Publications

February 2007
Case

IBM Culture in Its Architecture

By: A. Eugene Kohn and Kerry Herman

In 1992, Lou Gerstner was the CEO of IBM during a period where the firm was losing money and a turnaround was desperately needed. In a bold decision, Gerstner chose to build a new headquarters in Armonk, NY that had strict limits on expandability. His idea was to use... View Details

Keywords: Design; Leadership; Job Design and Levels; Organizational Structure; Buildings and Facilities; Business Headquarters; Decisions; Organizational Culture; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Information Technology Industry; New York (state, US)

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November 2008 (Revised August 2010)
Case

Whole Foods Acquires Wild Oats (A)

Examines the implications of Whole Foods' CEO's anonymous message board postings including its potential impact on the company's proposed merger with Wild Oats. View Details

Keywords: Forms of Communication; Acquisition; Communication Strategy; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

10 Dec 1998
Conference Presentation

Achieving Competitiveness in the UK: Challenges for Government and Industry

By: Michael Porter

Keywords: Competition; Problems and Challenges; Business and Government Relations; United Kingdom

15 Nov 2024
News

Driving Change

and other pressing issues. The diverse audience emphasized the universal nature of the challenges and opportunities facing women in business today, while fostering rich discussions across cultural and generational lines. Dean Srikant... View Details

March 1998 (Revised June 1998)
Case

BCI Growth III: November 1993

By: Josh Lerner

Supplements BCI Growth III: May 1993. View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Business Growth and Maturation; Consolidation; Acquisition; Wastes and Waste Processing; Service Industry; United States

June 2003 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Modi-Revlon

By: Rohit Deshpande and Seth Schulman

The head of the Indian subsidiary of cosmetics firm Revlon faces a crucial turnaround situation for the company. After a high-profile product launch, sales were very disappointing and Revlon was trying to decide whether it should pull out of India. The Indian majority... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Product Design; Value Creation; India

March 2014
Teaching Note

Transforming Tommy Hilfiger (A) and (B)

By: Raffaella Sadun

Teaching Note for "Transforming Tommy Hilfiger (A)" and "Transforming Tommy Hilfiger (B)" View Details

Keywords: Turnaround; Private Equity; Private Ownership; Diversification; Acquisition; Retail Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States; Europe

January 2, 2024
Article

Academic ‘Elders’ Wanted: Inquire Within

By: Andrew J. Hoffman

Keywords: Business Education

Read Now

01 Jun 2012
News

Good as Our Word

for KBRA as early as 2008; in his mind, Moody’s, Fitch, and S&P sold their souls to win business in the short run. KBRA would, says Becker, “value integrity above everything else.” The case begins in April 2010, as Fons, Kroll’s EVP, is... View Details

Keywords: Maggie Starvish; Bond rating; Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments; Finance

13 Mar 2019
News

The First Five Years: Sierra Smith and Taylor Wiegele (both MBA 2017)

Taylor Wiegele and Sierra Smith on Shark Tank (photos by ABC) How did you come up with the idea for Zorpads? Sierra Smith: “We started Zorpads as part of a school project for FIELD 3 (which apparently no longer exists as required curriculum!). Our team was... View Details

May 1997
Case

CompUSA

By: Krishna G. Palepu and Sarayu Srinivasan

CompUSA was performing poorly until new management reorganized and redirected the business. Consequently, CompUSA became the top retailer in its industry. Management outlines its future plans. View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Change Management; Finance; Success; Performance Evaluation; Strategic Planning; Business Strategy; Computer Industry; Retail Industry; United States

01 Mar 2010
News

Alumni Books

of Corporate Boards Is Ruining American Business and Costing Us Trillions by John Gillespie (MBA ’83) and David Zweig (MBA ’83) (Free Press) The authors expose the flaws in the dysfunctional corporate board system: directors who are... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Finance; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

December 2012 (Revised March 2015)
Case

AmTran Technology Ltd.

By: Willy Shih, Jyun-Cheng Wang and Karen E. Robinson

As an original design manufacturer (ODM) of television sets and leading supplier to Vizio, a market leader in the U.S. for LCD flat panel TVs, AmTran Technology Ltd. uses what founder Alpha Wu describes as a "WE" model in which western companies perform sales,... View Details

09 Apr 2014
Research & Ideas

A Playbook for Small-Business Job Creation

As Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA), Karen Mills spent four years as part of President Barack Obama's senior economic team and a member of his Cabinet, specifically focused on the health and growth of America's... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Banking; Financial Services

01 Jun 2007
News

A Juicy Story

Yoffie, noting that the case is used as part of the MBA required curriculum in the Strategy course and in numerous Executive Education programs. It can also be taught with a video presentation by John Sculley, Apple’s CEO from 1985 to... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

November 2002 (Revised May 2003)
Case

ConAgra Foods

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Ingrid Vargas

In 2002, ConAgra Foods CEO Bruce Rohde was deliberating the next steps in the process of transforming the company from an agribusiness giant to a value-added food processor. ConAgra had become the second largest food company and number one food service supplier in the... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Leading Change; Change Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Food; Agribusiness; Product; Business Processes; Management Teams; Expansion; Brands and Branding; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; United States

01 Jun 2005
News

Mookerjee Picked as First Director of New HBS India Research Center

categories, including innovation in the technology and biotech sectors, business models, and marketing strategies needed to reach India’s 600 million middle-class consumers. More than a dozen faculty members... View Details

Keywords: HBS; India Research Center; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

June 2020
Supplement

Comcast Corporation (B)

By: Sunil Gupta, Henry McGee and Felix Oberholzer-Gee

The (B) case, set in the summer of 2020, highlights the concern of Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, as the streaming war intensifies. In a short period of time several new streaming services, such as Disney+, Apple TV+, Quibi, and HBO Max were launched and cable subscription... View Details

Keywords: Cable Television; Industry Evolution; Television Entertainment; Disruption; Business Model; Competitive Strategy; Media and Broadcasting Industry