Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(496)
- Faculty Publications (104)
- 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
- March 2006 (Revised June 2010)
- Case
Eldeco: Playing in the Big League
By: Arthur I Segel, Nicolas P. Retsinas and Siddarth Yog
In 2001, Pankaj Bajaj is considering whether to go forward with a residential development outside New Delhi. Facing an uncooperative local authority, he must determine how to evaluate the risks of proceeding against the potential loss of a golden opportunity to bring... View Details
- February 2006 (Revised November 2012)
- Case
Corporate Responsibility & Community Engagement at the Tintaya Copper Mine (A)
By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Brooke Barton and Ezequiel Reficco
Located in the highlands of Peru, the Tintaya copper mine has long been a source of intense conflict between local community members and mine operators. The mine, which was owned and managed first by the Peruvian state and later by BHP Billiton, stands on 2,300... View Details
- January 2006 (Revised December 2006)
- Case
Wal-Mart's Business Environment
In 2004, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. proposed to build a new supercenter in Inglewood, a low-income community near Los Angeles. The proposal was a part of Wal-Mart's strategy to bring its supercenter format to California. Introduced in the late 1980s, supercenters added a... View Details
- 2006
- Working Paper
The Limits of Authority: Motivation versus Coordination
This paper studies the effects of open disagreement on motivation and coordination. It shows how, in the presence of differing priors, motivation and coordination impose conflicting demands on the allocation of authority, leading to a trade-off between the... View Details
- December 2005 (Revised March 2010)
- Case
William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia
By: Nitin Nohria, Anthony Mayo and Mark Benson
Demand for low-cost housing after World War II far exceeded supply. Was this a profitable new market? New York developer William Levitt had to decide. During World War II, Levitt was eager to build basic housing for the working class—otherwise, Levitt & Sons would have... View Details
- March 2005 (Revised August 2007)
- Case
Aguas Argentinas: Settling a Dispute
By: Louis T. Wells Jr. and Alexandra de Royere
The French-owned Aguas Argentinas faces a demand from the Argentine government that it renegotiate its concession to operate the Buenos Aires water and sewage services. The company must decide whether to continue with efforts to settle on a new contract or to exercise... View Details
- April 2004 (Revised March 2008)
- Case
Precise Software
By: Paul A. Gompers and Sara Bergson
Yossi Sela, general partner at Gemini Venture capital, considers a new investment in Precise Software. The firm is at a crisis point, and Sela needs to decide whether he will fire the firm's chief executive officer. Conflicts between the American CEO and the Israeli... View Details
- April 2004 (Revised July 2008)
- Case
Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (A)
By: Kathleen L. McGinn and Dina R. Pradel
New technology underlies a protracted dispute between West Coast longshoremen and their employers. Severe economic consequences lead to government intervention in the dispute. View Details
- April 2004 (Revised July 2008)
- Case
Showdown on the Waterfront: The West Coast Port Dispute (B)
By: Kathleen L. McGinn and Dina R. Pradel
New technology underlies a protracted dispute between West Coast longshoremen and their employers. Severe economic consequences lead to government intervention in the dispute. View Details
- November 2003 (Revised February 2004)
- Case
Richmond Events
By: Amy C. Edmondson and Kristin Lieb
The managers of British business forum planner, Richmond Events, are struggling to expand their conference offerings into new territories. At the same time, they are trying to decide how product managers, who are critical to event success, should be hired, trained,... View Details
- October 2003
- Case
Henry Tam and the MGI Team
By: Jeffrey T. Polzer, Ingrid Vargas and Hillary Anger Elfenbein
Within a short time frame, seven diverse team members assemble to write a business plan for a new company and struggle to define their roles, make decisions together, and resolve conflict. Henry Tam, a second-year Harvard MBA student, who joins an aspiring start-up... View Details
- June 2003 (Revised September 2004)
- Exercise
The Pacific Sentinel: Role for Chris Coleman
By: Kathleen L. McGinn and Dina R. Pradel
A new publishing company has just purchased the Pacific Sentinel, a fictional West Coast newspaper. The new publisher is willing to invest $1 million in the future success of the paper and has asked the executive editor and advertising manager to develop a joint plan... View Details
- April 2003
- Case
IBM Canada: Global Services (A)
By: Michael L. Tushman, David Kiron and Wendy Smith
IBM Canada Global Services is losing shares in a stagnant information technology market. A new leader must overcome a senior team rife with internal conflict and change internal processes to drive innovation streams. The leader struggles to build an ambidextrous... View Details
- February 2003 (Revised October 2003)
- Case
Versity.com
By: Leslie A. Perlow
Versity.com has grown from four college students working out of a dorm to a $125 million venture capital-backed company. The young founders and new professional managers struggle to create a company vision and grapple with the question of whether to acquire another... View Details
- January 2003 (Revised April 2004)
- Case
Cat is out of the Bag, The: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A)
By: Leslie A. Perlow and David Ager
Vicki Amon-Higa, vice president of KANA, a publicly traded, midsize development company, was working with Bryan Kettle, KANA's CFO, to plan a layoff in which KANA would reduce the size of its workforce by nearly 40%. Despite the best of intentions, news of the layoff... View Details
- September 2002 (Revised January 2013)
- Case
MedCath Corporation (A)
By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Pete Stavros
MedCath is a horizontally integrated chain of heart hospitals that partners with local cardiologists. It claims that its focus leads to better and cheaper results than those of an everything-for-everybody general hospital. Community hospitals generally vehemently... View Details
- August 2002 (Revised June 2003)
- Case
New Wachovia (A), The
By: Carliss Y. Baldwin and Jeremy Swinson
In April 2001, First Union Corp. announced an agreement to merge with Wachovia Corp., a fellow North Carolina-based commercial bank. While the banks were preparing to consummate the merger, SunTrust Banks, Inc. of Atlanta, made a hostile offer for Wachovia, setting in... View Details
- November 2001 (Revised December 2002)
- Case
Tracking Stocks at Genzyme (A)
Genzyme, a tracking stock pioneer, has used its innovative capital structure as a way to frame and grow its R&D-intensive business. Facing the question of how best to integrate a new acquisition into its tracking stock structure, Genzyme's top management is forced to... View Details
- August 2001 (Revised June 2002)
- Case
IBM Software Solutions (A)
By: Michael L. Tushman, Charles A. O'Reilly III and Robert Chapman Wood
Executives and managers of key IBM software units struggle to make IBM a top player in the post-mainframe era. When one software unit introduces a visionary product with potential to create a new leadership position for the firm, the result is an epic conflict in the... View Details