Publications

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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

January 2021 (Revised February 2021)
Case

TCS: From Physical Offices to Borderless Work

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury and Malini Sen

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a multinational IT services company headquartered in Mumbai, is a subsidiary of one of India’s most reputed conglomerates, the Tata Group. In 2020, TCS was valued at $144.7 billion, the highest for any company in the IT sector,... View Details

Keywords: Remote Work; Organizational Structure; Change Management; Transformation; Decision Choices and Conditions; Customer Satisfaction; Information Technology Industry; India; Asia; United States; Europe

20 Nov 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, November 20, 2018

School Case 919-403 Philanthropy and Brand Building: Jeff Vinik and the Tampa Bay Lightning Owner Jeff Vinik and top management of the NHL Tampa Bay Lightning are reviewing their strategy and progress in achieving their goals of... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

15 Jul 2019
Book

Many Executives Are Afraid of Finance. Here's How They Can Gain Confidence

what’s the best way for managers to communicate financial information to shareholders? “People who want to have advanced roles in enterprise confront financial questions more and more, and they have to be more fluent in the financial... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

Robin J. Ely

Robin Ely is the Diane Doerge Wilson Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. She conducts research on race and gender relations in organizations with a focus on leadership, identity, and organizational culture change.... View Details

March 2009 (Revised June 2010)
Case

Neck & Neck: Leveraging the Club Neck Information

Commercial Director Prado wonders how to leverage the loyalty card information to prepare the fall 2008 budget. The case discusses the value of subjective and objective information for profit-planning purposes. Spanish children's apparel retailer Neck & Neck uses... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Profit; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Marketing; Consumer Behavior; Retail Industry

30 Mar 2020
Research & Ideas

The New Rules for Remote Work: Pandemic Edition

space to talk with each other, offer support, and listen. “Now, more than ever, teams need empathy and to feel like you are all suffering together,” Austin says. “Everyone is dealing with a crisis that is very real. View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

25 Nov 2019
Research & Ideas

When Your Passion Works Against You

another, particularly if a team needs to work collaboratively. For example, rather than offering just one promotion among three passionate workers, a manager can offer to promote all employees whose work... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

August 2020 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Skillz: Esports and Skill-Based Mobile Gaming

By: Andy Wu, David B. Yoffie and George Gonzalez

Founded in 2012, Skillz offered a platform for mobile app developers to monetize skill-based games via prized tournaments. Skillz had over 20,000 registered developers that had created thousands of Skillz-powered games played by over 30 million registered users... View Details

Keywords: Video Games; Mobile; Esports; Applications and Software; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Growth and Development Strategy; Information Technology; Digital Platforms; United States

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

Career Coach

Hillary Mann

Hillary Mann (MBA, Babson ’15; University of Michigan ’04) is a Corporate Relations Director who manages relationships with organizations in Consumer Products, Retail & Luxury Goods, Hospitality, Agribusiness, and Sustainability.... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Products; Education; Entertainment / Media; Hospitality; Publishing / Communications / Advertising; Real Estate; Retail; Social Enterprise; Sports; Startup - Joiner; Entrepreneurship

September 2009 (Revised August 2011)
Case

Transworld Auto Parts (A)

By: V.G. Narayanan and Lisa Brem

Transworld Auto Parts had to implement its new strategy flawlessly to survive the auto industry upheaval. The new CEO asked her leadership team to craft strategy maps and balanced scorecards to help each division implement its strategies. View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Leadership; Balanced Scorecard; Management Teams; Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry

February 2014
Article

Toward a Model of Work Redesign for Better Work and Better Life

By: Leslie A. Perlow and Erin L. Kelly

Flexible work accommodations provided by employers purport to help individuals struggling to manage work and family demands. The underlying model for change is accommodation—helping individuals accommodate their work demands with no changes in the structure of work or... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Work-Life Balance

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October 2002 (Revised February 2011)
Case

Union Corrugating Company (A)

By: Paul W. Marshall and Julia Stevens

Lauri Union graduates from Harvard Business School and takes over her family's steel-corrugated roofing and siding manufacturing firm, which her mother has most recently run. The industry is mature, entry barriers to competitors are low, and the company is over 50... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leading Change; Family Business; Entrepreneurship; Organizational Culture; Family Ownership; Gender; Manufacturing Industry; Steel Industry; Industrial Products Industry

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