Publications

May 2017 (Revised August 2021)
Case

Mavi: Fashioning a Path to Brand Growth

By: Jill Avery and Gamze Yucaoglu

This case examines the strategic choices and business model with regards to branding at Mavi, a leading Turkish apparel retailer. The case is presented from the perspective of the company CEO and its global brand director who is also part owner. In 2015, Mavi had sales... View Details

March 2005 (Revised May 2009)
Case

Columbia's Final Mission

By: Michael Roberto, Amy C. Edmondson, Richard M.J. Bohmer, Laura Feldman and Erika Ferlins

On February 1, 2003, the Shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, and the seven astronauts onboard lost their lives. Explores Columbia's final mission from the perspective of six key managers and engineers associated with NASA's Space... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Leadership; Crisis Management; Management Teams; Organizational Culture; Aerospace Industry

16 Dec 2015
Research & Ideas

Why ‘Sleep on It’ No Longer Sounds Like Great Advice

they were with the choice, and how easy the decision was to make, those who had slept tended to be less certain with their choice in the first study, View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Retail

October 2024 (Revised May 2025)
Case

Southern California Industrial: Freezer Drive

By: Arthur I Segel, Dwight Angelini and W. Matt Kelly

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, a Boston based real estate private equity firm was seeking to make their very first West Coast investments in hopes of establishing their presence in the strategic region. An exciting property suddenly became available on the... View Details

Keywords: Real Estate Development; Acquisition; Health Pandemics; Risk and Uncertainty; Expansion; Cost vs Benefits; Investment Return; Real Estate Industry

September 2018 (Revised January 2019)
Case

Sobha Group Real Estate: Backward Integration for Quality

By: John Macomber and Alpana Thapar

From humble beginnings in Kerala, India, Mr. PNC Menon built a reputation for quality, detail, and trustworthiness, earning him major construction commissions in the Gulf region. This paved the way for venturing into real estate development in Dubai, UAE. Striving to... View Details

Keywords: Real Estate; Backward Integration; Land Acquisition; Raising Capital; Construction; Family Business; Decision Making; Joint Ventures; Quality; Real Estate Industry; Construction Industry; India; Middle East; Dubai

March 2018 (Revised September 2019)
Case

Chewy.com (A)

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport and Matthew G. Preble

In late 2013, Ryan Cohen, cofounder and CEO of online pet products retailer Chewy.com, faces a “bet the company decision”—whether to stay with a third-party logistics provider (3PL) for all of its e-commerce fulfillment or to take the function in house. Cohen worries... View Details

Keywords: Pet Food; Pet Products; Retail; Growth and Development Strategy; Service Operations; Decision Choices and Conditions; E-commerce; Retail Industry; Service Industry; Florida; United States

November 2013
Teaching Note

8 Spruce Street

By: Arthur I Segel

The case begins in March 2009 during the depths of the recession with Forest City Ratner (FCR) Companies, a New York City based developer, facing the decision to halt construction half-way on 8 Spruce Street, the tallest residential tower in the Western Hemisphere, or... View Details

Keywords: Real Estate; Investment; Real Estate Industry; Japan

September 2008 (Revised September 2018)
Case

Traversing a Career Path: Pat Fili-Krushel (A)

By: Kathleen L. McGinn, Deborah M. Kolb and Cailin B. Hammer

Pat Fili-Krushel, CEO and president of WebMD and past president of ABC Network, contemplates accepting Richard Parson's offer to become the first executive vice president of administration at AOL Time Warner. Accepting this position would be a move back into mainstream... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Job Offer; Managerial Roles; Negotiation Tactics; Personal Development and Career; Power and Influence; Media and Broadcasting Industry

15 Dec 2009
First Look

First Look: Dec. 15, 2009

Norton Publication:Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, no. 110 (2009): 152-159 Abstract The present investigation explores the neural mechanisms underlying the impact of social influence on... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Veil-of-Ignorance Reasoning Favors the Greater Good

The “veil of ignorance” is a moral reasoning device designed to promote impartial decision-making by denying decision-makers access to potentially biasing information about who will benefit most or least from the available options. Veil-of-ignorance reasoning was... View Details

March 2000
Case

Spec's Music (B)

By: John A. Davis and Susan Harmeling

Explores the reasoning behind the final decision to sell and the decision-making process that leads to the final question of "if so, to whom?" Four of the bidders are music retailers and the fifth is a Tampa entrepreneur. View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Decision Choices and Conditions; Entrepreneurship; Bids and Bidding

November 2017 (Revised December 2019)
Case

Redfin: Redefine Real Estate

By: Hong Luo and Huafeng Yu

Founded in 2004, Redfin envisioned a light-touch model in which clients self-served using the digital platform in exchange for a significantly lower fee than traditional agents. Realizing the narrow appeal of its initial model, Redfin had made significant changes to... View Details

Keywords: Adaptation; Growth and Development Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Real Estate Industry; North America

February 2003
Case

Irene Rodakis

Traces the career decision-making process of Irene Rodakis, an MBA student, from her second year of graduate school through five (plus) years post-graduation. Rodakis faces numerous career-decision choices that involve careful consideration of myriad work, family, and... View Details

Keywords: Work-Life Balance; Decision Choices and Conditions

18 Oct 2017
Blog Post

4 Advantages of the MS/MBA: Engineering Sciences Program

two nuclear physicists for grandparents, I grew up in a strongly STEM household. My family fostered in me a desire to understand how things worked and I latched on to the then-nascent Internet and computer... View Details

2007
Working Paper

Recognizing the New: A Multi-Agent Model of Analogy in Strategic Decision-Making

By: Giovanni Gavetti and Massimo Warglien

In novel environments, strategic decision-making is often premised on analogy, and recognition lies at its heart. Recognition refers to a class of cognitive processes through which a problem is interpreted associatively in terms of something that has been experienced... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Decision Choices and Conditions; Mathematical Methods; Cognition and Thinking; Power and Influence

Read Now

Companies compete on the decisions they make. For years—even decades—in response to intensifying global competition, companies decided to outsource their manufacturing operations in order to reduce costs. But we are now seeing the alarming long-term effect of those... View Details

24 Jan 2008
Working Paper Summaries

The Impact of Component Modularity on Design Evolution: Evidence from the Software Industry

Keywords: by Alan MacCormack, John Rusnak & Carliss Y. Baldwin; Video Game; Web Services

April 2017 (Revised July 2017)
Case

ISRO: Explore Space or Exploit CubeSats?

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury, Tarun Khanna, Karim Lakhani and Rachna Tahilyani

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) achieved global acclaim by launching successful missions to the moon and Mars at a fraction of the cost of prior Western missions. It is now faced with an important strategic dilemma—whether to continue exploring deep space... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Decision Choices and Conditions; Aerospace Industry; India