Publications

April 2021
Case

Glass-Shattering Leaders: Jack Rivkin

By: Boris Groysberg and Colleen Ammerman

Jack Rivkin’s innovative approach to hiring, developing, and retaining employees created opportunities for female analysts to thrive at the equity research department he led, and also made the entire department more effective. Rivkin fostered a culture of gender... View Details

Keywords: Gender Inclusivity; Leadership; Organizational Culture; Gender; Talent and Talent Management

March 2006
Case

Cabo San Viejo: Rewarding Loyalty

By: Youngme E. Moon, Gail J. McGovern and Seth Schulman

In 2005, Cabo San Viejo, a premier health and fitness spa resort located in Palm Springs, California, is debating whether to introduce a Customer Rewards Program. Describes the customer management challenges the firm is facing and outlines the various ways in which a... View Details

Keywords: Debates; Customer Relationship Management; Marketing Strategy; Problems and Challenges; Adoption; Value Creation; Health Industry; California

June 2018 (Revised January 2020)
Case

Voice War: Hey Google vs. Alexa vs. Siri

By: David B. Yoffie, Liang Wu, Jodie Sweitzer, Denzil Eden and Karan Ahuja

By early 2018, voice-controlled intelligent assistants had become a major new front in the battle between the giants of the technology sector. "Voice War" focuses on Alphabet’s strategy for Google Assistant, its entrant in the voice assistant space, and asks how the... View Details

Keywords: Alphabet; Amazon; Apple; Strategy; Technology; Intelligent Assistants; Smart Speaker; Voice Assistants; Voice; Platform; Technology Adoption; Digital Platforms; Competitive Strategy; Product Positioning; Technology Industry

March 1999 (Revised July 1999)
Case

Crunch

By: Paul W. Marshall and Jeremy Dann

Entrepreneur Doug Levine runs a fitness company with an incredibly powerful brand. His company leverages the brand to expand, both in terms of facilities and lines of business. But he may need to make significant organizational changes in order to continue the growth. View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Expansion; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Startups; Brands and Branding; Service Industry; Service Industry

September 2011 (Revised August 2013)
Case

The Pepsi Refresh Project: A Thirst for Change

By: Michael I. Norton and Jill Avery

In 2010, for the first time in 23 years, PepsiCo did not invest in Superbowl advertising for its iconic brand. Instead, the company diverted this $20 million to the social media-fueled Pepsi Refresh Project: PepsiCo's innovative cause-marketing program in which... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Marketing Strategy; Customer Focus and Relationships; Advertising Campaigns; Investment Return; Brands and Branding; Marketing Communications; Social Marketing; Cost vs Benefits; Food and Beverage Industry

October 1995 (Revised March 1996)
Case

Booz.Allen & Hamilton: Vision 2000

In 1993, Booz.Allen & Hamilton forsook its previous, highly local organizational structure. It was motivated by a desire to serve multinational clients more effectively and to provide greater value to clients with more localized business by collecting best practices... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Service Operations; Service Delivery; Organizational Structure; Global Strategy; Service Industry

November 2019 (Revised June 2020)
Case

Shiseido Acquires Drunk Elephant

By: Jill Avery

On October 7, 2019, the Shiseido Group announced that it would acquire clean skincare brand Drunk Elephant for $845 million, a valuation of 8.5 times sales. Did Shiseido pay too much or too little for this brand asset? How much was the Drunk Elephant brand worth and... View Details

Keywords: Personal Care; Startup; Brand Equity; Brand Valuation; Brand Value; Brand Storytelling; Brand Management; Brands and Branding; Valuation; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Mergers and Acquisitions; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; United States; Japan

September 2016 (Revised January 2020)
Case

Pebble: Wearables Pioneer

By: David Yoffie and Allison Ciechanover

In the summer of 2016, wearables “wunderkind” and Pebble founder and CEO, Eric Migicovsky, was pleased with the young startup’s success in the five years since its founding. The Silicon Valley–based company had recently shipped its two millionth smartwatch; held the... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Strategy; Innovation Strategy; Product; Information Technology; Technological Innovation; Business Startups; Technology Industry; United States; California

February 2015 (Revised March 2022)
Case

Quincy Apparel (A)

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Lisa Mazzanti

Quincy Apparel designs, manufactures and sells work apparel for young professional women that offers the fit and feel of high-end brands at a lower price. In late 2012, Quincy's cofounders are debating how to approach a crucial board meeting. Their seed-stage startup... View Details

Keywords: Retail; Failure; Online Retail; Women's Apparel; Business Startups; Business Plan; Business Model; Entrepreneurship; Production; E-commerce; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; New York (city, NY)

Spring 2016
Article

Risk Neglect in Equity Markets

By: Malcolm Baker

The link between measures of risk and return within the equity market has been very weak over the past 47 years: in the United States, returns on high-risk stocks have cumulatively fallen short of the returns on low-risk stocks, during a period when the equity market... View Details

Keywords: Asset Allocation; Equity Investment; Behavioral Finance; Private Equity

Find at Harvard

22 Jul 2002
Research & Ideas

Is Performance-Based Pricing the Right Price for You?

Other industries as diverse as consulting, trucking, and heavy industrial services are seeing the same trend. Before explaining the benefits, drawbacks, and application of performance-based pricing, let us... View Details

Keywords: by Benson Shapiro; Manufacturing

2021
Book

Lead and Disrupt: How to Solve the Innovator's Dilemma

By: Charles A. O'Reilly III and Michael Tushman

Why do successful firms find it so difficult to adapt in the face of change—to innovate? In the past ten years, the importance of this question has increased as more industries and firms confront disruptive change. The pandemic has accelerated this crisis, collapsing... View Details

Keywords: Organization Change And Adaptation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Disruptive Innovation; Innovation and Management; Leading Change

September 2024
Case

Xendit: Hiring for Growth

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Steve Castano, Quoc Anh Nguyen and Claire Wu

In 2019, Xendit, a growth-stage Southeast Asia (SEA) fintech venture based in Jakarta, was looking to hire a Head of Sales and Head of Product to lead its next phase of growth. Founded by Moses Lo and Tessa Wijaya, Xendit provided payment infrastructure, modeling... View Details

Keywords: Fintech; Financing and Loans; Entrepreneurship; Jobs and Positions; Sales; Product; Growth and Development; Selection and Staffing; Organizational Culture; Expansion; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; Southeast Asia; Indonesia; Philippines

December 2022
Case

To Feed the Planet: Juan Luciano at ADM

By: Joshua D. Margolis, David E. Bell, Damien McLoughlin, Stacy Straaberg and James Weber

In December 2022, Juan Luciano, Chairman and CEO of agribusiness and nutrition giant ADM, considered the next phase of the historic company’s future. Beginning in 2011 when he joined as COO and moving into his tenure as CEO in 2015, Luciano led a transformation of ADM... View Details

October 1997 (Revised April 1998)
Case

C-Car

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Marie Bell

C-Car was the first automobile retailer in the United States to go public. Subsequently the owner, Mr. Gilliland, must decide how to invest the capital raised from the public ownership. This case describes in detail C-Car's highly profitable strategy of managing its... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Cost vs Benefits; Management Practices and Processes; Profit; Acquisition; Business Strategy; Public Ownership; Auto Industry; Auto Industry