Publications

November 2018 (Revised April 2019)
Case

Zespri Grows

By: David E. Bell and Natalie Kindred

Controlling about a third of global kiwifruit exports by volume and nearly half by value in 2018, Zespri was a grower-owned “corporatized cooperative” with the exclusive right to export New Zealand-grown kiwifruit (except to Australia). Zespri did not grow fruit but... View Details

26 Oct 2021
Research & Ideas

What Companies Want Most in a CEO: A Good Listener

skills in executive searches reflects specific firm needs, in particular the need to coordinate more—and more complex—activities within firms,” the paper says. Managers at all... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald

May–June 2025
Article

Sustainability as a Business-Model Transformation

By: Ivanka Visnjic, Felipe Monteiro and Michael L. Tushman

Many global companies have made public commitments to sustainability targets. Fulfilling these commitments will require firms to transform their business models and organizational architectures. A few pioneers are leading the way, demonstrating that companies can make... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Business Model

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December 2010 (Revised January 2012)
Case

Zespri

By: Jose B. Alvarez and Mary Louise Shelman

Grower-owned Zespri is the sole exporter of New Zealand-grown kiwifruit outside of Australia and New Zealand. Facing growing international competition, Zespri invested in consumer branding and innovation, which has led to new types of kiwifruit that taste better and... View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Globalized Firms and Management; Innovation and Invention; Patents; Brands and Branding; Cooperative Ownership; Competition; Corporate Strategy; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; New Zealand

12 Mar 2013
First Look

First Look: March 12

as new players enter these markets and change the ecosystem of the industry. Although no single model has been successfully imported from one country to another due to... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

December 2018
Case

Bata versus Relaxo—Analyzing Performance

By: Suraj Srinivasan, Iris Leung and Quinn Pitcher

Set in 2016, “Bata India versus Relaxo—Analyzing Performance” compares the strategies and financial performance of two Indian footwear companies. Bata India had long been the market leader in footwear in India, but its leading market position was being challenged by... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Strategy; Operations; Performance Evaluation; Financial Statements; Analysis; Apparel and Accessories Industry

Profile

Joy Chen

Bessemer Venture Partners, a VC firm that invests globally. “I wanted to be involved in growing businesses that will have a meaningful impact on people’s lives,” Joy says. “For me, the question I would ask... View Details

Web

Partners - Case Method Project

Civics, Government, History NJ 24 of 63 Clare Grieve The Lawrenceville School Lawrenceville, NJ Subjects: Grade 11 U.S. History, Grade 12 International Relations Theory and... View Details

March–April 2025
Article

Getting Value from Digital Technologies

By: Frank Cespedes and Georg Krentzel

Companies need digital technologies in an omni-channel buying world where online and in-person interactions are complements, not either/or substitutes. Multi-channel hybrid sales solutions are required, but what are the key requirements for using the available... View Details

Keywords: Sales; Technology Adoption; Competitive Advantage

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26 Feb 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, February 26, 2019

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=55650 February 2019 Top Sales Magazine Sales Managers Must Manage By: Cespedes, Frank V. Abstract— A common complaint from C-level executives about their sales colleagues concerns the... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

15 Sep 2022
Research & Ideas

Looking For a Job? Some LinkedIn Connections Matter More Than Others

and anecdotal information, but despite having over 65,000 citations in the last 50 years, there have been no large-scale experimental causal tests of this theory as it relates... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

04 Jun 2024
Research & Ideas

Navigating Consumer Data Privacy in an AI World

Harnessing customer data well is central to any modern business, as is earning consumers’ trust that their information will stay private. With data breaches growing more common, regulations are tightening across the globe to bolster... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Technology; Information Technology

Web

Organizational Behavior Curriculum - Faculty & Research

Organizational Behavior Overview Faculty Curriculum Seminars & Conferences Awards & Honors Doctoral Students MBA Required Curriculum (FIRST YEAR) Leadership and Organizational Behavior (LEAD) This course focuses on how managers become effective leaders by addressing... View Details

December 2017 (Revised January 2018)
Case

Alltech

By: David E. Bell and Natalie Kindred

Alltech was a Lexington, Kentucky–based producer of supplements for animal feed, with revenues of over $2 billion (projected to reach $3 billion in 2018), sales in 120 countries, 5,000 employees, and 100 manufacturing plants worldwide. For nearly four decades, Alltech... View Details

September 2014
Article

Accounting Standards and International Portfolio Holdings

By: Gwen Yu and Aida Sijamic Wahid

Do differences in countries' accounting standards affect global investment decisions? We explore this question by examining how accounting distance, the difference in the accounting standards used in the investor's and the investee's countries, affects the asset... View Details

Keywords: IFRS; Home Bias; Cross-cultural/cross-border; Information Asymmetry; Mutual Funds; International Relations

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Curriculum - Business & Environment

hazards on city streets? Wei and four schoolmates at Peking University had launched ofo on their campus with 1000 bikes in fall 2015. Since then, they had deployed 6.5 million. The question now was how many more? View Details

01 Sep 2023
News

In My Humble Opinion: Futures Investor

In the half-century since his graduation, Theodore Roosevelt IV (MBA 1972) has earned widespread respect as both a forward-thinking investment banker and an influential activist through his efforts to address climate change and preserve public lands. For much of that... View Details

Keywords: Deborah Blagg; climate change; investment banking; leadership; carbon tax

April 2011 (Revised April 2011)
Supplement

Fleet Oil Company: An Exercise

The exercise, which adapts a famous experiment by experimental psychologist Thomas Gilovich, is designed to show both the ubiquity of analogy or associative thinking more generally and its potential perils. Students are presented with a scenario in which an oil company... View Details

Keywords: Business Headquarters; Crime and Corruption; Decisions; Non-Renewable Energy; Cost; Production; Performance Productivity; Research and Development; Energy Industry; Atlanta; Houston