Publications

Find at Harvard

March 1974 (Revised June 1996)
Case

First National City Bank Operating Group (A)

By: Jay W. Lorsch

Growth in the banking field has produced new demands on the "back office." Traditional management practices in check processing and paper handling operations have resulted in ten years of cost increases and quality loss. New manager of the operating group faces an... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Transition; Banks and Banking; Management Practices and Processes; Managerial Roles; Production; Banking Industry

11 Nov 2014
First Look

First Look: November 11

significant amounts of capital required to get the company to an exit event given the changing climate for clean tech investments? These questions became more pressing following Lerner's call that Bluelock... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September 2020 (Revised March 2022)
Case

JOANN: Joannalytics Inventory Allocation Tool

By: Kris Ferreira and Srikanth Jagabathula

Michael Joyce, Vice President of Inventory Management at JOANN, championed an effort to develop and implement an inventory allocation analytics tool that used advanced analytics to predict in-season demand of seasonal items for each of JOANN’s nearly 900 stores and... View Details

Keywords: Analytics; Machine Learning; Optimization; Inventory Management; Mathematical Methods; Decision Making; Operations; Supply Chain Management; Resource Allocation; Distribution; Technology Adoption; Applications and Software; Change Management; Fashion Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Retail Industry; United States; Ohio

01 Oct 2001
News

David B. Price, Jr.: Aiming High

—it's the challenge of leading a major company in the turbulent global economy. A longtime executive at Monsanto and BFGoodrich, Price believes that the turmoil caused by forces such as consolidation, overcapacity, and technological View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management of Companies and Enterprises

19 May 2009
First Look

First Look: May 19, 2009

Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) after a successful six-month collaboration or continue with Adnexus' planned IPO. Purchase this case: http://hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=609015 Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

09 Nov 2010
First Look

First Look: November 9, 2010

middle of the night), are you thinking about the right issues as you ponder how the future will change your business? The answers to these questions can be tough, and their full implications are not always... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September 1998 (Revised July 1999)
Case

Spyder Active Sports, Inc. and CHB Capital Partners (A)

By: John A. Davis, Louis B. Barnes and Peter K. Botticelli

After establishing a small but profitable skiwear business, an entrepreneur decides to sell a minority stake in the firm to outside investors. His goal is to acquire the capital needed to grow the business, even though this will entail a substantial transformation of... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Private Equity; Family Business; Business Growth and Maturation; Entrepreneurship; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Sports Industry

16 Jun 2009
First Look

First Look: June 16

economic theory of GAAP under the assumption that GAAP's objective is to facilitate efficient capital allocation within an economy. The theory predicts that GAAP, as shaped by... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

2023
Chapter

Private Equity Financing

By: Victoria Ivashina

The goal of this chapter is to understand the common practices of PE funds’ structure and funding. The chapter covers three topics. First, it gives an overview of the traditional private equity (PE) financing structure; then, it discusses other investment vehicles like... View Details

Keywords: Trends; Private Equity; Investment Funds

Read Now

15 Sep 2009
First Look

First Look: September 15

models or for country-level factors like culture, genes, or institutions. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/09-052.pdf A Theory of Growth and Volatility at the Aggregate and Firm Level... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

07 Feb 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: February 7

explores how the nature of risk itself has changed over time. It highlights key aspects that have shaped the evolving industry, including shifts in risk engineering and risk management, the development View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2012
Chapter

Problem Solving and Search in Networks

By: David Lazer and Ethan Bernstein

This chapter examines the role that networks play in facilitating or inhibiting search for solutions to problems at both the individual and collective levels. At the individual level, search in networks enables individuals to transport themselves to a very different... View Details

Keywords: Network Organizations; Search; Problem Solving; Individual; Individuals And Teams; Collective; Cognitive Search; Network Search; Search Typology; Networks; Social and Collaborative Networks; Theory; Knowledge Sharing

Read Now

16 Sep 2015
News

Built for Speed

Rogers breaks in. “OK, guys, let’s try and keep the rest of these to about a minute.” He has other calls to make. On the next call, travel options are weighed (Toulouse? Berlin? Paris?) for meetings with a potential European collaborator.... View Details

Keywords: Dan Morrell; Machinery Manufacturing; Manufacturing

May 1994 (Revised January 1995)
Case

Warner Cable (A) and (B) (Condensed)

The new general manager of Warner Cable's Medford, Massachusetts complex faces a number of turnaround challenges in 1985, including service deficiencies, customer complaints, high turnover, and low employee morale. By 1988 he has turned the situation around, but some... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Management Style; Change Management; Performance Improvement; Telecommunications Industry; Massachusetts

August 2024
Case

Iogen: Decarbonizing Hard-to-Abate Sectors

By: George Serafeim, Charlotte Foody and John Mulliken

Brian Foody, CEO of Iogen Corporation, was an early leader in advanced biofuels, developing a range of technologies to transform agricultural waste into transportation fuel. With $100 million in revenue and 350 patents across various biofuel technologies, Iogen was... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Biofuel; Market Attractiveness; Decarbonization; Technological Innovation; Climate Change; Energy; Environmental Sustainability; Transformation; Market Entry and Exit; Strategy; Energy Industry; United States; United Kingdom

07 Aug 2007
First Look

First Look: August 7, 2007

that both effects are operative. Instrumental variables analysis indicates that plausibly exogenous changes in payout policy result in shifting institutional ownership patterns. Similarly, exogenous changes... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

2020
Chapter

Luxury and Environmental Responsibility

By: Anat Keinan, Sandrine Crener and Dafna Goor

Luxury and sustainability are often perceived as incompatible and contradictory. However, as the concept of luxury and our understanding of conspicuous consumption are evolving and need to be revisited—from conspicuous to conscious consumption—the book chapter explores... View Details

Keywords: Luxury; Goods and Commodities; Trends; Environmental Sustainability; Research