Publications

Benjamin Esty is the Roy and Elizabeth Simmons Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. Over the years, he has taught a variety of courses ranging from advanced corporate finance and project finance to competitive strategy and leadership. He... View Details

Keywords: banking; asset management; investment banking industry; consumer products; shipping; wine; financial services

June 2004
Case

Nehemiah Strategy, The: Bringing it to Boston

By: Diana Barrett and Arthur I Segel

In 2003, Lee Stuart was working with the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization to implement an affordable housing initiative in Boston. She and her colleagues faced a number of challenges in transferring the strategy, including whether the strategy was appropriate for... View Details

Keywords: Housing; Problems and Challenges; Strategy; Projects; Decisions; Boston

Jackie Lane is an Assistant Professor in the Technology and Operations Management Unit at Harvard Business School and a co-Principal Investigator of the Laboratory for Innovation Science at Harvard (LISH) at the Digital Data Design Institute (D^3) at Harvard. She... View Details

February 2002
Case

Free Internet Initiative in LaGrange, Georgia

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Mark Keil and Garrett W. Meader

LaGrange, GA was the first city in the world to offer free Internet access to citizens. The city manager and mayor must assess the project and decide whether to continue. This case chronicles the city's efforts to build a telecommunications infrastructure and offer... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Infrastructure; Technology Adoption; Cost vs Benefits; Information Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Georgia (state, US)

November 2001 (Revised August 2002)
Case

Audio Spotlight, The

By: Youngme E. Moon

Joe Pompei, a graduate student at the MIT Media Lab, has invented a breakthrough audio invention. The invention is an "Audio Spotlight" that projects a narrow beam of sound in the same way a laser beam projects a narrow beam of light. He must now decide how to... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Independent Innovation and Invention; Marketing; Demand and Consumers; Value Creation

October 1997 (Revised September 2000)
Case

Disney (B): The Third Battle of Bull Run

By: Michael A. Wheeler and Georgia Levenson

The saga of Disney's efforts to build a theme park in Manassas, Va. in the early 1990s is told. Disney's strategy against the various opponents of the project is presented. View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Types; Tourism Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States

Video

Ghassan E. Nuqul

Ghassan E. Nuqul, Chairman of the Nuqul Group, explains the origins of the Elia Nuqul Foundation in 2008, and discusses the group’s CSR projects in Jordan and elsewhere in MENA. View Details

2024
Working Paper

Greenlighting Innovative Projects: How Evaluation Format Shapes the Perceived Feasibility of Novel Ideas

By: Jacqueline N. Lane, Tianxi Cai, Michael Menietti, Griffin Weber and Eva C. Guinan

Evaluation of novel projects is essential for scientific and technological advancement. However, evaluator bias toward a project’s potential can obscure its limitations. This study investigates evaluation formats by contrasting combined assessments of novelty and... View Details

Keywords: Research; Performance Evaluation; Innovation and Invention; Prejudice and Bias

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July 1990
Case

Ceramics Process Systems Corp. (B)

By: Kim B. Clark and Brent D. Barnett

Ceramics Process Systems (CPS) is an advanced ceramics company facing problems with lead time in product/process development, and late delivery of prototype parts to its customers. Engineering is confronted with difficult technical problems and multiple objectives... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Business Processes; Management Practices and Processes; Supply Chain Management; Machinery and Machining; Goals and Objectives; Resource Allocation; Customer Satisfaction; Customer Value and Value Chain; Manufacturing Industry

March 2018 (Revised August 2018)
Case

Matching Markets for Googlers

By: Bo Cowgill and Rembrand Koning

This case describes how Google designed and launched an internal matching market to assign individual workers with projects and managers. The case evaluates how marketplace design considerations—and several alternative staffing models—could affect the company’s goals... View Details

Keywords: People Analytics; Google; Labor Market; Staffing; Market Design; Marketplace Matching; Selection and Staffing; Goals and Objectives; Technology Industry; United States

October 2003 (Revised November 2003)
Case

Foremostco, Inc. (A)

Describes the rocky transition from an outdated, nonintegrated information system to a new customized system built by programmers in a small, IT-dependent foliage company that distributes plant material. The old system has increasingly become a "burning platform," but... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Information Technology; Crisis Management; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

08 Nov 2024
Op-Ed

How Private Investors Can Help Solve Africa's Climate Crisis

fixed-income securities, mostly earning near-zero real yields. How can this capital find bankable projects that allow for private sector development and investment—at huge scale—to help solve these challenges while at the same time... View Details

Keywords: by John Macomber; Green Technology; Energy

September 2004 (Revised January 2005)
Case

IBM: Ordering Midrange Computers in Europe

IBM Europe is trying to expand business-to-business (B2B) efforts with its large distributors of midrange systems. These efforts aim to automate many transactions and business processes, removing the need for human involvement. IBM has completed an initial project with... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Information Technology; Information Infrastructure; Marketing Channels; Distribution Channels; Information Technology Industry; Computer Industry; Germany; United States

Research Summary

Overview

Michael is interested in research at the intersection of technology and supply chain in corporations, especially retailers. His recent projects have focused on Human-AI collaboration at retailers. View Details

September – October 2009
Article

Critical Decisions in Software Development: Updating the State of the Practice

By: Alan MacCormack, Michael A. Cusumano, Chris Kemerer and Bill Crandall

This article focuses on how to choose the "right" software development process, how to structure global software design chains, how to manage the interaction of project structure and software design, and how to balance innovation and efficiency in a software business. View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Product Development; Projects; Innovation and Management; Performance Efficiency; Information Technology Industry

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18 Jul 2024
Blog Post

Building the Future: An HBS Alumna’s Journey in Sustainable Infrastructure Investment

joined an investment bank where I gained valuable experience in financial analysis and then transitioned to a pan-African infrastructure fund. I was deeply involved in the investment lifecycle, from due diligence and financial modeling to View Details

June 1998 (Revised June 1999)
Case

Dixon Corporation: The Collinsville Plant

By: W. Carl Kester

Dixon Corp.faces the task of valuing a plant and an associated project that it is considering buying. The revisions are designed to enable the application of adjusted present value technique for valuation. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details

Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Valuation; Projects; Forecasting and Prediction; Acquisition; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Technology Industry