Publications

August 2003
Case

BRAC and Aarong Commercial Brands, The

By: John A. Quelch

BRAC is the world's largest NGO and has recently initiated a number of successful profit-making commercial enterprises, ranging from dairy processing to vegetable exports, as well as a university. Explores the tensions and benefits of a major nonprofit entering the... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Commercialization; For-Profit Firms; Non-Governmental Organizations

Article

Interorganizational Alliances and the Performance of Firms: A Study of Growth and Innovation Rates in a High-technology Industry

Keywords: Organizations; Alliances; Performance; Business Ventures; Growth and Development; Innovation and Invention; Information Technology; Information; Technology Industry

Find at Harvard

November 1990 (Revised June 1991)
Case

Final Voyage of the Challenger

Provides a summary of technical and organizational details that led to the decision to launch the Challenger Space Shuttle, and to the ensuing accident. Details of design and testing milestones of the Space Shuttle, with a focus on the Solid Rocket Booster, offer... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Risk Management; Ethics; Decision Choices and Conditions; Business Processes; Aerospace Industry; United States

January 1990
Case

Ashland Oil, Inc.: Trouble at Floreffe (A)

This case series involves a crisis in business ethics and management decision making, when one of the company's diesel fuel storage tanks collapses, releasing nearly one million gallons of oil into the Monongahela and Ohio Rivers. Divided into four cases guiding the... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Decision Making; Crisis Management; Energy Sources; Energy Industry

October 1987 (Revised January 1989)
Background Note

Purchasing a Business: The Search Process

Describes the steps necessary to purchase a small to medium size company. Provides an eight-part analytical framework. Issues covered in the framework include the following: the self-assessment, deal criteria, deal sources, resources necessary to purchase a business,... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Framework; Resource Allocation; Negotiation Deal; Business Processes; Valuation

01 Jun 2024
News

Outside Voices

In just 15 years, Greece managed to seesaw from one economic extreme to the other, from almost breaking the eurozone at the depth of its debt crisis to becoming one of the fastest growing economies in Europe in 2023, according to the IMF. Now wages are rebounding,... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; illustration by Pete Ryan; immigration; repatriation; innovation; public policy; Greece

10 Dec 2021
News

New NYC Law Restricts Hiring Based on Artificial Intelligence

10 Mar 2016
News

In the Spotlight: Jeff Walker (MBA 1981)

Keywords: Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments; Finance

01 Mar 2006
News

The Real Conflict

BY PERMISSION OF JOHN DEERING AND CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC. Nowadays, mighty Wal-Mart’s headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, must feel less like a hotbed of retailing and more like a war room. There is a groundswell of criticism of the company, largely focused on its... View Details

Keywords: Pankaj Ghemawat; Ken A. Mark; Miscellaneous Store Retailers; Retail Trade

Portrait Project

Jordan Bazinsky

contraption. But why stop at the edges of my own yard? I will build an organization that empowers others to create safe and healthy homes. The depth of poverty and malnutrition in our world is overwhelming but addressing the problem... View Details

Fast Answer

Market Maps

Where can I find market maps for various industries? Market mapping is the process of visually organizing information about various competitors in a specific industry or vertical to understand their positions and identify potential market... View Details

Web

Catherine Yeo | MBA

a mobile game to learn new vocabulary, a task they struggled with in English classes. From that moment on, I recognized the power of technology in solving community problems. My experience organizing ten hackathons for 6,000+ young... View Details

01 Jun 2011
News

Stevenson’s Own

Issue Focus: Entrepreneurship Related Links The House that Howard Built The four key ingredients, for individuals and organizations A careful definition of available opportunities Is there a demand out there that’s not being recognized or... View Details

Keywords: Management

01 Sep 2011
News

Making a Difference in the World

organizations waste $2.8 billion every year powering unused PCs. In 2009, these unused PCs emitted approximately 20 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent — equal to the annual emissions of 4 million cars. Transportation accounts for... View Details

Keywords: Electric Power Generation, Transmission, Distribution; Utilities

09 Jun 2020
News

How Leaders Are Fighting Food Insecurity on Three Continents

In a recent post for HBS Working Knowledge, Howard Stevenson, Sarofim-Rock Professor Emeritus, and Shirley Spence, writer, educator and former partner at Oliver Wyman, detail how organizations led by HBS alumni are responding to the... View Details

Keywords: Agriculture

23 Apr 2016
News

Tipping His Cap to Open Source

deconstructs the traditional software value chain at big tech employers like Oracle and IBM. “What are the boundaries of an organization going forward in a world where information and content are open or can be made open? Institutions as... View Details

April 2011 (Revised January 2019)
Case

Talismark

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Talismark, which helped its customers manage their waste, was considering re-engineering its business fundamentals to dramatically increase profitability by changing its sales and information processes. Implementing the changes would be expensive and would interrupt... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Business Processes; Information Management; Sales; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Wastes and Waste Processing

March 2014
Module Note

Implementing Environmentally Sustainable Operations

By: Michael W. Toffel

July 2001 (Revised September 2005)
Case

USA TODAY: Pursuing the Network Strategy (A)

By: Michael L. Tushman, Michael J. Roberts and David Kiron

Describes the evolution of USA TODAY Online, the electronic version of the newspaper, within the organizational structure of the newspaper. Describes the tensions and issues that develop and the pressure from the Online division to be spun off. At the same time, CEO... View Details

Keywords: Business Units; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Integration; Internet and the Web; Organizational Design; Groups and Teams; Newspapers; Innovation and Invention; Journalism and News Industry