Publications

June 2004 (Revised November 2004)
Case

Microsoft in 2004

By: Michael G. Rukstad, David B. Yoffie, Brian DeLacey and Deborah Freier

Surveys Microsoft's expansion into new businesses, such as mobile and embedded devices, home and entertainment, and business solutions, as it faces challenges due to size and maturity and outside threats from Linux and Google. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details

Keywords: Competitive Advantage; Applications and Software; Expansion; Growth and Development Strategy; Information Technology Industry; Washington (state, US)

November 1997 (Revised May 2002)
Case

MicroAge, Inc.: Orchestrating the Information Technology Value Chain

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Kirk A. Goldman

MicroAge, Inc. started as a storefront in Tempe, AZ in 1976 selling personal computer kits to hobbyists. During their first year of operation, founders Jeff McKeever and Alan Hald sold $1.5 million worth of computer kits, priced at under $1,000 each. Twenty years... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Growth Management; Risk Management; Product; Opportunities; Horizontal Integration; Information Infrastructure; Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Technology Industry; Arizona

Find at Harvard

September 1995 (Revised March 1997)
Case

Bob Reiss and Valdawn (A): November 1994

Bob Reiss, a seasoned entrepreneur, "accidentally" started Valdawn in 1988 and in six years built the company into a $7 million marketer of "fun and fashion" watches. Valdawn, a "virtual" company, has very few employees or fixed assets and enjoys attractive profit... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Business Growth and Maturation; Ethics; Decision Making; Entrepreneurship; Apparel and Accessories Industry

18 Jul 2011
Research & Ideas

Looking in the Mirror: Questions Every Leader Must Ask

the right questions," says Kaplan, a Professor of Management Practice at Harvard Business School. "Most leaders spend a lot of their time looking for answers. Very often, they may feel isolated and... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

21 Feb 2023
Research & Ideas

Are Your Employees Passing Up Incentives? Try Promoting the Programs More

communicate them.” The reason might be as simple as employees not knowing about the incentive programs. Leslie John, professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, and a team of researchers... View Details

Keywords: by Scott Van Voorhis

Career Coach

Adelina Pak

and can speak to the differences. With her career journey spanning teaching, management consulting, and tech, Adelina understands firsthand both the opportunities and challenges of career pivots and is deeply passionate about supporting... View Details

03 May 2022
Research & Ideas

Desperate for Talent? Consider Advancing Your Own Employees First

Job openings in the United States continue to hover at record high levels, exacerbated by the Great Resignation and a sputtering emergence from the pandemic. Competition remains fierce among companies struggling to find qualified workers. Yet many employers,... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

22 Mar 2023
Blog Post

Decarbonization and Sustainable Production: Immersive Field Course in Denmark and the Netherlands

that I was never going to put into practice. Nonetheless, I figured I would at least use the skills I gained in school to find a different solution to Nigeria’s energy issues. Hence, I decided to explore a career in management consulting... View Details

Profile

Philippe Rival

friend Sébastien. We met at VINCI Construction while working on bids for new infrastructure projects in Canada. All the while, I have seen him grow and succeed in his career as a builder and manager while... View Details

17 Oct 2018
Working Paper Summaries

Quantile Forecasts of Product Life Cycles Using Exponential Smoothing

Keywords: by Xiaojia Guo, Kenneth C. Lichtendahl Jr., and Yael Grushka-Cockayne

11 Dec 2023
Blog Post

Building Iconic Brands and Brighter Futures: Interview with Glossier CEO, Kyle Leahy

the opportunity for growth. “I was able to join the management team responsible for carving out Cole Haan from Nike and standing it up as an independent company, growing it, transforming it, and turning it... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Products / Retail

January 2009 (Revised November 2011)
Case

The Tip of the Iceberg: JP Morgan Chase and Bear Stearns (A)

By: Clayton S. Rose, Daniel Baird Bergstresser and David Lane

"Bear Stearns & Co. burned through nearly all of its $18 billion in cash reserves during the week of March 10, 2008, and an unprecedented provision of liquidity support from the Federal Reserve on Friday, March 13 was insufficient to reverse the decline in Bear's... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Financial Crisis; Capital; Financial Liquidity; Financial Strategy; Corporate Governance; Crisis Management; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Competition; Valuation; Financial Services Industry

06 Nov 2006
Research & Ideas

How South Africa Challenges Our Thinking on FDI

pushing the envelope on offering products for an emerging market, the need to go in and set up a business or acquire your own company in order to have exposure to this area is lessened. What many firms or asset View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

2014
Case

Microfinance Services in Rural Areas--Farmers' Self-reliance Branch of CFPA Microfinance in Shangyi County

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Siqun Yang and Meihua Shen

Microfinance is introduced into China in the 1990s. It had gone through 3 phases since the beginning, namely the pilot phase when all Microfinance practices are sponsored by charity funds based on projects, the promotion phase when the government subsidized some... View Details

Keywords: Rural Entrepreneurship; Value Added; China; Risk Management; Microfinance; China

28 Feb 2019
News

New Program Will Develop Leaders of Innovative Ventures

increasingly crucial to business and society. “By exposing undergraduates to management principles, we hope to change the leadership trajectory of even more individuals of tremendous promise earlier in their... View Details

2024
Case

EPCorp: Convincing the C-Suite

By: Jacob M. Cook

In EPCorp: Convincing the C-Suite, Shivani Bahl is attempting to sell EPCorp's CEO, Debbie Sullivan, on her ideas for not only a new website upgrade but also a more expansive vision on how data and Generative AI can be used to grow the company. Debbie is understandably... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; E-commerce; Growth and Development Strategy

September 1990 (Revised January 1992)
Case

Procter & Gamble Japan (A)

By: Michael Y. Yoshino

Ten years after entering Japan, P&G had accumulated over $250 million in operating losses on declining annual sales of $120 million by 1983. The decision facing the president of P&G International: exit, retrench or rebuild the operation? Ironically, the initial entry... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Change Management; Profit; Market Entry and Exit; Market Participation; Sales; Competition; Technology; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Japan