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John Beshears is the Albert J. Weatherhead Jr. Professor of Business Administration in the Negotiation, Organizations & Markets Unit, teaching the second-year MBA course "Negotiation." He is also a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research.... View Details

November 2002 (Revised May 2003)
Case

AT&T Foundation, The

By: Diana Barrett, Cassandra Hanley and Sarah Aaron

Explores the corporate philanthropic activities at AT&T, formed in 1983. Addresses the difficulty of making centralized decisions after the break-up for the four new entities, each with a diverse and sometimes cross-competitive strategy. View Details

Keywords: Goals and Objectives; For-Profit Firms; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Telecommunications Industry

07 Nov 2023
Cold Call Podcast

How Should Meta Be Governed for the Good of Society?

Keywords: Re: Jesse M. Shapiro; Technology; Communications

January 1996 (Revised February 1996)
Case

Peterson Industries: Louis Friedman

By: David A. Garvin

Louis Friedman, the president and CEO of Peterson Industries, must make decisions about two engineering projects and the level at which they should be funded. In the process, he must manage the overall resource allocation process and the company. A rewritten version of... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Motivation and Incentives; Resource Allocation; Budgets and Budgeting; Projects; Engineering

October 1999 (Revised July 2002)
Case

WingspanBank.com (A)

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Daniel Galvin

The case describes the new product development process for WingspanBank.com, an Internet-only financial services "infomediary" created by a team from Bank One's First USA division. The creation of the bank is described from concept development to prelaunch decision... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Decision Making; Information Management; Management Practices and Processes; Managerial Roles; Product Development; Performance Consistency; Competitive Advantage; Internet; Financial Services Industry; Web Services Industry; United States

November 2005 (Revised April 2006)
Case

Brazil Sugar and the WTO: Agricultural Reform in the European Union

By: Ray A. Goldberg, Kerry Herman and Irina Tarsis

Pedro de Camargo Neto, Brazil's secretary of trade and production for the Ministry of Agriculture, has won a WTO sugar decision for Brazil against the EU sugar policies. This case analyzes what this decision will mean to world food policies, especially those of the EU... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Trade; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Governing and Advisory Boards; Policy; Government and Politics; Food and Beverage Industry; Europe; United States; Brazil

15 Jul 2015
News

Bring Your Own Bag, Treat Yourself to Ice Cream

Research Summary

Negotiating in the Shadow of Cancer

By: Deepak Malhotra

I am working with collaborators at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to develop interventions that will help surgeons communicate more effectively with cancer patients, with the goal of helping patients make better decisions regarding their health. View Details

February 2019
Technical Note

Can Multiunit Organizations Remain Agile as They Grow?

By: Tatiana Sandino

This note discusses how multiunit organizations incorporate flexibility into their management control systems, some by authorizing all or a select number of their dispersed units to make input and process decisions, some by investing in data-analytic technologies to... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Flexibility; Management Systems; Business Units; Decision Making

December 2008 (Revised December 2010)
Case

Hema Hattangady and Conzerv (A)

By: Michael L. Tushman and David Kiron

This case describes the evolution of a fast-growing Indian energy firm. It illustrates both leadership change as Hema is evolving as a leader, as well as how organization architecture (culture, systems, incentives, and human resources) is evolving. The case highlights... View Details

Keywords: Change; Decision Choices and Conditions; Leadership Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Energy Industry; India

December 2010 (Revised June 2011)
Case

Back to the Future: Redeveloping Unilever House

By: A. Eugene Kohn, Arthur I Segel and Andrew Pierson Terris

Steve Williams, General Counsel of Unilever PIc, has two key decisions to make prior to commencing construction on the redevelopment of Unilever House - the company's London corporate headquarters. The purpose of the redevelopment is to reinvigorate the corporate... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Leasing; Sales; Restructuring; Leading Change; Financing and Loans; Decisions; Business Headquarters; Design; Projects; London

October 2019 (Revised December 2019)
Case

La Roche-Posay: Growing L'Oreal's Active Cosmetics Brand

By: Jill Avery, Vincent Dessain and Mette Fuglsang Hjortshoej

As 2018 neared its end, Laetitia Toupet, international general manager of L’Oréal’s La Roche-Posay brand reflected on the brand’s achievements over the past year. At €1 billion in revenue, La Roche-Posay had recently become the number one dermocosmetics brand in the... View Details

March 1992 (Revised October 1994)
Case

AT&T Consumer Products

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr.

Describes the factors AT&T Consumer Products managers considered in deciding whether to locate a new plant for telephone answering machines in the United States, Asia, or Mexico. Describes in depth the restructuring of AT&T during the 1980s, the competition facing its... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Competitive Strategy; Trade; Management; Operations; Crime and Corruption; Executive Compensation; Selection and Staffing; Demand and Consumers; Asia; Mexico

Research Summary

Overview

Christine is interested in how people make decisions about the thoughts, feelings, and actions of others. Her research explores how people use visual cues in a face to infer the inner workings of another's mind. View Details

January 1985
Case

Business Research Corp. (A)

By: William A. Sahlman

Contains a description of a decision confronting an entrepreneur: which of two investment proposals should he accept to fund the creation and marketing of a database that comprises the full text of research reports produced by Wall Street investment banking firms? The... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Cost vs Benefits; Valuation; Investment Banking; Negotiation Participants; Negotiation Deal; Financing and Loans; Financial Strategy; Corporate Finance; Service Industry

November 1986
Supplement

People Express - March 1984

By: D. Quinn Mills

Describes People Express business strategy and whether it was successful. Describes changing environment in the airline industry and asks students to make decisions concerning a new business strategy for People Express. Follow-up to the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Change; Industry Structures; Business Strategy; Aerospace Industry

May 2009 (Revised June 2011)
Case

Going to the Oracle: Goldman Sachs, September 2008

By: Clayton S. Rose and David Lane

On September 23, 2008, in the midst of an historic crisis in the U.S. financial markets, Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway invested $5 billion in Goldman Sachs. Goldman CEO, Lloyd Blankfein, said: "We are pleased that given our longstanding relationship, Warren... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Crisis; Capital Structure; Financial Liquidity; Financial Markets; Investment; Performance Capacity; Financial Services Industry; United States

April 2018
Case

Hawk Electronics, Inc.

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and John J. Lafkas

Hawk Electronics ("Hawk") presents the problems that a company can encounter when its divisions have distinct strategies, especially when one division has been favored at another's expense. It also highlights how such problems can reflect cognitive biases, which... View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Resource Allocation; Strategy; Innovation and Management