Publications

April 2019 (Revised December 2021)
Case

Sears: The Demise of an American Icon

By: Kristin Mugford and Sarah L. Abbott

In 2019, ESL Investments’ $5.2 billion offer to purchase Sears Holdings out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, was accepted, despite opposition from the company's unsecured creditors and other parties. ESL, which was led by Eddie Lampert, had acquired a stake in Sears following... View Details

Keywords: Bankruptcy; Reorganization; Bonds; Restructuring; Business Divisions; Transformation; Fairness; Borrowing and Debt; Credit; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Corporate Governance; Motivation and Incentives; Retail Industry; United States

28 Nov 2023
Book

Economic Growth Draws Companies to Asia. Can They Handle Its Authoritarian Regimes?

leaders have no political competition, or open autocracies like that of Russia, Turkey, and Malaysia, which hold elections but may lack safeguards and transparency that keep them fair. The book investigates... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

30 Jun 2022
HBS Case

Peloton Changed the Exercise Game. Can the Company Push Through the Pain?

pace with demand. A child died in a treadmill accident, and dozens of other people were injured. That prompted a product recall. The company was in the midst View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Media & Broadcasting; Health; Bicycle

February 2022 (Revised January 2023)
Case

Huazhu: A Chinese Hotel Giant's Journey of Digital Transformation

By: Feng Zhu, Yulin Fang, Bonnie Yining Cao and Duan Yang

Based in Shanghai, China, Huazhu Group, the world’s third-largest hotel operator, was known for its standardized IT system. It helped the company boost efficiency during the COVID-19 pandemic. Chief Digital Officer Xinxin Liu also faced some longer-term challenges:... View Details

Keywords: Hotel Industry; COVID-19 Pandemic; Labor; Business or Company Management; Emerging Markets; Information Technology; Operations; Strategy; Digital Transformation; Accommodations Industry; China; United States; Singapore; Germany; Hong Kong

February 2017 (Revised March 2017)
Case

Link REIT

By: Siddharth Yog

Publicly listed in November 2005, Link REIT was the first real estate investment trust (REIT) in Hong Kong after the Hong Kong government decided to privatize a portfolio of community shopping malls, car parks, and fresh produce markets. Run by CEO George Hongchoy, the... View Details

Keywords: Hong Kong; REIT; Real Estate; Retail; Government; China; Housing; Public Company; Strategic Planning; Expansion; Public Equity; Real Estate Industry; Hong Kong; China

11 Mar 2001
Research & Ideas

Merchants to Multinationals: British Trading Companies in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

this period. The British willingness to use outside capital in affiliate ventures was distinctive. With some exceptions, in other European countries non-trading activities might be separately incorporated but were usually wholly owned.... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones

September 2023 (Revised November 2023)
Case

Seeds of Innovation: GALY's Quest to Cultivate the Future of Agriculture in the Lab

By: George Serafeim and Michael Norris

In 2023, Luciano Bueno, CEO and founder of plant cell culture agriculture company GALY, was considering the best path forward for his company as he planned to pitch Series B investors. GALY, founded in 2019, aimed to produce cotton and other crops from cells grown in... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Green Technology; Goods and Commodities; Growth and Development Strategy; Science-Based Business; Entrepreneurship; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Business Startups; Decisions; Technological Innovation; Production; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Technology Industry; Boston; Sao Paulo

25 Jun 2019
Research & Ideas

The Powerful Strategic Tool Companies Should Not Try to Control

World Nutella Day a cease-and-desist letter in 2013. The company backed down and eventually embraced this day of honor of its beloved product. View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

23 Aug 2022
Cold Call Podcast

Management Lessons from the Sinking of the SS El Faro

Keywords: Re: Joseph B. Fuller; Shipping

20 Apr 2022
Blog Post

How HBS Prepared Me to Lead a Company on Day One

disagree in unexpected ways. In my section, it was not uncommon to find an American from the Rust Belt and a Saudi student on one side of a debate, and students from Lebanon and San Francisco on the other... View Details

December 2011
Case

Bergerac Systems: The Challenge of Backward Integration

By: David A. Garvin and Sunru Yong

Bergerac Systems is a small, rapidly growing manufacturer of diagnostic instruments used in veterinary practices. The company introduced the OmniVue chemistry analyzer, which enables veterinarians to run a wide range of blood and blood chemistry tests on their animal... View Details

Keywords: Financial Analysis; Manufacturing Strategy; Strategy; Production; Supply Chain Management; Vertical Integration; Performance Capacity; Financial Strategy; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

Keywords: Hanna, Julia; Seattle Times Company; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services

01 Mar 2014
News

3-Minute Briefing: Frank Blethen (PMD 35, 1978)

Washington for four years. That was the first time I was on my own, and I realized I really do love this work, the public service aspect, and the business challenge itself. I also realized I'm pretty good at it. THE BIGGEST killer of... View Details

02 Dec 2019
What Do You Think?

How Does a Company like Boeing Respond to Intense Competitive Pressure?

the rocket, which was built and operated by another company, the United Launch Alliance.” While we were addressing one possible example of a lack of coordinated, long-term thinking under pressure (among... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Air Transportation

March 2025
Case

Sarojini Naidu: Courage of the Nightingale

By: Ranjay Gulati, Malini Sen and Anjali Raina

Indian poet and freedom fighter and mother of four, Sarojini (Chattopadhyay) Naidu, could not hold back. As the protestors marched ahead without retaliating against the police’s blows, she stepped forward to join them. A British officer approached Naidu and touched her... View Details

Keywords: Gender; Leadership; Personal Development and Career; Motivation and Incentives; Power and Influence; Government and Politics; India; Asia

01 Dec 2013
News

Your Own Medicine

hospital bed in jeans and Chuck Taylors, mussed brown hair, smiling just enough to reveal dimples, with his hand out in front of him, holding two small white pills. "First dose View Details

Keywords: Morrell, Daniel; biomedicine; biopharmaceutical company; Ambulatory Health Care Services; Health, Social Assistance

September 2013
Case

United Rentals (A)

By: Jay W. Lorsch, Kathleen Durante and Emily McTague

In December 1997 United Rentals (URI) went public on the NYSE. Ten years later, during the peak of the economic meltdown, the company's performance was in decline. United Rentals had experienced its share of problems in the prior years and was still struggling to... View Details

Keywords: Board Of Directors; Board Dynamics; Accounting Fraud; Governance; Board Committees; Merger; Corporate Governance; Construction Industry; United States

October 2007
Article

The Power of Stars: Do Star Actors Drive the Success of Movies?

By: Anita Elberse

Is the involvement of star actors critical to the success of motion pictures? Film studios, which they regularly pay multimillion-dollar fees to star actors, seem driven by that belief. I shed light on the returns on this investment using an event study that considers... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Film Entertainment; Investment Return; Revenue; Compensation and Benefits; Resource Allocation; Success; Motion Pictures and Video Industry