Publications

December 1993
Case

Bay State Milling Co.

By: Ray A. Goldberg

Flour milling in recent years has had a great deal of consolidation. The fourth generation of a privately held firm is debating how to protect themselves in the industry as consumption, production, competition, logistics, technology, and patterns are all changing. View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Transition; Economics; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Operations; Consolidation

November 2018
Case

Sportradar (A): From Data to Storytelling

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Karen Elterman and Oliver Gassmann

In 2013, the Swiss sports data company Sportradar debated whether to expand from its core business of data provision to bookmakers into sports media products. Sports data was becoming a commodity, and in the future, sports leagues might reduce their dependence on... View Details

January 2009 (Revised November 2009)
Background Note

Adult Life Stages

By: John A. Davis

This note describes basic concepts of adult life stage theory and summarizes Daniel Levinson's research findings on the adult development of men and women. View Details

Keywords: Transition; Motivation and Incentives; Behavior; Personal Development and Career; Organizational Culture; Gender

Find at Harvard

November 2015 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Cisco Systems: In Search of the Next CEO

By: Boris Groysberg, Sarah L. Abbott, Olivia Hull and J. Yo-Jud Cheng

It’s August 2014 and John Chambers is expected to announce his retirement after 17 years as CEO of global technology giant Cisco Systems. Under Chambers’s leadership, Cisco has grown from $2.2 billion in annual revenues and under 4,000 employees to revenues of $46... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Succession Planning; CEO Succession; Managing Change; Person-organization Fit; Management Succession; Transition; Talent and Talent Management; Change Management; Retirement; Innovation Leadership; Recruitment; Corporate Governance; Experience and Expertise; Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; United States; San Jose; California

March 1999 (Revised June 2000)
Case

Eli Lilly: The Evista Project

By: Steven C. Wheelwright and Matt Verlinden

Describes the creation and operation of the initial two heavyweight teams for new drug development and launch. The primary focus is on one of the teams, Evista, although comparisons to the other team, Zyprexa, are included. Lilly must decide the next phase (postlaunch)... View Details

Keywords: Projects; Groups and Teams; Operations; Management Teams; Product Development; Transition; Product Design; Business Startups; Business Plan; Product Launch; Competition; Service Operations; Pharmaceutical Industry

February 1997
Case

Enron Development Corporation: The Dabhol Power Project in Maharashtra, India (A) (Abridged)

By: Louis T. Wells Jr.

A large, lucrative power plant is negotiated for construction/operation by an American power company in India's evolving privatized power sector. The process of incorporating the project is captured in this case. The American company will own and operate the plant in... View Details

Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Transition; Energy Generation; Construction; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Emerging Markets; Negotiation Process; Production; Privatization; Energy Industry

December 2007
Background Note

Tools and Tactics for Transformation: Three "Whats" and Three "Hows"

By: James K. Sebenius and Stephen Friedman

Important transformation at Goldman Sachs, where one of the authors was Chairman, required analysis, political leadership, and management in order to fundamentally shift the strategy, people, and culture on a sustainable basis. After describing the actions needed to... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Tactics; Business Strategy; Organizational Culture; Transition; Strategic Planning; Core Relationships; Multinational Firms and Management; Leadership Style; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Private Equity

February 2004
Case

The Making of Verizon

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter, Douglas A Raymond and Ryan Raffaelli

Through a series of mergers, Ivan Seidenberg, Verizon chairman and CEO, successfully shared the co-CEO title twice while building the largest telecom company in the United States. The strong and complementary cultures of the companies that Seidenberg and a key group of... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Change Management; Transition; Leading Change; Organizational Culture; Risk Management; Telecommunications Industry; United States

April 1999
Teaching Note

Managing Experimentation: Module Overview Note for Managing Product Development(Note for Instructor)

By: Stefan H. Thomke

Describes the conceptual foundations and pedagogy for a module on managing experimentation in the development of products and services. The module has been taught in the second-year elective MBA course Managing Product Development. The purpose of the module is to help... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Business or Company Management; Product Development; Personal Development and Career; Science; Technology Adoption

26 Apr 2016
First Look

April 26

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=49804 Economic Transition and Private-Sector Labor Demand: Evidence from Urban China By: Iyer, Lakshmi, Xin Meng, Nancy Qian, and Xiaoxue Zhao Abstract—This paper studies the policy... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

28 May 2014
Research & Ideas

Building Histories of Emerging Economies One Interview at a Time

Musacchio, Felix Oberholzer-Gee, and Dante Roscini, conducted the in-depth interviews, often focusing on key moments of transition and decision-making. The just launched website offers access to video clips, and, in some cases, full... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

January 2018
Supplement

Scaling Swagbucks (B)

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport and Matthew G. Preble

“Swagbucks (B),” HBS No. 817123, picks up in mid-2014 following the events described in “Swagbucks (A),” HBS No 817122. Davis and Gorowitz were successful in their efforts to position the company for scale without negatively affecting the company’s foundational... View Details

Keywords: Loyalty Management; Scaling; Scale; Entrepreneurship; Human Resources; Employees; Employee Relationship Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Design; Leading Change; Growth Management; Religion; Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Transition; Leadership; Web Services Industry; Technology Industry

11 Mar 2009
HBS Case

The Energy Politics of Russia vs. Ukraine

the same price to maximize profits. Ukraine responded by telling Gazprom that it would refuse to pay the increase, and furthermore, it intended to charge Gazprom more to use Ukraine's pipelines to transit gas to Europe. Russia waited... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons; Energy; Utilities

March 2017
Case

Swagbucks

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport and Matthew G. Preble

In early 2016, Chuck Davis, chairman and CEO of Prodege LLC, parent company of the brand promotion business Swagbucks, and Josef Gorowitz, Prodege’s founder and president, must decide whether to acquire MyPoints, a competitor to Swagbucks, after the company’s... View Details

24 Sep 2014
Op-Ed

Stop Thinking of Climate Change as a Religious or Political Issue

You sometimes hear people say things like, "I believe in global warming" or "I don't believe in climate change." It seems odd to approach climate change in this way, as though it were a question of belief, like religion. Most of the time when we confront uncertainty in... View Details

Keywords: by Forest Reinhardt; Energy; Utilities

February 2024 (Revised May 2024)
Case

Lina Khan at the FTC: Redefining Antitrust in the Age of Big Tech

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr. and Susan Pinckney

In 2023 and 2024, the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justice sued Google, Amazon, and Apple claiming antitrust violations. These lawsuits marked a shift in U.S. antitrust enforcement away from the Chicago School and towards the New Brandeis school of... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Government Administration; Lawsuits and Litigation; Monopoly; Technology Industry; United States; European Union; China; India

December 2018 (Revised June 2019)
Case

Wolfgang Puck: Setting the Table for the Future

By: Boris Groysberg and Matthew G. Preble

Chef Wolfgang Puck oversees a disparate business empire that includes fine dining restaurants, a catering business, and various licensed products that run from cookware, to soup, to fast-casual restaurants. His businesses activities are divided among three separate... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Growth and Development; Management Systems; Business Processes; Leadership; Transition; Food and Beverage Industry; Consumer Products Industry