Publications

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August 2020 (Revised May 2021)
Case

PayPal: The Next Chapter

By: Michael Porter, Mark Kramer and Annelena Lobb

Can a social purpose and stakeholder capitalism confer a powerful competitive advantage in the age of COVID-19? For PayPal, the answer is yes. After spinning off from eBay in a 2015 IPO, the company declared its purpose as "democratizing financial services" by ensuring... View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Finance; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Social Entrepreneurship; Competitive Advantage; Financial Services Industry

11 Apr 2023
Op-Ed

The First 90 Hours: What New CEOs Should—and Shouldn't—Do to Set the Right Tone

talent, and in doing so, you are both respecting the past by acknowledging those who brought the organization to the dance and helped it rise to where it is today. But at the same time, you are investing in the future. Promoting... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch

09 Jun 2015
First Look

First Look: June 9, 2015

Aligning Strategy and Sales By: Cespedes, Frank V. Abstract— Much current opinion asserts that strategy is less important (and may, in fact, be an impediment) in an era of constant change. This publication... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September 1992 (Revised September 1993)
Case

Cleveland-Cliffs, Inc.

By: Jay O. Light

A New York-based money manager owns a sizable percentage of the common shares of Cleveland-Cliffs, a U.S. iron ore producer. The money manager would prefer that Cliffs pay out or otherwise return $100 million of "excess cash" to the shareholders. The management resists... View Details

Keywords: Asset Management; Financial Strategy; Mining; Business and Shareholder Relations; Financial Services Industry

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16 May 2023
HBS Case

How KKR Got More by Giving Ownership to the Factory Floor: ‘My Kids Are Going to College!’

and antipathy, having bounced from one private equity owner to another four times, ran deep. The strategy demanded that Stavros deeply engage with the operations to discover pain points, like inefficient delivery routes and wasted scrap... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

April 2004 (Revised July 2007)
Case

OfficeTiger

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and Johanna Regine Naunton Blaxall

OfficeTiger was founded in late 1999 with an innovative approach to global outsourcing. The company's employees, located primarily in India, provided services for corporations, investment banks, and professional services firms throughout the United States, Europe, and... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Globalized Markets and Industries; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Growth and Development Strategy; Service Operations; India

Clayton Rose is Baker Foundation Professor of Management Practice and teaches the course Accountability in the Advanced Management Program. His case writing is focused on the how leaders consider the... View Details

Keywords: financial services

February 2002 (Revised September 2002)
Case

Competition in Japanese Financial Markets, 2002

By: Tarun Khanna and Louis P. DiLorenzo, Jr

In early 2002, Japan, the world's largest economy, had been mired in a decade-long recession. A range of stimulus packages had failed to work their magic. The "Big Bang" financial deregulation reforms announced in 1998 had not quite produced the economic boom that the... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Competition; Investment Banking; Financial Markets; Globalization; Financial Crisis; Commercial Banking; Banking Industry; Japan

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11 Apr 2023
Research & Ideas

Is Amazon a Retailer, a Tech Firm, or a Media Company? How AI Can Help Investors Decide

S&P 500? There are trillions and trillions of pension assets in S&P funds. Some things are just sticky because they are the benchmark. You Might Also Like: 8 Strategies to Sustain Business Innovation Why Technology Alone Can't... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Consumer Products; Real Estate; Financial Services; Retail

January 2020 (Revised December 2024)
Case

Governing PG&E

By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz

The five commissioners of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) listened intently at a public forum in April 2019 as PG&E Corporation’s out-going chairman Richard Kelly described the company’s proposed new board. PG&E, which provided electricity and natural... View Details

13 Jul 2010
First Look

First Look: July 13

design and development firm (and once one of the largest in the business), to help turn it around after a series of crises that had seriously threatened its survival. Pearson has personally invested in the firm, re-organized many aspects... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

January 2009 (Revised November 2011)
Case

The Tip of the Iceberg: JP Morgan Chase and Bear Stearns (A)

By: Clayton S. Rose, Daniel Baird Bergstresser and David Lane

"Bear Stearns & Co. burned through nearly all of its $18 billion in cash reserves during the week of March 10, 2008, and an unprecedented provision of liquidity support from the Federal Reserve on Friday, March 13 was insufficient to reverse the decline in Bear's... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Financial Crisis; Capital; Financial Liquidity; Financial Strategy; Corporate Governance; Crisis Management; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Competition; Valuation; Financial Services Industry

02 May 2000
Research & Ideas

Leading Professional Service Firms

in the kinds of management challenges faced by professionals in fields as distinct as, for example, law and computer software design? Lorsch: Program participants represent the full range of professional service industries including: accounting, View Details

Keywords: Re: Jay W. Lorsch; Service; Consulting; Accounting

March 2003 (Revised November 2005)
Case

Botswana: A Diamond in the Rough

By: Laura Alfaro, Debora L. Spar, Faheen Allibhoy and Vinati Dev

In the years since independence, tiny, landlocked Botswana has gone from being one of the world's poorest nations to becoming a stable, prosperous state, blessed with the highest sustained growth rate in the world. This case highlights the role that foreign direct... View Details

Keywords: Foreign Direct Investment; Growth and Development Strategy; Economic Growth; Natural Environment; Developing Countries and Economies; Botswana

August 2015
Case

Kjell & Company: Electronics Accessories Retail in the Nordics

By: Krishna Palepu, Das Narayandas and Kerry Herman

Swedish electronics accessories retailer Kjell is considering several issues as it plots its next stage of growth. How should it balance opportunities to expand retail stores into a new market (Oslo, Norway) with additional growth in its home market—Sweden—with... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Electronics Accessories; Online Channel; Omni-channel; Private Equity; Retail; Salesforce Management; Performance Management; Marketing; Sales; Strategy; Scandinavia; Sweden; Norway

25 Jun 2024
Research & Ideas

Rapport: The Hidden Advantage That Women Managers Bring to Teams

dwindles, mistakes happen, and a customer’s fries go missing. “You could have a great strategy on paper, but why isn’t it working? Lack of rapport can kill performance,” says Harvard Business School Assistant Professor Jorge Tamayo. “The... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin; Food & Beverage

Teaching Interest

Overview

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang

Launching Technology Ventures
Launching Technology Ventures (LTV) is designed for students who are actively working on their own startups or who will work at early-stage startups. The course material is, in particular, focused on new businesses in the... View Details

December 2012 (Revised April 2013)
Case

Olam: On a New Course

By: David E. Bell, Forest Reinhardt and Mary Shelman

From modest beginnings as a cashew trader in Nigeria, Olam, founded by Indian nationals in 1989, has grown into a leading global agricultural trading company, with annual revenues of $14 billion. The company recently has begun investing in farms and in the production... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Leadership; Customer Value and Value Chain; Corporate Strategy; Organizational Culture; Environmental Sustainability; Expansion; Competitive Advantage; Agribusiness; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Nigeria

April 2008 (Revised June 2008)
Case

Korea: On the Back of a Tiger (Abridged)

What caused the 1997 Korea crisis? Did the International Monetary Fund (IMF) help or hinder recovery? Did democracy help or hinder recovery? Seen as an economic miracle, Korea succumbed to the wave of currency crises sweeping Asia in late 1997. Did the same state-led... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Trade; Currency Exchange Rate; Foreign Direct Investment; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business and Government Relations; Asia; South Korea