Publications

June 2013 (Revised September 2015)
Case

Procter & Gamble

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Kathleen Durante

On July 12, 2012, Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management announced publicly that it had purchased about $2 billion of Procter and Gamble (P&G) stock. Shares in the company closed up 3.75% the day the disclosure was made public. Ackman told the New York... View Details

Keywords: Ackman; P＆G; Pershing Square Capital Managment; Disruption; Management Succession; Crisis Management; Acquisition; Consumer Products Industry; Financial Services Industry

12 Sep 2023
What Do You Think?

Who Gets the Loudest Voice in DEI Decisions?

seemed small, but you’ve seen your counterparts in other organizations brought to task over DEI issues. Do you approve making the proposed orientation program mandatory for new employees? Or, alternatively, would you alter the material to... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

Web

Skydeck - Alumni

and Numenta CEO Donna Dubinsky (MBA 1981) doesn’t fear the Terminator, neither should we Coming of Age as the World Comes Apart Casey Gerald’s (MBA 2014) new book is an intervention in the shape of a memoir... View Details

March 2022 (Revised May 2022)
Case

Reclaiming the Land of Purple: Purpl’s Mission to Unlock Finance in Lebanon

By: Lauren Cohen and Grace Headinger

Karl Naim, Co-Founder and CEO of Purpl, embarked on a venture to lower remittance costs for his native Lebanon. Since October 2019, the Lebanese economy had entered a free fall as its banking sector collapsed and large swathes of its population were plunged into... View Details

Keywords: Business Startup; Fintech; Inflation; Deflation; Cross-border Frictions; Remittances; Business Startups; Diasporas; Financial Crisis; Money; Entrepreneurship; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Poverty; Financial Institutions; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; Technology Industry; Lebanon

16 Nov 2016
Research & Ideas

Turning One Thousand Customers into One Million

sporting events—where Uber’s initial viral growth was double that observed in other cities. These accelerants became the basis of Uber’s market expansion playbook, and were some of the factors it looked at to drive its launch as it expanded into View Details

Keywords: by Thales S. Teixeira and Michael Blanding; Retail; Transportation; Accommodations

01 Sep 2023
News

Money Does Grow on (Family) Trees

behalf of the deceased. To assist its members in their research, the Genealogical Society established a library. By 1912, it proudly boasted a collection of 2,000 genealogical volumes, primarily from New England and the mid-Atlantic... View Details

Keywords: April White; Illustrations by Fabio Consoli; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; Information

01 May 2013
What Do You Think?

Why Isn’t ‘Servant Leadership’ More Prevalent?

What do you think? Original Article Servant leadership is an age-old concept, a term loosely used to suggest that a leader's primary role is to serve others, especially employees. I witnessed a practical example of it at a ServiceMaster board meeting in the 1990s when... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

15 Aug 2005
Research & Ideas

The Founding CEO’s Dilemma: Stay or Go?

who gets to be CEO is no longer up to the founders alone. My results show that whenever founders raise a new round of financing, the chances that they'll be replaced as CEO go... View Details

30 Jun 2022
HBS Case

Peloton Changed the Exercise Game. Can the Company Push Through the Pain?

Few companies create an entirely new consumer market and reach icon status—and then set out to reinvent themselves. But that’s the hill the at-home, interactive-exercise firm Peloton is now climbing. Peloton was one of the freewheeling... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Media & Broadcasting; Health; Bicycle

19 Apr 2004
Research & Ideas

Ground-Floor Opportunities for Retail in India

India's economic growth is an exciting new playing field for the retail industry and for entrepreneurs looking to get in on the ground level, a panel of that country's businessmen agreed. Rising incomes, increased advertising, and a jump... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Consumer Products; Retail

January 2024 (Revised February 2024)
Case

OpenAI: Idealism Meets Capitalism

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Shweta Bagai

In November 2023, the board of OpenAI, one of the most successful companies in the history of technology, decided to fire Sam Altman, its charismatic and influential CEO. Their decision shocked the corporate world and had people wondering why OpenAI had designed a... View Details

Keywords: AI; AI and Machine Learning; Governing and Advisory Boards; Ethics; Strategy; Technological Innovation; Leadership

September 2019 (Revised June 2020)
Case

2U: Higher Education Rewired

By: Yael Grushka-Cockayne and Karim R. Lakhani

In its 2019 Partner Symposium, 2U, an online program management provider (OPM), showcased its new vision: “Career. Curriculum. Continuum. A construct for lifelong learning in the 21st century.” 2U, founded in 2008 and went public in 2014, was looking to expand beyond... View Details

Keywords: Digital Innovation; Architectural Innovation; Make V. Buy; Learning; Higher Education; Internet and the Web; Innovation Strategy; Transformation; Digital Transformation