Publications

July 2008 (Revised October 2012)
Case

Affinity Plus (A)

By: Dennis Campbell and Peter Tufano

The executive team at Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union has pushed the concept of members first deeply throughout the organization, empowering employees to put member-owners' interests ahead of either the organization's interests or their own interests. As a result of... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Financial Institutions; Financing and Loans; Profit; Cooperative Ownership; Conflict of Interests; Strategy

January 2021
Case

Leading Culture Change at SEB

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Elena Corsi

The Risk organization at SEB, a leading Nordic financial services group founded in 1856, undertook a culture change program focused on psychological safety, empathic listening, and strategic framing. The program enabled risk organization teams to make progress on... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Risk Management; Leading Change; Organizational Culture; Decision Making; Banking Industry; Sweden

15 May 2015
Blog Post

How to Get a Global Perspective at HBS

Though HBS is based in Boston, the MBA program is inherently a global experience. Traveling to an emerging market is part of the first year curriculum, over 70 countries are represented in of our diverse student body, and over 50% of... View Details

February 2004
Case

Aspire Public Schools

Set in the fall of 2003, covers managerial challenges facing the CEO and COO of Aspire Public Schools, a nonprofit charter school management company. In operation since 1999 and funded by prominent national foundations and venture philanthropies, Aspire operates 10... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business or Company Management; Expansion; Social Entrepreneurship; Education; Education Industry; California

12 Dec 2006
First Look

First Look: December 12, 2006

Diversity in the Workplace Harvard Business School Case 407-029 Purchase this case: http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=407029 Information Technology and Innovation at Shinsei Bank Harvard Business School Case... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

January – February 2011
Article

Are You a Good Boss-Or a Great One?

By: Linda A. Hill and Kent Lineback

Private moments of doubt and fear come even to managers who have spent years on the job. Any number of events can trigger them: an initiative is going poorly; you get a lukewarm performance review; your new assignment is daunting. HBS professor Linda Hill and executive... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Personal Development and Career; Groups and Teams; Power and Influence; Social and Collaborative Networks

Find at Harvard

February 2011 (Revised December 2012)
Case

The Ford Fiesta

By: John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld

Executives at Ford wondered if social media could be the marketing solution for the launch of the youth-oriented 2010 Fiesta. But with social media came a ceding of control. Some at the company believed that if Ford was going to move beyond its conservative brand image... View Details

Keywords: Advertising Campaigns; Digital Marketing; Leadership; Goals and Objectives; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Market Entry and Exit; Standards; Auto Industry

July 2010 (Revised December 2010)
Case

Beohemija's Duel

By: Das Narayandas and Kerry Herman

Vladimir Joksic, Director of Marketing for Serbia's Beohemija, along with his marketing team has managed to grow Duel, the firm's soap powder offering from single digits to almost 40% of the Serbian market in just a few short years. He has used innovative and... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Growth and Development; Innovation Strategy; Management Teams; Marketing; Product Launch; Competition; Consumer Products Industry

30 Jan 2020
News

What Organizations Need to Survive a Pandemic

March 2008 (Revised April 2008)
Case

Corning: 156 Years of Innovation

By: H. Kent Bowen and Courtney Purrington

The executive team at Corning has committed to double the rate of new business creation per decade, while at the same time growing the company's current businesses, including glass substrates for LCD displays. Their strategy, built on more than 150 years of successful... View Details

Keywords: Innovation Leadership; Resource Allocation; Product Development; Research and Development; Science-Based Business; Industrial Products Industry

November 1994 (Revised May 1996)
Case

Walt Disney's Dennis Hightower-- Taking Charge

By: Ashish Nanda

In 1987, Dennis Hightower, was recruited from outside for a newly created position as head of Disney Consumer Products European operations. Hightower has to win initial acceptance of entrenched country managers, integrate the company's diverse subsidiaries closer... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leadership; Change Management; Corporate Strategy; Personal Development and Career; Consumer Products Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Europe

March 2021 (Revised August 2022)
Case

Seeding and Selling Asana

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Susie Ma and Amram Migdal

In December 2019, Oliver Jay, Asana’s Chief Revenue Officer (CRO), was reconsidering his go-to-market (GTM) strategy. Asana was cloud-based work management software that enabled users to break up projects into discrete tasks that could be assigned, scheduled, and... View Details

Keywords: SaaS; Customer Journey; Business Model; Business Organization; Change Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Marketing Channels; Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Technology Industry; United States

May 2019 (Revised January 2020)
Case

The Video-Streaming Wars in 2019: Can Disney Catch Netflix?

By: Anita Elberse and Monica Cody

Bob Iger, CEO of entertainment conglomerate Disney, thrilled investors with details about Disney’s upcoming foray into video streaming in April 2019. Disney’s move was only the latest in a series of actions taken by new and established entertainment companies in a... View Details

Keywords: Television; Entertainment; Media; Television Entertainment; Management; Strategy; Disruption; Information Technology; Competition; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

February 2020
Case

Highfields Capital and McDonald's

By: Mark Egan and Robin Greenwood

McDonald’s reported its fifth consecutive quarter of declining same-store sales growth in early 2015. Despite McDonald’s recent poor performance, Jonathon S. Jacobson, the founder and Chief Investment Officer of Boston-based Highfields Capital Management, had initiated... View Details

Keywords: McDonald's; Stocks; Performance Improvement; Operations; Finance; Restructuring; Value Creation; Financial Services Industry

June 2008
Article

The Multiunit Enterprise

By: David A. Garvin and Lynne C. Levesque

A multiunit enterprise is a geographically dispersed organization built from standard units (stores, restaurants, or branches) that are aggregated into larger geographic groupings (districts, regions, and divisions). Although this organizational structure has become... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Organizational Structure; Global Range; Research; Business Ventures; Problems and Challenges; Business or Company Management; Business Headquarters; Organizational Design; Talent and Talent Management; Goals and Objectives

Find at Harvard

February 1999 (Revised October 1999)
Case

Cherkizovsky Group (A), The

By: Lynn S. Paine and Hal Hogan

Describes the transformation of a formerly state-owned meat processing plant in Russia into a privately-owned and operated food processing conglomerate under Russia's economic reforms of the 1990s. Among the challenges the CEO, Igor Babaev, and his top management team... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Privatization; Transformation; Global Strategy; Culture; Food and Beverage Industry; Russia