Publications

During times of economic turbulence, consulting, law, and accounting firms often start offering services and taking on clients they really shouldn’t, just to keep the lights on. This path is perilous. If a firm’s practices have a diffuse mix of clients and unclear... View Details

July 2003 (Revised September 2003)
Case

Refinancing of Shanghai General Motors (B), The

By: Mihir A. Desai and Mark Veblen

This case provides the outcome to "The Refinancing of Shanghai General Motors (A)" in which the CFO of General Motors' joint venture in Shanghai, Shanghai General Motors (SGM), wants to refinance almost $900 million of project finance it raised to begin operations. The... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Multinational Firms and Management; Joint Ventures; Financing and Loans; Auto Industry; Shanghai

2017
Working Paper

Digital Agility: The Impact of Software Portfolio Architecture on IT System Evolution

By: Alan MacCormack, Robert Lagerström, Martin Mocker and Carliss Y. Baldwin

The modern industrial firm increasingly relies on software to support its competitive position. However, the uncertain and dynamic nature of today’s global marketplace dictates that this software be continually evolved and adapted to meet new business challenges. This... View Details

Keywords: Information Systems; Software; Architecture; Modularity; Agility; Coupling; Applications and Software; Design; Decisions; Performance

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December 2007 (Revised July 2008)
Case

General Mills (A)

By: Raymond V. Gilmartin, Marco Iansiti and Bianca Buccitelli

General Mills is an 80-year-old company that specializes in consumer foods such as cereal, snacks, baking, and dinner products. Although General Mills is, on the whole, a very successful company, they have, in the recent past, had to face challenges as a result the... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Change Management; Cost Management; Problems and Challenges; Inflation and Deflation; Price; Consumer Products Industry; Manufacturing Industry

May 2010 (Revised November 2010)
Case

Investment Technology Group

By: Clayton S. Rose and David Lane

Investment Technology Group (ITG) CEO Robert Gasser wondered if the financial crisis had permanently affected the firm's business model. A leader in trade analytics and execution for institutional equity investors, ITG had grown since its establishment in 1987 in step... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Financial Crisis; Investment; Resignation and Termination; Crisis Management; Product Positioning; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Financial Services Industry; Information Technology Industry; New York (city, NY)

06 Nov 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Extending Producer Responsibility: An Evaluation Framework for Product Take-Back Policies

Keywords: by Michael W. Toffel, Antoinette Stein & Katharine L. Lee; Chemical

18 Jun 2019
News

How to Scandal-Proof Your Company

February 1992 (Revised April 1993)
Case

Acid Rain: The Southern Co. (A)

By: Forest L. Reinhardt

The Southern Co., an electric utility, is planning its compliance with the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act. The Act established a system of tradeable permits for sulfur dioxide emissions. The company must decide whether to install pollution control equipment and... View Details

Keywords: Energy Generation; Business Strategy; Environmental Sustainability; Cost vs Benefits; Financial Management; Strategic Planning; Investment Return; Government Legislation; Wastes and Waste Processing; Utilities Industry; Energy Industry; United States

11 Apr 2023
Op-Ed

The First 90 Hours: What New CEOs Should—and Shouldn't—Do to Set the Right Tone

individual executives. Lock down your management team. As an outsider, you’ll need to surround yourself with a mix of respected and dedicated senior executives (ones who have no interest in challenging you for your role), as well as new... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch

November 2009
Article

Is it Fair to Blame Fair Value Accounting for the Financial Crisis?

By: Robert C. Pozen

When the credit markets seized up in 2008, many heaped blame on "mark to market" accounting rules, which require banks to write down their troubled assets to the prices they'd fetch if sold on the open market - at the time, next to nothing. Recording those assets below... View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Fair Value Accounting; Financial Crisis; Assets; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Crisis Management; Standards; Banking Industry

Program

Disruptive Innovation

success. This program is eligible for the Certificate of Management Excellence. Learn More Key Benefits Examining disruption and strategic decision-making through the lens of Christensen's transformative theory, you will gain a deeper... View Details

September 2012 (Revised December 2013)
Case

Roxbury Technology Corporation

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Roxbury Technology is a Boston-based re-manufacturer of ink and toner cartridges. In early 2012 RTC was re-evaluating its approach to the company's two most important goals: reducing customer concentration and increasing profitability. RTC's largest customer accounted... View Details

Keywords: Social Enterprise; Social Entrepreneurship; Financial Management; Customers; Diversification; Green Technology Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Boston

11 Oct 2007
Working Paper Summaries

How Firms Respond to Being Rated

Keywords: by Aaron K. Chatterji & Michael W. Toffel

15 Mar 2024
HBS Case

Let's Talk: Why It's Time to Stop Avoiding Taboo Topics at Work

time in the workplace and can be addressed wisely—or poorly—says Harvard Business School Senior Lecturer Christina Wing, whose forthcoming book Unspeakable offers advice for managing weighty interactions. She has also created a... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

2017
Working Paper

Business and Green Knowledge Production in Sweden 1960s–1980s

By: Ann-Kristin Bergquist and Kristina Söderholm

This working paper contributes to the burgeoning historical literature that has transformed our understanding about the relationship between big business and the environmental regulation. Previously, it was believed that corporate managers resisted the extra costs... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business and Government Relations; Research and Development; History; Sweden

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August 2004 (Revised September 2005)
Case

Stanley O'Neal at Merrill Lynch (A)

By: David A. Thomas and Ayesha Kanji

In the late 1970s, Stanley O'Neal joined Merrill Lynch as an investment banker. Profiles O'Neal's ascent at Merrill to CEO. O'Neal put Merrill through a comprehensive restructuring program, cutting costs and significantly reducing the work force. As CEO, O'Neal faces... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Race; Cost Management; Investment Banking; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Leadership; Management Succession; Performance Effectiveness; Personal Development and Career

July 1999 (Revised January 2000)
Case

Yahoo!: Business on Internet Time

By: Jan W. Rivkin and Jay R. Girotto

In the wake of major competitive moves, CEO Tim Koogle and his senior team at Yahoo!, an Internet portal, must decide whether and how to adjust their strategy. Following deals between AOL and Netscape, Excite and @Home, Infoseek and Disney, and Snap and NBS, Yahoo!... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; Organizational Structure; Industry Structures; Internet and the Web; Risk Management; Technological Innovation; Business or Company Management; Information Technology Industry; Web Services Industry

09 Mar 2010
First Look

First Look: March 9

Thomas Steenburgh and Jill AveryHarvard Business School Note 510-080 Marketing managers are often called upon to make recommendations for or against programs that cost money to implement. Before expenditures... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

May 1999 (Revised August 1999)
Case

Victory Supermarkets: Expansion Strategy?

By: David E. Bell and Ann Leamon

Jay DiGeronimo, president of a 16-store supermarket chain, is trying to decide the timing and method for expanding his chain. The family-owned company could continue in a maintenance mode, with each family member running one store. It could expand slowly using a new... View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Cost vs Benefits; Trade; Investment; Market Entry and Exit; Supply Chain Management; Private Ownership; Competition; Expansion; Retail Industry