Publications

April 2002 (Revised March 2006)
Background Note

Economics of Retail Banking Note

By: Frances X. Frei and Dennis Campbell

Explains the financial operations of retail banking, highlighting profitability challenges facing the industry. For U.S. banks, it is quite common for more than half of the customer base to be unprofitable and to have relatively few customers make up the vast majority... View Details

Keywords: Customers; Economics; Cost; Banks and Banking; Profit; Revenue; Service Operations; Banking Industry; United States

April 2015
Case

Carolinas HealthCare System: Consumer Analytics

By: John A. Quelch and Margaret L. Rodriguez

In 2014, Dr. Michael Dulin, chief clinical officer for analytics and outcomes research and head of the Dickson Advanced Analytics (DA2) group at Carolinas HealthCare System (CHS), successfully unified all analytics talent and resources into one group over a three year... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Segmentation; Big Data; Management Information Systems; Hospital Management; Health Care and Treatment; Marketing; Segmentation; Analytics and Data Science; Information Management; Information Technology; Health; Health Industry; United States

July 2021 (Revised December 2021)
Case

Pershing Square's Pandemic Trade (A)

By: Emil N. Siriwardane, Luis M. Viceira, Dean Xu and Lucas Baker

This case explores the decision that Bill Ackman, CEO and founder of the hedge fund Pershing Square Capital, was considering in late February 2020 about hedging the exposure of the fund’s portfolio from the potential financial fallout ensuing from an extreme event like... View Details

Keywords: Health Pandemics; Financial Liquidity; Cost Management; Decision Choices and Conditions; Risk Management

November 1990 (Revised May 1994)
Case

Microsoft Corp.: Office Business Unit

By: Marco Iansiti

Describes the development of a new word processing software package, Word for Windows. The major focus is how the development process should be improved to reduce schedule slips and cost overruns. Some of the issues raised are: the use of schedules in managing... View Details

Keywords: Communication Strategy; Cost Management; Business or Company Management; Time Management; Product Development; Programs; Projects; Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Information Technology Industry

13 Oct 2016
News

Drug Coupons: Helping a Few at the Expense of Everyone

Article

Debt Maturity: Is Long-Term Debt Optimal?

By: Laura Alfaro and Fabio Kanczuk

We model and calibrate the arguments in favor and against short-term and long-term debt. These arguments broadly include: maturity premium, sustainability, and service smoothing. We use a dynamic equilibrium model with tax distortions and government... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Investment Return; Development Economics; Taxation; Risk and Uncertainty; Cost; Interest Rates; Developing Countries and Economies; Welfare; United States; Brazil

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March 1980 (Revised February 1987)
Case

Sweco, Inc. (A)

By: Michael E. Porter and George S. Yip

Describes Sweco's decision about whether to enter the mud-processing equipment industry (used in oil well drilling). This is an internal entry decision, and the case describes Sweco's existing businesses as well as the mud-processing industry and competitors. The case... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Decisions; Forecasting and Prediction; Cost; Analytics and Data Science; Market Entry and Exit; Competition

April 1993 (Revised October 1996)
Case

ABB Deutschland (C)

By: Hugo Uyterhoeven

Addresses the results and the lessons from the German restructuring effort by focusing in detail on the relationship with the works council and the actions taken for power plants and power transformers, and the sales organization. Closes with a "second wave" of cost... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Trade; Cost Management; Leadership Style; Management Skills; Time Management; Relationships; Salesforce Management

03 Apr 2020
Working Paper Summaries

Working (From Home) During a Crisis: Online Social Contributions by Workers During the Coronavirus Shock

Keywords: by Prithwiraj Choudhury, Wesley W. Koo, and Xina Li

March 2007
Case

Hallstead Jewelers

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

A retail jeweler has relocated to a larger store and is experiencing losses for the first time. Sales and costs have increased along with the breakeven point. Changes in pricing and promotion must be explored. Alternative actions to return to profitability can be... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Transition; Marketing Channels; Outcome or Result; Performance Evaluation; Opportunities; Commercialization; Apparel and Accessories Industry

19 Dec 2011
News

At Your Service

June 2012
Case

Siemens AG: Key Account Management

By: Thomas Steenburgh, Michael Ahearne and Elena Corsi

The key account manager of an engineering company has to convince a department to give up important contracts. The German engineering company Siemens had set up a global key account management program since 2010. The key account manager of an emerging account had been... View Details

Keywords: Key Account Management; Commercialization; Marketing; Marketing Management; Engineering; Marketing Strategy; Customer Relationship Management; Profit; Problems and Challenges; Electronics Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Europe

September 2015 (Revised July 2016)
Case

Turkish Airlines: Widen Your World

By: Juan Alcácer and Esel Çekin

This case tracks Turkish Airlines' transition from regional player to global powerhouse. With an order for 212 aircraft in the first half of 2013, the airline had moved to double its size and become one of the industry's top-ten players. Growing its fleet would allow... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Operational Complexity; Capacity Constraints; Profitable Growth; Subsidiary Management; Externalities; Emerging Market; Globalized Firms and Management; Competition; Air Transportation; Alliances; Corporate Strategy; Emerging Markets; Growth and Development Strategy; Air Transportation Industry; Turkey

15 Nov 2019
HBS Seminar

Ashley Nunes (Senior Research Associate, Labor and Worklife Program at Harvard Law School), Harvard Law School

03 Oct 2018
HBS Seminar

Chad Syverson, University of Chicago Booth School of Business

December 2023
Case

Santa Elena: Table Grape Production in Chile’s Water-Challenged Regions

By: Forest Reinhardt, Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago and Mariana Cal

In the fiscal year ending in September 2022, Santa Elena, Chile’s fifth-ranking table grape exporter, a grape producer and exporter since 1980, had exported around 3.5 million boxes (18-pound each). But, due to a 13-year-long drought that plagued table grape-growing... View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Climate Change; Environmental Regulation; Environmental Sustainability; Natural Resources; Food; Environmental Law; Problems and Challenges; Weather; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Chile; South America; Latin America