Publications

June 2016
Case

Big Spaceship: The Evolving Agency

By: Boris Groysberg and Matthew G. Preble

This case discusses the evolution of Big Spaceship, an advertising and marketing agency, from a product-focused business to a relationship-oriented one as clients seek deeper and more meaningful long-term partnerships. The 15-year-old company had already evolved... View Details

Keywords: Digital Marketing; Advertising; Advertising Campaigns; Marketing; Organizational Structure; Organizational Design; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Social Media; Advertising Industry; United States; New York (city, NY)

July 2023 (Revised February 2024)
Case

Clair

By: Lauren Cohen, Grace Headinger and Marcos Quirno

Clair was founded with a simple mission: to expedite America’s workers access to their hard-earned wages. In the headwinds of the COVID-19 pandemic, the startup had successfully raised a seed round of $4.5 million, and within two years the earned wage access (EWA)... View Details

Keywords: Fintech; Ewa; Lending; Technology; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Social Enterprise; Business Strategy; Business Model; Mission and Purpose; Venture Capital; Profit; Financial Services Industry; United States

November 2020
Case

Axis My India

By: Ananth Raman, Ann Winslow and Kairavi Dey

Pradeep Gupta founded Axis My India (AMI) as a printing and publishing company in 1998. In 2013, AMI expanded into consumer research and election forecasting. Although a relatively unknown entity, AMI predicted several election results accurately. Gupta describes AMI’s... View Details

Keywords: Market Research; Operations; Management; Infrastructure; Logistics; Service Operations; Political Elections; Forecasting and Prediction; Asia; India

28 Jul 2023
Blog Post

How I Landed My Manufacturing Internship at HBS

thereof), I wasn’t sure what industry/sector I wanted to pursue for a summer internship. After some research and reflection, I focused on manufacturing. I was an aerospace systems and standards engineer prior to HBS, and I thought the... View Details

Joshua D. Margolis

Joshua Margolis is James Dinan and Elizabeth Miller Professor of Business Administration and the Unit Head for the Organizational Behavior unit. He is also Faculty Chair of the Program for Leadership Development. His research and teaching revolve around leadership... View Details

Keywords: furniture; health care; insurance industry; nonprofit industry; pharmaceuticals

April 2003
Case

Captain Crisis in the United States Army, The

From 1989 to 1999, the Army watched as captain attrition rose from a planned and acceptable 6.7% to a staggering 10.6%. At the beginning of a new century, the Army leadership is concerned that current and projected staffing levels for junior officers are insufficient... View Details

Keywords: Human Capital; Retention; Government and Politics; Public Administration Industry

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August 1997 (Revised June 1999)
Case

Providian Trust: Tradition and Technology (A)

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Melissa Dailey

A major trust company attempts to implement a major software system while simultaneously reengineering business processes. Providian Trust, a previously non-IT intensive organization, must completely reposition its management of technology to deal with IT's new... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Financial Institutions; Business Processes; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Information Technology; Applications and Software; Financial Services Industry

March 2020 (Revised January 2022)
Case

Michelin: Building a Digital Service Platform

By: Sunil Gupta and Christian Godwin

Michelin, a tire company with over a century of experience, attempts to develop a digital service platform for its fleet and dealer customers. The case focuses on the challenges of bringing a large, well-established company into the digital age. Concerned about the... View Details

Keywords: Change; Transformation; Customer Focus and Relationships; Decision Making; Leading Change; Growth and Development; Strategy; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Auto Industry; Travel Industry; Transportation Industry; United States; France

May 2025
Case

The Micro-Family Office: Aamir Rehman

By: Lauren Cohen and Sophia Pan

With a successful career and strong academic credentials, Aamir Rehman sought to design a life grounded in autonomy. For him, this meant serving on boards, continuing his professorship, and ensuring a secure and comfortable life for his family. While he didn’t possess... View Details

July 2018 (Revised March 2019)
Teaching Note

Hilti (A): Fleet Management?

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Jan Rivkin

This Teaching Note accompanies the case HBS No. 718-419, “Hilti (A): Fleet Management.” It provides guidelines for class discussion, as well as a board plan and transcripts of the associated videos, Hilti Fleet Management Video Supplements.
The associated case... View Details

14 Nov 2018
HBS Seminar

Lindsey Cameron, University of Michigan Ross School of Business

August 1998
Case

Electronic Commerce at Air Products

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Melissa Dailey

In 1998,chief information officers (CIOs) in the highly competitive international gases and chemicals business faced the reality that electronic commerce capability was a strategic necessity. The results of annual surveys of technology officers in the chemical industry... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Information Technology; Globalized Markets and Industries; Infrastructure; Internet and the Web; Technology Adoption; Business Strategy; Chemical Industry; United States

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October 2005 (Revised October 2008)
Case

Virginia Mason Medical Center

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer and Erika Ferlins

In 2000, Dr. Gary Kaplan became CEO of the Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, Washington. The hospital was facing significant challenges: It was losing money for the first time in its history, staff morale had plummeted, and area hospitals presented ardent... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Production; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Problems and Challenges; Quality; Competition; Seattle

2003
Chapter

Designing Sustainability at BMW Group: The Designworks/USA Experience

By: Michael W. Toffel, Natalie Hill and Kellie McElhaney

This case study describes how an industrial design company developed a Sustainability Management System (SMS) standard, designed and implemented an SMS throughout its business, and then became the first company in the world to achieve third-party SMS certification. The... View Details

Keywords: Design; Governance Compliance; Management Practices and Processes; Standards; Environmental Sustainability; United States

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March 2021
Case

Dasra: From Strategic Philanthropy to Field Building

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Tanya Bijlani

Dasra, a pioneer in the Indian Strategic Philanthropy space founded by a husband and wife team, had grown and evolved with the fast changing philanthropy scene in India. By 2017 it had managed to raise nearly $100 million of new capital for NGOs and Nonprofits in... View Details

Keywords: Philanthropy; Impact Investing; Corporate Social Responsibility; Social Sector; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Social Entrepreneurship; Strategy; India

Article

Towards a Single European Sky

By: Yael Grushka-Cockayne and Bert De Reyck

We describe an integrated decision-making framework and model that we developed to aid EUROCONTROL, the European air traffic management organization, in its vital role of constructing a single unified European sky. Combining multicriteria decision analysis with... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Analysis; Air Transportation Industry; Europe

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