Publications

August 1993 (Revised April 1998)
Case

Filene's Basement

By: David E. Bell and Dinny Starr

Filene's Basement is in the process of deciding where, and if, to locate two new stores in its new Chicago area of operations. The existing Chicago area stores have been performing well, however, management is concerned with over saturation of the market. At the time... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Growth Management; Marketing Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Business Processes

August 2013 (Revised November 2013)
Case

Ford vs. GM: The Evolution of Mass Production (A)

By: Willy Shih

This case explores the very different paths taken by the Ford Motor Company and the General Motors Corporation in the first three decades of the twentieth century. Henry Ford's Model T was a car for the masses. After considerable experimentation, Ford Motor... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Exploration; Dominant Design; Business Growth and Maturation; Business History; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Positioning; Product Design; Product Development; Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Vertical Integration; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Michigan

February 2010 (Revised December 2010)
Case

Google Inc. (Abridged)

By: Benjamin Edelman and Thomas R. Eisenmann

Describes Google's history, business model, governance structure, corporate culture, and processes for managing innovation. Reviews Google's recent strategic initiatives and the threats it poses to Yahoo, Microsoft, and others. Asks what Google should do next. One... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Corporate Governance; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Competitive Strategy; Search Technology; Web Services Industry

July 1995 (Revised October 1995)
Background Note

Electronic Commerce: Trends and Opportunities

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Janis Lee Gogan

In a 1966 Harvard Business Review article, Felix Kaufman implored general managers to think beyond their own organizational boundaries to the possibilities of interorganizational systems (IOS)--networked computers that enable companies to share information and... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Trends; Opportunities

Research Summary

Quality in Service Operations

Rogelio Oliva is interested in understanding how the operational characteristics of service delivery processes interact with human resource and marketing policies to determine the long term productivity, quality, and profitability of a service operation. Specifically,... View Details

01 Oct 2021
Blog Post

Video Blog: My Experience in the Joint MS/MBA Engineering Sciences Program

View Video TRANSCRIPT Kaelyn Griffin: Hi, my name is Kaelyn Griffin and I'm a second-year MS/MBA student here at Harvard Business School. In this video, I wanted to talk a bit more about how I view the MS/MBA Program and why I decided to... View Details

April 2024
Article

An Integrative Model of Hybrid Governance: The Role of Boards in Helping Sustain Organizational Hybridity

By: Anne-Claire Pache, Julie Battilana and Channing Spencer

Hybrid organizations must sustainably attend to multiple goals embedded in different institutional spheres. Past research has highlighted the value for hybrids in recruiting board members representing different logics to avoid attentional drifts; yet, diverse boards... View Details

Keywords: Governing and Advisory Boards; Business or Company Management; Organizational Structure

July 2021
Case

Bessemer Venture Partners: Century Fund

By: Jo Tango and Alys Ferragamo

In July of 2021, Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP) contemplated the future of its growth investing practice, known as “Century.” While still relatively new as a focused initiative, BVP’s growth investing already had significant momentum. The fund’s investment pace had... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Financial Institutions; Growth and Development Strategy; Investment Banking; Competitive Strategy; Public Sector; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Acquisition

01 Nov 1999
Research & Ideas

John H. Patterson and the Sales Strategy of the National Cash Register Company, 1884 to 1922

rules of salesmanship at N.C.R. was the ability to demonstrate "sympathy [toward] ... the business and interests of the P.P. [or "Probable Purchaser"] and sincerity in presenting [the] machines to the P.P " These were... View Details

Keywords: by Walter A. Friedman

04 Jan 2017
Working Paper Summaries

Historical Change and the Competitive Advantage of Firms: Explicating the 'Dynamics' in the Dynamic Capabilities Framework

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones and R. Daniel Wadhwani

March 2001 (Revised June 2001)
Case

Identifying and Realizing Investments in Eastern Europe (A)

By: Ray A. Goldberg, Robert E. Kennedy and Laure Mougeot Strook

A Greek milling firm wants to invest in Eastern Europe. The case explores the firm's search strategy and its due diligence process after a potential investment, and considers how the company should structure its bid. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details

Keywords: Foreign Direct Investment; Venture Capital; Emerging Markets; Business and Government Relations; Financial Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Europe

June 2005 (Revised May 2006)
Case

Vidient (A)

Vidient, a young company, is in the process of being spun out of a much larger, established Japanese business. Vidient is in the business of analyzing the feeds from security cameras and catches security breaches automatically, without human assistance. The parent... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Business Growth and Maturation; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Business Startups; Service Industry; Japan

Program

Developing Yourself as a Leader—Virtual

challenge or derailment, including transitions and collaboration. Key Benefits Developing Yourself as a Leader—Virtual is a live online program that enables high-potential, emerging leaders to engage directly with Harvard Business School... View Details

05 Feb 2015
Research & Ideas

How New BofA Executives Learn its ’Deep Smarts’

Company's Deep Smarts offers a roadmap for ensuring that critical knowledge remains in the organization. This excerpt focuses on the executive onboarding practice at Bank of America. Dorothy Leonard is the William J. Abernathy Professor of View Details

Keywords: Re: Dorothy A. Leonard; Banking

29 Aug 2018
What Do You Think?

What Should Harley-Davidson’s Management Do?

overseas components.” There were concerns that the Company could become involved in politics and lose its needed focus on new markets. Supporting the plant in Thailand, Erich Almasy suggested that, “Politics are mercurial and should not dictate strategy.” ICONOCLAST... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Auto

11 Dec 2017
Book

'Don’t Show Up Empty-handed' and Other Tips for Finding the Right Job at a Startup

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

24 Jan 2005
Research & Ideas

Rethinking Activity-Based Costing

excerpted here, authors Kaplan and Anderson suggest the process be simplified through an approach they call "time-driven ABC." Here's an overview. The solution to the problems with ABC is not to abandon the concept. ABC after... View Details

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan & Steven R. Anderson

December 2007 (Revised October 2008)
Case

The American National Red Cross (A)

By: Jay W. Lorsch, Eliot Sherman and David Chen

Describes the governance issues facing the Board of Governors of the American Red Cross. After a series of issues--FDA consent decree on its blood operations; the response to 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina--the Red Cross board was under pressure to fix its governance from... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Management Practices and Processes; Service Operations; Business Processes; Non-Governmental Organizations; Service Industry

October 2000 (Revised October 2001)
Case

adM@rt(A)

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Carin-Isabel Knoop and David Lane

Describes the complex policy alternatives facing an online Hong Kong grocery company as it tries to apply Webvan-type concepts in the Hong Kong marketplace. Captures the extraordinary process of adaptation the company is going through as it tries to find the right... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Markets; Marketing; Business Strategy; Business Model; Decisions; Problems and Challenges; Retail Industry; Web Services Industry; Hong Kong