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August 2002 (Revised August 2002)
Case

Raiser Senior Services--The Stratford (A)

By: H. Kent Bowen and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

Focuses on modifying operations to increase profitability at an upscale senior care facility in California. Jennifer Raiser, president of Raiser Senior Services, opened the Stratford in 1992 as a high-end, continuing-care retirement community. Ten years later, the... View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Profit; Saving; Health Care and Treatment; Age; Management Teams; Problems and Challenges; Ethics; Legal Liability; Business Growth and Maturation; Health Industry; Service Industry; California

October 2000 (Revised July 2001)
Case

Avon Products (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Greg Rogers

The general manager of Avon Mexico, Fernando Lezama, must decide whether to promote a woman to the position of vice president of sales. If appointed, the candidate would be the first female in all of Latin America to hold an executive position and one of the first... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Leading Change; Salesforce Management; Organizational Culture; Job Design and Levels; Gender; Management Teams; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Mexico

June 2000
Case

Lifeline Systems, Inc. (A)

By: H. Kent Bowen and Marilyn Matis

Lifeline Systems provides emergency response equipment to the elderly who live at home. The company uses local hospitals to market, sell, and install these units in homes, while the hospital monitors and calls for aid to respond to emergency calls from the elderly... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Product Marketing; Sales; Problems and Challenges; Growth and Development Strategy; Managerial Roles; Service Operations; Information Infrastructure; Age; Service Delivery; Restructuring; Crisis Management; Health Industry; Service Industry

April 1992 (Revised June 1993)
Case

Otis South Africa (A)

By: Michael Beer

Otis Worldwide CEO, George David, was frustrated with the slow pace of nonwhite advancement within Otis South Africa. After a few years of trying to elicit action from South African management, he decided to send a 28-year old U.S. employee to take over as the human... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Multinational Firms and Management; Race; Operations; Business Headquarters; Performance Improvement; Human Resources; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Industrial Products Industry; South Africa; United States

06 Mar 2018
First Look

First Look at Research and Ideas, March 6, 2018

whose demographic characteristics, and in turn needs, diverge more starkly from those of their bank’s average customers report significantly lower levels of satisfaction on a broad range of operating dimensions. Consistently, we find that... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

07 Apr 2009
First Look

First Look: April 7, 2009

networks. If Posse defined its impact as changing the demographic makeup of the leadership of professions such as law, business, medicine, and education, then perhaps it should continue to target only the most selective colleges. The case... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Article

Power to the People

By: Eric D. Werker

Every nongovernmental organization has a mission statement. For example, CARE, one of the world's largest and best-funded NGOs, explains its mission as serving "individuals and families in the poorest communities in the world. Drawing strength from our global... View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Food; Service Operations; Inflation and Deflation; Experience and Expertise; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Knowledge; Poverty; Agribusiness; Diversity; Non-Governmental Organizations; Innovation and Invention; India

September 2010
Case

Aaron's: Household Goods for the U.S. Base of the Pyramid

By: Michael Chu and Charles Augustus Smithgall IV

With $2.5 billion system-wide revenues, Aaron's, a major rent-to-own supplier to the U.S. base of the pyramid, continues to grow in the recession, but CEO R.C. Loudermilk, Jr. wonders how long the company can sustain the fast growth rate of its past. Founded in 1955,... View Details

Keywords: Fairness; For-Profit Firms; Renting or Rental; Financial Crisis; Demand and Consumers; Social Enterprise; Income; Goods and Commodities; Competitive Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; United States

April 2011 (Revised July 2011)
Case

Renewing GE: The Africa Project (A)

By: David A. Thomas and Stephanie J. Creary

This case profiles the evolution of General Electric's African American Form (AAF), an employee affinity group, and its efforts to increase the company's involvement in Africa. The AAF formed in 1991 to help advance GE's recruitment, retention and development of black... View Details

Keywords: Diversity; Global Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Employees; Employee Relationship Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Africa; United States

February 2010 (Revised June 2011)
Case

SEWA Trade Facilitation Center: Changing the Spool

By: Mukti Khaire and Kathleen L. McGinn

The case is about the decision to convert a not-for-profit organization into a for-profit company. SEWA Trade Facilitation Center (STFC), which is part of a larger non-profit organization—the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA)—works to improve the livelihoods of... View Details

