Publications

July 2001
Teaching Note

Developing a Teaching Case (TN) (D)

By: Michael J. Roberts

Describes several teaching plans that were developed for the Virtualis Systems case. Intended for use in training and development programs aimed at novice case writers. View Details

Keywords: Training; Cases

September 2005 (Revised March 2007)
Case

Lifefont: The Case for RetailDriver

Examines how Lifefont (pseudonym), a multidivisional consumer packages goods company, develops a system to manage and measure the impact of promotional events in retail outlets. View Details

Keywords: Framework; Change Management; Compensation and Benefits; Cost vs Benefits; Growth Management; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Customer Relationship Management; Product Marketing; Salesforce Management; Advertising; Management Systems; Information Technology; Retail Industry

August 2013 (Revised August 2014)
Technical Note

Population Health Management—Techniques and Tools

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Kyle Bertke

Companion note to "Amil and the Health Care System in Brazil," Harvard Business School Case No. 312-029, January 2014 View Details

March 1990 (Revised June 1991)
Case

IBM Corp.: ""Make It Your Business"" (A)

By: Robert L. Simons

In 1987, IBM changed its strategy in an attempt to become a market-driven company rather than a product-driven company. The case begins with a description of the new strategy and the reasons for the change and then describes the top-down sales planning and quota system... View Details

Keywords: Commercialization; Competitive Advantage; Business Strategy; Goals and Objectives; Strategic Planning; Motivation and Incentives; Sales; Volatility; System; Information Technology Industry

2015
Chapter

Optimal Process Control of Symbolic Transfer Functions

By: Christopher Griffin and Elisabeth Paulson

Transfer function modeling is a standard technique in classical Linear Time Invariant and Statistical Process Control. The work of Box and Jenkins was seminal in developing methods for identifying parameters associated with classical (r, s, k) transfer functions.... View Details

Keywords: Transfer Functions; Markov Processes; Stochastic Models; Process Control; Research; Information Technology

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April 2011 (Revised September 2011)
Case

BlackRock Solutions

By: Kenneth A. Froot and Scott Waggoner

The BlackRock Solutions case examines the different functions and economics of a global asset manager's value chain, with particular emphasis on the "money management" and the "investment systems platform" businesses. Students analyze why BlackRock decided to unbundle... View Details

Keywords: Investment Management; Strategic Vision; Organizational Behavior; Economies Of Scale And Scope; Unbundling Of Services; Strategic Planning; Risk Management; Financial Management; Asset Management; Competitive Advantage; Value; Corporate Strategy; Organizational Culture; Investment; Financial Strategy

TeachingInterests

Tuck MBA Program

VG is the most popular teacher in the Tuck MBA Program. VG has been named in BusinessWeek’s Guide to Best Business Schools as an outstanding teacher. His current courses focus on Implementing Strategy and his research on Global Leadership's research on... View Details

February 2011 (Revised November 2012)
Case

Product Development at OPOWER

By: Thomas Eisenmann and Rob Go

OPOWER, a software startup that helps utilities engage their customers in ways that reduce energy consumption, is scaling rapidly. The company's new head of product management has designed a system to address a point of constant tension: whether to build custom... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Customer Relationship Management; Entrepreneurship; Growth Management; Product Development; Sales; Customization and Personalization; Energy Conservation; Environmental Sustainability; Information Technology Industry; Utilities Industry

August 2007 (Revised May 2008)
Case

Rebuilding the New Orleans Public Schools: Turning the Tide? (Abridged)

After Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans Public School System is faced with rebuilding from the ground up. The challenge is enormous, as is the opportunity to remake the lowest-performing public school system in Louisiana and one of the lowest-performing in the nation.... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Transformation; Entrepreneurship; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Natural Disasters; Conflict and Resolution; Education Industry; New Orleans

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July 1989 (Revised April 2001)
Case

Kanthal (A)

