Publications

November 1999
Case

Seminis Inc.

By: Ray A. Goldberg, Jonathan West, Carin-Isabel Knoop and David Benedict Pearcy

Seminis became the world leader in vegetable seeds through a series of acquisitions. This case describes the Seminis strategy toward capturing value, biotechnology, and international operations. View Details

Keywords: Business Earnings; Acquisition; Profit; Global Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Valuation; Value Creation; Biotechnology Industry

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May 2024 (Revised June 2024)
Case

Together for Sustainability

By: Ranjay Gulati, David Shin and Emily Tedards

This case documents the origin and development of Together for Sustainability (TfS), a chemical industry initiative dedicated to raising sustainability standards throughout the industry’s supply chains. In 2011, six Chief Procurement Officers (CPOs) from some of the... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Standards; Supply Chain Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Partners and Partnerships; Nonprofit Organizations; Corporate Accountability; Chemical Industry

July 1993 (Revised December 2003)
Case

Sears Auto Centers (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Michael Santoro

The CEO of Sears must decide how to respond to allegations that the company's auto repair division has been misleading consumers and charging them for unnecessary repairs. View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Corporate Accountability; Ethics; Organizational Culture; Compensation and Benefits; Management Teams; Employees; Behavior; Motivation and Incentives; Performance Improvement; Auto Industry

December 2003 (Revised May 2004)
Case

Sears Auto Centers (A) (Abridged)

By: Lynn S. Paine

In the early 1990s Sears faced and allegations by the California Department of Consumer Affairs that the company's auto repair centers had been overbilling customers and making unnecessary repairs. Top management must evaluate the problem and come up with a plan to... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Corporate Accountability; Ethics; Organizational Culture; Compensation and Benefits; Management Teams; Employees; Behavior; Motivation and Incentives; Performance Improvement; Auto Industry

25 Feb 2020
News

Profits and Purpose

second-year MBA course Reimagining Capitalism in 2012, Rebecca Henderson, the John and Natty McArthur University Professor, has been helping students explore the roles that the corporation and its leaders can play in addressing these... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint

21 Apr 2009
First Look

First Look: April 21, 2009

rated. We hypothesize that ratings are particularly likely to spur responses from firms that receive poor ratings, and especially those that face lower-cost opportunities to improve or that anticipate greater benefits from doing so. We test our hypotheses in the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

01 Sep 2005
News

London Forum Highlights the Best of HBS

next decade. As chairman of one of the world’s leading suppliers of food, household, and personal-care products, Burgmans addressed issues of corporate governance. If transparency is good for multinationals, why isn’t the same thinking... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services

01 Dec 2001
News

BOOK: The Money of Invention

Gompers and Josh Lerner ask in The Money of Invention: How Venture Capital Creates New Wealth. The authors answer the chicken-or-egg question, showing that venture capital has indeed been a force in innovation — so much so, in fact, that by 1999 it View Details

Keywords: Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information; Finance; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

01 Mar 2009
News

Faculty Responds to Financial Crisis

and Global Financial Turmoil,” dealing with the U.S. system of financing homes; “Executive Pay and the Credit Crisis of 2008,” examining the impact of the financial crisis on executive pay; and “The Future of Financial Reporting,” a video case on mark-to-market View Details

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

06 Dec 2016
First Look

December 6, 2016

value-based reimbursement models, however, such as bundled payments, accountable care organizations, and shared savings plans, provide powerful incentives for physicians to regain control over the quantity and quality of time they spend... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Web

Archival Collections - Georges F. Doriot : Educating Leaders, Building Companies, Baker Library, Harvard Business School

the merger of ARD with Textron, Inc. Kenneth H. Olsen collection, 1940-2011 on permanent loan from Gordon College, Wenham, Massachusetts This collection documents the work of Ken Olsen, computer engineer, entrepreneur, and co-founder of Digital Equipment View Details

May 1997
Case

Donna Karan International Inc.

By: Krishna G. Palepu and Sarayu Srinivasan

Designer Donna Karan takes her firm public. After eager anticipation from Wall Street, the stock loses 60% of its value. This case addresses the questions: Is Karan's company ready to undertake responsibilities of being public? Is the company's strategy sustainable?... View Details

Keywords: Public Equity; Stock Shares; Financial Strategy; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Outcome or Result; Going Public; Business Strategy; Valuation; Fashion Industry

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July 2003
Case

De La Salle Academy

By: Thomas J. DeLong and David Ager

Brother Brian Carty, headmaster and founder of De La Salle Academy, a private school for academically talented, economically disadvantaged children in grades six to eight in New York City, is scheduled to meet with the school's board of directors to discuss how the... View Details

Keywords: Middle School Education; Corporate Accountability; Governing and Advisory Boards; Organizational Design; Management Succession; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Community Relations; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Education Industry

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Profile

Craig Baker

industries and environments across the globe.” The case-study experience, Craig says, has “made me more aware of the responsibilities I have running a business. It’s been eye-opening to see how difficult it is to make accountable... View Details

06 Dec 2021
News

Truth Be Told

interesting to understand the other avenues of motivating employees to come forward. To do that, we would need to study to what extent the environment within a company or specific society plays a role. What elements of corporate culture... View Details

Keywords: April White; Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices; Management

November 7, 2019
Article

WeWork’s Saga Is a Cautionary Tale about Golden Parachutes and CEO Pay

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter

While the WeWork saga has dealt another blow to already-low public confidence in business, it should also strengthen cries for fundamental changes to a system that offers supersized compensation for undersized performance. View Details

Keywords: Executive Compensation; Change; Compensation and Benefits; Corporate Accountability; Initial Public Offering

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24 Feb 2009
First Look

First Look: February 24, 2009

distribution services (GDSs)—such as SABRE—to reach travel agents. But GDSs held significant tactical advantages. For example, GDSs had signed long-term exclusive contracts with the corporate customers who were American's best customers.... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

March 2004 (Revised June 2004)
Case

Massport (A): The Aftermath of 9/11

This case looks at the turnaround at the Massachusetts Port Authority after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It begins with the situation during the immediate aftermath of 9/11 and then describes how the new CEO restructures the public agency to operate much more like a... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Corporate Accountability; National Security; Governance Controls; Organizational Culture; Public Administration Industry; Massachusetts