Publications

March 2016
Case

IC Group A/S

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

IC Group owned several of Scandinavia's leading premium fashion brands. How should it respond to the decline of its primary wholesale distribution channels (independent fashion boutiques and department stores)? Should it open more physical stores or focus on... View Details

December 2009 (Revised March 2025)
Case

Phreesia: The Patient Intake Company

By: Regina E. Herzlinger, Sunaina Yarlagadda and Brian L. Walker

How should the co-founders of an organization that provides patient sign-in and billing services scale their company after five years of successfully targeting small private physician practices? Phreesia had deployed a direct mail and sales force strategy that resulted... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Social Entrepreneurship; Revenue; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry

05 Sep 2006
First Look

First Look: September 5, 2006

(August 2006): 595-623 Abstract There is a widespread belief that increases in the cross-border integration of markets are associated with increases in global concentration along various dimensions. This... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Career Coach

Christina LaMontagne

Christina (HBS '09, Dartmouth '03) has held senior roles across innovative healthcare companies. She has led small digital health companies to achieve market leadership and >$100M ARR View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Technology

18 Apr 2005
Research & Ideas

Selling Luxury to Everyone

houses—Morse noted that Estée Lauder has 400 chemists—selling products to customers who come in for services help it compete. Daniel Langer, executive director of marketing for hair products maker Bumble and... View Details

Keywords: by Julie Jette; Consumer Products

07 Feb 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: February 7

2017 New York: Oxford University Press Managing Risk in Reinsurance: From City Fires to Global Warming By: Hauter, Niels Viggo, and Geoffrey Jones, eds. Abstract—This is the first book to provide a... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2010 (Revised June 2010)
Case

Arup: Building the Water Cube

By: Robert G. Eccles, Amy C. Edmondson and Dilyana Karadzhova

Arup, an engineering firm, collaborated with PTW Architects and China Construction Design Institute to develop a design for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics Aquatics Center design competition. Their winning concept for the Water Cube combined elements of Chinese... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Environmental Sustainability; Design; Construction; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Projects; Groups and Teams; Real Estate Industry; Sports Industry; Beijing; Sydney

February 2002
Case

Strategy of the Firm Under Regulatory Review: The Case of Chilectra

By: Rafael M. Di Tella and Alexander Dyck

Discusses the largest electric distribution company in Chile and one of the five largest private Chilean companies. Introduces the exercise of operating control in order to improve the profitability of the investments, privatization, and international expansions. View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Corporate Accountability; Growth and Development Strategy; Privatization; Emerging Markets; Competitive Strategy; Expansion; Global Strategy; Governance Compliance; Utilities Industry; Chile

April 1993
Case

Sumiko Ito

By: David A. Thomas

Describes the life and career of the first Japanese female investment banker at Nomura Securities, Sumiko Ito, who later became a partner at Alex Brown, a U.S. investment bank. Organized around the major life events and career transitions Ms. Ito experienced. Set in... View Details

Keywords: Investment Banking; Personal Development and Career; Gender; Diversity; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Banking Industry; Banking Industry; Japan; England; United States

01 Feb 2002
News

Telling the Electronic Century's Unfinished Story

and Sharp - remain on that path, and they are all in Japan. In computers, the Japanese have been and remain major challengers to the U.S. industry, with growing View Details

Keywords: Electric Power Generation, Transmission, Distribution; Utilities

23 Mar 2016
Research & Ideas

Researchers Prove C-Suite Gender Gap—but Can’t Explain It

professor at BI Norwegian Business School; and Joacim Tåg, program director at the Research Institute of Industrial Economics. In their study, comprising an entire nation of executives, the researchers... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

November 2000 (Revised December 2001)
Case

Alibaba.com

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Carin-Isabel Knoop and David Lane

This case focuses on the strategic issues of an emerging dot-com in a rapidly emerging Internet nation-China. Alibaba, a bulletin board company based in Hangzhou, China, is trying to carve out a niche in the B-to-B e-commerce world. It also shows the speed and... View Details

Keywords: Digital Marketing; Internet and the Web; Marketing; Strategy; Service Industry; Service Industry; Hangzhou; Europe; United States

March 2021 (Revised February 2025)
Teaching Note

Afterpay U.S.: The Omnichannel Dilemma

By: Antonio Moreno and Anibha Singh

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 519-086. In 2018, Nick Molnar, the founder of the Australia-based online payment service Afterpay began its expansion to the U.S. market. The service had gained a loyal following in Australia by enabling customers to pay for online... View Details

August 2019 (Revised October 2019)
Supplement

Preserving Trust at Care.com (B)

By: Krishna G. Palepu and Julia Kelley

The (B) case describes the company’s response and subsequent developments. View Details

Keywords: Business Strategy; Corporate Governance; Digital Platforms; Market Design; Emerging Markets; Trust; Technology Industry; United States

May 2024
Case

Naked Wines: The Profit vs. Growth Decision

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Edward A. Meyer

Nick Devlin faced a difficult strategic decision in October 2022. As the CEO of a UK-based subscription business connecting wine drinkers in the US, UK, and Australia with winemakers from around the world (which one journalist called the “Netflix of Wine”), he had to... View Details

February 2025
Supplement

Moleskine: Daniela Riccardi Turns the Page

By: Ryan Raffaelli

Newly appointed CEO Daniela Riccardi needed to develop and present an action plan to the board of the company that owned Moleskine. Riccardi was hired because Moleskine had recently overextended its reach and needed more focus and discipline. Having previously served... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Distribution Channels; Planning; Leading Change; Organizational Culture; Product Marketing; Retail Industry; Italy