Publications

January 1993 (Revised May 2002)
Background Note

Note on Techniques for Analyzing Business Problems

A six-step technique for solving business problems is presented: stating the problem, developing a framework for analysis, identifying key issues, performing analysis, drawing conclusions, and making recommendations. Intended to be used with a case or cases that... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Framework; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Problems and Challenges

Research Summary

Marketing Challenges in India

By: Das Narayandas

Das is writing a series of field cases that explore the challenges faced by firms in the rapidly evolving and growing Indian economy. View Details

October 1995
Exercise

Venture Capital Method - Valuation Problem Set

By: William A. Sahlman and Andrew S. Janower

Presents a short problem set designed as an introduction to the venture capital method of problem solving. View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Valuation

August 1995 (Revised September 1995)
Background Note

Managing in an Information Age: Organizational Challenges and Opportunities

By: Lynda M. Applegate

Managers and management theorists spent the majority of this century building and perfecting the hierarchy; however, if we believe the press, they now appear to be engaged in destroying it. While many proclaim the dawning of the "Information Age" organization and the... View Details

Keywords: Management; Information Technology; Problems and Challenges; Opportunities

February 2013 (Revised March 2013)
Supplement

CalSTRS and Relational Challenge Occidental's Governance (C)

By: George Serafeim

February 2013 (Revised March 2013)
Supplement

CalSTRS and Relational Challenge Occidental's Governance (B)

By: George Serafeim

February 2013 (Revised March 2013)
Case

CalSTRS and Relational Challenge Occidental's Governance (A)

By: George Serafeim

August 2016 (Revised August 2020)
Exercise

Entrepreneurial Finance Problem Set

By: Ramana Nanda, William A. Sahlman and Robert White

1992
Book

Case Problems in Finance

By: W. E. Fruhan Jr., W. C. Kester, S. P. Mason, T. R. Piper and R. S. Ruback

Keywords: Finance

1989
Discussion Paper

Problems in the Development and Manufacture of Defense Systems

By: J. Ronald Fox

Keywords: National Security; Production; Product Development; Business and Government Relations; Problems and Challenges

1981
Chapter

Sparsity and Piecewise Linearity in Large Portfolio Optimization Problems

By: André Perold and Harry M. Markowitz

Keywords: Investment Portfolio; Mathematical Methods

2009
Article

The Harvard Economic Service and the Problems of Forecasting

By: Walter Friedman

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Higher Education; Problems and Challenges; Economics

October 2014 (Revised December 2015)
Background Note

China's Environmental Challenge

By: William C. Kirby, Nora Bynum, Erica M. Zendell and Brittany Crow

China faces enormous environmental challenges. This background note looks at the historical, economic and political origins of the environmental crisis that faces the world's fastest-growing economy. View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Globalized Economies and Regions; History; Crisis Management; Environmental Sustainability; China

November–December 2014
Article

Accountable? The Problems and Solutions of Online Ad Optimization

By: Benjamin Edelman

Online advertising might seem to be the most measurable form of marketing ever invented. Comprehensive records can track who clicked what ad—and often who saw what ad—to compare those clicks with users' subsequent purchases. Ever-cheaper IT makes this tracking... View Details

Keywords: Online Advertising; Fraud; Optimization; Incentives; Digital Marketing; Contracts; Marketing Strategy; Organizational Design

Read Now

December 2008 (Revised May 2009)
Background Note

Corporate Governance in China: Current Practice, Key Problems

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Joanne Xu and Tracy Manty

This note introduces the current corporate governance system in China, identifies its key problems and assesses recent improvements and future challenges. View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Practice; Problems and Challenges; China

November 1984 (Revised March 1989)
Background Note

Leadership: The Problem of Intervention

By: Richard R. Ellsworth and Joseph L. Badaracco Jr.

Keywords: Leadership; Problems and Challenges

August 2021 (Revised November 2023)
Supplement

Coats: Supply Chain Challenges

By: Willy C. Shih

Coats, the largest thread maker in the world, transformed its business to digital colour measurement so that it could respond better to customer demand in the garment industry for rapid product cycles and more fragmented colour choices. Its embrace of digital colour... View Details

Keywords: Inventory Management; Supply Chain; Inventory; Supply Chain Management; Operations; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Asia