Publications

November 1990 (Revised September 1991)
Case

The Transformation of IBM

By: Andrall E. Pearson and David B. Yoffie

John Akers, IBM's chairman, must confront how to transform a $60 billion, full line, global computer company that is the leader in every market it serves, yet losing share across the board. The case explores senior management's perspective on the process of... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Transformation; Corporate Strategy; Adoption; Management Teams; Information Infrastructure; Information Technology; Multinational Firms and Management; Computer Industry

Keywords: information technology industry; information technology industry; information technology industry; information technology industry; information technology industry; information technology industry; information technology industry; information technology industry; information technology industry

Ryan L. Raffaelli

Ryan Raffaelli is the Marvin Bower Associate Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He created and teaches the MBA course "Leadership: Execution and Action Planning" (LEAP) and serves... View Details

October 2001
Supplement

BMW AG: The Digital Auto Project-An Interview With Chris Bangle, Head of Global Design

By: Stefan H. Thomke

Chris Bangle describes how BMW is trying to reduce its development time by half with the aid of computer-aided technologies. To leverage these technologies in the very competitive automotive industry, he talks about how BMW is faced with the challenges of changing its... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Management Practices and Processes; Time Management; Product Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Problems and Challenges; Competition; Information Technology; Auto Industry

May 1997 (Revised July 1997)
Case

Vermeer Technologies (F): FrontPage 97

By: Ashish Nanda

Vermeer engineers work at the breakneck pace of "Internet time" to develop the next version of their software product, winning accolades from Microsoft management. Even before this version ships, however, they are faced with another punishing development schedule for... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Applications and Software; Business Startups; Product Development; Information Technology Industry

Innovation and Its Discontents: How Our Broken Patent System is Endangering Innovation and Progress, and What to Do About It

The United States patent system has become sand rather than lubricant in the wheels of American progress. Such is the premise behind this provocative and timely book by two of the nation's leading experts on patents and economic... View Details

July 1994
Case

Microsoft: Multimedia Publications (A)

By: Marco Iansiti and Ellen Stein

Microsoft Corp. has built a highly successful business around computer software (both applications and system software) using a particular organizational structure. Now that the company has chosen to enter the consumer market with a CD-ROM product, how should Microsoft... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Organizational Structure; Applications and Software; Design; Expansion; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; Washington (state, US)

September 2006 (Revised September 2007)
Case

Bang & Olufsen: Design Driven Innovation

By: Robert D. Austin and Daniela Beyersdorfer

A successful company, recognized worldwide for exquisite design of consumer electronics products, strives to better integrate software design into its traditional physical product design processes to meet the demands of a post-iPod world. Details the Bang & Olufsen... View Details

Keywords: Diversification; Production; Applications and Software; Product Design; Innovation and Invention; Product Development; Electronics Industry

September 1974
Case

Max-Able Medical Clinic (A)

The issue concerns introduction of a new technology in health care delivery. The case requires the student to analyze the process for delivering health care via a new technology, the multiphasic testing facility. Analysis of patient flow, capacity, choice of tests, and... View Details

Keywords: Service Delivery; Technology Adoption; Health Care and Treatment; Service Industry; Health Industry

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14 May 2013
First Look

First Look: May 14

that decays over time, similar to that of advertising. A major challenge is that privacy laws prevent us from observing information about the applicant pool. I overcome this challenge by using order statistic distribution to infer... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

April 2000 (Revised June 2000)
Case

E-Loan: The CarFinance.com Acquisition

E-Loan is an online mortgage lender that acquired an auto-lending arm in August of 1999. This case examines E-Loan's purchase of CarFinance.com and highlights E-Loan's strategy-setting process. In addition, the case explores business development as a strategic process... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Internet and the Web; Change Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Financial Services Industry

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Program

The Women's Leadership Forum

living group, and in the larger classroom, driven by the renowned HBS case method. Review Our Campus Health & Safety Protocols Admissions Criteria and Process We admit candidates to specific sessions on a rolling, space-available basis,... View Details

Research Summary

Overview

By: Shikhar Ghosh

I am focused on exploring the human side of developing early stage entrepreneurial ventures. These enterprises are characterized by the pursuit of opportunity, shortage of resources to pursue their goals and uncertainty at every step of the journey. Some of the... View Details

Keywords: Scale; Exit; Founders' Agreements; Success Measures; Entrepreneurial Risk; Founding Teams; Entrepreneurship; Failure; Europe; Middle East; Asia

Program

Investment Management Workshop

facilitate your growth. Your learning will take place on your own, in your living group, and in the larger classroom, driven by the renowned HBS case method. Review Our Campus Health & Safety Protocols Admissions Criteria and Process We... View Details

Program

Senior Executive Program—Africa

optimal execution Improve your organization's ability to innovate, including creating new digital processes and offerings Build a sustainable, accountable organization with greater transparency and stronger governance Develop enduring... View Details

Article

Making Exit Interviews Count

By: Everett Spain and Boris Groysberg

In the knowledge economy, skilled employees are the assets that drive organizational success. Thus companies must learn from them—why they stay, why they leave, and how the organization needs to change. A thoughtful exit interview—whether it be a face-to-face... View Details

Keywords: Information; Management Practices and Processes; Retention; Resignation and Termination

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March 2024
Case

From “BIG” Ideas to Sustainable Impact at ICL Group (A)

By: Linda A. Hill and Lydia Begag

In the summer of 2023, Eduard (“Eddie”) Croitoru, Vice President (VP) of ICL Group (“ICL”) Corporate Initiatives, was reflecting on ICL’s internal ideation program, the Business Innovation for Growth (BIG) Accelerator. When Raviv Zoller became the CEO of ICL in 2018,... View Details

July 1999
Case

Developing a Teaching Case (A): Virtualis Systems Case Background

By: Michael J. Roberts

Designed to expose potential casewriters to the process of framing a case, interviewing a case protagonist, and actually writing the case. This case is the introduction to the case site and is designed to be paired with a video in which the faculty customer for the... View Details

Keywords: Cases; Business Education

April 1996
Case

Southern Pulp and Paper

A paper mill's paper machines are a bottleneck in the operation. The causes include poor scheduling, lack of investment, and ineffective process control. The plant manager is charged with improving this situation fairly rapidly and has a number of proposals for change... View Details

Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Performance Improvement; Infrastructure; Pulp and Paper Industry