Publications

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2023 Reunion Presentations - Alumni

what causes the pursuit of new growth initiatives to face far more risk from friendly-fire incidents than external forces? In this session, we explore the dynamics described by Professor Clayton Christensen’s work on disruptive innovation... View Details

29 May 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, May 29, 2018

and the profitability to engage in exports and R&D, thereby relaxing borrowing constraints and enabling more firms to overcome the fixed-cost hurdle for financing R&D. We decompose the effects of RER changes on productivity View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

February 1992 (Revised December 1994)
Case

Birds Eye and the U.K. Frozen Food Industry (A)

By: David J. Collis

Describes the forty-year evolution of the U.K. frozen food industry, and traces the emergence, dominance, and the decline of Birds Eye. Its success is as a vertically integrated producer, distributor, and marketer of frozen foods that pioneers the industry in the U.K.... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Industry Growth; Vertical Integration; Food and Beverage Industry; United Kingdom

Web

Topics - HBS Working Knowledge

(93) Budgets and Budgeting (4) Buildings and Facilities (4) Business Conglomerates (1) Business Cycles (6) Business Divisions (7) Business Earnings (5) Business Education (24) Business Exit or Shutdown (1) Business Growth and Maturation... View Details

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Human Behavior & Decision-Making - Faculty & Research

Greenwood Online: A Fin-Tech Service for Culture and Community (B) By: James Riley and Bernal Cortés July 2025 | Case | Faculty Research This B case follows Greenwood’s development after launch, including its decision to partner with a White-owned bank for backend... View Details

23 Apr 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, April 23, 2019

expression of corporate purpose and guide for decision-making for most publicly owned firms in the United States (and the United Kingdom). I argue that narrowing the compatibility gap between capitalism and justice and reversing declining... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

May 1993 (Revised May 1994)
Case

Managing for Integrity: Three Vignettes

By: Lynn S. Paine

Three situations are described. A branch manager for a retail brokerage firm must decide whether to change the branch's cash management techniques to increase interest earnings. An auto mechanic must decide whether to oversell parts and repairs to meet sales and... View Details

Keywords: Growth Management; Ethics; Decision Making; Organizational Culture; Financial Management; Sales; Organizational Change and Adaptation

February 2021 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Brainlab: Imaging a MedTech Future

By: Regina E. Herzlinger, Gregory P. Licholai and Federica Gabrieli

Can Brainlab, a privately held firm, compete with giants like Medtronic and Amazon in delivering the Digital Operating Room of the future? The CEO is pondering solutions for secure exchange of medical information, pricing a new robotic imaging device, and reorganizing... View Details

December 1998 (Revised May 2003)
Case

Vivendi (A): Revitalizing a French Conglomerate

By: Cynthia A. Montgomery and John M. Turner

Examines corporate strategy for a diversified firm in the French business context. Issues include corporate governance, vision, and the management of unrelated diversification. After the company's first loss ever, the Vivendi board elected a new chairman who completed... View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Technological Innovation; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Diversification; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Telecommunications Industry; France

January 2024 (Revised June 2024)
Case

Equal Justice Initiative: Mercy, Truth and Dignity

By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Gerald Chertavian and Brittany Logan

In 1989, the Equal Justice Initiative was established as a non-profit, public interest law firm by Harvard Law School graduate, Bryan Stevenson.

EJI provides legal assistance to condemned prisoners, people wrongly convicted or unfairly sentenced, children in... View Details

Keywords: Equality and Inequality; Nonprofit Organizations; Mission and Purpose; Growth and Development Strategy; Social Issues; Race

September 2010
Case

Aaron's: Household Goods for the U.S. Base of the Pyramid

By: Michael Chu and Charles Augustus Smithgall IV

With $2.5 billion system-wide revenues, Aaron's, a major rent-to-own supplier to the U.S. base of the pyramid, continues to grow in the recession, but CEO R.C. Loudermilk, Jr. wonders how long the company can sustain the fast growth rate of its past. Founded in 1955,... View Details

Keywords: Fairness; For-Profit Firms; Renting or Rental; Financial Crisis; Demand and Consumers; Social Enterprise; Income; Goods and Commodities; Competitive Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; United States

Web

Online Business Courses & Certifications | HBS Online

analysis techniques to solve real-world business challenges and drive informed decision-making. 8 weeks, 5 hrs/week Pay by September18 $1,850 Certificate Economics for Managers Professor Bharat Anand Gain economic insights and learn how markets work and View Details

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Finance - Faculty & Research

Economics in 1997, to John Lintner who co-created the Capital Asset Pricing Model and made significant contributions to dividend policy , and Gordon Donaldson whose work helped shape the field of corporate finance . We strive to understand how managers and View Details

September 2003 (Revised April 2013)
Case

Holt Lunsford Commercial

By: Arthur I Segel and John H. Vogel Jr.

Holt Lunsford is debating how to grow his Dallas-based commercial real estate services firm and how to advise a long-time client who is wondering whether to lease or buy an industrial warehouse. Focuses on the highly competitive and increasingly institutionalized $50... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Investment; Growth and Development Strategy; Leasing; Competition; Corporate Strategy; Real Estate Industry; Service Industry

August 2023
Teaching Note

Kunshan, Incorporated: The Making of China’s Richest Town

By: William C. Kirby and Noah B. Truwit

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 313-103. The case is designed to give the students an understanding of the local Chinese entrepreneurial state and how foreign and Chinese firms have worked with it to create China’s richest small city. The major themes are—local state... View Details

Keywords: Higher Education; Entrepreneurship; Economic Growth; Economic Systems; Business and Government Relations; Development Economics; China