Publications

November 2019 (Revised April 2020)
Case

Danone: Changing the Food System

By: David E. Bell, Federica Gabrieli and Daniela Beyersdorfer

Emmanuel Faber, Chairman and CEO of the food and beverage company Danone, believed that humankind had only ten years to bend the curve on climate change and restore the biodiversity that the global food and agricultural ecosystem was critically dependent on. Upon... View Details

Keywords: Animal-Based Agribusiness; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Food; Nutrition; Quality; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Environmental Sustainability; Climate Change; Business Model; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; France

9 AM – 5 PM EST, 12 Feb 2022
Virtual Programming

31st Women In Business Conference: Building a Successful Life

We are thrilled to invite you to the 31st Annual Dynamic Women in Business Conference. The conference provides an exciting opportunity to forge new connections while learning from the experiences of all our speakers and each other. The theme of the conference is... View Details

27 Jan 2009
First Look

First Look: January 27, 2009

the capacity to curb its influence. Empire-Building or Bridge-Building? Evidence from New CEOs' Internal Capital Allocation Decisions Author:Yuhai Xuan Publication:Review of Financial Studies (forthcoming) Abstract This paper investigates... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

January 2023
Case

Year Up: Measuring and Scaling Impact

By: Natalia Rigol, Benjamin N. Roth, Brian Trelstad and Sarah Mehta

Year Up, a non-profit that provides training and practical work experience to low-income young people, has for years prioritized impact measurement. By 2022, it had built a robust body of evidence demonstrating that its program yields higher earnings for participants.... View Details

Keywords: Demographics; Education; Jobs and Positions; Measurement and Metrics; Performance; Research; Social Enterprise; Growth Management; Education Industry; United States; Massachusetts; Boston

November 2021 (Revised January 2022)
Case

KFA, Inc.: Building the Future

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Elizabeth M. Adams

In 2021, Greg Bush, Jr., owner, president, and CEO of KFA, Inc. is working with his leadership team to plan for the future. KFA provides consulting services on software and project management needs for infrastructure projects. Bush and his team have just debuted a new... View Details

Keywords: Small Business; Communication Technology; Developing Countries and Economies; Growth and Development Strategy; Infrastructure; Consulting Industry; Information Technology Industry; Chicago; United States

December 2010 (Revised April 2013)
Case

Kepak and the Future of the Irish Beef Industry

By: David E. Bell, Damien P. McLoughlin and Mary Shelman

As Ireland's third largest beef processor, Kepak faces new opportunities as well as significant challenges from the collapse of the "Celtic Tiger." The government has identified food and agriculture as one way the country could significantly grow exports. However, the... View Details

Keywords: Animal-Based Agribusiness; Economic Sectors; Policy; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing; Competition; Cooperation; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Republic of Ireland

March 2006 (Revised December 2013)
Case

Hexcel Turnaround — 2001 (A)

By: Paul W. Marshall, James Quinn and Reed Martin

Hexcel's new CEO is faced with deciding how to "take out" $60 million in cash costs in fiscal 2002, as two of the company's end markets—electronics and commercial aerospace—are expected to decline precipitously. Options include closing plants, exiting a business, or... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Negotiation; Management Teams; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategy; Change Management; Crisis Management; Borrowing and Debt; Aerospace Industry; Electronics Industry; United States

January 2006 (Revised February 2015)
Case

Innovation at Timberland: Thinking Outside the Shoe Box

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Ryan Raffaelli

Innovation was linked to Timberland's heritage. In 2005, CEO Jeff Swartz and COO Ken Pucker hoped the Invention Factory, an advanced concept lab, would develop new breakthrough products and reinvigorate the company's culture of innovation. Since the 1960s, Timberland... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Development; Organizational Culture; Change Management

Martin Sinozich is a Senior Lecturer in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at Harvard Business School, where he teaches in both MBA and Executive Education programs. For first-year MBAs, Martin teaches in Field Global Immersion, a required course that... View Details

October 2024
Case

Reed Group and Succession in a Family Business: An Impossible Job to Fill?

By: Lauren H. Cohen and Tonia Labruyere

James Reed had taken over Reed Group, the recruitment and career services company his father had founded and built, in 1994. He was now reflecting on succession planning and other challenges that lay ahead: with no obvious choice among his family members, he needed to... View Details

Keywords: Charity; Succession Planning; Family Business; Values and Beliefs; Management Succession; Mission and Purpose; Family Ownership; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Family and Family Relationships; Recruitment; AI and Machine Learning; Employment Industry; United Kingdom; London

August 2010 (Revised January 2012)
Case

Leaders Who Make a Difference: Sam Palmisano's Smarter IBM: Day 1

By: Joseph L. Bower and Sonja Ellingson Hout

Sam Palmisano became CEO of IBM in 2002. He dramatically energized the organization through portfolio changes and a values driven approach to managing the company. View Details

Keywords: Values and Beliefs; Multinational Firms and Management; Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Emerging Markets; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Corporate Strategy; Information Technology Industry; New York (state, US)

16 Jun 2015
Working Paper Summaries

Paying Up for Fair Pay: Consumers Prefer Firms with Lower CEO-to-Worker Pay Ratios

Keywords: by Bhavya Mohan, Michael I. Norton & Rohit Deshpandé

2025
Working Paper

Corporate Actions as Moral Issues

By: Zwetelina Iliewa, Elisabeth Kempf and Oliver Spalt

We examine nonpecuniary preferences across a broad set of corporate actions using a representative sample of the U.S. population. Our core findings, based on large-scale online surveys, are that (i) self-reported nonpecuniary concerns are large both for stock market... View Details

Keywords: Public Opinion; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Moral Sensibility

Article

Culture Is Not the Culprit: When Organizations Are in Crisis, It's Usually Because the Business Is Broken

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Emily McTague

When organizations get into big trouble, fixing the culture is usually the prescription. That's what most everyone said GM needed to do after its recall crisis in 2014—and ever since, CEO Mary Barra has been focusing on creating "the right environment" to promote... View Details

Keywords: Culture; Cultural Reform; Organizational Culture; Crisis Management; Business Processes

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October 2009 (Revised November 2016)
Case

Generation Health: A Pioneer in Genetics Benefit Management (A)

By: Robert F. Higgins, Jeffrey D. Marrazzo and Rachel Gordon

Generation Health, a pioneer in the new field of genetics benefit management and a newly formed company, faces many strategic issues. CEO Per Lofberg is in the midst of negotiating a partnership with a major pharmacy benefit management company. As part of these... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Growth and Development Strategy; Partners and Partnerships; Genetics; Health Industry; Insurance Industry

September 2003 (Revised November 2005)
Case

Best Buy Co., Inc. (A): An Innovator's Journey

By: Dorothy A. Leonard and Brian DeLacey

The CEO of Best Buy, a hugely successful retailing company, has hired consulting firm Strategos to imbue the company with an improved innovative capability. The six-month program of experimental learning yields new business ideas and also trains Best Buy employees as... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Management Teams; Creativity; Adoption; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Employees; Learning; Training; Programs; Retail Industry; United States

February 2001 (Revised November 2009)
Case

Amazon.com (C)

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

At the end of 1998, Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos ponders the next moves for his company. Having secured the leadership position as the leading online book seller in the United States, Amazon.com has now moved into the product categories of CDs and videos by... View Details

Keywords: Expansion; Internet and the Web; Business Growth and Maturation; Books; Growth and Development Strategy; Retail Industry; Germany; United Kingdom; United States