Publications

20 Jun 2023
Research & Ideas

Looking to Leave a Mark? Memorable Leaders Don't Just Spout Statistics, They Tell Stories

Harvard Business School. People are more likely to recall information over a longer period when it’s wrapped in an anecdote as opposed to statistics, according to the study, “Stories, Statistics and Memory.” Graeber’s research validates... View Details

Keywords: by Scott Van Voorhis

December 2010
Case

Fortis Industries, Inc. (A)

Fortis Industries' packaging division manufactures steel and plastic strapping. In 2007, the company underwent a leveraged buyout. The case focuses on the packaging division's need to maintain high profitability in a declining market for steel strapping. Since 1998,... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Decision Choices and Conditions; Marketing; Supply and Industry; Manufacturing Industry

July 2011
Article

Mixed Source

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Gaston Llanes

We study competitive interaction between a profit-maximizing firm that sells software and complementary services and a free open source competitor. We examine the firm's choice of business model between the proprietary model (where all software modules are... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Open Source Distribution; Profit; Sales; Applications and Software; Service Operations; Business Model; Decision Choices and Conditions; Quality; Value Creation

Find at Harvard

16 Oct 2012
First Look

First Look: October 16

PublicationsEnterprise Analytics: Optimize Performance, Process, and Decisions Through Big Data Author:Thomas H. Davenport Publication:FT Press, 2012 Abstract This book, an edited collection of research... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2007 (Revised March 2012)
Case

Edward Jones in 2006: Confronting Success

By: David J. Collis and Troy Smith

When Jim Weddle took over as Managing Partner of Edward Jones in January 2006, the brokerage firm was at a critical juncture. The firm's distinctive strategy had enabled it to grow from its roots in small-town America to become the 4th largest broker in the U.S. Weddle... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Performance; Competitive Advantage; Financial Services Industry; United States

August 2020 (Revised October 2020)
Teaching Note

To Prioritize Money or Time? The P-Mot Exercise (Instructor)

By: Ashley Whillans and Liz Goldenberg

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 921-012. Working professionals are often in the predicament of needing to make a choice between activities that will grant them more money or more time. Indeed, in large-scale representative panels of working adults, most respondents... View Details

Keywords: Time; Time As Money; Trade-offs; Money; Time Management; Decision Making

December 2006 (Revised January 2007)
Case

Restructuring Navigator Gas Transport Plc

By: C. Fritz Foley

How should creditors pursue their claims in a multi-jurisdiction bankruptcy? David Butters, Managing Director at Lehman Brothers, negotiates a restructuring of Navigator Gas Transport, a shipping company that is headquartered in Switzerland, incorporated in the Isle of... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Complexity; Capital Structure; Restructuring; International Finance; Law; Ship Transportation; Shipping Industry; Switzerland; Isle of Man

Program

Behavioral Economics—Virtual

outcomes for your company. Details Understand the actions of your customers and employees Discover the subtle forces driving choices and become your organization's go-to... View Details

June 2004 (Revised May 2005)
Case

World Vision International's AIDS Initiative: Challenging a Global Partnership

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Daniel F. Curran

After 25 years of building a network of interdependent, national organizations delivering relief and development that are responsive to local needs, World Vision's International office is planning to implement a major global HIV/AIDS initiative that challenges the... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Decision Choices and Conditions; Globalized Markets and Industries; Governing and Advisory Boards; Management Systems; Networks; Partners and Partnerships; Welfare; Adaptation

April 2001 (Revised July 2001)
Case

Verge Software (A)

By: Dorothy A. Leonard and Elizabeth Kind

Scott Rozic, CEO of start-up Verge Software, has just told his board that he is taking the company in a totally new direction, moving from enterprise knowledge management software to Internet direct marketing. This case covers the start-up of the business, and Rozic's... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Investment; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business or Company Management; Business Strategy; Technological Innovation; Applications and Software; Management Teams; Governing and Advisory Boards; Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Product Development; Information Technology Industry; United States

12 Oct 2011
First Look

First Look: October 12

generally takes one of two approaches. The market timing and catering approach views managerial financing and investment decisions as rational managerial responses to... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2006 (Revised March 2007)
Case

Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG (A): True to Brand?

By: Jeffrey Fear and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Examines one of the most important entrepreneurial decisions made in the history of Porsche, made in early 1998: to build a sport utility vehicle (SUV)--the Cayenne. After decades of relying on one or two sports car models and nearly going bankrupt and losing its... View Details

Keywords: Diversification; Supply Chain Management; Luxury; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Globalization; Brands and Branding; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry

September 2008 (Revised August 2009)
Case

Columbus Tubing: Steel is Real

By: Daniel C. Snow, Gary P. Pisano, Elena Corsi and Gudrun Urfalino Kristinsdottir

Columbus Tubing must choose to improve an old technology (steel) or to develop a new material (carbon fiber). The decision must take into account a complicated context: increased demand for the "old" steel products made in Italy, increasing power of carbon fiber... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Resource Allocation; Production; Research and Development; Information Technology; Bicycle Transportation; Asia; Italy

05 May 2014
Research & Ideas

Reflecting on Work Improves Job Performance

it. Type 2 processes, on the other hand, are consciously reflective, and are often associated with decision making. Essentially, the researchers hypothesized that learning by doing would be more effective if... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

October 2019
Case

Agility Africa

By: Juan Alcacer, Caroline M. Elkins and Esel Çekin

This case illustrates the challenge and opportunities that firms face when developing and executing new business models in high-risk, low-infrastructure, low-trust countries. It features a global logistics group, Agility, that aimed to become the leader in supplying... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Business Model; Innovation and Invention; Expansion; Emerging Markets; Decision Choices and Conditions; Real Estate Industry; Distribution Industry; Africa

September 2017
Case

From 80 Thoreau to Mooncusser Fish House & Moon Bar (A)

By: Lena G. Goldberg and Sandra Bahous

After extensive planning, Ian Calhoun, (MBA 2010) who was also a chef trained in Paris at Le Cordon Bleu, and two co-founders launched 80 Thoreau, a “progressive fine dining” restaurant in Concord, Massachusetts, that became a local favorite as well as a special... View Details

Keywords: Small Business; Expansion; Decision Choices and Conditions; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Boston; Cambridge

03 Sep 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Supply Chain Screening Without Certification: The Critical Role of Stakeholder Pressure

Keywords: by Susan A. Kayser, John W. Maxwell & Michael W. Toffel

July 2017 (Revised September 2017)
Case

Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Shweta Bagai

Founders Vineet and Anupama Nayar had rapidly scaled their foundation to reach 3 million primary school children (grades 1 to 3) in two states with math and English programs. Their goal was to reach 10 million children by 2025 and completely spend down the $100 million... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Management; K-12 Education; Frugal Innovation; Government Partnership; Impact; Developing Countries; Education; Decision Choices and Conditions; Growth and Development Strategy; Business and Government Relations; Outcome or Result; India