Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(2,658)
- Faculty Publications (202)
- November 2018
- Case
Governance Transition at Anadolu Group
By: Paul M. Healy and Esel Y. Cekin
Kamil Yazici and Izzet Ozilhan founded and built Anadolu Group Holding—a family business that grew into a multi-billion-dollar regional powerhouse. For 57 years they were equal partners in running the company. They then handed over a leadership role to a next... View Details
Keywords: Family-managed Business; Professionally-run Company; Second-generation; Third-generation; Governance; Governance Changes; Succession Planning; Corporate Culture; Shareholders; Board Of Directors; Long-term Sustainability; Conglomerate; Family Business; Corporate Governance; Change Management; Management Succession; Leadership; Transition; Organizational Structure; Consumer Products Industry; Turkey; Central Asia; Middle East
- November 2018 (Revised July 2023)
- Case
The Weir Group: Reforming Executive Pay (A)
By: Lynn S. Paine and Federica Gabrieli
In February 2018, the Remuneration Committee together with the full Board of Directors of the Scotland-based engineering company The Weir Group had to decide whether to seek a shareholder vote at the upcoming Annual General Meeting in April on a proposal to reform the... View Details
Keywords: General Management; Board Of Directors; Executive Committees; Human Resource Management; Compensation; Pay For Performance; Incentives; Bonuses; Incentive Programs; Employee Stock Ownership Plans; Performance Measurement; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Human Resources; Management; Executive Compensation; Change; Performance Evaluation; Employee Stock Ownership Plan; Europe; United Kingdom; Scotland
- October 2018
- Case
Zenefits Board of Directors (A)
By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz
In early 2018, the time seemed right for Zenefits investor and director Lars Dalgaard to reflect on whether Zenefits had the right board of directors to shepherd the company through its next stages of growth. For the company whose name combined the words “benefits,”... View Details
Keywords: Ethics; Business Model; Corporate Accountability; Governing and Advisory Boards; Corporate Governance; Crisis Management; Entrepreneurship; Human Resources; Leadership; Risk Management; Venture Capital; Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Information Technology Industry; United States; California
- October 2018
- Case
The Proxy Fight at ADP
By: Robin Greenwood and E. Scott Mayfield
In July 2017, shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (ADP) surged 12% following a report that the activist investor Bill Ackman had acquired a sizable stake in the company and planned to nominate his own slate of directors at the company’s annual meeting in... View Details
- September 2018 (Revised November 2018)
- Case
From Beirut With Love (A)
By: Christina R. Wing, Esel Y. Cekin and Samer Al-Rachedy
This case describes how Robert Fadel, CEO and chairman of ABC, one of Lebanon’s leading retail and real estate groups, professionalized the family business. Robert was the second son of the company’s founder, Maurice Fadel, who had run it single-handedly. Concerned... View Details
Keywords: Family Conflicts; Sibling Rivalry; Second-generation; Foundation; Trust; Work-life Balance; Succession Planning; Corporate Culture; Shareholders; Board Of Directors; Retail; Department Store; Shopping Mall; Real Estate; Growth; Non-executive Chairman; Sustainability; Family Business; Conflict Management; Management Succession; Governance; Leadership; Transformation; Leading Change; Organizational Structure; Management; Growth and Development; Retail Industry; Real Estate Industry; Lebanon; Middle East
- May 2018 (Revised February 2020)
- Case
Jason Blum's Blumhouse Productions
By: Anita Elberse
In March 2017, Jason Blum, the founder and chief executive officer of film and television production company Blumhouse Productions, has another blockbuster on his hands with the movie Get Out, produced for just $4.5 million. Remarkable returns for its micro-budget... View Details
Keywords: Entertainment; Media; Film; Movies; Creative Industries; Product-portfolio Management; Entrepreneurship; Innovation; Talent; General Management; Strategy; Marketing; Blockbusters; Film Entertainment; Innovation and Management; Talent and Talent Management; Competitive Strategy; Management Style; Marketing Strategy; Motion Pictures and Video Industry
- April 2018
- Supplement
Celgene
By: Malcolm Baker and Emily R. McComb
In February 2011, Adam Koppel, a Managing Director at Brookside Capital, the public equity arm of Bain Capital, must decide whether to increase or exit the firm’s position in Celgene Corporation. News has emerged that raises potential safety concerns associated with... View Details
- March 2018 (Revised May 2018)
- Case
Celgene
By: Malcolm Baker and Emily McComb
In February 2011, Adam Koppel, a managing director at Brookside Capital, the public equity arm of Bain Capital, must decide whether to increase or exit the firm’s position in Celgene Corporation. News has emerged that raises potential safety concerns associated with... View Details
- February 2018
- Case
Whole Foods and JANA Partners
By: Suraj Srinivasan and Quinn Pitcher
In 2017, JANA Partners decided to launch an activist campaign at struggling supermarket chain Whole Foods Market. The company had struggled for the past several years, and JANA thought the presence of new directors could help turn around its operations, while Whole... View Details
- January 2018
- Case
Blue Harbour's Activism at Babcock & Wilcox
By: Suraj Srinivasan and Quinn Pitcher
The case describes Blue Harbour Group's investment in Babcock & Wilcox and its transformation into BWX Technologies. In 2004, activist hedge fund Blue Harbour Group invested in Babcock & Wilcox, an energy and construction company. Blue Harbour developed an investment... View Details
