Publications

June 2017 (Revised May 2018)
Supplement

Hilti Fleet Management Video Supplements

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Oliver Gassmann and Roman Sauer

This case explores the introduction of fleet management in the construction industry by the premium power tools manufacturer Hilti in 2000. Following its customers’ needs, Hilti moved from selling power tools to leasing them as a service. The introduction of the new... View Details

07 Jul 2008
Research & Ideas

Innovation Corrupted: How Managers Can Avoid Another Enron

for natural gas, and to create derivative supply contracts that could help customers manage the risks of demand volatility and price swings more effectively than before. In this way, Skilling and his colleagues solved a major contracting... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Energy; Utilities

Web

2023 Reunion Presentations - Alumni

relaxing the ownership role of physicians in such sites. Some health insurers added technology as a major asset, and VCs and PEs invested heavily in these innovative businesses. Many of these innovations spread to other continents, such... View Details

02 May 2005
Research & Ideas

Four VCs on Evaluating Opportunities

Hoel (hbs Mba '93) Managing Director, Menlo Ventures I always look at the market first. By that I mean a strategic view that includes evaluating market growth, market size, competition, and customer adoption rates. If a company has a... View Details

Keywords: by Lauren Barley

July 2020 (Revised November 2020)
Case

Gera Developments: Leadership at a Crossroads

By: Christina R. Wing and John Masko

For decades, Gera Developments (Gera) was a boutique family-owned real estate development firm in Pune, India. But since 2000, managing director Rohit Gera had turned the company into a dynamic innovator in housing solutions for urban Indian families. Over the 2010s,... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Business Growth and Maturation; Construction; Geographic Location; Global Strategy; Globalized Firms and Management; Housing; Leadership Style; Management Succession; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Family Ownership; Family and Family Relationships; Urban Development; Customization and Personalization; Real Estate Industry; Maharashtra; India; United States

28 Sep 2011
Research & Ideas

The Profit Power of Corporate Culture

too late to act. Financial numbers measure the past and lead to "rearview mirror management." The numbers that predict the future are the Four Rs-employee retention and referrals, returns to labor (productivity), and relationships with View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

Web

Health Care - Faculty & Research

Medical USA, is five years into her tenure leading the medical equipment supply company since taking over for her father, the company’s founder. She considers approaches to grow the company while maintaining the company purpose—to provide value to View Details

28 Feb 2018
Sharpening Your Skills

Master the Team Meeting

have ownership in a topic, the more engaged they’ll be. The team’s leader should not speak more than one-third of the time throughout the meeting. Other than updating the team about broad company topics, your job is to guide the... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Austin

December 2017 (Revised January 2018)
Case

Alltech

By: David E. Bell and Natalie Kindred

Alltech was a Lexington, Kentucky–based producer of supplements for animal feed, with revenues of over $2 billion (projected to reach $3 billion in 2018), sales in 120 countries, 5,000 employees, and 100 manufacturing plants worldwide. For nearly four decades, Alltech... View Details

October 2016
Case

The Quiet Ascension of LA Fitness

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

In 2016, LA Fitness was the largest chain of non-franchised fitness clubs in North America, operating 676 clubs, serving 4.9 million members, and generating revenues of over $1.9 billion. Founded by Chinyol Yi, Louis Welch, and Paul Norris in 1984, the privately held... View Details

Keywords: LA Fitness; Health Clubs; Fitness; Gyms; Chain; Exercise; Personal Training; Retention; Bally Total Fitness; 24 Hour Fitness; Planet Fitness; Buildings and Facilities; Acquisition; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Customers; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Demographics; Age; Gender; Income; Residency; Borrowing and Debt; Capital; Capital Structure; Cash; Cash Flow; Cost; Private Equity; Financial Condition; Financial Liquidity; Financing and Loans; Investment Return; Price; Profit; Revenue; Geographic Location; Geographic Scope; Multinational Firms and Management; Business History; Employees; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Human Capital; Contracts; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Operations; Service Operations; Leasing; Private Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Sales; Salesforce Management; Situation or Environment; Opportunities; Sports; Strategy; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Segmentation; Information Technology; Mobile Technology; Technology Platform; Health Industry; United States; California; Los Angeles

21 Mar 2019
HBS Case

The Ferrari Way

drivers in pure, unadulterated pleasure. “The overarching goal is to create an experience—a sensual experience,” says Harvard Business School Professor Stefan Thomke, who wrote a case study about the company in 2018. While many companies talk about creating a View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Auto

Web

Student Research - Doctoral

ownership of physician practices is increasing, with owners targeting sales, or exits, in 3 to 7 years. Little is known about the association of exit with physician retention and subsequent employment. Using panel data over the period... View Details

06 Apr 2010
First Look

First Look: April 6

were making decisions that made them more acceptable to customers given the particular social, cultural, and economic contexts within which they were embedded. Ownership Structure and the Cost of Corporate... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Web

Curriculum - Business & Environment

Key concepts: Business and Society, Business Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility, Entrepreneurship, Leadership Patagonia's change of ownership from a privately held company to a perpetual purpose trust and 501(c)(4) nonprofit in order... View Details

09 Jul 2007
Research & Ideas

Five Steps to Better Family Negotiations

acceptable outcomes in their negotiations. The negotiation space in a family business system is often extensive and typically complex, involving family members, employees, and owners of the business, and also may involve key stakeholders of the family business system... View Details

Keywords: by John A. Davis and Deepak Malhotra

May 2017
Teaching Note

Hilti Fleet Management (A) and (B)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Oliver Gassmann and Roman Sauer

These notes are meant to accompany Hilti Fleet Management (A): Turning a Successful Business Model on Its Head (717-427) and Hilti Fleet Management (B): Towards a New Business Model (717-465).
This case explores the introduction of fleet management in the... View Details

February 2025
Case

Blue Owl Financing of Ping Identity

By: Victoria Ivashina and Srimayi Mylavarapu

In the fall of 2022, Blue Owl Capital's investment committee evaluated a potential investment in the technology sector. The proposed transaction centered on Ping Identity Corporation (“Ping”), a fast-growing identity access management (IAM) software company that was... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Borrowing and Debt; Cash Flow; Investment; Privatization; Financial Services Industry; Technology Industry