Publications

June 2014
Article

The Price of Wall Street's Power

By: Gautam Mukunda

Over and over again, executives make decisions that aren't in their companies' best interests, in response to pressure from Wall Street. Though many believe this happens because firms have a "fiduciary duty" to maximize shareholder returns, U.S. executives do not, as a... View Details

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Web

Marketing - Faculty & Research

for the 2022 John D. C. Little Award. They study the effect of Airbnb’s smart-pricing algorithm on the racial disparity in the daily revenue earned by Airbnb hosts. Their empirical strategy exploits Airbnb’s introduction of the algorithm... View Details

April 1995 (Revised September 1997)
Case

Frito-Lay, Inc.: A Strategic Transition, 1987-1992 (Abridged)

By: Lynda M. Applegate

A new CEO must take action to return the company to profitability, to clarify the vision, and then to build the infrastructure (human, capital, and information) needed to support the long-term change in strategy and organization. The case provides a rich description of... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Leading Change; Information Technology; Adaptation; Technology Adoption; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

14 Feb 2018
Blog Post

Meet HBS Leadership Fellows: Verdell Walker, Sesame Workshop

organization where every employee is truly united and motivated by a singular goal. SW combines fun media with enriching, meticulously crafted curriculum to address children’s critical developmental needs in the U.S. View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit / Government

17 Oct 2007
Research & Ideas

Why Global Brands Work

distractions including Jaguar, Land Rover, and Volvo will be sold off; they're now meaningless. U.S.-based models like Mercury will be discontinued. Can Ford recover? The answer lies in whether the common vehicle platforms developed for... View Details

Keywords: by John A. Quelch; Auto

2017
Book

Entering StartUpLand: An Essential Guide to Finding the Right Job

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang

Many professionals aspire to work for startups. Executives from large companies view them as models to help them adapt to today's dynamic innovation economy, while freshly minted MBAs see magic in founding something new. Yes, startups look magical, but they can also be... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Managerial Roles; Job Search

Find at Harvard

April 1994 (Revised October 2002)
Case

Frito-Lay, Inc.: A Strategic Transition (1987-1989)

By: Lynda M. Applegate

Describes the actions taken by the new CEO to return the company to profitability, to clarify the vision, and then to build the infrastructure (human, capital, and information) needed to support the long-term change in strategy and organization. Ends with senior... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Information Technology; Management Teams; Business Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry

April 1999
Teaching Note

Dimensions of Technology Strategy: Managing Innovation: Overview Teaching Note for Module 5

By: Clayton M. Christensen

Provides instructors with an overview teaching note for the technology strategy module of the course. The cases in the module give students insights about several issues in technology strategy. These include: 1) Whether to be a technological leader or follower; 2)... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Investment Return; Innovation and Management; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Managerial Roles; Performance Improvement; Problems and Challenges; Research; Strategy; Technology

February 2006 (Revised November 2006)
Case

GE's Growth Strategy: The Immelt Initiative

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Follows the actions of GE CEO, Jeff Immelt, as he implements a growth strategy for the $150 billion company in a tough business environment. In four years, he reinvigorates GE's technology, expands its services, develops a commercial focus, pushes developing countries,... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Judgments; Global Strategy; Leadership Style; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Structure

15 Oct 2008
First Look

First Look: October 15, 2008

of Maine by Colgate—to ascertain what is distinctive about the merger process and to analyze the elements critical to success. We develop suggestions about how other companies considering similar arrangements might best manage the process... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

17 Dec 2012
Research & Ideas

Teaming in the Twenty-First Century

work done," says Edmondson, the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management. “Teaming is the engine of organizational learning.” The problem: Stable teams that plan first and View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish

November 2012 (Revised June 2013)
Case

GREE, Inc.

By: Andrei Hagiu and Masahiro Kotosaka

In 2012, GREE was one of the world's most profitable mobile social gaming companies. Its success in Japan was due both to its in-house games and to the development platform that it offered to third-party game developers. Its biggest challenge was to replicate the... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Technology; Japan

20 Jun 2023
Research & Ideas

Looking to Leave a Mark? Memorable Leaders Don't Just Spout Statistics, They Tell Stories

Harvard Business School. People are more likely to recall information over a longer period when it’s wrapped in an anecdote as opposed to statistics, according to the study, “Stories, Statistics and Memory.” Graeber’s research validates... View Details

Keywords: by Scott Van Voorhis

13 May 2013
Blog Post

Being Uncomfortable at HBS

Strategy consultant. HuffPost blogger. Passionate foodie. Avid trekker. Tech enthusiast. I was a whole host of things prior to Harvard Business School - and I still am. Although part of me likes having a... View Details

December 2014 (Revised June 2016)
Case

Cameron Trebbi at Taylor Lowell, LLP

By: Karthik Ramanna

Cameron Trebbi is a senior executive overseeing accounting policy at a large global auditing firm. His role is to lobby the firm's position with various accounting rule-making bodies worldwide. The firm is close to acquiring as new audit clients a consortium of Chinese... View Details

Keywords: Lobbying; Thin Political Markets; Accounting; Business and Government Relations; Accounting Industry; China; United States

09 May 2018
News

4 Ways Women Can Break Barriers by Breaking the Rules

2020
Working Paper

Building the Professional Firm: McKinsey & Co.: 1939-1968

By: Amar Bhidé

This case history analyzes how the founders of McKinsey & Co. built one of the world's leading management consulting firms by developing a “system” of professional norms, approach to serving clients, personnel policies, organization, governance, and ownership. The... View Details

Keywords: McKinsey ＆ Co.; Company History; Professional Norms; Vision; Organizations; Business History; Business Model; Strategy; Consulting Industry

SSRN

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July 2008 (Revised January 2010)
Case

PCCW now

By: Andrei Hagiu and Waishun Lo

In 2007, PCCW had to formulate a strategy for growth of its successful NOW TV platform and its quadruple play implementation outside of Hong Kong. Launched in September 2003 by PCCW (Hong Kong's largest telecommunications operator), NOW TV had swiftly become the... View Details

Keywords: Television Entertainment; Growth and Development Strategy; Multi-Sided Platforms; Technology Platform; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Hong Kong