Publications

24 May 2018
Blog Post

Win/Win Board Assignments: Expert Advice from Board Recruiter Julie Norris

For many successful business people, retirement (or the advanced stages of their careers) is not a time to abandon old interests, but an opportunity to create new successes on the foundations of previous... View Details

August 2011 (Revised April 2013)
Case

Language and Globalization: 'Englishnization' at Rakuten (A)

By: Tsedal Neeley

Hiroshi Mikitani, the CEO of Rakuten, (Japan's largest online retailer), is at the helm of an organization that is rapidly expanding into global markets. In a critical stride toward becoming the world's No. 1 Internet services company, Mikitani announces... View Details

Keywords: Teaching; Human Capital; Change Management; Transformation; Social Enterprise; Communication Strategy; Internet and the Web; Disruptive Innovation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategic Planning; Leadership; Global Strategy; Technology Industry; Retail Industry; Japan

10 Jul 2007
What Do You Think?

How Much of Leadership Is About Control, Delegation, or Theater?

excites, and pushes the team or, you could say, choreographs an output that (moves) the company towards the vision." The mix of control, delegation, and theater employed by successful leaders depends on the timing and circumstances... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

August 2013 (Revised September 2015)
Case

Coursera

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Hyunjin Kim

By providing free and open-access online courses at a large scale, Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) platforms seek to innovate the business models of the traditional higher education industry. In a little over a year, Coursera had grown at a rapid rate to emerge as a... View Details

Keywords: Business Models; Strategy; Competition; Business Model; Internet and the Web; Higher Education; Competitive Advantage; Education Industry

November 1995 (Revised June 1997)
Case

Northern Telecom (C): Norstar Is Born

By: Robert J. Dolan and Sylvie Ryckebusch

Documents the successful launch of Northern Telecom's Norstar Key Systems product line. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details

Keywords: Product Launch; Success; Telecommunications Industry

November – December 2011
Article

Most Likely to Succeed: Leadership in the Industry

By: Robert C. Pozen and Theresa Hamacher

What is the critical factor for success in the U.S. mutual fund industry? Is it top-ranked investment performance, innovative products, or pervasive distribution? In our view, it is none of these factors, despite their obvious importance. Instead, the best predictors... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Success; Investment Funds; Rank and Position; Performance; Investment; Innovation and Invention; Product; Distribution; Forecasting and Prediction; Asset Management; Governance Controls; United States

Find at Harvard

20 Apr 2021
Cold Call Podcast

What Went Wrong with the Boeing 737 Max?

Keywords: Air Transportation

September 1998 (Revised May 2002)
Case

Cisco Systems, Inc.: Implementing ERP

By: Robert D. Austin, Richard L. Nolan and Mark J. Cotteleer

Reviews Cisco System's approach to implementing Oracle's Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software product. This case chronologically reviews the diverse, critical success factors and obstacles facing Cisco during its implementation. Cisco faced the need for... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Applications and Software; Technology Adoption; Complexity; Information Management

January 1994 (Revised November 2002)
Case

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

By: Stephen P. Bradley and Pankaj Ghemawat

Focuses on the evolution of Wal-Mart's remarkably successful discount operations and describes the company's more recent attempts to diversify into other businesses. The company has entered the warehouse club industry with its Sam's Clubs and the grocery business with... View Details

Keywords: Stocks; Price; Marketing Channels; Competitive Strategy; Diversification; Information Technology

September 2013 (Revised April 2014)
Case

Trader Joe's

By: David L. Ager and Michael A. Roberto

Based on a variety of metrics, Trader Joe's ranked as one of the most successful grocers in the United States in 2013. Experts estimated that the company had the highest sales per square foot of any major grocery chain, even significantly higher than top performer... View Details

Keywords: Core Competencies; Growth Strategy; Strategic Positioning; Industry Analysis; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Organizational Culture; Growth and Development Strategy; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

16 Sep 2008
First Look

First Look: September 16, 2008

Abstract This paper presents evidence of performance persistence in entrepreneurship. We show that entrepreneurs with a track record of success are much more likely to succeed than first-time entrepreneurs and those who have previously... View Details

December 2011 (Revised November 2012)
Case

Sustainable Tea at Unilever

By: Rebecca M. Henderson and Frederik Nellemann

Unilever's Lipton Tea had been successful with the first phase of its certification partnership with Rainforest Alliance. Now the company faced challenges in how to push forward with the transformation of more difficult parts of the supply chain and how to market... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Marketing; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

November 2002 (Revised February 2010)
Case

Intel Corporation: 1968-2003

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, David B. Yoffie and Sasha Mattu

Describes three stages in Intel's history: the initial success and then collapse in DRAMs and EPROMs, its transition to and dominance in microprocessors, and its move to become the main supplier of the building blocks for the Internet economy. Allows a rich discussion... View Details

Keywords: History; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Internet and the Web; Information Technology; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Industry Structures; Information Technology Industry; Technology Industry

24 Aug 2017
News

Does Le Pliage Help or Hurt the Longchamp Luxury Brand?

2020
Book

Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire

By: Rebecca Henderson

Free market capitalism is one of humanity’s greatest inventions and the greatest source of prosperity the world has ever seen. But this success has been costly. Capitalism is on the verge of destroying the planet and destabilizing society as wealth rushes to the top.... View Details

Keywords: Capitalism; Economic Systems; Ethics; Society; Environmental Sustainability

Find at Harvard

2018
Report

The Water of Systems Change

By: Mark R. Kramer, John Kania and Peter Senge

Foundations involved in systems change can increase their odds for success by focusing on the least explicit but most powerful conditions for change, while also turning the lens on themselves. The Water of Systems Change aims to clarify what it means to shift... View Details

Keywords: Foundations; Systems Thinking; Systems Change; System; Change; Organizations; Strategy

Register to Read

31 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

From SpinPop to SpinBrush: Entrepreneurial Lessons from John Osher

John Osher is one of those casually and spectacularly successful people who make serial entrepreneurship look like a cakewalk. He began racking up wins at an early age—starting and selling both a vintage clothing store and an earring... View Details

Keywords: by Dennis Fisher; Consumer Products

08 Oct 2015
Blog Post

Why We Recruit: DaVita Healthcare Partners, Inc.

and what roles do you hire for?DaVita has been recruiting at HBS for over 10 years. We focus our recruiting on our Redwoods Leadership Development Program, which consists of a 10-week internship program and a yearlong full-time program. What recruiting tactics have you... View Details

Keywords: Health Care

December 1980 (Revised February 1998)
Case

McDonald's Corp. (Condensed)

By: W. Earl Sasser and David C. Rikert

Describes the operating system of McDonald's, the world's most successful fast food chain. The case does not have a decision focus; it is designed for use with Burger King Corp. Students are asked to compare the operating systems of these two fast food hamburger... View Details

Keywords: Service Operations; Competition; Food and Beverage Industry