Publications

October 1993 (Revised October 1996)
Case

Paragould City Cable

By: Willis M. Emmons III

Unhappy with the prices provided by the local, privately owned cable television operator, the city of Paragould, Arkansas constructs a competing municipally owned cable system. Once in operation, Paragould City Cable faces vigorous competition from the incumbent... View Details

Keywords: Business Strategy; Television Entertainment; Competitive Strategy; Distribution Channels; Media; Public Sector; Programs; Growth and Development Strategy; Cost; Performance Improvement; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Arkansas

Find at Harvard

28 Mar 2014
News

Wanted: Public Entrepreneurs

Keywords: public entrepreneurs; government innovation; Government

01 Sep 2004
News

A Market-Based Prescription

The Bulletin caught up with HBS professor Regina E. Herzlinger this summer as she was en route to Nashville to accept the 2004 Healthcare Financial Management Association Board of Directors’ Award. The prestigious honor recognizes thought leaders in health-care... View Details

Keywords: Deborah E. Blagg; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Health, Social Assistance

01 Mar 2003
News

Fighting Back from a Knockout

Politics can be a thankless game — to the victor go the spoils, but so too the headaches. Consider the case of Steve Laffey (MBA 1986), the newly elected Republican mayor of Cranston, Rhode Island. Last November, three days after winning the city’s mayoral contest,... View Details

Keywords: Executive, Legislative, and Other General Government Support; Government

July 2017 (Revised November 2017)
Case

Propel

By: Mitchell Weiss and Sarah McAra

In 2014, Jimmy Chen, a former product manager at Facebook, founded the start-up Propel to build software for low-income Americans. After conducting in-depth behavioral research, Chen and his small team in New York City began to develop technology to address the... View Details

25 Mar 2018
News

Modernizing Infrastructure Management

In this interview, Joseph Heieck (MBA 2014), CEO and President of gWorks, describes how his company makes it easier for municipalities to track their infrastructure needs—and stay resilient. “I was in the Navy for a long time, but I am ambitious. And I have an ambition... View Details

February 2009 (Revised February 2022)
Case

Fannie Mae: Public or Private?

By: David A. Moss, Cole Bolton and Kimberly Hagan

In 1987, President Ronald Reagan established the President's Commission on Privatization to identify federal government functions that could be shifted to the private sector. One agency that the Commission considered was the Federal National Mortgage Association, or... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Financial Institutions; Mortgages; Government and Politics; Business History; Privatization; Private Sector; Laws and Statutes; United States

November 2005 (Revised January 2006)
Case

Commercialization at the Garvan Institute for Medical Research (A)

A large and successful not-for-profit medical research institute must decide strategy to commercialize its discoveries. In the process, it must balance multiple conflicting demands from its stakeholders. View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Public Sector; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Nonprofit Organizations; Conflict and Resolution; Commercialization; Balance and Stability; Health Industry

Find at Harvard

19 Mar 2024

The Value of an MBA in Manufacturing, Consumer Products, and Retail

Attention to all young professionals shaping the future in manufacturing, consumer products, or retail: whether you're already excelling in these vibrant sectors or aiming to carve your path, we extend an invitation to join a panel of... View Details

March 2019
Supplement

KITEA (C): A Surprise Delay

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Gamze Yucaoglu

This case describes the delay of IKEA’s store opening in Morocco in 2015. After Sweden ordered an internal review of its position on the independence of Western Sahara, a territory Morocco regarded as part of its own, the Moroccan government declared that IKEA did not... View Details

Keywords: Private Sector; For-Profit Firms; Business Strategy; Strategic Planning; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Adaptation; Corporate Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Retail Industry; Africa; North Africa; Morocco

March 2019
Supplement

KITEA (F): Expanding in Africa

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Gamze Yucaoglu

he case opens in 2018 after KITEA has recorded two years of double-digit sales growth following IKEA’s entry into the Moroccan market. It then traces the factors that contributed to KITEA’s success and that led Tana Africa Capital Limited to acquire a minority stake in... View Details

12 Feb 2014
Research & Ideas

Private Sector, Public Good

Public Sector seminar series, which runs through May, is designed to induce lively conversation, build a community of scholars, and create a research agenda exploring the possible role of the private sector... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

January 2010 (Revised December 2011)
Case

Jiamei Dental: Private Health Care in China

By: William C. Kirby and G.A. Donovan

With the recent announcement from the Chinese government that the country's healthcare system was going to undergo reform, Jiamei Dental Chairman Liu Jia wondered what that meant for his 15 year-old dental clinic business. Founded in 1993, Jiamei Dental Medical... View Details

Keywords: Private Sector; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Entrepreneurship; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Health Care and Treatment; Private Ownership; Partners and Partnerships; Competition; Expansion; Health Industry; China

01 Sep 2016
News

The Untold Story of the US Auto Bailout

The US automotive industry collapse was one of the most important business stories to come out of the 2008 financial crisis—and like so many events of that time, it was big on headlines but short on nuance. To address that shortfall, sectionmates and media veterans... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Transportation Equipment Manufacturing; Manufacturing

November 2018
Case

Yatooq: Longing for Arabic Coffee

By: Mark Roberge, Gamze Yucaoglu and Samer Al-Rachedy

As one of the few female entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia, Lateefa Alwaalan had been trying to produce the perfect cup of Arabic coffee for over a decade. In 2007, she began testing various coffee blends, which she later branded Yatooq, the Arabic word for “craving” or... View Details