Publications

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14 Dec 2007
Op-Ed

When Your Product Becomes a Commodity

squeezed. But how do you survive if you find yourself in a commoditizing industry characterized by me-too products, overcapacity, and frequent price cuts? How can you make money? 1. Decide which customers you do NOT want to serve, try renegotiating prices with them... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch

02 Sep 2010
What Do You Think?

How Transparent Should Boards Be?

Summing Up The dilemma posed by the HP-inspired vignette of a CEO allegedly failing to adhere to company values divided respondents to the September column. Two schools of thought evolved. One was that the CEO should be fired for cause... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

March 2001 (Revised May 2001)
Case

&Samhoud Service Management

By: Thomas J. DeLong, Ashish Nanda and Monica Mullick

&Samhoud, a small service management consulting firm in the Netherlands, grapples with the dilemma of firing its largest client while introducing Heskett's theory of the service profit chain. View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Management Practices and Processes; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Relationship Management; Consulting Industry; Netherlands

December 2003 (Revised August 2006)
Case

Malden Mills (A)

By: Nitin Nohria, Thomas R. Piper and Bridget Gurtler

CEO Aaron Feuerstein of Malden Mills decided to pay idled workers after a massive fire at his mill in 1995. Focuses on the decisions made post-fire and the rebuilding process and eventual bankruptcy of the company. Also outlines creditors' struggle to decide whether to... View Details

Keywords: Wages; Situation or Environment; Ethics; Financing and Loans; Resignation and Termination; Employees; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Manufacturing Industry; Massachusetts

September 2017 (Revised August 2018)
Supplement

The Ready-Made Garment Industry: A Bangladeshi Perspective (D)

By: Nien-hê Hsieh and Saloni Chaturvedi

This supplements the (A) case by summarizing key developments in the Bangladesh ready-made garment industry after the fire at Tazreen Fashions factory, including formation of the Bangladesh Fire and Building Safety Accord (“Accord”) and the Alliance for Bangladesh... View Details

Keywords: Apparel; Bangladesh; Corporate Responsibility; Human Rights; Supply Chains; Labor; Working Conditions; Supply Chain; Safety; Rights; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Bangladesh

November 2012 (Revised May 2013)
Case

ASUSTeK and the Google Nexus 7 Tablet

By: Willy C. Shih and Jyun-Cheng Wang

Days after Jerry Shen introduced a new tablet computer at the Consumer Electronics Show, a Google meeting convinced him to go with a lower price point and co-branding as the Nexus 7. While his company would have a premier position at launch, companies like Samsung... View Details

October 2021
Case

Luke Fuszard

By: Leslie Perlow and Matthew Preble

Luke Fuszard (MBA 2010) shares the personal details of his life leading up to the moment when he was unexpectedly fired from his job in early 2021. View Details

Keywords: Personal Development and Career; Wisconsin

November 2005 (Revised July 2006)
Case

Two Tough Calls (A)

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr.

A young female manager must decide whether to terminate two poorly performing managers who work for her. Shows the practical and ethical issues involved in firing decisions. View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Resignation and Termination; Management; Performance

22 Feb 2016
Research & Ideas

The ‘Mother of Fair Trade’ was an Unabashed Price Protectionist

As Harvard Business School professor Laura Phillips Sawyer sifted through historical documents to trace the history of competition policy in the United States, an interesting figure emerged: Edna Gleason, who became known as the “mother of fair trade” in the late... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Retail; Health; Legal Services

August 2005 (Revised December 2005)
Case

Coach Knight: The Will to Win

By: Scott A. Snook, Leslie A. Perlow and Brian DeLacey

Successful college basketball coach Bob Knight was fired from his long-time role as basketball coach at Indiana University and hired in the same role at Texas Tech. Considers these events in the context of his long career and provides a context for discussing various... View Details

Keywords: Resignation and Termination; Selection and Staffing; Leadership Style; Situation or Environment; Power and Influence; Sports; Indiana; Texas

September 1993
Case

Daka International, Inc. (A)

