Publications

January 1998
Case

Connecticut Spring and Stamping Corporation (B)

By: H. Kent Bowen, Massimo Russo and Steven J. Spear

Connecticut Spring and Stamping Corp. (CSSC), a 50-year-old spring manufacturing and metal stamping firm, is experiencing slow sales growth and feeling the impact of global competition. The company has over 800 customers but little understanding of those customers'... View Details

Keywords: Globalization; Competency and Skills; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Production; Customer Relationship Management; Quality; Training; Performance Efficiency; Cost Management; Sales; System

09 Feb 2010
First Look

First Look: Feb. 9

Working PapersThe Architecture of Complex Systems: Do Core-Periphery Structures Dominate? Authors:Alan MacCormack, Carliss Baldwin, and John Rusnak Abstract Any complex technological system can be decomposed into a number of subsystems... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

April 2006 (Revised February 2007)
Case

Rebuilding the New Orleans Public Schools: Turning the Tide?

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: Programs; Natural Disasters; Urban Development; Education; Infrastructure; Education Industry; Education Industry; New Orleans

September 2020 (Revised September 2021)
Supplement

Student Success at Georgia State University (B)

By: Michael W. Toffel, Robin Mendelson and Julia Kelley

This is a supplement to the Student Success at Georgia State University (A) case. The (B) case includes the results of a randomized control trial that Georgia State conducted to test education technology start-up AdmitHub’s chatbot solution as a strategy for improving... View Details

25 Jul 2011
Research & Ideas

How Disruptive Innovation is Remaking the University

rethink the entire traditional higher education model. Private universities without national recognition and large endowments are at great financial risk. So are public universities, even prestigious ones such as the University of... View Details

Keywords: by Clayton M. Christensen & Henry J. Eyring; Education

02 May 2000
Research & Ideas

Leading Professional Service Firms

The HBS Executive Education course Leading Professional Service Firms (LPSF) is an intensive, one-week program that focuses on management issues unique to these firms. It provides a forum for participants from around the world to apply... View Details

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

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

Find at Harvard

February 2016
Teaching Note

Advanced Leadership Pathways: General Gale Pollock and Services for the Vision Impaired

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter, Tessa Natanay Hamilton and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

Following a successful military career as an Army Nurse, achieving rank as Major General, becoming the first female Acting Surgeon General of the Army, and the 22nd Chief of the Army Nurse Corps, Pollock developed a vested interest in improving the lives of the... View Details

Keywords: Health

15 Feb 2000
Lessons from the Classroom

Delivering Information Services: A 30-Year Perspective

As the information economy emerges and technology transforms "business-as-usual," senior-level executives need to understand the "big picture" of how IT impacts their entire organization—from top to bottom. The HBS Executive View Details

Keywords: by Staff

24 Aug 2016
Research & Ideas

Can Obamacare Be Saved?

single-payer system. Few national politicians are working to uncover why the public exchanges aren’t working for either insurers or consumers. While it’s difficult, the question everyone should be working to answer is: How can the system... View Details

Keywords: by John A. Quelch and Emily Boudreau; Insurance; Health

November 2022 (Revised October 2024)
Case

'A Marshall Plan for Africa': James Mwangi and Equity Group Holdings

By: Caroline M. Elkins, Debora L. Spar, Zeke Gillman and Julia M. Comeau

Financial Inclusion. Dignity. Trust. These were the core principles driving James Mwangi’s transformation of Equity Building Society, insolvent in 1991, into what is, today, Equity Group Holdings, East and Central Africa’s largest retail banking institution. Raised in... View Details

Keywords: Income Inequality; Micro Finance; Microcredit; Microfinance; Banks and Banking; Equality and Inequality; Mission and Purpose; Business Model; Social Entrepreneurship; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; Africa; Kenya

September 2012 (Revised September 2015)
Case

Doing Business in India

By: Andy Zelleke, Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Saloni Chaturvedi

The case is set in August 2012—a time when India was undergoing policy stasis as several key reforms were stalled and the government faced allegations of misallocation of coal production licenses. The first part of the case provides a brief background on India's... View Details

Keywords: Emerging Market Finance; Emergent Countries; Business History; Economic History; Fieldwork; Emerging Markets; Business Ventures; Strategy

17 Jan 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Expectations, Network Effects and Platform Pricing

Keywords: by Andrei Hagiu & Hanna Hałaburda; Entertainment & Recreation

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

2023
Working Paper

New Facts and Data about Professors and Their Research

By: Kyle Myers, Wei Yang Tham, Jerry Thursby, Marie Thursby, Nina Cohodes, Karim R. Lakhani, Rachel Mural and Yilun Xu

We introduce a new survey of professors at roughly 150 of the most research-intensive institutions of higher education in the US. We document seven new features of how research-active professors are compensated, how they spend their time, and how they perceive their... View Details

Keywords: Research; Higher Education; Compensation and Benefits; Measurement and Metrics; Equality and Inequality; Performance Productivity

Read Now

February 1997 (Revised April 1998)
Case

first direct (A)

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

Describes the operations and strategy of the world's largest, fastest growing branchless bank. Using a person-to-person interface over conventional phone lines, First Direct provides standard banking and related financial products to nearly 700,000 customers throughout... View Details

Keywords: Service Delivery; Customer Satisfaction; Banks and Banking; Innovation and Invention; Banking Industry; United Kingdom

December 1998 (Revised January 1999)
Case

Carver Consulting Co.

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

The managing partner of a relatively new consulting firm is concerned because training costs at the firm's new training center are higher than expected. Analysis of actual costs compared to those expected is required. In addition, he is considering capitalizing some... View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Training; Management Systems; Consulting Industry

2012
Dictionary Entry

Learning from Failure

By: Mark D. Cannon and Amy C. Edmondson

Failure is defined as an outcome that deviates from expected and desired results. Learning from failure describes processes and behaviors through which individuals, groups and organizations gain accurate and useful insights from failures and modify future behaviors,... View Details

Keywords: Learning From Failure; Failure; Learning; Behavior; Organizational Change and Adaptation