Publications

June 2016 (Revised November 2021)
Case

chotuKool: 'Little Cool,' Big Opportunity

By: Rory McDonald, Derek van Bever and Efosa Ojomo

In 2013, a team led by Gopalan Sunderraman, vice president of corporate development at Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd.—one of the companies owned by Godrej Group, a large Indian conglomerate—was preparing to launch an innovative low-cost refrigerator. Developed expressly... View Details

Keywords: Disruptive Innovation; Emerging Markets; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; India

March 2018 (Revised July 2018)
Case

Cadre

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Scott Duke Kominers and David Lane

Late in 2017, CEO Ryan Williams and his team debated whether Cadre should become not only a technology-enabled investment manager, but also an online trading exchange providing high levels of liquidity for investors in commercial real estate (CRE) equity. Cadre was a... View Details

Keywords: ＂Cadre,＂; Entrepreneurship; Market Design; Digital Platforms; Strategy; Internet and the Web; Private Equity; Financial Services Industry; Real Estate Industry; United States

While facilitating a complex clinical approval process over the next two to three years for a family of new cancer drugs, Genentech must develop a long-term capacity plan for a major class of new cancer products. Adding to the complexity and uncertainty is the fact... View Details

Richard L. Nolan

Professor Nolan earned his B.A. from the University of Washington in Production and Operations Research in 1962, and his M.B.A and Ph.D. in 1963 and 1966, respectively. Upon graduation in 1966, he joined Boeing Commercial Airplane Company as an Information... View Details

Keywords: aerospace; information technology industry; internet

November 2015 (Revised August 2016)
Case

Unilever's New Global Strategy: Competing through Sustainability

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

In January 2009, when Paul Polman was appointed CEO of Unilever, he inherited a company in long-term decline at the beginning of a major global financial crisis. As the first outsider ever recruited to lead the company, Polman lost little time in challenging the... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Competitive Strategy; Environmental Sustainability; Consumer Products Industry

October 2017
Case

The Transformation of Microsoft

By: C. Fritz Foley, E. Scott Mayfield and F. Katelynn Boland

In early 2015, Amy Hood, CFO of Microsoft, and the rest of the senior leadership team faced a set of fundamental choices. The firm had opportunities to serve customers in ways that would be associated with higher growth but lower margin. Some of these opportunities... View Details

Keywords: Growth; Corporate Finance; Valuation; Growth Management; Communication Strategy; Transformation; Information Technology Industry; Computer Industry; United States

Joshua Margolis is James Dinan and Elizabeth Miller Professor of Business Administration and the Unit Head for the Organizational Behavior unit. He is also Faculty Chair of the Program for Leadership Development. His research and teaching revolve around leadership... View Details

Keywords: furniture; health care; insurance industry; nonprofit industry; pharmaceuticals

01 Nov 2020
Research & Ideas

Good Leadership Is an Act of Kindness

at Harvard Business School. Susan Seligson, an independent researcher, contributed to this article. Are your managers demonstrating and modeling kindness with team members? Share your insights below. View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Susan Seligson

October 2011
Exercise

Energy Necklace Sculpture Challenge: Leader-1 Instructions

By: Joshua D. Margolis and Anthony J. Mayo

Explains the exercise and role of the team leader for the Energy Necklace Sculpture Challenge. View Details

Keywords: Leadership Style; Managerial Roles; Management Teams

30 Jan 2020
News

What Organizations Need to Survive a Pandemic

October 2011
Exercise

Energy Necklace Sculpture Challenge: Leader-2 Instructions

By: Joshua D. Margolis and Anthony J. Mayo

Explains the exercise and role of the team leader for the Energy Necklace Sculpture Challenge. View Details

Keywords: Leadership Style; Managerial Roles; Management Teams

March 2019 (Revised May 2019)
Case

Fetchr: A New Way of Last Mile Delivery

By: V.G. Narayanan and Eren Kuzucu

By mid-2016, five years of aggressive growth had transformed Fetchr from a small logistics startup to a 1,000-employee, full-fledged last-mile delivery company operating across four countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Already beneficiaries of the... View Details

February 1999 (Revised October 1999)
Case

Cherkizovsky Group (A), The

By: Lynn S. Paine and Hal Hogan

Describes the transformation of a formerly state-owned meat processing plant in Russia into a privately-owned and operated food processing conglomerate under Russia's economic reforms of the 1990s. Among the challenges the CEO, Igor Babaev, and his top management team... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Privatization; Transformation; Global Strategy; Culture; Food and Beverage Industry; Russia

Tsedal Neeley, Harvard Business School professor, award-winning author, and global management and leadership expert, recently caught up with us to share her insights and advice as the workforce continues to go through rapid transformation brought about by the... View Details

18 Mar 2013
HBS Case

HBS Cases: LEGO

Out of work for a year following a serious illness in 1993, Kjeld appointed a five-person management team to help him run the company when he returned. The group focused mainly on driving growth. When a... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish; Entertainment & Recreation

June 2021 (Revised October 2021)
Case

Nissan's Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

By: Ananth Raman, William Schmidt and Ann Winslow

In January 2020, Ashwani Gupta took over as COO at Nissan Motor Corporation, and several weeks later, the COVID-19 pandemic began. Nissan’s Business Continuity Plan (BCP) had been key to the resilience of Nissan’s supply chain. It had enabled Nissan to recover from... View Details

Keywords: Operations; Supply Chain Management; Health Pandemics; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Japan; India

08 Aug 2005
Research & Ideas

Decision Rights: Who Gives the Green Light?

"happens all too often," says Michael Jensen, professor emeritus at Harvard Business School and managing director of Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Monitor Group's organizational strategy practice. "Allocating decision... View Details

Keywords: by Peter Jacobs

March 2024 (Revised July 2024)
Case

AMC: The Zero Revenue Case

By: C. Fritz Foley and Donal O'Cofaigh

The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic put theatre company AMC’s already perilous financial situation under even further strain. The company’s high levels of debt resulted in a monthly cash-burn which left it facing an imminent Chapter-11 filing in the absence of... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Public Equity; Stock Shares; Health Pandemics; Entertainment and Recreation Industry