Publications

March 2000
Case

Aspect Medical Systems

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer and Naomi Atkins

Entrepreneur Nassib Chamoun has created an innovative anesthesiology device that monitors patients' consciousness levels during surgery. This case tracks how Chamoun and his executive team built the infrastructure of the company and actively managed the adoption... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Entrepreneurship; Independent Innovation and Invention; Infrastructure; Product Design; Product Development; Problems and Challenges; Adoption; Competitive Strategy; Technology Industry

July 2012 (Revised July 2012)
Case

How Much? (A)

By: Clayton Rose

The leader of a small business team must deal with an employee who is unwilling to reveal to him the profitability of a transaction for the firm and client. View Details

Keywords: Culture; Client Responsibility; Leadership; Groups and Teams; Ethics; Finance; Conflict Management

March 2008 (Revised June 2009)
Case

Actis: January 2008

By: Felda Hardymon, Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon

Paul Feltcher, the CEO of Actis, a leading private equity investor in emerging markets, is preparing for an executive retreat at which the management team will consider how best to position the firm for the future. Actis could move in a number of different directions... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Private Equity; Investment; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Teams; Emerging Markets; Organizational Change and Adaptation

October 2003
Case

Storm King Mountain

Describes the Colorado fire tragedy that resulted in 12 deaths. Examines leadership, decision making, and team dynamics in a high-stress, crisis situation. View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Decision Making; Crisis Management; Colorado

February 2003 (Revised February 2009)
Case

Yahoo!: Becoming a Competitor in the Career Listings Space (A)

By: Kathleen L. McGinn and Nicole Nasser

In late 2001, Yahoo!'s new executive leadership team faces a decision. With online advertising revenues significantly off, the company has decided to explore new strategic businesses, including online recruiting. The team must decide whether to make a bid for... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Decisions; Recruitment; Management Teams; Negotiation Deal; Employment Industry

October 2020 (Revised July 2023)
Case

UCK Partners: Gong Cha

By: Victoria Ivashina and Sangyun Lee

In the Spring of 2017, Soomin Kim, Founding Partner of UCK Partners, and his team were debating the potential exit of UCK Partner’s investment in Gong Cha Korea, the sole local franchisor of the premium milk tea brand that they proprietarily sourced three years ago.... View Details

Keywords: Exit; Strategic Decision Making; Private Equity; Investment; Strategy; Investment Return; Decision Making; Bids and Bidding

22 Oct 2019
News

Episode 11: Karen Mills, Harvard Business School

November 2011 (Revised May 2013)
Case

The Freelancers Union (A)

By: Michel Anteby and Erin McFee

Sara Horowitz faces a major strategic decision. Founder and CEO of the Freelancers Union, Horowitz has worked tirelessly to operationalize her new mutualist ideals, which comprise collective strength, independence, and shared protections. In 2008, she plans to move the... View Details

Keywords: Labor Unions

14 Nov 2019
Blog Post

Future Leaders Dive into the MS/MBA: Engineering Sciences Program

Lying in bed each morning, Emily Batt (MS/MBA 2020) yearned to sleep a little longer, but had no way of knowing when her roommate would finish her seemingly endless shower. That frustration inspired a team project in the new MS/MBA:... View Details

Mihir A. Desai

Mihir A. Desai is the Mizuho Financial Group Professor of Finance at Harvard Business School and a Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. He received his Ph.D. in political economy from Harvard... View Details

July 1984 (Revised September 1986)
Case

CML Group, Inc.: Going Public (A)

By: William A. Sahlman

Describes a series of decisions confronting Charles Leighton, co-founder and chairman of the CML Group. CML is a successful participant in the leisure time industry with two lines of business: specialty retailing and recreational consumer products. The key issues in... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Going Public; Strategy; Business or Company Management; Cost vs Benefits; SWOT Analysis; Investment Banking; Financing and Loans; Planning; Corporate Finance; Retail Industry; Consumer Products Industry

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June 2022
Case

Zalando: Becoming the Starting Point for Fashion

By: Antonio Moreno, Leela Nageswaran, Emilie Billaud and Federica Gabrieli

Born in 2008 as a small startup selling flip flops, by mid-2021 Zalando had turned into an online fashion company with an assortment of more than 4,500 international brands, 45 million active customers, and a presence in 23 European markets. An essential component in... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Customer Value and Value Chain; Digital Platforms; Distribution; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Infrastructure; Logistics; Service Operations; Strategy; Business Strategy; Fashion Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Distribution Industry; Retail Industry; Service Industry; Shipping Industry; Technology Industry; Europe

Di-Ann Eisnor, Director of Growth at Waze, founded the company’s Connected Citizens Program (CCP), a data-sharing partnership that provided officials with traffic incident and congestion data in exchange for data on anticipated road closures, re-routing, etc.... View Details

January 2018 (Revised January 2019)
Case

ZappRx

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Olivia Hull

In October 2015, ZappRx founder Zoe Barry is deciding between two business models for her health technology start-up. Her product, a software application that aims to expedite the prescription fulfillment process for patients with rare diseases, has attracted interest... View Details

Keywords: Speciality Drugs; Hub Services; Pivot; Speciality Prescriptions; Health Care and Treatment; Customization and Personalization; Internet and the Web; Business Model; Decision Choices and Conditions; Pharmaceutical Industry; Massachusetts

22 Sep 2009
First Look

First Look: September 22

team launch. Describes how to diagnose emergent team processes such as information exchange, collaboration, decision making, impression formation, and underlying identity dynamics. Includes steps View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

October 2020
Article

IQ from IP: Simplifying Search in Portfolio Choice

By: Huaizhi Chen, Lauren Cohen, Umit Gurun, Dong Lou and Christopher J. Malloy

Using a novel database that tracks web traffic on the SEC’s EDGAR servers between 2004 and 2015, we show that mutual fund managers gather information on a very particular subset of firms and insiders, and their surveillance is very persistent over time. This tracking... View Details

Keywords: Tracked Trades; Return Predictability; Institutional Trading; Insider Trading; Institutional Investing; Information; Investment Portfolio; Decisions; Management

SSRN

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July 2023
Supplement

Reimagining Enel: Enabling Sustainable Progress (A)

By: Michael Tushman and Kerry Herman

This case describes the transformation of Enel from a traditional “brown” or fossil fuel energy firm to a sustainable and green firm focused on renewables, and finally to an energy supplier and integrated energy services firm. It describes a set of capabilities... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Innovation and Invention; Transformation; Green Technology; Renewable Energy; Energy Industry