Publications

August 2021
Teaching Note

Etsy: Crafting a Turnaround to Save the Business and Its Soul

By: Ranjay Gulati and Bradley Turner

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 821-092. View Details

March 2014
Case

Transforming Tommy Hilfiger (A)

By: Raffaella Sadun, Hanoch Feit, Vaibhav Gujral and Gerard Zouein

At the end of 2005, Tommy Hilfiger is taken private by Apax Partners after years of disappointing performance and strategic impasse. Students are asked to evaluate alternative strategic options for the company, and to propose a concrete turnaround plan for the first... View Details

Keywords: Turnaround; Private Equity; Private Ownership; Diversification; Acquisition; Retail Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States; Europe

October 2014
Case

Mothercare, 2014

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

In early 2014, Mothercare was the UK's leading retailer of mother-and-baby products. In fiscal 2013, it generated £341 million in revenues from its 255 UK stores and £128 million online, and was more than three times the size of its next biggest competitor, Mama and... View Details

Keywords: Retail; Turnaround; Strategy; Strategic Planning; Retail Industry; United Kingdom

August 2021 (Revised November 2021)
Case

The NCB Capital Turnaround: Waking the Sleeping Giant

By: Sandra J. Sucher, Gamze Yucaoglu, Shalene Gupta and Fares Khrais

The case opens in 2019, five years after, Sarah Al Suhaimi, CEO of NCB Capital (NCBC), the investment arm of Saudi’s largest bank, NCB, took the helm. Having successfully turned the business to make it the market leader, she was contemplating her next steps as... View Details

Keywords: Turnaround; Investment Banking; Financial Institutions; Change Management; Leadership; Business Model; Strategy; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Management Teams; Asset Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Saudi Arabia

September 2017
Supplement

Taj Hotels: Leading Change, Driving Profitability (B)

By: Krishna Palepu, Anjali Raina and Rachna Chawla

The Taj Group financial in March 2017 reflects a turnaround in performance. The new branding strategy is described. View Details

Keywords: Turnaround; Hospitality Industry; Leading Change; Leadership; Brands and Branding; Marketing; Strategy; Globalization; Performance Improvement; Accommodations Industry; India

May 2015 (Revised March 2016)
Supplement

Thomas Cook Group on the Brink (B): Transformation Year 1 Results

By: Benjamin C. Esty

Analyzes the results of the Thomas Cook turnaround plan after the first year under Harriet Green's leadership (November 2013). View Details

Keywords: Turnaround; Corporate Restructuring; Female Ceo; Transformation; Change Management; Communication Strategy; Cost Management; Financial Liquidity; Financial Management; Management Succession; Leading Change; Crisis Management; Value Creation; Leadership; Travel Industry; United Kingdom

March 2020 (Revised July 2022)
Case

Levi Strauss (A): A Pioneer Lost in the Wilderness

By: Joshua Margolis, Ashish Nanda, Margaret Cross, Imran Manji and Bismah Rahmat

In 2011, newly appointed CEO Chip Bergh needed to urgently turn around the iconic but floundering denim apparel firm, Levi Strauss & Co. (LS&Co.) Famous for its blue jeans, LS&Co. had suffered a decline in revenue of 29% from $6.8 billion in 1997 to $4.8 billion in... View Details

Keywords: Turnarounds; Transformation; Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Decision Making; Strategic Planning; Brands and Branding; Product Positioning; Product Marketing; Apparel and Accessories Industry

November 2019
Supplement

Celebrity Fashions: Moving Ahead (B)

By: V.G. Narayanan, Tanvi Deshpande and Shreya Ramachandran

Supplements the (A) Case. View Details

Keywords: Turnarounds; Operations; Management; Financial Condition; Problems and Challenges; Communication; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Transformation; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Manufacturing Industry

November 2012 (Revised April 2013)
Supplement

The Levees Repaired, a System Still Broken: Post Katrina Turnaround at the Orleans Public Defenders (B)

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Olivia Leskinen

Keywords: Innovation; New Orleans

February 2021 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Barbarians at the Gate or Turnaround Gurus? Private Equity and the Rise of the LBO

