Publications

October 2019 (Revised January 2020)
Case

NewView Capital and Venture Capital Secondaries

By: Shai Bernstein, Ramana Nanda and Allison Ciechanover

While still a general partner at Silicon Valley–based New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Ravi Viswanathan considered the challenges presented by evolving market dynamics in the venture capital space. Startups were staying private longer, which led to limited partners... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Capital Markets; Private Equity; Strategy

April 1992 (Revised April 1996)
Case

Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.

By: Hugo Uyterhoeven

The board and management of General Cinema has to determine whether the acquisition of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (HBJ), thereby entering the publishing business, makes strategic sense. The case describes HBJ's involvement in several segments of the publishing industry:... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Boundaries; Supply and Industry; Segmentation; Publishing Industry

11 Aug 2014
News

Politics and Dirty Data

18 Jun 2018
News

Why It Pays to Break the Rules at Work

August 1999 (Revised October 1999)
Case

RCA Records: The Digital Revolution

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Cate Reavis

In 1995, Bertelsmann-owned RCA Records was considered a "tired and old" record label. By 1999, the company represented a number of the "hottest" acts in the music industry. Nevertheless, the company's position (as well as that of the entire music industry) was under... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Business Model; Competition; Corporate Strategy; Internet and the Web; Change Management; Marketing Strategy; Music Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States

2016
Working Paper

The Reference Wars: Encyclopedia Britannica's Decline and Encarta's Emergence

By: Shane Greenstein

The experience of Encyclopædia Britannica provides the canonical example of the decline of an established firm at the outset of the digital age. Competition from Microsoft's Encarta in 1993 led to sharp declines in the sales of books, which led to the distressed sale... View Details

Keywords: Market Entry and Exit; Service Operations; Emerging Markets; Applications and Software; Books; Information Technology Industry; Information Industry

Read Now

18 Jul 2023
Cold Call Podcast

Diversity and Inclusion at Mars Petcare: Translating Awareness into Action

Keywords: Re: Katherine B. Coffman; Food & Beverage; Health

Alexandra C. Feldberg

Alexandra (Allie) Feldberg is an Assistant Professor of Business Administration in the Organizational Behavior Unit at Harvard Business School.

Professor Feldberg uses qualitative and quantitative methods to examine intersections between gender,... View Details

August 2017 (Revised November 2017)
Case

Accounting for Political Risk at AES

By: Gerardo Pérez Cavazos and Suraj Srinivasan

As a global energy generating company, AES frequently faces challenges from political changes and instability. This is exacerbated by the fact that in many instances AES' primary customer is the government, which is also in charge of law-making. For example, AES'... View Details

Keywords: Political Risk; Asset Impairment; Risk Factors; Fair Value; Fair Value Accounting; Financial Reporting; Financial Statements; Energy Industry; Bulgaria; Dominican Republic; United States; Venezuela

September 2023
Technical Note

Note on Family Constitutions

By: Christina R. Wing

Less than half of family businesses will survive generational transfer. While sometimes this is due to operating company issues, in many cases it is because of conflict within the family. Many families create and adopt a family constitution to proactively mitigate... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Policy; Organizational Structure; Family Ownership; Conflict Management; Agreements and Arrangements

June 2019 (Revised October 2019)
Technical Note

Note on the Future of Commerce

By: William R. Kerr, Daniel O'Connor and Nathaniel Schwalb

In 2019, the retail and consumer product industries were undergoing a significant transformation. Over the past 50 years, what was once a highly fragmented industry began to consolidate, digitize, and increase convenience while lowering costs. The winning enterprises... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Demand and Consumers; Demographics; Transformation; Global Range; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business Model; Leading Change; Retail Industry; Consumer Products Industry

August 1998 (Revised October 2002)
Case

Harbus Foundation, The

By: James E. Austin and Linda Carrigan

Describes the challenges faced by a group of HBS students as they create a foundation. Given surplus funds generated by the student-run newspaper, The Harbus leadership decides to find a meaningful use for the excess cash. Profiles both the entrepreneurial process used... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Asset Management; Financial Institutions; Investment Portfolio; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Problems and Challenges; Social Enterprise; Valuation; Financial Services Industry

16 Feb 2023
HBS Case

ESG Activists Met the Moment at ExxonMobil, But Did They Succeed?

The impact-investment hedge fund Engine No. 1 made a big splash in May 2021 when it managed to get three nominees elected to the ExxonMobil board of directors. It was an open effort to prod the oil giant toward renewable energy and test whether activist investing could... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Financial Services

April 2003 (Revised April 2009)
Case

Paul Levy: Taking Charge of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

By: David A. Garvin and Michael Roberto

On January 7, 2002, Paul Levy became CEO of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He took over a troubled organization, in serious financial difficulty. This multimedia case describes the situation Levy inherited, his negotiations prior to taking the job, and his... View Details

Keywords: Communication Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Leadership Style; Leading Change; Managerial Roles; Organizational Culture; Health Industry

2008
Book

Ownership Quotient: Putting the Service Profit Chain to Work for Unbeatable Competitive Advantage

By: James L. Heskett, W. Earl Sasser Jr. and Joe Wheeler

Hundreds of large organizations worldwide have used the groundbreaking Service Profit Chain to improve business performance. Now The Ownership Quotient reveals the next generation of the chain: customer and employee "owners" of your business. Employee-owners exhibit... View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Customer Ownership; Employee Ownership; Competitive Advantage; Value Creation

23 Dec 2020
News

A Path to Developing More Insightful Business School Graduates: A Systems-Based, Experimental Approach to Integrating Law, Strategy, and Sustainability

July 1996
Background Note

The GM's Leadership Challenge: Building a Self-Renewing Institution

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Ashish Nanda

Highlights the general manager's role in building a self-renewing organization. View Details

Keywords: Management Skills; Leadership Development; Managerial Roles; Management Teams; Organizational Structure

March 1985 (Revised November 1985)
Case

Wilmington Tap and Die

By: Robert S. Kaplan

The general manager of a division manufacturing taps and dies must decide whether to continue a major capital investment program. The program was designed to replace aging mechanical machines with modern, electronically controlled equipment. A post-audit, after an... View Details

Keywords: Capital Budgeting; Investment; Accounting Audits; Cost Management; Technological Innovation; Information Technology; Performance Productivity; Production; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Manufacturing Industry