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Multinational company needs an improved cost system to determine the profitability of individual customer orders. Its strategy is to have significant sales and profitability growth without adding additional administrative and support people. The new cost system... View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Earnings Management; Cost Management; Financial Management; Multinational Firms and Management; Business or Company Management; Customer Relationship Management; Sales; Business Strategy; Profit; Electronics Industry

April 2021
Case

JPMorgan Chase's Path Forward

By: Joseph L. Bower, Nien-hê Hsieh and Michael Norris

In 2020, JPMorgan Chase announced a $30 billion Commitment to Advance Racial Equity. The Commitment included investments in housing, small businesses, and financial literacy across the U.S., and diversity, equity, and inclusion within the bank. It was part of a broader... View Details

Keywords: Racial Wealth Gap; Diversity; Race; Financial Institutions; Banks and Banking; Leading Change; Banking Industry; New York (city, NY); Chicago

28 Sep 2015
News

Lots Of Candidates Want To Simplify Tax Code; Here's What They Get Wrong

August 2023 (Revised January 2024)
Supplement

Arla Foods: Data-Driven Decarbonization (A)

By: Michael Parzen, Michael W. Toffel, Amram Migdal and Susan Pinckney

Arla implemented a data-based price incentive system to measure, track, and influence climate friendly changes to reduce CO2 emissions across the world’s fourth largest dairy cooperative. View Details

Keywords: Dairy Industry; Business Earnings; Earnings Management; Environmental Accounting; Agribusiness; Animal-Based Agribusiness; Acquisition; Mergers and Acquisitions; Decision Making; Decisions; Voting; Environmental Management; Climate Change; Environmental Regulation; Environmental Sustainability; Green Technology; Pollution; Moral Sensibility; Values and Beliefs; Financial Strategy; Price; Profit; Revenue; Food; Geopolitical Units; Global Strategy; Ownership Type; Cooperative Ownership; Performance Efficiency; Performance Evaluation; Problems and Challenges; Natural Environment; Science-Based Business; Business Strategy; Commercialization; Cooperation; Corporate Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Europe; United Kingdom; European Union; Germany; Denmark; Sweden; Luxembourg; Belgium

05 Sep 2012
What Do You Think?

Will Business Management Save US Health Care?

Wittenberg put it, " management will never fix the health care system (it) can promote standardization and mass production (but) the actions of individual managers will have no effect on the overall system," one that as Barry... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett; Health

September 2006 (Revised August 2007)
Background Note

The History of Credit Agencies in the United States

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Tracy Manty

Provides a brief background on the history of credit agencies in the United States. Focuses on the mature process of data collection on an American consumer and how credit agencies share the information to determine proper credit risk and worthiness of a consumer. The... View Details

Keywords: Credit; United States

Feng Zhu is the MBA Class of 1958 Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, where he leads the Platform Lab within the Digital, Data, and Design Institute, co-chairs the Harvard Business Analytics Program, and serves as the course head for the... View Details

September 2014
Article

Improving the Quality of Cancer Care in America Through Health Information Technology

By: Thomas W. Feeley, George W. Sledge, Laura Levit and Patricia A. Ganz

A recent report from the Institute of Medicine titled Delivering High-Quality Cancer Care: Charting a New Course for a System in Crisis, identifies improvement in information technology (IT) as essential to improving the quality of cancer care in America. The... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Information Technology Industry; Cancer Care In The U.S.; Health; Technology; Health Industry; North and Central America

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25 Sep 2017
Research & Ideas

Why Politics is Failing America, and What Business Can Do To Help

decades, the system may have worked better than ever for the constituencies that it was built to serve best: primary voters, donors, and lobbyists for special interests, including businesses. Unfortunately for the American public, most... View Details

Keywords: by Christina Pazzanese, Harvard Gazette

2020
Working Paper

Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 7 The Value Structure of Technologies, Part 2: Strategy without Numbers

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

Functional analysis as set forth in the last chapter decomposes a technical system into functional components that do things to advance the system’s purpose and the goals of its designers. Functional analysis in turn can be used to construct value structure maps... View Details

Keywords: Modularity; Value Structure Mapping; Value Capture; Information Technology; Organizations; Strategy; Value Creation