Keywords: Cooperative Ownership; For-Profit Firms; Gender; Business Model; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Nonprofit Organizations; Arts; Entrepreneurship; Economic Growth; Growth and Development Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; India

April 2007
Case

Microfinance in Bolivia: A Meeting with the President of the Republic

By: Michael Chu

Herbert Muller, chair of leading microfinance bank BancoSol, has met with Evo Morales one year after the populist leader's inauguration as president of Bolivia and proceeds to write an email to his fellow board directors. The bank is world famous for pioneering... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Race; Government Administration; Business and Government Relations; Microfinance; Poverty; Interest Rates; Banks and Banking; Financial Services Industry; Bolivia; South America

11 Feb 2014
First Look

First Look: February 11

Demographic Changes By: Bardhan, Pranab, Michael Luca, Dilip Mookherjee, and Francisco Pino Abstract—This paper studies how land reform and population growth affect land inequality and landlessness, focusing particularly on indirect... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

19 May 2014
Research & Ideas

Why Companies Should Compete for Your Privacy

on consumers' browsers, resulting in higher prices for returning shoppers, consumer backlash led the company to state that such practice was a "mistake" and that it would refrain from pricing based on customer demographics in the future.... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Consumer Products

23 Jun 2003
Research & Ideas

Historically Speaking: A Roundtable at HBS

developed a database of the CEOs of the same companies to find out everything I could about them from a demographic and career management standpoint. What part of the country were they from? What was their age, income, and education by... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner

September 2019
Supplement

Keroche (B): Considering Entry into the Kenyan Beer Market

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Pippa Tubman Armerding

This case discusses the situation of the Kenyan alcoholic drinks producer Keroche in July 2004, when co-founder Tabitha Karanja was debating whether to enter the Kenyan beer market. Doing so would mean direct competition with the multinational EABL in an industry and... View Details

Keywords: Keroche; Alcohol; Alcoholic Drinks; Alcoholic Beverages; Beverages; Drinks; Wine Industry; Wine; Fortified Wine; Viena; Beer; Beer Market; Manufacturing; Production Capacity; Capacity; Growth; Regulated; Unregulated; Informal; Informal Market; Regulation; Illicit; Illegal; Substandard; Dangerous; Shutdown; Factory; Safe; Affordable; Low-income Consumers; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Startups; Production; Investment; Safety; Quality; Small Business; Family Business; Crime and Corruption; Customer Focus and Relationships; Decisions; Income; Demographics; Geographic Scope; Geographic Location; Goods and Commodities; Government Legislation; Growth and Development; Business History; Lawsuits and Litigation; Laws and Statutes; Lawfulness; Goals and Objectives; Consumer Behavior; Market Entry and Exit; Problems and Challenges; Social Issues; Poverty; Strategy; Competition; Entrepreneurship; Marketing; Manufacturing Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Kenya; Nairobi; Africa

26 Oct 2010
First Look

First Look: October 26, 2010

many "multicultural marketing" efforts are both limited and limiting, and how firms can go beyond demographic data to craft effective strategies for selling to ethnic markets within the U.S. Read the Paper: View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

16 Nov 2009
Research & Ideas

The Times Captures History of American Business

century. In the midst of economic, political, and demographic transition, the Information Revolution—begun some thirty years ago—accelerated and took a firm hold. All over the world, individuals and organizations worked to understand and... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Journalism & News

November 2008
Article

Winning the Race for Talent in Emerging Markets

By: Douglas A. Ready, Linda A. Hill and Jay A. Conger

"This war for talent is like nothing we've ever seen before," write the authors, who have spent decades studying talent management and leadership development. Recently they interviewed executives at more than 20 global companies to identify strategies for attracting... View Details

Keywords: Leadership Development; Selection and Staffing; Talent and Talent Management; Multinational Firms and Management; Organizational Culture; Recruitment; Diversity; Developing Countries and Economies

June 2024
Case

SnapTravel: Betting on 'Super.com'

By: Reza Satchu and Tom Quinn

This case explores SnapTravel, a travel startup offering discounted hotel rooms, and its founders’ desire to pivot to a “super app” that saved customers money across many different purchase types. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Hussein Fazal and Henry Shi saw SnapTravel... View Details