Publications

21 Oct 2002
Research & Ideas

The Parable of the Bungled Baggage And the Unhappy Customer

Sasser's presentation is part of the Faculty Seminar Series sold through Harvard Business School Publishing.One of the companies I've had chance to work with is a large global... View Details

Keywords: by W. Earl Sasser

12 May 2021
Book

The Hard Truth About Being a CEO

they get there." Not only do CEOs struggle to learn how to run a company from a lonely role at the top, but they often quickly find that the network of coworkers they relied on... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

24 Apr 2019
Research & Ideas

The 'Amazon Effect' Is Changing Online Price Competition—and the Fed Needs to Pay Attention

Cavallo’s research didn’t extend to why prices are changing more frequently, but he has some theories. Technology like pricing algorithms has cut both the labor and decision cost of price changes. Those algorithms have become more common... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Retail

December 2005 (Revised May 2007)
Case

Cynthia Fisher and the Rearing of ViaCell

By: Robert F. Higgins, Richard G. Hamermesh and Ingrid Vargas

Describes the start up of Viacord, a Boston-based medical services firm founded by Cynthia Fisher (HBS MBA) in 1993. Told from Fisher's perspective, the entrepreneur details the conceptualization and launch of the business and the many obstacles and expenses faced in... View Details

Keywords: Managerial Roles; Business Growth and Maturation; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Service Industry; Health Industry; Boston

August 1983 (Revised March 2011)
Case

Honda (A)

Describes the history of Honda Motor Company from its beginning through its entry into and subsequent dominance of the U.S. market. The history is explained primarily in terms of strategic factors and quoted from two sources: an earlier case and Boston Consulting Group... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Global Strategy; Business Strategy; Auto Industry; Japan; United States

08 Oct 2021
Research & Ideas

How Newspaper Closures Open the Door to Corporate Crime

thousands of facilities of publicly listed firms, Heese identified the towns where the local newspaper presses permanently came to a halt. Heese found that after a newspaper shuts down, violations at... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

March 2023 (Revised May 2023)
Case

Akamai Technologies: Expanding the Talent Pipeline

By: Christopher Stanton, Lynda M. Applegate, Allison Ciechanover, Emily Grandjean and Sophie Beck

In 2022, senior executives of Cambridge, MA-based Akamai Technologies met to consider whether and how to scale a successful technical training program. The program, Akamai Technical Academy (ATA), was launched in 2016 to address a key challenge at Akamai and in the... View Details

Keywords: Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Diversity; Talent and Talent Management; Technology Industry; United States; Boston

27 Jun 2011
Research & Ideas

Recovering from the Need to Achieve

and humidity. If high-achievement types want to be as effective as they can be, they have to tune themselves up every day and be aware." DeLong says he didn't write the book to create organizations "that feel good or that are... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard

22 Nov 2023
Research & Ideas

Humans vs. Machines: Untangling the Tasks AI Can (and Can't) Handle

Knowing when to use artificial intelligence and when to rely on the human mind is a shifting fine line, one delineated by new research that shows considerable benefit and speed from generative AI—if it’s applied to View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Information Technology; Technology

June 2001 (Revised May 2002)
Case

Spir-It, Inc. (A): Building the Business

Early in February 1934, two and a half months after the end of prohibition, Jack Sindler sat with a friend in Boston's Ritz Hotel bar enjoying a drink. Sindler worked for the Converse Rubber Co., and he was always inventing something. He held several patents for rubber... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Production; Market Entry and Exit; Management Succession; Entrepreneurship; Product Launch; Acquisition; Growth and Development; Product Development; Manufacturing Industry; Boston

Find at Harvard

August 2006 (Revised June 2010)
Case

SUN Brewing (A)

The Khemka family of India, founders, managers, and majority owners of Russia-based SUN Brewing, faces a difficult decision in 1998. Following the rouble's massive devaluation in August 1998, the stock price of SUN Brewing, which is publicly listed on the Luxemburg... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Decision Choices and Conditions; Capital Markets; Financing and Loans; Emerging Markets; India; Russia

January 2000 (Revised October 2001)
Case

@Hoc: Leveraging Israeli Technology in the United States

Describes @Hoc, an idea for an Internet software company, developed by two HBS MBA 1999 graduates, Guy Miasnik and Ly Tran. @Hoc's software, loaded into a browser, enables instant, context-sensitive information retrieval and shopping. @Hoc's R&D team is located in... View Details

Keywords: Geographic Location; Internet and the Web; Applications and Software; Financing and Loans; Business Startups; Information Technology Industry; Israel; Boston