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- All HBS Web
(7,604)
- Faculty Publications (1,185)
- January 2005 (Revised June 2005)
- Case
Zipcar: Influencing Customer Behavior
By: Frances X. Frei and Hanna Rodriguez-Farrar
At Zipcar, customers share the use of cars and, as a result, rely on each other for their service experience. Customers are required to keep the car clean and the gas tank full and to return the car on time. Told from the perspective of two customers: Sal Fishman, who... View Details
- December 2004 (Revised April 2006)
- Case
Managing Diversity at Cityside Financial Services
By: Robin J. Ely and Ingrid Vargas
Cityside Financial Services, a disguised consumer bank, serves both a largely African-American urban community and a more affluent, predominantly white clientele. To match the gender and racial makeup of its staff to that of its customers, Cityside's sales division... View Details
- November 2004 (Revised September 2007)
- Case
The Mitchell Family and Mitchells/Richards
By: Amy C. Edmondson, John A. Davis, Corey B. Hajim and Kelly Mulderry
Describes a small, luxury retail chain's operational sophistication achieved through the use of technology and "high-touch" customer service. A family-run business, Mitchells has built its success with a customer service strategy known internally as "hugging." The term... View Details
- October 2004 (Revised July 2011)
- Case
AT&T 2000-2004
By: Stephen P. Bradley and Kerry Herman
Provides an update on CEO Michael Armstrong's "Project Grand Slam" strategy to build the value of AT&T by offering a complete, integrated telecommunications solution to both corporate and residential customers, including wireless and wire line telephone, Internet,... View Details
- September 2004 (Revised October 2005)
- Case
Sapient Corporation
By: Rakesh Khurana and Joel Podolny
Describes the start-up, growth, organizational design, and operations over the first 10 years of a professional services firm. Focuses on the creative use of organizational purpose and values as an integral part of strategy and alignment of organizational activities. View Details
- August 2004 (Revised July 2005)
- Case
Allianz (D1): The Turnaround
By: Joseph L. Bower, Anders Sjoman and Sonja Ellingson Hout
Examines the acquisition of Dresdner Bank by Allianz--the deal of the year in 2002. Examines some of the challenges posed by the turnaround of Dresdner as seen by Michael Diekmann, the new CEO of Allianz. In working with Dresdner, Allianz needed to figure out what it... View Details
- June 2004 (Revised July 2005)
- Case
Procter & Gamble: Global Business Services
By: Thomas J. DeLong, Warren Brackin, Alex Cabanas, Phil Shellhammer and David L. Ager
Dave Walker, vice-president of business service opportunities and chairman of the governance team at Procter & Gamble, must decide what to do with P&G's 5,700 employee Global Business Services (GBS) group. GBS brought together internal services such as finance,... View Details
- May 2004 (Revised March 2005)
- Case
Music Downloads
By: David B. Yoffie and Deborah Freier
Examines the competition between competing music formats. In the '90s, the MP3 format challenged the traditional means of music distribution by allowing for storage of near CD-quality recordings at 1/10th of their previous size. The threat to traditional distribution... View Details
- 2004
- Working Paper
Regulation and Reaction: The Other Side of Free Banking in Antebellum New York
By: David A. Moss and Sarah Brennan
Free banking, which first appeared in the United States in the late 1830s, comprised two essential features: general incorporation for banks and rigorous security requirements for note issue. Because the general incorporation feature is what allowed free entry, it has... View Details
- March 2004
- Case
L.L. Bean: A Search for Growth
By: Rajiv Lal, Walter J. Salmon and James Weber
In mid-2003, CEO Chris McCormick felt L.L. Bean was in a good position to begin to grow again. For nearly 90 years, the company sold clothing and gear for outdoor enthusiasts through its catalogs and a single retail store in Freeport, Maine. In the three decades prior... View Details
- March 2004 (Revised June 2010)
- Case
Akamai Technologies
By: Benjamin Edelman, Thomas R. Eisenmann and Eric J. Van den Steen
As the leading content delivery network, Akamai helps Internet companies deliver Web site content to end users with fewer delays and lower costs. Describes the strategic management challenges facing Akamai in early 2004. The company is poised to offer its next... View Details
- March 2004 (Revised May 2005)
- Case
Shurgard Self-Storage: Expansion to Europe
By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Indra Reinbergs
Shurgard, a U.S.-based firm that rents storage facilities to consumers and small businesses, is considering financing options for rapid expansion of its European operations. Five years after entering Europe, Shurgard Europe has opened 17 facilities in Belgium, France,... View Details
- February 2004 (Revised April 2005)
- Exercise
Necessary Evils: A Diagnostic Exercise
By: Joshua D. Margolis and Andrew Molinsky
Central to the work of leaders and professionals are tasks that entail harming one party to deliver benefits or advance valued and worthy goals. Sometimes a person must, as part of his or her job, perform an act that causes emotional, material, or physical harm to... View Details
- January 2004 (Revised January 2005)
- Case
Delta Air Lines (A): The Low-Cost Carrier Threat
By: Jan W. Rivkin and Laurent Therivel
The top management of Delta Air Lines must decide how to respond to the threat posed by low-cost carriers such as Southwest and JetBlue. Among the options considered is the launch of a low-cost subsidiary by Delta itself. Prior efforts to launch a low-cost subsidiary,... View Details
- January 2004 (Revised February 2005)
- Case
Timberland and Community Involvement (Abridged Version)
By: James E. Austin and James Quinn
When Jeffrey Swartz became the third generation in his family to lead the Timberland Co., he made community involvement an integral part of the company's strategy. Under Swartz's leadership, Timberland formed a close partnership with City Year, the national corps of... View Details
- January 2004 (Revised May 2005)
- Case
Gold Hill Venture Lending
By: G. Felda Hardymon, Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon
David Fischer is trying to raise $200 million for a first-time venture debt fund that will be affiliated with Silicon Valley Bank, a major technology lender. Despite his lengthy experience in venture lending, the process is proving difficult. He and his partners are... View Details
- December 2003 (Revised April 2004)
- Case
Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney (A): Negotiating a Client Service Predicament
By: Ashish Nanda
Sherif Mityas, recently promoted as project manager at A.T. Kearney, faced a client service challenge in his very first project experience. Mityas had been working closely for six weeks with the management team of the U.S. subsidiary of a Japan-headquartered consumer... View Details
- December 2003 (Revised March 2005)
- Background Note
Who is a Professional?
By: Ashish Nanda
Many occupations lay claim to professional status. Business executives, social workers, musicians, sportsmen, and academics describe their occupations as "professions". Office assistants call themselves "administrative professionals". Obviously, not all occupations... View Details
- November 2003 (Revised April 2010)
- Case
Flextronics International, Ltd.
By: Robert S. Huckman and Gary P. Pisano
Describes Flextronics' evolution from providing outsourced manufacturing services for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the electronics industry to developing entire unbranded products for purchase by OEMs. In 2001, Flextronics began a development program that... View Details
- November 2003 (Revised March 2004)
- Case
Drilling South: Petrobras Evaluates Pecom
By: Mihir A. Desai and Ricardo Reisen de Pinho
The Brazilian oil company, Petrobras, is evaluating the acquisition of an Argentine oil company, the Perez Companc Group (Pecom). The acquisition would increase Petrobras' oil reserves and expand its interests outside Brazil, a significant step for the largest company... View Details
Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Forecasting and Prediction; Financial Crisis; Non-Renewable Energy; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Corporate Governance; Risk Management; Emerging Markets; State Ownership; Performance Evaluation; Risk and Uncertainty; Valuation; Energy Industry; Argentina; Brazil