Publications
Publications
Show Results For
- All HBS Web
(4,171)
- Faculty Publications (1,927)
- October 2005 (Revised February 2006)
- Case
Reactivity: A Case of Re-Invention
By: Myra M. Hart and Sylvia Sensiper
By the time Glenn Osaka joined Reactivity as its new CEO in January 2001, the Internet bubble had burst, the financial markets had turned, and the company's core businesses were drying up. He was not hired to lead a turnaround, but Osaka found that the firm's future... View Details
- September 2005 (Revised February 2007)
- Case
Angels and Devils: Best Buy's New Customer Approach (A)
In November 2004, The Wall Street Journal reported that consumer electronics retailer Best Buy's new customer approach was to shun the "devils" among its customers. The "customer centricity" initiative, which was led by Best Buy's CEO Brad Anderson, was based on an... View Details
- September 2005
- Case
IBM Network Technology (A) (Abridged)
An unconventional manager within IBM leads the creation of a business unit with multibillion-dollar potential, winning over customers and nudging the organization to make the changes needed to achieve dramatic growth. Exemplifies how organizational design and... View Details
- September 2005 (Revised July 2006)
- Case
Kingsford Charcoal
By: Das Narayandas and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld
Since the 1980s, Kingsford had continued to enjoy steady, moderate growth of 1% to 3% in revenues each year. During most of this time, the charcoal category as a whole grew as well. However, the summer of 2000 represented the first softening in the category in several... View Details
- September 2005
- Case
Whitbread PLC (A)
By: Michael Beer and James Weber
Describes the change process Whitbread employed in transforming its organization and culture from a single underperforming business operating in a relatively stable environment to a multibusiness, high-commitment, and high-performance corporation operating in more... View Details
- September 2005 (Revised June 2006)
- Case
WuXi PharmaTech
By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Simin Zhou
WuXi Pharmatech has gone from zero to $21 million in sales in three years. The company must decide its growth strategy and how best to finance and organize for rapid growth. View Details
- August 2005 (Revised January 2012)
- Case
McKinsey and the Globalization of Consultancy
By: Geoffrey G. Jones and Alexis Lefort
Considers McKinsey's strategy during the first stage of the globalization of the management consultancy industry between the 1950s and 1973. Briefly reviews the history of management consulting before considering the factors that led McKinsey to open its first... View Details
- August 2005 (Revised August 2006)
- Case
PalmSource 2005
By: David B. Yoffie and Barbara Mack
PalmSource is facing stiff competition from handheld, wireless handheld, and smart phone vendors in 2005. In addition, changes in leadership and corporate structure have altered its relationship with its leading customer--PalmOne. Although Palm renews its license with... View Details
- August 2005 (Revised April 2006)
- Case
Rambus Inc., 2005
By: David B. Yoffie
Rambus is grappling with the ever-changing dynamics of the DRAM/semiconductor industry. The company is actively defending its patent portfolio through litigation and exploring both partnerships and industry standards for keys to future profitability and growth. How can... View Details
- August 2005 (Revised April 2006)
- Case
Kemps LLC: Introducing Time-Driven ABC
By: Robert S. Kaplan
Kemps is making a strategy shift: from being focused on fulfilling customer requests to becoming the best cost dairy producer in the industry. Its existing manufacturing cost system, however, fails to capture the costs associated with handling special flavors, small... View Details
- July 2005 (Revised February 2011)
- Case
Tanpin Kanri: Retail Practice at Seven-Eleven Japan
By: Rajiv Lal and Arar Han
Toshifumi Suzuki, chairman and CEO of Seven and I Holding Co., was widely credited as the mastermind behind Seven-Eleven Japan's spectacular rise. Although Seven-Eleven Japan began as a small licensee of U.S. convenience store chain 7-Eleven, Inc. (then Southland... View Details
- June 2005 (Revised March 2007)
- Case
ACHAP (African Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Partnerships): the Merck/Gates Initiative in Botswana
By June 2004, ACHAP, a three-way partnership of The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Merck, and the Botswana government, had committed nearly $60 million of the $100 million toward various AIDS education, prevention, and treatment programs. It was time to evaluate... View Details
- June 2005 (Revised August 2013)
- Case
Amazon.com's European Distribution Strategy
By: Janice Hammond and Claire Chiron
Describes how Amazon's distribution system evolved from the company's inception. In 2003, Amazon Europe must decide how to reconfigure its distribution network in light of expected growth, products proliferation, and geographical expansion in Europe. Examines how... View Details
- June 2005 (Revised July 2006)
- Case
fortu PowerCell GmbH
By: Michael J. Roberts, William A. Sahlman, Vincent Dessain, Monika Stachowiak and Anders Sjoman
Describes the financing, strategy, and growth decisions facing fortu, a young German battery company. The company is contemplating a facility in East Germany, where state subsidies make the finances appealing. A sudden offer to license fortu technology for application... View Details
- June 2005 (Revised January 2008)
- Case
Good Technology: Empowering Mobility Around the Globe (A)
By: Geoffrey G. Jones and Adam Minnick
Describes the global growth of Good Technology, a Silicon Valley start-up in wireless handheld computing software and service. Reviews the evaluation of wireless standards, the emergence of the world wireless market for voice and data, and the growth of the major firms... View Details
- May 2005 (Revised January 2008)
- Case
Inniskillin and the Globalization of Icewine
By: Geoffrey G. Jones and Jillian Hirasawa
Deals with the growth of the icewine industry and follows Vincor International as it creates an international market for its Inniskillin Icewine--a luxury alcoholic beverage consumed as a dessert wine. Gives the history of the alcoholic beverage industry in Canada and... View Details
- May 2005 (Revised February 2007)
- Case
HNA Group: "A Miracle in Civil Aviation"
By: Cynthia A. Montgomery and Carole Winkler
Chen Feng and three others started Hainan Airlines in China during a historic transformation and privatization of the civil aviation industry. From a small loan from the local province in 1992, Chairman Chen built the company into a conglomerate that, by 2003, owned... View Details
- April 2005 (Revised January 2006)
- Case
Protege Partners: The Capacity Challenge
In February 2005, Jeffrey Tarrant (HBS '85) and Ted Seides (HBS '99) considered their strategy for Protege Partners, founded in July 2002 as a fund of hedge funds (FOHF) specializing in small hedge funds. Protege's assets under management had grown to $1.1 billion, and... View Details
- April 2005 (Revised July 2009)
- Case
IBM's Decade of Transformation: Turnaround to Growth
By: Lynda M. Applegate, Robert D. Austin and Elizabeth Collins
Describes IBM's decade of transformation. Provides background on the company's history and the factors that led to its near death in the early 1990s and to its remarkable turnaround during Gerstner's reign as CEO. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details
- 2005
- Other Unpublished Work
Corporate Financing Decisions When Investors Take the Path of Least Resistance
By: Malcolm Baker, Joshua Coval and Jeremy Stein
We explore the consequences for corporate financial policy that arise when investors exhibit inertial behavior. One implication of investor inertia is that, all else equal, a firm pursuing a strategy of equity-financed growth will prefer a stock-for-stock merger to... View Details