Publications

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March 1998 (Revised December 1999)
Case

Bronner Slosberg Humphrey

By: David E. Bell and Donald M Leavitt

Bronner Slosberg Humphrey has succeeded by providing integrated direct marketing solutions for major service companies such as AT&T, American Express, and FedEx. A new CEO takes over from the company's founder and is wondering how to grow the company. Options include... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Growth and Development Strategy; Leading Change; Global Strategy; Service Operations; Competitive Strategy; Information Technology; Salesforce Management; Marketing Communications; Service Industry

2008
Working Paper

Wellsprings of Creation: How Perturbation Sustains Exploration in Mature Organizations

By: David James Brunner, Bradley R. Staats, Michael L. Tushman and David M. Upton

Organizations struggle to balance simultaneous imperatives to exploit and explore, yet theorists differ as to whether exploitation undermines or enhances exploration. The debate reflects a gap: the missing mechanism by which organizations break free of old routines and... View Details

Keywords: Disruption; Innovation and Management; Business Processes; Opportunities; Creativity

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2022 Reunion Presentations - Alumni

Professor Laura Alfaro + More Info – Less Info Fueled by a series of recent political events and actors, anti-globalization has been growing. From the rise of political platforms pinning blame on openness to imports and immigration to the... View Details

March 1995 (Revised April 1995)
Background Note

Scope of the Corporation, The

By: David J. Collis

Describes analyses that determine the appropriate limit to the scope of the firm. Examines both the production cost justification for firm diversification--economies of scope and shared resources, and the governance cost justification for including transactions inside... View Details

Keywords: Cost; Agency Theory; Corporate Strategy; Diversification; Expansion

Web

Engagement - Christensen Center for Teaching & Learning

Teaching by the Case Method Engagement Preparing to Teach Leading in the Classroom Pre-Class Arrival Diversity and Inclusion Openings Cold Calling Questioning, Listening & Responding Transitions Closings Timing Participation Engagement... View Details

February 2016 (Revised January 2017)
Case

Bidding for Finansbank

By: David Scharfstein and Esel Çekin

Because of the deepening Greek crisis, in October 2015, National Bank of Greece (NBG) was required to sell one of its most valuable assets, Finansbank, the eighth largest Turkish bank. There were three potential buyers: Garanti Bank, Turkey's second largest private... View Details

Keywords: Banking; Acquisitions; International Acquisition; Cross-border Investment; Bidding; Bidders; Regulations; ROE; Cost Synergies; Regional Growth; Emerging Market; Sales Process; Valuation; Mergers and Acquisitions; Banking Industry; Turkey; Europe

20 Dec 2022
Blog Post

Thinking About an MBA? Think About Your Purpose

business. As David Vélez, the NuBank CEO, put it: “The culture of a business is built by the first 10 to 15 employees in the first six months of life.” He has made sure to hire people who have the... View Details

18 Jun 2013
First Look

First Look: June 18

Second, pay disparity between managers located in different states decreases relative to that of co-located managers. Third, division productivity falls in dispersed firms, with the effect driven by managers at the low end of the wage... View Details

Keywords: Anna Secino

January 2025 (Revised April 2025)
Case

Less Is More: Will Aldi's Expansion Plans Pay Off in a Crowded U.S. Grocery Market?

By: David Collis and Haisley Wert

In 2024, the discount grocery retailer Aldi announced bold U.S. expansion plans. Within five years, the German company would increase its store count by 30% to reach 3,200+ stores across the United States and approach becoming the fifth largest grocery retailer in the... View Details

Keywords: Scope; Grocery; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Business Model; Competitive Strategy; Retail Industry; United States

October 2007
Case

iPhone vs. Cell Phone

By: David B. Yoffie and Michael Slind

The launch of Apple's iPhone marked a pivotal new chapter in the story of mobile music (the uniting of digital music players with mobile phones). The iPhone combined an iPod music player, a cell phone, and a mobile Internet device, along with a camera and other... View Details

Keywords: Communication Technology; Music Entertainment; Product Launch; Partners and Partnerships; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Communications Industry; Music Industry

20 Jul 2010
First Look

First Look: July 20

Piskorski and David ChenHarvard Business School Case 710-408 Meetup, an online company providing means of arranging face-to-face meetings, is deciding between two options of increasing its revenue by... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

30 May 2023
News

Finding PRIDE

Edited by Jen McFarland Flint; Illustrations by Anthony Gerace In the late 1970s, a dozen or so gay men found one another at HBS and decided to band together, calling themselves the Alternative Executive Lifestyles group. They posted notices around campus, discreetly... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

11 Apr 2024
News

Mission Control

Subscribe on iTunes Subscribe on Spotify More Skydeck episodes Hi, this is Dan Morrell, host of Skydeck. By the time Peter Platzer (MBA 2002) was a teenager, he knew he wanted to be a physicist—and he was fascinated by space, eagerly engrossed in space-time diagrams... View Details

Web

Organizational Behavior Awards & Honors - Faculty & Research

the Academy of Management for “Getting Serious About Diversity” (November–December 2020) with David A. Thomas. Robin J. Ely : Runner-up for the 2021 Financial Times Responsible Business Education Award. Robin J. Ely : Winner of the 2021... View Details

28 Jun 2011
First Look

First Look: June 28

by examining the association between top executive turnovers and guidance. Although firm and industry characteristics are important determinants of guidance, we conclude that CEOs participate in firm-level policy decisions, whereas CFOs... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Jul 2014
First Look

First Look: July 1

have profoundly shaped the scope and range of organizational scholarship devoted to sexual minorities by showing that scholars using such contrasted frames have been drawn to very different research questions with respect to sexual... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

TeachingInterests

Creating the Modern Financial System

By: David A. Moss

Creating the Modern Financial System offers a vital perspective on finance and the financial system by exploring the historical development of key financial instruments and institutions worldwide. The premise of the course is that students will gain a richer and... View Details

April 2011
Article

Behavioral Economics Perspectives on Public Sector Pension Plans

By: John Beshears, James J. Choi, David Laibson and Brigitte C. Madrian

We describe the pension plan features of the states and the largest cities and counties in the U.S. Unlike in the private sector, defined benefit (DB) pensions are still the norm in the public sector. However, a few jurisdictions have shifted towards defined... View Details

Keywords: Equality and Inequality; Public Sector; Retirement; Private Sector; Compensation and Benefits; United States

Forthcoming
Article

Bank Risk-Taking and the Real Economy: Evidence from the Housing Boom and Its Aftermath

By: Antonio Falato, Giovanni Favara and David Scharfstein

We present evidence that pressure to maximize short-term stock prices and earnings leads banks to increase risk. We start by showing that banks increase risk when they transition from private to public ownership through a public listing or an acquisition. The increase... View Details

Keywords: Ownership Type; Risk and Uncertainty; Financial Markets; Banks and Banking; Transition; Price