Publications

June 2024
Supplement

Pal's Sudden Service (B)

By: Gary P. Pisano, Francesca Gino and Ruth Page

Pre-Abstract: Instructors should consider the timing of making videos available to students, as they may reveal key case details.

Abstract: Pal's Sudden Service has developed a unique operating model and organizational culture in the quick service... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Culture; Motivation and Incentives; Service Operations; Food and Beverage Industry; Service Industry

16 Nov 2016
Research & Ideas

Turning One Thousand Customers into One Million

Teixeira and Brown. Importantly, the strategies that made these companies successful starting out are not the same ones to take them to the next level. To get from zero to 1,000 customers, the three startups faced a chicken-and-egg... View Details

Keywords: by Thales S. Teixeira and Michael Blanding; Retail; Transportation; Accommodations

April 2024
Article

Detecting Routines: Applications to Ridesharing CRM

By: Ryan Dew, Eva Ascarza, Oded Netzer and Nachum Sicherman

Routines shape many aspects of day-to-day consumption. While prior work has established the importance of habits in consumer behavior, little work has been done to understand the implications of routines—which we define as repeated behaviors with recurring, temporal... View Details

Keywords: Ride-sharing; Routine; Machine Learning; Customer Relationship Management; Consumer Behavior; Segmentation

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May 2020
Case

Schlumberger's WesternGeco Division

By: John R. Wells, Sneha Biswas and Benjamin Weinstock

In October 2017, Maurice Nessim, President of WesternGeco, a business unit of Schlumberger, faced a difficult decision. In the face of falling oil prices and increasing pressure on costs, did it make sense to sell off the company’s specialized fleet of seismic survey... View Details

Keywords: Market Entry and Exit; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Decision Making; Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Energy Industry; Information Technology Industry

September 2019 (Revised August 2021)
Case

It's All About Family: Esas Group

By: Christina R. Wing and Alpana Thapar

This case describes how Ali Sabancı and his sister Emine Sabancı Kamışlı, shareholders of Esas Group, one of Turkey’s largest family-owned investment firms, worked to grow and professionalize the business. While their father Şevket Sabancı, played an instrumental role... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Governance; Growth and Development Strategy; Turkey

May 1990 (Revised August 1990)
Case

Campbell Soup Co.

By: Steven C. Wheelwright

Describes the engineering effort at Campbell Soup Co. to develop a microwavable package and product for the growing convenience segment. Focuses on the role of engineering services in developing the production process, acquiring and installing equipment, and getting... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Production; Engineering; Strategy; Business Processes; Innovation and Management; Planning; Competitive Advantage; Food and Beverage Industry; Retail Industry

Program

Audit Committees in a New Era of Governance

Summary As the focus on corporate governance and oversight has grown, so has the complexity of regulatory challenges facing audit committees. This corporate governance strategy program explores the best practices that your audit committee... View Details

November 1995
Case

Ernst & Young United Kingdom (B)

By: John J. Gabarro and Samantha Graff

Discusses progress made by mid-1995 on the three challenges identified by the change leadership at the end of 1993. First, it describes the decision-making process that resulted in a general consensus to reorganize the huge London office, and it highlights certain... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Leading Change; Management Teams; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Restructuring; Problems and Challenges; Decision Making; Adaptation; Perspective; United Kingdom; London

05 Jun 2007
First Look

First Look: June 5, 2007

supplement: http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=807158 Westin Hotels and Resorts: Operations of a Lifestyle Experience Harvard Business School Case 607-129 Westin Hotels and Resorts adopted a new "lifestyle" brand View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Web

The Founding of U.S. Steel and the Power of Public Opinion | Baker Library | Bloomberg Center | Harvard Business School

total capitalization of $1.4 billion, inspired the Wall Street Journal to write of its “uneasiness over the magnitude of the affair.” 2 Through its combined subsidiaries, U.S. Steel’s integrated system held control over the mines and materials that produced steel, the... View Details

October 2005
Case

Kinko's

Over the decades, Kinko's had forged a deep emotional bond with consumers by easing their anxiety and helping them solve pressing document processing problems. By 2003, however, consumer research revealed that a confusing retail experience had eroded some of this good... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Customer Satisfaction; Service Industry

November 1995 (Revised November 1999)
Case

National Power and the Privatization of the British Power Generation Industry

By: Willis M. Emmons III and Ed Simnett

The British government privatized the nation's electric utility sector in 1991 through a complex process involving the restructuring of the industry as well as the creation of a new regulatory oversight body. National Power plc, the largest of the privatized power... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Trade; Energy Generation; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Markets; Monopoly; Privatization; Opportunities; Diversification; Expansion; Energy Industry; Utilities Industry

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January 2000 (Revised March 2001)
Teaching Note

Competition & Strategy: Course Structure TN

By: Michael E. Porter and Jan W. Rivkin

Provides an overview of the Competition & Strategy course, a first course on business strategy, as taught at Harvard Business School during the summer of 1999. Describes the role of the course in the overall MBA curriculum, the superstructure of the course, and the... View Details

Keywords: Curriculum and Courses; Higher Education; Management; Business or Company Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Practices and Processes; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Corporate Strategy; Education Industry