The Boston Beer Company - Publications - Faculty & Research

13 Aug 2024
Research & Ideas

Why Companies Shouldn't Delay Software Updates—Even After CrowdStrike's Flaw

highlights one simple change companies could make: updating software sooner after improved versions hit the market. The research finds that some 60 percent of US organizations... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald; Technology; Information Technology; Computer; Web Services

01 Mar 2003
News

All in a Day's Work

through a day on the job to find out: Mardie Oakes, an HBS Service Leadership Fellow at Boston Community Capital, a community development financial institution, and Paul Sternhell, an entry-level manager at... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Boston Community Capital; Samsung; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management of Companies and Enterprises

16 Nov 2021
HBS Case

How a Company Made Employees So Miserable, They Killed Themselves

year, a 49-year-old technician at the same company stabbed himself in front of his colleagues after learning he had been demoted. Between 2006 and 2009, at least 19 France Télécom employees took their own... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

18 Oct 2016
News

Leading the Way for Women Entrepreneurs

and Lisa Falzone, cofounder and CEO of Revel Systems on a panel discussion entitled “Entrepreneurship: Gender, Adversity and Success” at the Forbes Under 30 Summit in Boston on Monday. Hyman recalled that... View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Myers; Birchbox; Rent the Runway; Hello Alfred; Retail Trade; Finance

27 Jan 2003
Research & Ideas

New Cluster Mapping Project Helps Companies Locate Facilities

company can operate. At the core of the business environment is the cluster, or the group of interconnected firms,... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

08 Dec 2020
Research & Ideas

Why Companies Hunt for Talent on Digital Platforms, Not in Resume Piles

contracted the national polling company CivicScience to survey more than 13,000 workers from a variety of industries across the country. They found that nearly 18 percent of... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Employment

Web

United Fruit Company Photograph Collection - Photography Collections - Historical Collections

in 1899 by the merger of the Boston Fruit Company and several other companies producing and marketing bananas from... View Details

September 2013 (Revised November 2015)
Case

Living Proof: Are We a Technology Company or a Beauty Company?

By: Willy Shih

Jon Flint came up with the idea of a science-based beauty company while talking with his hairdresser about the problems with typical hair and skin care products. Together with a small team that included Professor Robert Langer of MIT, he committed to assemble a team... View Details

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May 2006 (Revised May 2009)
Case

De Beers: Addressing the New Competitiveness Challenges

By: Michael E. Porter, Sonia D. Marciano and Alyson Warhurst

Traces the development of De Beers and the diamond industry from its inception in the mid-1800s to the year 2000. Discusses De Beer's history and strategy as the industry leader and its role in industry development. Enables deep examination of the interdependence of... View Details

Keywords: History; Strategy; Geographic Location; Conflict Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Community Relations; Developing Countries and Economies; Mining Industry

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16 Mar 2015
Working Paper Summaries

Higher-Ambition CEOs Need Higher-Ambition Boards

Keywords: by Edward J. Ludwig, Anna Elise Walton & Michael Beer

01 Dec 2019
News

Action Plan: Tapping into a Legacy

As the new managing director of Hall & Woodhouse, one of England’s leading regional breweries, Matt Kearsey (AMP 193, 2017) knows that the best-tasting beer requires more than... View Details

Keywords: Leah Flickinger; manufacturing; craft beer; leadership; management; Beverage and Tobacco Product Manufacturing; Manufacturing

November – December 2009
Article

Learning by Design: Developing an Engine for Transforming Your Company

By: Michael Beer and Magnus Finnstrom

Traditional leadership development programs often fail to achieve the desired results because they don't focus on learning linked to the company's business strategy and the real day-to-day challenges facing managers. The experience of Sweden-based industrial... View Details

Keywords: Leadership Development; Programs; Learning; Failure; Business Strategy; Organizations; Transformation; Problems and Challenges; Design; Sweden

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March 2017
Case

CIC: Catalyzing Entrepreneurial Ecosystems (A)

By: William R. Kerr, Sari Kerr and Alexis Brownell

CIC creates "entrepreneurial ecosystems," renting out office and co-working space to start-ups and related companies and providing basic business needs like Wi-Fi and legal advice. Founder Tim Rowe refers to the CIC as "innovation infrastructure," bringing together... View Details

Keywords: Start-ups; Boston; Cambridge; St. Louis; CIC; Cambridge Innovation Center; Co-working Space; Entrepreneurial Ecosystems; Innovation Ecosystems; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Business Offices; Innovation and Invention

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March 2015 (Revised December 2016)
Case

American Well: The DTC Decision

By: Elie Ofek and Natalie Kindred

In late 2013, telehealth company American Well, which developed a digital platform that allowed patients to conduct online medical consultations with physicians, is considering pursuing a direct-to-consumer (DTC) strategy. Founded in 2006, American Well had, to date,... View Details

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16 May 2018
Research & Ideas

How Companies Managed Risk (and Even Benefitted) in World War Internment Camps

companies from Germany dealt with the incarceration of thousands of their German national employees in India during World War I and World War II in her recent working paper, Countering Political Risk in... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Manufacturing

Web

Research Links: Records of Railroad Companies & Personal Papers - Railroads and the Transformation of Capitalism | Harvard Business School

Company began as four separate entities: the Boston and Worcester Railroad, the Western Railroad, the Albany and... View Details

September 2019 (Revised July 2025)
Case

Keroche (A): Fighting for Share in the Kenyan Alcoholic Drinks Market

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Pippa Tubman Armerding

This case discusses the challenges faced by Kenyan alcoholic drinks producer Keroche Industries Limited in 2003, when the Kenyan government accused the company of manufacturing and selling substandard alcoholic drinks, revoked its liquor licenses, and shut down its... View Details

Keywords: Keroche; Alcohol; Wine; Manufacturing; Informal Market; Regulation; Illicit; Illegal; Shutdown; Factory; Low-income Consumers; Multinational; Local; Government; Allegations; Accusations; Negative Press; EABL; Tusker; Beer; SAB; Chang'aa; Naivasha; Rift Valley; East Africa; Lawsuit; Legal Battle; Business Ventures; Business Exit or Shutdown; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Startups; Production; Safety; Quality; Distribution; Small Business; Family Business; Crime and Corruption; Customer Focus and Relationships; Decisions; Income; Demographics; Geographic Scope; Geographic Location; Goods and Commodities; Government Legislation; Growth and Development; Business History; Lawsuits and Litigation; Laws and Statutes; Lawfulness; Goals and Objectives; Consumer Behavior; Market Entry and Exit; Problems and Challenges; Social Issues; Poverty; Strategy; Competition; Entrepreneurship; Manufacturing Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Kenya; Nairobi; Africa

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10 Oct 2017
News

IBM Calls Their Employees Out Of The Home And Back To The Office

2020
Book

Fit to Compete: Why Honest Conversations About Your Company's Capabilities Are the Key to a Winning Strategy

By: Michael Beer

Is Silence Killing Your Strategy?
In his thirty years of working in corporations, Harvard Business School professor Michael Beer has witnessed firsthand how organizational silence derails strategic objectives. When employees can't speak truth to power, senior... View Details

Keywords: Honesty; Communication; Organizational Culture; Trust; Strategy; Performance Effectiveness

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