Publications

November 2022
Case

Hiring with the Community in Saint Paul

By: Mitchell B. Weiss and Sarah Mehta

This case reviews Saint Paul Mayor Melvin Carter’s decision to involve the community in the process of hiring his cabinet members. Rather than relying on an executive recruiting firm or choosing cabinet heads from his own network, Carter recruited 100 community members... View Details

Keywords: Community Engagement; Competency and Skills; Government and Politics; Human Resources; Government Administration; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Decision Making; Public Administration Industry; United States; Minnesota; Saint Paul

February 2004 (Revised January 2005)
Case

Hewlett-Packard: Culture in Changing Times

By: Michael Beer, Rakesh Khurana and James Weber

HP had been a highly successful and respected company for decades. It was well known for its company culture and management practices--the HP way--which emphasized both profits and people. Changing markets, strong competitors, and the growth of its computer business,... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Decision Choices and Conditions; Human Resources; Leading Change; Managerial Roles; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Performance Effectiveness; Adoption; Competition

August 2019 (Revised October 2019)
Case

Amandla Capital: Real Estate in Côte d‘Ivoire

By: John D. Macomber, Pippa Tubman Armerding and Dilyana Botha

This case describes Amandla Capital, a fledgling company in Cote d’Ivoire, facing three opportunities in the real estate and hospitality industries in Africa. It introduces students to several concepts: decision-making and cost-benefit analysis in real estate,... View Details

Keywords: Small Business; Decision Making; Decision Choices and Conditions; Cost vs Benefits; Finance; Assets; Asset Management; Investment Portfolio; Investment Return; Project Finance; Relationships

January 2013 (Revised December 2024)
Case

MuMaté

By: Thomas Eisenmann and Alex Godden

MuMaté, a fictional cult beverage company, requires capital to fund national expansion. Its cofounders, who have bootstrapped to this point, are now negotiating with venture capital firms to raise a $3 million funding round. The case describes MuMaté's inception, early... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Growth Management; Negotiation; Expansion; Valuation; Entrepreneurship; Organizational Culture; Business Startups; Food and Beverage Industry

February 2017
Case

Dick's Sporting Goods

By: Rajiv Lal, Jose B. Alvarez and Matthew G. Preble

Edward Stack, chairman and CEO of Dick’s Sporting Goods (DKS), faced a rapidly changing sporting goods landscape in October 2016. Two large competitors—The Sports Authority and Sport Chalet—had folded earlier that year, and DKS had to contend with increasingly robust... View Details

April 2009 (Revised March 2010)
Case

Nippon Steel Corporation

By: Srikant M. Datar and Akiko Kanno

Nippon Steel Corporation, the largest Japanese steel producer and second largest in the world faces challenges in pursuing strategy to become a true global player. Nippon Steel had long been the top Japanese company, however the emergence of a global player,... View Details

Keywords: History; Corporate Strategy; Problems and Challenges; International Accounting; Change Management; Restructuring; Competitive Strategy; Emerging Markets; Globalization; Global Strategy; Steel Industry; Japan

9 AM – 10 AM EDT, 16 Oct 2019
HBS Online

HBS Online Economics for Managers

Gain the knowledge and skills to craft successful business strategy, whether you are an aspiring marketing professional, strategy consultant, or entrepreneur, preparing for an MBA, or just looking to contribute more to business decision making. Program Dates: October... View Details

9 AM – 9 AM EDT, 09 Oct 2018

HBX Economics for Managers

Gain the knowledge and skills to craft successful business strategy, whether you are an aspiring marketing professional, strategy consultant, or entrepreneur, preparing for an MBA, or just looking to contribute more to business decision making. Program Dates: October... View Details

January 2013 (Revised August 2013)
Case

Family Matters at ProLab

By: Noam Wasserman and Yael Braid

Hillary Mallow, founder-CEO of ProLab, learns that her health-services company is two months shy of bankruptcy. She needs to act—immediately—but isn't sure where to begin. Prolab's client list and geographic presence have grown steadily over the years, so the recent... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Entrepreneurship; Health Industry

September 2019
Case

Alicia Keys

By: Boris Groysberg, Annelena Lobb and Sarah Mehta

This case explores the life and career of Alicia Keys, the 15-time Grammy winning singer-songwriter and producer. Set in 2019, it covers the evolution of Keys’s 18-year musical career and additional passions, including acting, entrepreneurship, social justice activism,... View Details

Keywords: Entertainment; Music Entertainment; Television Entertainment; Entrepreneurship; Personal Development and Career; Fine Arts Industry; Music Industry; United States

16 Jul 2018
Research & Ideas

Kids of Working Moms Grow into Happy Adults

every day for work, it can be painful,” she says. “As we gradually understand that our children aren’t suffering, I hope the guilt will go away.” Working moms can also take comfort from their own kids. In a panel discussion with female View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

2012
Other Unpublished Work

What Are We Meeting For? The Consequences of Private Meetings with Investors

By: Eugene F. Soltes and David H. Solomon

Executives of publicly-traded firms spend considerable time meeting privately with investors, despite regulation restricting their ability to convey material nonpublic information. Using a set of records of all one-on-one meetings between senior management and... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Investment; Investment Funds; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Management Teams; Public Ownership; Business and Shareholder Relations

SSRN

09 Jun 2015
First Look

First Look: June 9, 2015

Aligning Strategy and Sales By: Cespedes, Frank V. Abstract— Much current opinion asserts that strategy is less important (and may, in fact, be an impediment) in an era of... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

08 Aug 2022
HBS Case

Building an 'ARMY' of Fans: Marketing Lessons from K-Pop Sensation BTS

since. Some analysts predicted that the band would do more to grow South Korea’s gross domestic product over 10 years than the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. Underdogs with a strategy The band’s explosion was the result of a carefully... View Details

Keywords: by Shalene Gupta; Media & Broadcasting; Music

2012
Book

Banks as Multinationals

By: G. Jones

This is a revised edition of a comparative, international study which looks at the history of multinational banks. Researchers from the United States, Japan, Europe, and Australia survey the evolution of multinational banks over time and suggest a conceptual framework... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Multinational Firms and Management; Banks and Banking; Business Strategy; Geographic Location; Trends; Theory

01 Aug 2012
News

Face Fears with Courage

October 1988 (Revised May 1989)
Case

General Electric: Consumer Electronics Group

By: David J. Collis and Nancy Donohue

Highlights the General Electric takeover of RCA and the consolidation of the two companies' consumer electronic groups. Starting first with a history of the television industry in the United States, Europe, and Japan, and then a brief discussion of the main competitors... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Markets; Business Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Electronics Industry

Find at Harvard

January 2021 (Revised March 2021)
Case

Jumia's Path to Profitability

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Pippa Tubman Armerding and Gamze Yucaoglu

The case opens in September 2019 as Sacha Poignonnec and Jeremy Hodara, co-founders and co-CEOs of Jumia, the leading Pan-African e-commerce platform, are contemplating the company’s path to profitability in the aftermath of a fragile investor sentiment, as the company... View Details

April 2024 (Revised July 2024)
Case

Unleashing Human Magic at Best Buy

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger, Sunil Gupta and Amram Migdal

The case examines the transformation of Best Buy under CEO Hubert Joly's leadership from 2012. Facing significant business challenges, including competition from online and physical retailers, Joly implemented the "Renew Blue" turnaround strategy, which focused on... View Details