Publications

March 1998 (Revised November 2004)
Case

FAG Kugelfischer-A German Restructuring

By: Stuart C. Gilson

A large German manufacturer of ball bearings and precision machinery experiences severe financial difficulty brought on by poor management practices, an ill-conceived acquisition of a former East German ball-bearings company, and an industry recession. The company... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Acquisition; Restructuring; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Machinery and Machining; Policy; Resignation and Termination; Management Practices and Processes; Performance Evaluation; Business and Shareholder Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Europe; Germany; United States

June 1991 (Revised December 1997)
Case

Takeover of the Norton Co., The

By: Thomas R. Piper

After a decade of mediocre performance, the Norton Co. enters 1990 with the prospect of increased sales in the next few years. Yet Norton is pursuing slow growth industries, and a lower than expected earnings announcement at the beginning of 1990 has depressed earnings... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Conglomerates; Goals and Objectives; Forecasting and Prediction; Performance Evaluation; Revenue; Bids and Bidding; Business Processes; Ownership Stake

June 1997 (Revised May 1998)
Case

Mobil USM&R (A2)

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Second of a two-part case on the development and use of a Balanced Scorecard (BSC) at Mobil's US Marketing and Refining Division. This case describes the completed BSC, and how this was linked to the BSCs of the independent business units and the internal service... View Details

Keywords: Balanced Scorecard; Performance Evaluation; Management Teams; Management Practices and Processes; Executive Compensation; Motivation and Incentives; Corporate Strategy; Energy Industry; Mining Industry; United States

12 May 2011
Research & Ideas

The Difficult Transition from For-Profit to Nonprofit Boards

mission and whether we are doing it in a fiscally responsible fashion. Chapter Two deals with the complex multifaceted issue of mission definition and evaluation of its appropriateness. Chapter Three shows, in a series of examples, how... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

April 2020 (Revised April 2023)
Supplement

TransDigm in 2017: The Beginning of the End or the End of the Beginning?

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher

TransDigm was a highly acquisitive company that manufactured a wide range of highly engineered aerospace parts for both military and commercial customers. Over the ten years ending in 2016, its stock price had increase ten times, and both EBITDA and revenues had grown... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Ethics; Private Equity; Financial Strategy; Growth Management; Performance Evaluation; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Horizontal Integration; Value Creation; Competitive Advantage; Aerospace Industry; Air Transportation Industry; United States

19 Mar 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, March 19, 2019

algorithms for antibody clustering, imputing gene expression data, and querying the Connectivity Map (CMap). Performance gains are evaluated quantitatively using realistic, albeit sanitized, data sets. The... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

06 May 2019
Research & Ideas

Consumers Blame Business for Global Health Problems. Can Business Become the Solution?

representing more than 200 of the world’s largest companies, has recently launched investor forums dedicated to the culture of health, often featuring prominent CEOs like Paul Polman of Unilever and Alex Gorsky of Johnson & Johnson. In 2015, Harvard Business Review... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Health

03 Feb 2018
Op-Ed

How to Heed BlackRock's Call for Corporate Social Responsibility

financial purpose. Because BlackRock manages more than $6 trillion in assets, Mr. Fink’s announcement has the potential to help change companies’ behaviors in big ways. But this will happen only if BlackRock and other large asset managers add social View Details

Keywords: by Julie Battilana

03 Jan 2017
Research & Ideas

5 New Year's Resolutions You Can Keep (With the Help of Behavioral Science Research)

order and devour a pepperoni pizza at midnight, try tackling next week’s grocery list instead. Researchers from Harvard Business School and the Analyst Institute evaluated a year's worth of customer orders from an online grocer. Their... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

06 Oct 2014
Research & Ideas

Why Businesses Need a Language Strategy

levels of language skills, communication and performance suffer. Q: You have written about English becoming the primary lingua franca in global businesses. Do you see any dangers in that proliferation? Are there cultural assumptions that... View Details

Keywords: Re: Tsedal Neeley

December 1999 (Revised July 2000)
Case

Cimetrics Technology (B): Russian Perspectives

By: Lynn S. Paine

Presents the perspectives of two Russian software developers working for Cimetrics in Moscow. A central issue from the Russian perspective is whether a more structured and formal arrangement is needed for managing the Russian team. View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Applications and Software; Business or Company Management; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Human Resources; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Labor and Management Relations; Product Development; Performance Evaluation; Information Technology Industry; Russia; Canada; United States

May 2024
Teaching Note

Making Progress at Progress Software (A) and (B)

By: Katherine Baldiga Coffman, Hannah Riley Bowles, Emma Ronzetti and Alexis Lefort

Teaching Note for HBS Case Nos. 924-010 and 924-011. View Details

Keywords: Leading Change; Organizational Culture; Performance Evaluation; Prejudice and Bias; Employee Relationship Management; Personal Development and Career; Technology Industry

November 2000 (Revised July 2019)
Teaching Note

Cafes Monte Bianco: Building a Profit Plan

By: Robert Simons and Indra Reinbergs

Teaching Note for (9-198-088). View Details

Keywords: Business Strategy; Cash Flow; Capital Structure; Business Earnings; Financial Statements; Business Plan; Profit; Cost Management; Performance Evaluation; Strategic Planning; Financial Management; Investment Return; Food and Beverage Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Italy