By: Tom Nicholas and John Masko

During the 1980s, leveraged buyouts (LBOs) and the private equity (PE) firms responsible for carrying them out revolutionized both investment and management in the U.S. Between 1980 and 1989, buyout activity in the U.S. surged from $1 billion per year to $60 billion.... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Conglomerates; Restructuring; Borrowing and Debt; Private Equity; Bonds; Investment Return; Institutional Investing; Profit Sharing; Business History; Management Style; Private Ownership; Performance Effectiveness; Value Creation; Financial Services Industry; United States

April 1997
Article

Turnaround Time and Bottlenecks in Market Clearing: Decentralized Matching in he Market for Clinical Psychologists

By: A. E. Roth and X. Xing

Keywords: Markets; Health

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November 5, 2013
Article

How to Turn Around Nearly Anything

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter

In turbulent times, turnarounds are increasingly a fact of life. Some companies need to be rescued from the brink of extinction, but that’s not the only kind of turnaround. Others need a course correction while still profitable, or a momentum shift because of... View Details

Keywords: Turnarounds; Change; Purpose; Team Building; Voice; Positivity; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Value; Assets; Mission and Purpose

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August 2024
Case

Keurig: A Return to Growth

By: David Fubini and Patrick Sanguineti

By the early 2010s, Keurig Green Mountain (KGM) had lost the momentum that had made it the name in at-home coffee brewing in North America. Following a series of product missteps, negative media scrutiny, and ongoing challenges to its partner relationships, in late... View Details

Keywords: Turnaround; Mergers and Acquisitions; Decisions; Initial Public Offering; Global Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Going Public; Diversification; Expansion; Food and Beverage Industry

May 2015 (Revised March 2016)
Supplement

Thomas Cook Group on the Brink (C): Transformation Year 2 Results

By: Benjamin C. Esty

Analyzes the results of the Thomas Cook turnaround plan after the second year under Harriet Green's leadership (November 2014). View Details

Keywords: Turnaround; Corporate Restructuring; Female Ceo; Transformation; Change Management; Communication Strategy; Cost Management; Financial Liquidity; Financial Management; Management Succession; Leading Change; Crisis Management; Value Creation; Leadership; Travel Industry; United Kingdom

June 2014
Case

Starbucks Coffee Company: Transformation and Renewal

By: Nancy F. Koehn, Kelly McNamara, Nora N. Khan and Elizabeth Legris

Starbucks Coffee Company: Transformation and Renewal analyzes the turnaround and reconstruction of Starbucks Coffee Company from 2008 to 2014 as led by CEO and co-founder Howard Schultz. The case offers executives and students an opportunity to examine in depth how... View Details

May 2017 (Revised September 2017)
Case

Taj Hotels: Leading Change, Driving Profitability

By: Krishna Palepu, Anjali Raina and Rachna Chawla

Rakesh Sarna, MD and CEO of the Indian Hotels Company ltd (IHCL) was faced with the challenge of leading and embedding changes in IHCL to turnaround its trajectory. IHCL and its subsidiaries, headquartered in India, were a venerable hotel chain, collectively known as... View Details

Keywords: Turnaround; Hospitality Industry; Leadership; Brands and Branding; Marketing; Strategy; Globalization; Leading Change; Accommodations Industry; India

November 2019
Case

Celebrity Fashions Limited (A)

By: V.G. Narayanan, Tanvi Deshpande and Shreya Ramachandran

In May 2017 in Chennai, India, the chairman of Celebrity Fashions doubted whether the company could last until the end of the year. Venkatesh Rajagopal had found that the company, a readymade garment manufacturing and exporter he founded in 1989, was having a hard time... View Details

Keywords: Turnarounds; Operations; Management; Financial Condition; Problems and Challenges; Communication; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Transformation; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Manufacturing Industry

2016
Chapter

Understanding Confidence: Its Roots and Role in Performance

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Daniel Fox

Keywords: Confidence; Turnarounds; Performance; Ownership; Failure

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