Publications

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As companies respond to intensifying competitive pressures and challenges, they ask more and more of their employees. But organizations often have very little to show for the efforts of their talented and engaged workers. By selecting fewer initiatives with... View Details

May 16, 2016
Article

Food Safety Economics: The Cost of a Sick Customer

By: Dina Gerdeman and John A. Quelch

Chipotle Mexican Grill’s ongoing struggle to win customers back months after a contaminated food crisis highlights the challenges companies face with keeping food safe.

Chipotle has seen its shares tumble and recently reported its first-ever quarterly loss... View Details

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January 2005 (Revised August 2005)
Background Note

A Note on Managing the Growing Venture

By: Richard G. Hamermesh, James L. Heskett and Michael J. Roberts

Focuses on the strategic and organizational challenges that confront growing enterprises and the entrepreneurs who lead them. Provides an overview of how a new venture needs to change as it passes from the initial start-up to the growth phase. Explores how a venture's... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Leading Change

September 1996 (Revised June 1997)
Case

QVC, Inc.

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

Illustrates the "Service Profit Chain" in action. QVC, whose initials stand for Quality, Value,, and Convenience, demonstrates clearly how a strong customer focus can lead to establishing a strong franchise in the retail sector and a highly profitable business whose... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Service Delivery; Retail Industry; United States

04 Nov 2013
News

Surprise raises are more effective than higher salaries from the start, study finds

12 Sep 2013
News

Consulting on the Cusp of Disruption

22 Oct 2022
News

Shared Value Africa Initiative: Why bridging the digital divide is critical to economic opportunity

Archie L. Jones

Archie Jones is a Senior Lecturer in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at the Harvard Business School, where he currently teaches Venture Capital and Private Equity, Field... View Details

November 1991 (Revised September 1993)
Case

Oak Industries Inc.

By: William A. Sahlman and Burton C. Hurlock

Describes Bill Antle's proposed restructuring plans for Oak Industries, a company composed of nine divisions which seem to be experiencing operating difficulties. During the last ten years the company has been involved in a number of acquisitions and divestitures, as... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business or Company Management; Operations; SWOT Analysis; Organizational Structure; Restructuring; Financial Management; Acquisition; Financial Markets

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September 2016 (Revised May 2018)
Case

Zurich Insurance: Zurich Oxygen

By: Boris Groysberg and Katherine Connolly

Zurich Insurance was undergoing organizational change after implementing five new people practices focused on manager development, diversity and inclusion, job model and data analytics, recruitment, and talent pipeline. The case “Zurich Insurance: Fostering Key People... View Details

Keywords: Managing Change; Management Development; Leadership; Organization Behavior; Management Skills; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leading Change; Leadership Development; Human Capital; Human Resources; Insurance; Insurance Industry

May 2008 (Revised August 2009)
Case

Intel NBI: MXP Digital Media Processor

By: Willy C. Shih and Thomas Thurston

"Gila" was a high-performance image processor project housed in Intel's New Business Initiatives (NBI) group. NBI was an incubator for corporate entrepreneurs, and it had an established methodology for ensuring a degree of autonomy while these ventures got started. But... View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Startups; Change Management; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Integration; Semiconductor Industry; United States

October 1976 (Revised April 1983)
Case

Federal Express (A)

Federal Express is a small-package airline operating throughout the United States. After initial heavy losses it is now profitable. Management is examining the services offered by the firm and believes that there is great potential for "Courier Pak", an overnight... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Product Marketing; Sales; Air Transportation Industry; Service Industry; United States

November 1990 (Revised August 1992)
Case

American Airlines (C): Committing to Leadership

In an effort to grow and contain costs, the airline initiates a series of cultural change programs designed to increase employee participation and decision-making, and accordingly decrease the proportion of supervisors. CTL is the most recent, and by far the most... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leadership Development; Organizational Culture; Air Transportation Industry; United States

October 1989
Case

Dennis Hightower and the Walt Disney Co. in Europe

Describes the initial entry challenges faced by Dennis Hightower after being assigned the task to revitalize and reposition Walt Disney Co. of Europe in preparation for 1992. Allows students to consider the challenges of cultural heterogeneity, Disney traditions, and... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States; Europe

January–February 2020
Article

Consumer Reactions to Drip Pricing

By: Shelle Santana, Steven Dallas and Vicki Morwitz

This research examines how drip pricing—a strategy whereby a firm advertises only part of a product’s price upfront and then reveals additional mandatory or optional fees/surcharges as the consumer proceeds through the buying process—affects consumer choice and... View Details

Keywords: Drip Pricing; Pricing; Consumer Protection; Hidden Fees; Price; Consumer Behavior; Perception

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March 2017
Supplement

eBay vs. Carl Icahn, 2014: Interview with John Donahoe, eBay CEO 2008-2015

By: David B. Yoffie, Eric Baldwin and Tom Ryder

This video, a supplement to HBS Case No. 717-417, features an interview with former eBay CEO John Donahoe, providing his perspective on eBay's response to activist investor Carl Icahn's attack on eBay, which began in January 2014. After giving some of his own... View Details

Keywords: Activist Shareholder; Activist Investors; Technology; Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Investment Activism; Financial Services Industry; Retail Industry; Technology Industry

28 Nov 2006
Other Presentation

Singapore Competitiveness: A Nation in Transition

By: Michael E. Porter

This presentation draws on ideas from Professor Porter's books and articles, in particular, "Building the Microeconomic Foundations of Prosperity," in The Global Competitiveness Report 2006-07(World Economic Forum, 2006); "Clusters and the New Competitive Agenda for... View Details

Keywords: Economics; Singapore