Publications

December 2018 (Revised January 2020)
Case

Husk Power: Scaling the Venture

By: Benjamin N. Roth, Joseph B. Lassiter III and Natalia Rigol

In January 2018, Manoj Sinha—founder and CEO of Husk Power—was contemplating raising $20 million to scale operations for a second time. From 2007 through 2013, Husk built 80 biomass waste plants that provided electricity to 250,000 villagers and shop owners spread... View Details

Keywords: Scaling; Energy; Entrepreneurship; Emerging Markets; Growth and Development Strategy; Energy Industry; India

23 Nov 2021
Book

What It Takes to Build an Organizational Culture That Wins

because they don’t know how to get there. In the book, Heskett shares a collection of stories that illustrate the real-world ways a number of CEOs have swiftly and effectively tackled cultural change, spurring their employees to become... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

03 Apr 2009
What Do You Think?

How Much Obsolescence Can Business and Society Absorb?

existing organization communication patterns" [such as bottom up plus top down, outside in—from customers—plus inside out, etc.]. Challenges of new information technologies and how to deal with them were the focus of several... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett; Journalism & News; Journalism & News

June 2011 (Revised June 2013)
Case

Sino-Ocean Land: Responding to Change

By: Nicolas P. Retsinas, Jeffrey Hu and Runjiao Xu

In 2010, Sino-Ocean Land Holdings Limited was a highly successful, large real estate developer based in Beijing, China. Sino-Ocean Land had three main business segments—property development, property investment/management, and other real estate related businesses. From... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategic Planning; Diversification; Property; Policy; State Ownership; Business Strategy; Business and Government Relations; Real Estate Industry; Beijing

September 2008 (Revised June 2013)
Case

Odyssey Healthcare

By: Robert F. Higgins, Virginia Fuller and Umer Raffat

In January 2001, Dick Burnham, CEO of Odyssey Healthcare, and Odyssey's Board of Directors were considering selling the hospice care company to a larger provider or making an initial public offering (IPO). With 38 hospice locations in 21 states, Odyssey had been... View Details

Keywords: Liquidity; Venture Creation/development; Hospice; Venture Capital; Financial Liquidity; Business Exit or Shutdown; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Plan; Entrepreneurship; Health Industry; United States

01 Dec 2023
News

The Imposter Among Us

Edited by Jen McFarland Flint; Illustrations by Peter Arkle It was their rst day at Harvard and like the rest of his cohort, Edgar Wallner (PMD 22, 1971) will never forget meeting Robert Gaines-Cooper. Frankly, it would have been difficult to miss the Englishman, who... View Details

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

21 Oct 2008
First Look

First Look: October 21, 2008

limited explanatory power. Overall levels of local customers and suppliers are only modestly important, but new entrants seem particularly drawn to areas with many smaller suppliers, as suggested by Chinitz (1961). Abundant workers in... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

24 Oct 2018
Sharpening Your Skills

Startup or Established Company? Which Is Best for You?

to get your foot in the door. (c) 2018 Julia B. Austin Leadership One thing often overlooked when considering a new job is the leadership of your prospective company. Serial entrepreneurs will have a very different approach than someone... View Details

Keywords: by Julia B. Austin

April 2021
Case

Codecademy: Where to Next?

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Max Mailman and Sarah Ascherman

In March 2020, Zach Sims, co-founder and CEO of online education platform Codecademy, prepared for a meeting with his Chief of Staff Kunal Ahuja to discuss the company’s goals. Codecademy billed itself as the largest online resource for computer science literacy and... View Details

Keywords: Monetization Strategy; Business Model; Change Management; Venture Capital; Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Management Teams; Marketing Channels; Product Marketing; Network Effects; Product Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategic Planning; Internet and the Web; Digital Platforms; United States

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

08 Nov 2016
First Look

November 8, 2016

Tanzania. Purchase this case: https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/product/217022-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 417-031 CEO Succession at Cisco (A): From John Chambers to Chuck Robbins A smooth transition from former View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

10 Jun 2014
First Look

First Look: June 10

employment and patenting strength of a cluster have a separate positive effect on the employment and patenting growth of the constituent industries. Finally, we find that new regional industries emerge where there is a strong cluster.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Web

Skydeck - Alumni

2010) , CEO of East Boston Social Centers, is making joy a priority in his community—and what his work can teach every organization How to Judge Your Next Job Michael Horn (MBA 2006) and Associate Professor Ethan Bernstein —coauthors of... View Details

July 2013 (Revised October 2013)
Supplement

United Rentals (B)

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Kathleen Durante

In April 2012, Jenne Britell, the Chairman of the board of directors of United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE: URI) was preparing her notes for an upcoming stockholders' meeting. It was a meeting unlike most other meetings she had chaired. Stockholders were about to vote on a... View Details

Keywords: Boards Of Directors; Board Committees; Chairman; Governing and Advisory Boards; Corporate Governance; Construction Industry; North America

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

January 2024 (Revised August 2024)
Case

Essex County Community Foundation: Pivot to Systems Philanthropy

By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Brian Trelstad and Courtney Han

2023 marked five years of the Essex County Community Foundation (ECCF)’s “systems philanthropy” approach to grantmaking. Located in northeastern Massachusetts, the community foundation served 800,000 residents across 34 cities and towns that varied widely by... View Details

Keywords: Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Reputation; Civil Society or Community; Social Issues; Alignment; Nonprofit Organizations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Leading Change; Massachusetts

November 2013 (Revised May 2023)
Case

Valuing Yahoo! in 2013

By: Luis M. Viceira and Atul Khosla

In late July 2013, Danielle Engle, Managing Director of Clairemont Capital, was contemplating what to do about a large investment her fund had in the stock of Yahoo! Inc. In mid-2012, Clairemont had invested nearly $75M in Yahoo! after the tech company settled a highly... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Decision Making; Investment Activism; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Valuation