Publications

08 Jan 2007
Research & Ideas

Who Rises to Power in American Business?

"outsiders," such as Elizabeth Arden, created their own road to success, overcoming significant odds. The new book Paths to Power: How Insiders and Outsiders Shaped American Business Leadership explores the demographics of... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

Research Summary

Social Innovation

My intellectual agenda addresses this question: How to innovate to solve the world’s toughest challenges? Out of the earth’s population, about 2 billion can afford good products whereas the remaining 5 billion are poor and therefore are nonconsumers.... View Details

07 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

Why Companies Fail—and How Their Founders Can Bounce Back

leap, surging forward with plans without taking the time to realize that the base assumption of the business plan is wrong. They believe they can predict the future, rather than try to create a future with their customers. Entrepreneurs... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

26 Jun 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, June 26, 2018

the sale be distributed among family members? If the business is not sold, how should ongoing ownership and control be shared among family members? The exercise, which is inspired by a collection of real-world scenarios, provides an View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

23 Jan 2024
Research & Ideas

How to Keep Employees Productive: Support Caregivers

In December 2023, Wayfair CEO Niraj Shah made headlines with a blunt company-wide email: “Working long hours, being responsive, blending work and life, is not anything to shy away from There is not a lot of history of laziness being... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin

February 2021
Case

Enterprise Agility at Komerční Banka

By: Euvin Naidoo, Suraj Srinivasan and Sarah Gulick

In 2017, Jan Juchelka, the new CEO of Komerční Banka, identified the need for the bank to start an enterprise wide agile transformation. He started by working to create a sense of urgency to kick-start a process to enable the level of service delivery to customers he... View Details

Keywords: Agile; Agility; Transformation; Organizational Structure; Business Headquarters; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Management Systems; Banking Industry; Czech Republic

June 2012 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Best Buy in Crisis

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

In June 2012, Best Buy was in crisis. In 1996, Best Buy overtook Circuit City as the world's leader in consumer electronics retailing; however, 18 years later, Best Buy now found this position threatened. With $51 billion in revenues, it was still the biggest CE... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Decision Choices and Conditions; Forecasting and Prediction; Competitive Strategy; Ethics; Management Teams; Consumer Products Industry; Electronics Industry; Retail Industry

23 Jul 2001
Research & Ideas

How Relationships are Building Biotech

how seismic events in industry—such as the founding, merger, and dissolution of companies—have a ripple effect on the opportunities available to individuals. What Higgins has done recently, though, is to get at what she calls a... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace & Mallory Stark

19 Jun 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, June 19, 2018

optimal action paves the way for incidental learning, while being dogmatic creates a barrier. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=54567 Harvard Business School Case 717-035 Turkey and Russia: Dangerous... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

November 2005 (Revised December 2016)
Case

Bally Total Fitness (A): The Rise, 1962–2004

By: John R. Wells, Elizabeth A. Raabe and Gabriel Ellsworth

From a single, modest club in 1962, Bally Total Fitness had grown to become—in management’s words—the “largest and only nationwide commercial operator of fitness centers” in the United States in 2004. Bally had faced its share of challenges, but the last couple of... View Details

Keywords: Bally Total Fitness; Fitness; Gyms; Health Clubs; Chain; Securities And Exchange Commission; Paul Toback; Weight Loss; Exercise; Contracts; Personal Training; Retention; Accounting; Accounting Audits; Accrual Accounting; Finance; Advertising; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Customers; Customer Satisfaction; Public Equity; Financing and Loans; Revenue; Revenue Recognition; Geographic Scope; Multinational Firms and Management; Health; Nutrition; Business History; Lawsuits and Litigation; Management; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing; Operations; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Public Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Business and Shareholder Relations; Business Strategy; Competition; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Segmentation; Trends; Cost Management; Profit; Growth and Development; Leadership Style; Five Forces Framework; Private Ownership; Opportunities; Motivation and Incentives; Competitive Strategy; Health Industry; United States; Illinois; Chicago