- Article
The Board's New Innovation Imperative: Directors Need to Rethink Their Roles and Their Attitude to Risk
By: Linda A. Hill and George Davis
As firms scramble for competitive advantage, boards—once the cautious voices urging management to mitigate risk—are now calling for breakthrough innovation. Indeed, avoiding risk is now seen as the riskiest proposition of all. In speaking with CEOs and board members... View Details
- October 2017 (Revised November 2017)
- Case
NYC311
By: Constantine E. Kontokosta, Mitchell Weiss, Christine Snively and Sarah Gulick
Joe Morrisroe, executive director for NYC311, had some gut instincts but no definitive answer to the question he was just asked by one of the mayor’s deputies: “Are some communities being underserved by 311? How do we know we are hearing from the right people?” Founded... View Details
Keywords: New York City; NYC; 311; NYC311; Big Data; Equal Access; Bias; Data Analysis; Public Entrepreneurship; Urban Informatics; Predictive Analytics; Chief Data Officer; Data Analytics; Cities; City Leadership; Analytics and Data Science; Analysis; Prejudice and Bias; Entrepreneurship; Public Sector; City; Public Administration Industry; New York (city, NY)
- September 2017
- Case
Blackstone's Julia Kahr at the Summit
By: Paul A. Gompers, John D. Dionne and Amram Migdal
In 2009, Blackstone, the New York-based alternative asset and financial services firm, committed to invest up to $750 million into Summit Materials, a new company in the aggregates sector (i.e., construction materials, such as crushed stone, sand, gravel, cement,... View Details
Keywords: Roll Up; Private Equity Roll Up; Aggregates; Aggregates Materials; Construction Materials; Business Ventures; Acquisition; Leveraged Buyouts; Business Growth and Maturation; Engineering; Construction; Finance; Capital; Equity; Private Equity; Financial Instruments; Investment; Housing; Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Personal Development and Career; Management Teams; Planning; Problems and Challenges; Value; Valuation; Value Creation; Construction Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States
- July 2017 (Revised July 2018)
- Case
Entrepreneurship for All
By: Lynda M. Applegate and Julia Kelley
Entrepreneurship for All (EforAll) is a Lowell, Massachusetts–based nonprofit that hosts business accelerators for entrepreneurs in underserved communities. By mid-2017, EforAll has five office locations in Massachusetts, and its leadership and the Board of Directors... View Details
- 2017
- Article
New Venture Milestones and the First Female Board Member
By: Alicia DeSantola, Lakshmi Ramarajan and Julie Battilana
We explore the antecedents of the addition of the first woman to the boards of directors of entrepreneurial ventures. Building on research on resource dependency, we propose that new ventures are most likely to add the first woman to their boards at three developmental... View Details
- January 2017 (Revised February 2018)
- Case
Godiva Japan: Think Local, Scale Global
By: Rohit Deshpandé, Esel Cekin and Akiko Kanno
This case tracks Jerome Chouchan’s strategies and execution for a successful turnaround of Godiva Japan’s operations, which were experiencing a decline in sales when he became the managing director of the company in 2010. Through various initiatives and innovations,... View Details
Keywords: Branding; Internationalization; Innovation; Positioning; Customer Segmentation; Occasion-based Segmentation; Execution; Talent; Customer-focused Strategies; Product Positioning; Globalized Firms and Management; Change Management; Talent and Talent Management; Customer Focus and Relationships; Product; Segmentation; Innovation and Invention; Brands and Branding; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Japan
- December 2016 (Revised October 2018)
- Case
U.S. Digital Service
By: Mitchell Weiss, Nick Sinai and Michael Norris
Mikey Dickerson and Haley Van Dyck found themselves far from home and far from certain about where to take the U.S. Digital Service (USDS) next. In the summer of 2015, they had landed in London to meet with Mike Bracken, director of the United Kingdom’s Government... View Details
Keywords: Public Entrepreneurship; Haley Van Dyck; Mikey Dickerson; United States Digital Service; Digital Services; Innovation Teams; Scaling Innovation; 18F; Presidential Innovation Fellows; Government Digital Service; Mike Bracken; Innovation Fellowships; Entrepreneurship; Government Administration; Innovation and Management; United States; United Kingdom
- October 2016 (Revised November 2018)
- Case
Indigo Agriculture
By: Marco Iansiti, Michael W. Toffel and Christine Snively
Indigo Agriculture had successfully developed and launched its first commercial product, microbe-enhanced cotton seeds, on an accelerated product development timeline. In late 2016, as the company was about to launch its second product, winter wheat, the management... View Details
- September 2016 (Revised September 2016)
- Case
The Tavistock Group and the Australian Agricultural Company
By: Dante Roscini and Matthew Preble
In late 2015, Dr. Shehan Dissanayake, a managing director and board member of Bahamian investment firm The Tavistock Group (Tavistock), the largest shareholder in the Australian Agricultural Company (AACo), one of the country's largest agribusinesses, faces a... View Details
- August 2016
- Case
CEO Succession at Cisco (A): From John Chambers to Chuck Robbins
By: Boris Groysberg, J. Yo-Jud Cheng and Annelena Lobb
A smooth transition from former CEO John Chambers to new CEO Chuck Robbins had put Cisco in a position of strength. Looking back, the board reflected on what they had done well and what they might have done differently, and pondered whether another company might be... View Details