Publications

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November 2005 (Revised June 2006)
Case

Strategic Planning at United Parcel Service

By: David A. Garvin and Lynne Levesque

In March 2005, CEO Michael Eskew has asked the Corporate Strategy Group to recommend changes to the strategic process to ensure it allows United Parcel Service (UPS) to continue to transform itself over the next several years. Describes the evolution of UPS's strategic... View Details

Keywords: Change; Decisions; Globalization; Growth and Development Strategy; Managerial Roles; Strategic Planning; Creativity; Corporate Strategy

31 Oct 2006
HBS Case

Governing Sumida Corporation

examines how CEO Shigeyuki ("Shiggi") Yawata moves Sumida toward a U.S.-inspired "committee system" for its board of directors, the first Japanese company to do so. The case was a collaborative project undertaken by... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Electronics

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

August 2019
Supplement

Baroo (B)

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Susie L. Ma

Baroo CEO Lindsay Hyde must secure venture capital funding if she wants to save her pet services startup. If she is unable to finance a series A, she will need to sell or shut down. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Outcome or Result; Failure; Service Industry; United States; Massachusetts

December 1998
Supplement

John Trani on Leadership, Video

By: Hugo Uyterhoeven

John Trani, President and CEO of The Stanley Works, gives his thoughts on leadership in his first year at Stanley, advice to MBA students, and some of his General Electric experiences. View Details

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Knowledge Acquisition; Leadership Development; Management

February 1991 (Revised March 1995)
Case

Alantar, Inc.

By: Jay W. Lorsch

The CEO and chairman of Alantar, Inc. is confronted with the problem of how to create a more effective board of directors and also how to provide for his own successor. View Details

Keywords: Governing and Advisory Boards; Management Succession; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Ecuador

November 2008
Case

Adnexus Therapeutics, Inc.: Considering the Exit

By: Vicki L. Sato and Rachel Gordon

Dr. John Mendlein, CEO of Adnexus Therapeutics Inc. (Adnexus), a private biotechnology company, must decide whether to pursue acquisition talks with Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) after a successful six-month collaboration or continue with Adnexus' planned IPO. View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Decision Choices and Conditions; Entrepreneurship; Initial Public Offering; Corporate Strategy; Biotechnology Industry

November 2005
Case

Marilyn Carlson Nelson and the Carlson Companies Renaissance

By: William W. George and Andrew N. McLean

In 2005, Marilyn Carlson Nelson, CEO and chairman of the Carlson Companies, must decide whether to outsource jobs at the risk of destroying the culture centered on the values of integrity, trustworthiness, and caring that she had painstakingly created since becoming... View Details

Keywords: History; Leadership Development; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Business or Company Management; Organizational Culture; Personal Development and Career; Family Ownership; Leadership Style; Management Teams

December 2003 (Revised February 2006)
Case

Jamie Dimon and Bank One (B)

By: Paul W. Marshall and Todd H Thedinga

To distribute only after discussion of HBS case 9-804-107. Describes the decisions made by Jamie Dimon as the new CEO in July 2000 and summarizes the progress of his turnaround over the next three years. View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Management Succession; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry

March 2003
Case

DigaMem Inc.

DigaMem is a semiconductor firm with a promising new technology, but its CEO faces a difficult financing problem. He is considering issuing a new security: a floorless convertible bond, also known as a "toxic" convertible. View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Financing and Loans; Semiconductor Industry

23 Nov 2022
News

The Myth of the Brilliant, Charismatic Leader

09 Sep 2024
HBS Case

McDonald’s and the Post #MeToo Rules of Sex in the Workplace

It was a brief dalliance, just a few weeks in length, over text and video only. The end of the affair was nonetheless just the beginning for Stephen Easterbrook, the McDonald’s CEO who went from being hailed as the company’s “savior” by... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman; Food & Beverage

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

April 2020 (Revised August 2020)
Case

CredEx Fintech: Business Model Transformation During the Digital Era

By: Laura Huang, Raphael Amit and Xu Han

Founded in 2010, CredEx has been a fast and constant innovator in the microfinance industry in China. Tang Xia, CEO and co-founder of CredEx, has led the company through a number of profound business model innovations in response to external environment changes, which... View Details

Keywords: Digitization; Fintech; Business Model; Innovation and Invention; Transformation; Microfinance; Organizational Change and Adaptation

August 1992
Case

Johnson & Johnson in the 1990s

Describes the major challenges facing Ralph Larsen, CEO of Johnson & Johnson since 1989, as he strives to maintain the company's decentralized management structure and at the same time keep the company competitive in the 1990s. View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Organizational Structure; Consumer Products Industry

03 Jun 2021
News

Walker Webcast: Harvard Business School’s Fritz Foley on the Changing Landscape of Business Education

March 2024 (Revised May 2024)
Case

Masterpiece for the Masses: The First Art Exchange ARTEX

By: Lauren Cohen, Anastasiya Siroochenko (Siro) and Sophia Pan

Yassir Benjelloun-Touimi, CEO of ARTEX, aspired to marry the world of art and finance. Hoping to promote transparent, fractionalized ownership of renowned artwork, the founder had spent years contemplating the birth of an art stock market. This exchange would allow... View Details