Publications

May 1998
Teaching Note

Northeast Ventures: January 1996 TN

By: Josh Lerner

Teaching Note for (9-296-093). View Details

Keywords: Minnesota

March 2020
Case

Minneapolis Star Tribune

By: Joseph L. Bower, Elizabeth Hansen and Michael Norris

In the summer of 2019, Mike Klingensmith, CEO of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Twin Cities metro region’s largest newspaper, reviewed subscription trends and plans for future experimentation. The newspaper industry across the U.S. had suffered a steep decline for... View Details

Keywords: Financial Performance; Industry Evolution; Business Earnings; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategic Planning; Journalism and News Industry; Minnesota

September 1997 (Revised May 1999)
Case

Automated Intelligence Corporation

By: James K. Sebenius and David T. Kotchen

Precision Controls is a Minnesota-based manufacturer of electronic control devices. To enhance its product line, Precision would like to establish an artificial intelligence research group, either through internal development or, preferably, by merging with or... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Valuation; Research and Development; Stock Shares; Negotiation Process; Negotiation Tactics; Mergers and Acquisitions; Manufacturing Industry; Electronics Industry; Minnesota

November 2022
Case

Hiring with the Community in Saint Paul

By: Mitchell B. Weiss and Sarah Mehta

This case reviews Saint Paul Mayor Melvin Carter’s decision to involve the community in the process of hiring his cabinet members. Rather than relying on an executive recruiting firm or choosing cabinet heads from his own network, Carter recruited 100 community members... View Details

Keywords: Community Engagement; Competency and Skills; Government and Politics; Human Resources; Government Administration; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Decision Making; Public Administration Industry; United States; Minnesota; Saint Paul

November 2011 (Revised February 2012)
Case

Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul: Building on a Diversified Base (Abridged)

By: William W. George

Keywords: Economic Growth; Competition; Minneapolis; Saint Paul

July 2022
Case

General Mills: Responding to the Killing of George Floyd (A)

By: Debora L. Spar and Alicia Dadlani

Jeff Harmening, CEO of General Mills, one of the world's largest manufacturers of breakfast cereals and packaged foods, was deeply disturbed and instantly aware that he and General Mills would need to respond. George Floyd, an African-American man who had been accused... View Details

Keywords: Race; Decisions; Social Issues; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Minneapolis; Minnesota; United States

20 Apr 2016
News

Steps to Success

Minnesota Orchestral Association as vice president of marketing. Her passion for the music matched her enthusiasm for the job, and she enjoyed applying all the lessons she’d learned in business school to the arts world. “Hardly a month... View Details

Keywords: Jill Radsken

January 2003 (Revised August 2003)
Case

General Mills and the Hawthorne Huddle (A)

Examines the role of General Mills in the formation and leadership of the Hawthorne Huddle. The Huddle was in the Hawthorne neighborhood in Northern Minneapolis, which in 1997 was plagued with high crime and poverty. The Huddle served as a forum, held the first... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Management Succession; Social Issues; Consumer Products Industry; Minneapolis

Find at Harvard

June 1990 (Revised July 1990)
Case

Minneapolis Plastic Packaging Ban (B)

By: George C. Lodge and Jeffrey F. Rayport

Keywords: Business and Government Relations; Environmental Sustainability; Minneapolis

Find at Harvard

07 Jul 2014
Research & Ideas

Banning Big-box Stores Can Hurt Local Retailers

120 to 150 small stores that the company had issued last October. This July, Target is launching a new store format called TargetExpress in Minneapolis, near the University of Minnesota campus. "Our smallest location ever, the store... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Retail

01 Dec 2003
News

An Authentic Leader

When Bill George (MBA ’66) talks about leadership, people listen. And well they should. For a decade, he quietly grew a midsized Minnesota medical-device maker into a world-class medical technology company. When George joined Medtronic in... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

April 2024 (Revised July 2024)
Case

Unleashing Human Magic at Best Buy

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger, Sunil Gupta and Amram Migdal

The case examines the transformation of Best Buy under CEO Hubert Joly's leadership from 2012. Facing significant business challenges, including competition from online and physical retailers, Joly implemented the "Renew Blue" turnaround strategy, which focused on... View Details

19 May 2022
News

Leading to Salvation

Mrs. April Estes is the widow of Richard Estes. He started his business to serve and counsel African American families who had been turned away from white funeral parlors and needed help burying their dead. AE: We’ve been the only Black funeral chapel in Minneapolis,... View Details

November 2020 (Revised June 2022)
Case

Community-First Public Safety

By: Mitchell B. Weiss and Sarah Mehta

How many police officer positions to fund? In August 2020, the question facing St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, which might have seemed routine to another mayor at another time in another place, was anything but. A pandemic had rendered the city some $19-$34 million short... View Details

Keywords: Race; Law Enforcement; Governance; Decision Making; Safety; Social Issues; Public Administration Industry; United States; Minnesota; Saint Paul

12 Apr 2004
Research & Ideas

Waking Up a Sleeping Company

undermined the company's performance. For all its strengths, it was my impression that Medtronic's culture was too Minnesota Nice. I realized that these aspects of Medtronic's culture had to change if we were going to be an effective... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George

February 2024 (Revised April 2024)
Supplement

Can Cities Beat the Heat? (B8): Minneaoplis-St. Paul Climate Action Snapshot

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Praveen Kumar and Jacob A. Small

Climate snapshots provide a summary of climate actions that occurred between 2018 and 2024, highlighting major green initiatives, innovations, carbon mitigation strategy, and action across multiple levels of government and the private sector. Snapshots also provide an... View Details

Keywords: Mitigation Policies; Carbon Footprint; Climate Finance; Mobility; Adaptation; Renewable Energy; Climate Change; Problems and Challenges; Sustainable Cities; City; Innovation Strategy; Investment; United States; Minneapolis; St. Paul