Publications

October 1991 (Revised January 2000)
Case

Workplace Safety at Alcoa (A)

By: Kim B. Clark and Joshua D. Margolis

Examines the challenge facing the managers of a large aluminum manufacturing plant in its drive to improve workplace safety. The CEO of the company has made safety a top priority. The plant has made good progress in reducing the injury rate, but now confronts the need... View Details

Keywords: Working Conditions; Safety; Problems and Challenges; Change Management; Operations; Resignation and Termination; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Manufacturing Industry; United States

24 Jan 2024
Op-Ed

Why Boeing’s Problems with the 737 MAX Began More Than 25 Years Ago

quality. William Boeing created the commercial aviation industry. For the next century, Boeing was the leading producer, based on its excellence in aircraft design and safety. Boeing’s problems today date back to former CEO Philip Condit,... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George; Air Transportation; Transportation; Aerospace

June 2015
Supplement

Henkel: Building a Winning Culture (B)

By: Robert Simons and Natalie Kindred

This case, an update on "Henkel: Building a Winning Culture (A)," describes Henkel's strong performance against its tough 2012 objectives, as well as the new objectives CEO Kasper Rorsted set for 2016. View Details

Keywords: Kasper Rorsted; Rorsted; Henkel; Germany; Personal Care; Consumer Products; Culture; Performance Management; Performance Metrics; Stretch Goals; Strategy; Measurement and Metrics; Performance; Management; Consumer Products Industry; Germany

May 1999 (Revised April 2003)
Case

Executive Health Group

Executive Health Group provides in-depth physical exams. Facing stagnant revenues, CEO William Flatley has to reposition his firm, strengthen the brand franchise, and grow share in an increasingly competitive health care environment. View Details

Keywords: Product Positioning; Competition; Health Care and Treatment; Brands and Branding; Health Industry

May 2018 (Revised September 2018)
Case

BuzzFeed—What Future for Native Advertising and Branded Content?

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee

Jonah Peretti, CEO of digital publishing company BuzzFeed, needs to decide how to respond to Facebook’s announcement that it would prioritize posts from friends over content from publishers. View Details

Keywords: Information Publishing; Internet and the Web; Digital Marketing; Problems and Challenges; Business Model; Strategy; Publishing Industry; Technology Industry; United States

December 2003 (Revised June 2012)
Case

Irving Tanning

By: Paul W. Marshall and Johanna Regine Naunton Blaxall

Irving Tanning, one of the few remaining U.S. leather tanneries, has successfully emerged from bankruptcy. The CEO is now looking at strategic options for the future of Irving. View Details

Keywords: Insolvency and Bankruptcy; United States

October 2017 (Revised April 2019)
Case

Eastern Bank: Innovating Through Eastern Labs

By: Karen Mills, Dennis Campbell and Aaron Mukerjee

Eastern Bank is a 200-year-old New England mutual bank with a community focus. Eastern specializes in small business lending, having made strategic investments to become the top SBA lender in New England in the midst of the Great Recession, when other banks were... View Details

Keywords: Banks and Banking; Technological Innovation; Entrepreneurship; Management

October 2018 (Revised February 2018)
Case

Masayoshi Son and the Vision Fund

By: Tom Nicholas, Ramana Nanda and Benjamin N. Roth

In October 2016, SoftBank Group Corp., the Japanese conglomerate giant caused a significant shock to the worldwide market for venture capital and private equity by announcing the Vision Fund, the largest tech investment fund in the world at close to $100 billion. The... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Entrepreneurship; Competitive Strategy

KRISHNA G. PALEPU is the Ross Graham Walker Professor of Business Administration, and has served previously as Senior Advisor to the President of Harvard University, and Senior Associate Dean... View Details

Keywords: accounting industry; banking; financial services; information technology industry; pharmaceuticals; retailing

December 1999 (Revised August 2000)
Case

Prime Designs

By: Paul W. Marshall

A student takes the role of the father who is the CEO of a family business. A non-family manager has asked for a meeting. Agenda topics are: your son's latest proposal and managers' desire to own equity. View Details

Keywords: Labor and Management Relations; Family Ownership; Employee Stock Ownership Plan

Find at Harvard

08 Mar 2013
News

Andre Esteves to Speak Tomorrow at Latin American Conference at Harvard Business School

Video

Mostafa Terrab

Mostafa Terrab, Chairman and CEO of Morocco-based OCP Group, describes how the company has made targeted donations to smallholder famers in Africa, particularly in response to the decreased availability of fertilizer resulting from the war in Ukraine. View Details

January 2021
Case

Saham Group: It's In the Genes

By: Christina R. Wing and Gamze Yucaoglu

The case opens in August 2020 as Moulay Mhamed Elalamy (Mhamed), CEO of the Saham Group (the Group), a pan-African investment company that operates a variety of businesses out of Morocco, contemplates the Group’s identity, its investment strategy, and how to navigate... View Details

Keywords: Family and Family Relationships; Family Business; For-Profit Firms; Transformation; Transition; Emerging Markets; Change Management; Private Equity; Investment; Strategy; Insurance Industry; Real Estate Industry; Education Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Morocco; Africa

June 1994 (Revised December 1997)
Case

Safeway, Inc.'s Leveraged Buyout (C): Media Response

Focuses exclusively on the controversy by presenting the media responses to the LBO and its aftermath, including full text of Faludi's interview with Safeway CEO Peter Magowan, and her subsequent Journal article. View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Media; Retail Industry; United States

November 1999 (Revised June 2000)
Case

FairMarket: Managing Business Development

By: William A. Sahlman, Michael J. Roberts and Cathy Taylor

Describes the evolution of FairMarket, a provider of turnkey auction services to community and merchant Web sites. Describes several deals that the CEO must negotiate, requiring a view of the company's valuation. View Details

Keywords: Partners and Partnerships; Internet and the Web; Valuation; Negotiation Deal; Auctions; Growth and Development Strategy; Web Services Industry