Deals with an employee who contracts AIDS. The employer, a food-service proprietor, is threatened by an old and valued client with the loss of the account if they do not fire him. View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Decision Choices and Conditions

March 2018 (Revised March 2019)
Case

Gender and Free Speech at Google (A)

By: Nien-hê Hsieh, Martha J. Crawford and Sarah Mehta

In August 2017, Google fired James Damore, a 28-year-old software engineer who had been employed by the company since 2013. The move came after Damore penned an internal company memo titled “Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber,” which posited that innate biological... View Details

Keywords: Free Speech; Representation; Diversity; Gender; Race; Human Resources; Employees; Employee Relationship Management; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Labor; Employment; Lawsuits and Litigation; Organizational Culture; Technology Industry; United States; California

March 2010 (Revised June 2010)
Case

Malden Mills (A) (Abridged)

By: Nitin Nohria and Thomas R. Piper

CEO Aaron Feuerstein of Malden Mills decided to pay idled workers after a massive fire at his mill in 1995. Focuses on the decisions made post-fire and the rebuilding process and eventual bankruptcy of the company. Also outlines creditors' struggle to decide whether to... View Details

Keywords: Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Financing and Loans; Employees; Leadership; Crisis Management; Social Issues; Manufacturing Industry; Massachusetts

February 1994 (Revised July 2007)
Case

Richard Jenkins

By: John J. Gabarro and Andrew P. Burtis

Written from the point of view of Richard Jenkins, the president of CelluComm. Presents his reflections on the series of events leading to the firing of one of CelluComm's general managers, Erik Peterson. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details

Keywords: Resignation and Termination; Management Teams; Rank and Position; Communications Industry

December 2009 (Revised June 2010)
Supplement

Goldman Sachs: A Bank for All Seasons (C)

By: Lena G. Goldberg and Tiffany Lynne Obenchain

After posting its first-ever quarterly loss in 2008, Goldman Sachs surpassed market expectations for the first quarter of 2009 but came under intensive fire for, among other things, announcing its intention to repay TARP thereby avoiding its compensation limitations. View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Investment Banking; Corporate Disclosure; Policy; Executive Compensation; Business and Government Relations; Banking Industry

May 2008
Case

Thomas Green: Power, Office Politics and a Career in Crisis

By: W. Earl Sasser Jr. and Heather Beckham

The case describes the dilemma of a marketing manager, Thomas Green, who, after being rapidly promoted, is harshly criticized by his boss, Frank Davis. Green and Davis disagree on work styles and market projections. Green believes the sales goals set by Davis are based... View Details

Keywords: Superior ＆ Subordinate; Performance Management; Personal Strategy ＆ Style; Management Style; Conflict Management; Communication; Rank and Position; Personal Characteristics; Power and Influence

01 Dec 2003
What Do You Think?

Is This the Twilight Era for the Managed Mutual Fund?

Summing Up What Will it Take to Save the Managed Mutual Fund? In this month's column, I purposely took what I assumed was an extreme position in asking if this was the twilight era for the managed mutual fund. The responses the column generated from individual... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

July 2021
Case

'Why I Blew the Whistle': Mauro Botta v. PwC

By: Aiyesha Dey, Jonas Heese and Sarah Mehta

Set in April 2021, this case tells the story of Mauro Botta, a senior manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). In 2016, Botta filed a whistleblower claim with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, alleging that PwC had failed to fulfill its obligations to remain... View Details

Keywords: Accounting Audits; Financial Reporting; Financial Statements; Ethics; Fairness; Moral Sensibility; Values and Beliefs; Governance; Corporate Governance; Accounting Industry; United States; California; San Jose

August 2010 (Revised August 2011)
Case

Richard Jenkins at SciMat

By: John J. Gabarro, Thomas J. DeLong and Jevan Soo

Written from the point of view of Richard Jenkins, the Executive Vice-President of Medical Devices at SciMat. Presents his reflections on the series of events leading to the firing of one of SciMat's general managers, Erik Peterson. A redisguised and updated version of... View Details

Keywords: Resignation and Termination; Managerial Roles; Situation or Environment; Perspective; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry