy for Fuji film and cameras in Saudi Arabia. View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Emerging Markets; Product Launch; Brands and Branding; Manufacturing Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Saudi Arabia

October 2004 (Revised January 2006)
Tutorial

Introduction to Responsibility Accounting Systems

By: David F. Hawkins, V.G. Narayanan, Jacob Cohen and Michele Jurgens

Responsibility accounting systems generate financial and related nonfinancial information about the actual and planned activities of a company's responsibility centers--organizational units headed by managers responsible for a unit's performance. The principal... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Cost Accounting; Governance Controls; Financial Reporting; Performance Evaluation; Budgets and Budgeting; Planning

April 2017
Case

Yushan Bicycles: Learning to Ride Abroad

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Paul S. Myers

Yushan Bicycles, one of Taiwan's leading bicycle manufacturers, is pursuing an international expansion strategy by increasing demand for its range of traditional and electric bicycles and shifting its product mix toward higher-margin models sold through specialty... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Conflict Management; Learning; Bicycle Industry; Taiwan; Australia

December 2017 (Revised December 2018)
Course Overview Note

The Entrepreneurial Manager: Course Overview, 2019 Spring Term

By: Paul Gompers

This note serves as an overview of the Entrepreneurial Management Unit’s required curriculum course, "The Entrepreneurial Manager (TEM)." General management has been a core educational organizing framework at the Harvard Business School (HBS) since its inception. Today... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Management; Business Education

December 2016
Course Overview Note

The Entrepreneurial Manager: Course Overview, 2017 Winter Term

By: Paul Gompers

This note serves as an overview of the Entrepreneurial Management Unit’s required curriculum course, "The Entrepreneurial Manager (TEM)." General management has been a core educational organizing framework at the Harvard Business School (HBS) since its inception. Today... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Management; Business Education

June 1993 (Revised May 1997)
Case

SKA (Sweden)

By: David F. Hawkins

Management is debating a proposal to capitalize R&D. While Swedish GAAP permits capitalization, the general practice is to expense R&D as incurred. View Details

Keywords: Financial Statements; Financial Reporting; Framework; Balanced Scorecard; Policy; Accounting Industry; Sweden

October 1995 (Revised March 1996)
Case

Executive Shirt Company, Inc.

By: Janice H. Hammond and Sylvie Ryckebusch

The Executive Shirt Co. is contemplating a move into custom-made shirts. The company's general manager has charged two of his managers to come up with plans for incorporating production of custom shirts into the existing manufacturing process. View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Production; Strategic Planning; Expansion; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States

24 Mar 2013
News

A fresh take needed for risky funds

February 2000 (Revised August 2000)
Case

Microsoft Latin America

By: Robert S. Kaplan, Alberto Ballve and Antonio Davila

Mauricio Santillan, regional vice president for the Latin American division of Microsoft, has introduced a new performance measurement system to help his country managers formulate and control strategy. Microsoft Latin America's priorities are rolling out of an... View Details

Keywords: Balanced Scorecard; Applications and Software; Emerging Markets; Crime and Corruption; Motivation and Incentives; Management Skills; Global Strategy; Strategy; Information Technology Industry; Latin America

19 Sep 2023
HBS Case

How Will the Tech Titans Behind ChatGPT, Bard, and LLaMA Make Money?

The dizzying explosion of generative artificial intelligence platforms has been the big business story of the past year, but how they’ll make money and how smart companies can use them wisely are the questions that will dominate the next... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Technology; Information Technology

January 1979 (Revised April 1986)
Case

Hanson Industries (C)

By: Samuel L. Hayes III

The management of Hanson is examining its near-term cash needs and the possible longer-term generation of earnings and cash. View Details

Keywords: Business Earnings; Cash