Publications

October 2008 (Revised September 2011)
Supplement

PepsiCo's Bid for Quaker Oats (C)

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

Third in a series of PepsiCo's bid for Quaker Oats. Describes the auction for Quaker Oats including terms of the bids. After winning the auction, Coke's stock price fell dramatically. Coke's Board then refused to approve the deal and withdrew. Quaker then approached... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Stocks; Governing and Advisory Boards; Auctions; Bids and Bidding; Negotiation Tactics; Valuation; Food and Beverage Industry

October 2007 (Revised March 2008)
Case

First National Bank's Golden Opportunity

By: Shawn A. Cole, Peter Tufano, Daniel Schneider and Daryl Collins

Executives at First National Bank in South Africa are considering whether to launch a potentially exciting, but rather unorthodox, new savings product. Instead of paying interest, this product gives depositors the chance to win large cash prizes each month. Michael... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Banks and Banking; Investment; Innovation and Invention; Product Launch; Demand and Consumers; Banking Industry; South Africa

01 Feb 2016
News

Is America Great?

September 2006
Case

IR at BP: Investor Relations and Information Reconnaissance

By: Gregory S. Miller, Daniela Beyersdorfer and Anders Sjoman

BP's IR director has begun a program to use information regarding external views of BP and the industry as part of the firm's planning and operational activities. This information is generated as a portion of their award winning investor relations program, and had... View Details

Keywords: Knowledge Use and Leverage; Operations; Information Management; Business and Shareholder Relations; Planning

14 May 2019
Video

Health Care Opportunities at HBS

June 2001 (Revised April 2004)
Case

Innovation at Progressive (B): Homeowners Insurance

By: Frances X. Frei and Hanna Rodriguez-Farrar

Analyzes whether Progressive, strictly an auto insurer, should enter the home owner's insurance market. The critical decision is whether the competencies that made Progressive succeed in the auto insurance industry can translate to the home owner's insurance industry. View Details

Keywords: Market Entry and Exit; Insurance Industry

March 2010 (Revised August 2010)
Case

Systems Infrastructure at Google (A)

By: Linda A. Hill and Emily Stecker

This case describes how a senior vice president of engineering at Google, Bill Coughran, leads a high-performing engineering organization. The case focuses specifically on Coughran's encouraging two teams of engineers to develop competing solutions for application... View Details

Keywords: Independent Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Management; Innovation Leadership; Leadership Development; Product Design; Groups and Teams; Creativity; Motivation and Incentives; Competitive Strategy; Technology Industry; United States

April 2006 (Revised November 2006)
Case

Livedoor

By: Robin Greenwood and Michael Schor

The president of Fuji Television must decide how to respond to a competing bid for the shares of Nippon Broadcasting Systems (NBS). Livedoor, the other bidder, is a highly valued Internet company that has been accused of financial wizardry to keep its stock price high. View Details

Keywords: Stock Shares; Internet and the Web; Ethics; Television Entertainment; Behavioral Finance; Corporate Finance; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Japan

2021
Case

NiPay's Pricing Conundrum

By: Marco Bertini and Oded Koenigsberg

NiPay is a software provider competing in the Nigerian business-to-business payments market. Founded by Idaku Ibrahim nearly 20 years ago, NiPay sells two products to retailers and other merchants, which enable individual shoppers to transact either online or via a... View Details

Keywords: Payment Systems; B2B; Pricing; Software; Marketing Strategy; Nigeria

April 1998
Case

E! Online (A): www.eonline.com

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

E! Online is the on-line brand extension of the cable-TV channel dedicated to entertainment news. E! Online must compete with other entertainment sites on the web, as well as create synergy between E! Online and E! Entertainment Television in order to build a... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Internet and the Web; Service Operations; Television Entertainment; Brands and Branding; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

Find at Harvard

March 2016 (Revised October 2017)
Case

Salesforce.com vs. Siebel (Abridged)

By: David B. Yoffie

Explores the phenomenon of software becoming a service. Salesforce.com has catapulted into the lead for offering a customer relationship management (CRM) solution as a Web-based service. Siebel, the leader in CRM packaged software sales, has to devise a strategy to... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Competitive Strategy; Software

27 Dec 2019
News

Harvard Business School study: Structural issues in politics are impeding economic growth

December 2002 (Revised October 2006)
Case

Commerce Bank

By: Frances X. Frei and Corey B. Hajim

Commerce Bank has become one of the fastest growing banks in the country, despite having defied conventional wisdom about how to grow deposits. Banks historically have grown either by competing on deposit rates or through acquisitions that expand their deposit base.... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Design; Growth and Development Strategy; Service Operations; Competition; Banking Industry

Article

Trust: The Foundation of Leadership

By: Frances Frei and Anne Morriss

The authors contend that if leadership is about empowering others, in your presence and your absence, then trust is the emotional framework that allows that service to be freely exchanged. Based on their experiences advising individuals and organizations, their basic... View Details

Keywords: Trustworthiness; Authenticity; Empathy; Trust; Leadership; Competency and Skills; Behavior

Find at Harvard

June 2024
Module Note

Value Creation Potential of New Business Models

By: David J. Collis

A business model is composed of three elements. These describe a generic way of creating value and identify the maximum potential value of that model for customers. The elements of a business model are the “job to be done” for the customer, the asset configuration, or... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Corporate Strategy; Mission and Purpose; Competitive Strategy; Value Creation