Publications

February 2010
Case

Revitalizing Dell

By: Jan W. Rivkin

Dell Inc., with its vaunted Direct Model, defined success in the personal computer industry for more than a decade. Starting in the mid-2000s, however, the company fell on hard times. In 2009, Michael Dell and his management team must figure out why the Direct Model... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Change Management; Industry Growth; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Computer Industry

October 1993 (Revised September 1996)
Case

BANC ONE - 1993

By: Hugo Uyterhoeven and Myra M. Hart

From a small local bank, Banc One has grown to one of the largest and most profitable banks in the United States under the leadership of its CEO, John B. McCoy. It has an impressive track record of improving the performance of its acquisitions while retaining the... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Acquisition; Organizational Culture; Policy; Adaptation; Business Growth and Maturation; Strategy; Performance Improvement; Industry Structures; Banking Industry; United States

March 2008
Supplement

Carlyle Japan (C)

By: David B. Godes, Masako Egawa and Mayuka Yamazaki

This is a supplement to the (A) and (B) cases. It documents the shift in Carlyle's networking strategy. The firm decreased its focus on building contacts in commercial banking an increased instead the focus on building more contacts with industry directly. View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Banks and Banking; Investment; Growth and Development Strategy; Supply and Industry; Networks; Japan

October 2016
Case

Addicaid: Scaling a Digital Platform for Addiction Wellness and Recovery

By: Robert S. Huckman and Sarah Mehta

In 2013, Sam Frons founded Addicaid—a mobile application (app) that allowed people in addiction recovery to track their progress, check in with counselors, and connect with others in recovery programs. The app was grounded in cognitive behavioral therapy and used the... View Details

Keywords: Digital Health Interventions; Substance Use Disorder; Addiction Treatment; Addiction Recovery; Scale; Innovation; Health; Health Disorders; Health Industry; New York (city, NY)

November 1997
Case

National Pork Producers Council

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Tom Clay

Al Tank, CEO of the National Pork Products Council, is facing an environmental and structural crisis in the U.S. pork industry. Can he resolve the environmental and image problems of his industry in time? Can he receive the support of both his growers and the... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Situation or Environment; Crisis Management; Environmental Sustainability; Business and Community Relations; Animal-Based Agribusiness; Industry Structures; Reputation; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

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March 1999 (Revised January 2000)
Case

Hundred-Year War, A: Coke vs. Pepsi, 1890s-1990s

By: Chiaki Moriguchi and David Lane

Through their competitive battle, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have created a stable and highly profitable duopoly in the U.S. soft drink industry. As the domestic industry matured and the cola wars moved to international markets, Coke and Pepsi tried to redesign their... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Industry Structures; Food and Beverage Industry

16 Apr 2007
Research & Ideas

Delivering the Digital Goods: iTunes vs. Peer-to-Peer

and the development of incremental tradeoffs towards radical moves to create new business models, new forms of satisfying needs that drastically reduce costs and/or raise value perceived by customers. One important enabler of new business models is the Internet. This... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Music

Program

Managing Turbulence

Summary Even before the global pandemic, businesses and their leaders struggled with the extraordinary challenges of technological change, rapidly evolving consumer tastes, and a reconfiguration of the global economic order. COVID-19 added further turbulence,... View Details

31 Mar 2020
Blog Post

Know Your Audience – Recruiting HBS Students for Investment Management

from hedge funds and mutual funds to alternative investments and passive investing. While only 4% of the class enters investment management after graduation, we have found this relatively small percentage to be the result of limited job View Details

Keywords: Investment Management / Hedge Fund

June 2008 (Revised October 2010)
Case

Patient Flow at Brigham and Women's Hospital (A)

By: Anita L. Tucker and Jillian Alexandra Berry

Brigham and Women's Hospital challenged a team of physicians to improve patient flow from the Emergency Department to Intensive Care Units (ICUs). One of the team members, Selwyn Rogers, Director of the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU) at Brigham and Women's... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Health Care and Treatment; Service Operations; Business Processes; Performance Productivity; Conflict and Resolution; Health Industry; Massachusetts

December 1992 (Revised March 1993)
Case

Dan Gordon

Describes Dan Gordon's first month on the job as Chief Operating Officer of Club Sports International (CSI), a chain of 7 health and fitness clubs. Describes the company's strategy and organization. The company needs Dan to tighten up its operations and create a base... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Governance Controls; Business or Company Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Design; Health Industry

April 2003 (Revised February 2004)
Case

Kodak (A)

By: Giovanni M. Gavetti, Rebecca Henderson and Simona Giorgi

The introduction of digital imaging in the late 1980s had a disruptive effect on Kodak's traditional business model. Examines Kodak's strategic efforts and challenges as the photography industry evolves. After discussing Kodak's history and its past strategic moves in... View Details

Keywords: History; Business Model; Leadership; Disruption; Industry Growth; Business Strategy; Consumer Products Industry

22 Aug 2012
Research & Ideas

Advertising: It’s Not ‘Mad Men’ Anymore

think the story here is how the industry has evolved and adapted" to the growing demands of advertisers and to the increasing supply of media available, says Silk, adding that the View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Advertising

2025
Working Paper

Trade Within Multinational Boundaries

By: Laura Alfaro, Paola Conconi, Fariha Kamal and Zachary Kroff

We leverage newly linked data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis to study transactions within U.S. multinational enterprises (MNEs). We show that using administrative data on intrafirm trade allows us to correct for measurement error... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Enterprise; Input-output Linkages; Multinational Firms and Management; Trade; Supply Chain

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January 2007 (Revised May 2008)
Case

National Logistics Management: Founder Decisions

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Elizabeth Collins

Scott Taylor, CEO & founder of NLM, is a serial entrepreneur faced with an important decision. As his industry consolidates, he knows that his company must grow quickly, yet he believes he has reached the limit of what organic growth can achieve. Should he accept the... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Supply and Industry; Supply Chain

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October 1998 (Revised May 1999)
Case

"Friendly Skies, The": Welfare-to-Work at United Airlines

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Ellen Pruyne

In 1997 United CEO Gerald Greenwald was appointed chairman of the national Welfare-to-Work Partnership by President Clinton and committed United to hiring from the welfare rolls. A welfare-to-work recruitment program was rapidly established and soon followed by a... View Details

Keywords: Programs; Selection and Staffing; Retention; Employees; Recruitment; Welfare; Air Transportation Industry

17 Dec 2007
Research & Ideas

The Rise of Medical Tourism

case with professor Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Carin-Isabel Knoop, executive director of the HBS Global Research Group. The medical services industry hasn't been global historically but is becoming so now, says Khanna. There are several... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Medical Devices & Supplies; Medical Devices & Supplies

September 2008 (Revised October 2008)
Case

Shareholder Activists at Friendly Ice Cream (A1)

By: Fabrizio Ferri, V.G. Narayanan and James Weber

Two activist investors, one a founder and one a hedge fund manager, seek to improve board oversight at a chain restaurant company. Prestley Blake founded Friendly Ice Cream in 1935 with his brother, and the two created a chain of full-service restaurants. In 1979, they... View Details

Keywords: Investment Activism; Governing and Advisory Boards; Lawsuits and Litigation; Business or Company Management; Business and Shareholder Relations; Conflict of Interests; Food and Beverage Industry; United States