Publications

April 1998
Case

Jim Lyons and GenRad

Lyons, currently CEO of Harry Gray Associates, a consulting and investment firm, had just been approached by an executive recruiter representing GenRad, a 78-year-old electronics company headquartered in Concord, MA. The company, which manufactured integrated software... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Management Succession; Personal Development and Career; Consulting Industry; Massachusetts

03 Jan 2016
Research & Ideas

NFL Black Monday: How Much Do Coaches Really Matter?

and several other teams are expected to fire head coaches on Black Monday. Every team spends significant time and money on hiring the right coach, in the belief that who you hire is what you become. There are usually two types of teams... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg & Abhijit Naik; Sports

Article

MIT Roundtable on Corporate Risk Management

By: Robert C. Merton

Against the backdrop of financial crisis, a distinguished group of academics and practitioners discusses the contribution of financial management and innovation to corporate growth and value, along with the pitfalls and unintended consequences of such innovation.... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Market Participation; Finance; Innovation and Invention; Growth and Development Strategy; Value; Distribution; Capital Structure; Risk Management; Business Ventures; Business Model; Strategy

05 Jul 2006
Research & Ideas

Reinventing the Dowdy Savings Bond

accept a customer, but everyone has the right to save if they want to work to do that," Tufano says. "So let's think about what the characteristics of a universal savings vehicle might be: It's low cost, low risk, portable,... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Banking; Financial Services

November 2023
Article

Federated Electronic Health Records for the European Health Data Space

By: René Raab, Arne Küderle, Anastasiya Zakreuskaya, Ariel Dora Stern, Jochen Klucken, Georgios Kaissis, Daniel Rueckert, Susanne Boll, Roland Eils, Harald Wagener and Bjoern Eskofier

The European Commission's draft for the European Health Data Space (EHDS) aims to empower citizens to access their personal health data and share it with physicians and other health-care providers. It further defines procedures for the secondary use of electronic... View Details

Keywords: Analytics and Data Science; Cybersecurity; Information Management; Knowledge Sharing; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Health Industry

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February 2023
Supplement

Graphic Packaging: Project Cowboy (A) Courseware

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Scott Mayfield

In July 2019, Graphic Packaging CEO Michael Doss was proposing a $600 million investment in a new machine to produce coated recycled board (CRB), a type of paper packaging used for consumer products (cups, cereal boxes, beverage boxes, etc.) that utilized recycled... View Details

Keywords: Capital Budgeting; Growth Management; Demand and Consumers; Duopoly and Oligopoly; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Expansion; Value Creation; Supply and Industry; Pulp and Paper Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States; North America

July–August 2013
Article

Six Ways to Sink a Growth Initiative

By: Donald L. Laurie and J. Bruce Harreld

The conventional wisdom about how best to pursue growth—launch a slew of initiatives in high-potential areas; appoint some promising young managers to lead them; locate them safely away from the established businesses—is a recipe for failure, according to the authors.... View Details

Keywords: Failure; Growth and Development Strategy

19 May 2015
First Look

First Look: May 19

Publications May 2015 Cambridge University Press Land Bargains and Chinese Capitalism: The Politics of Property Rights under Reform By: Rithmire, Meg Abstract—Land reforms have been critical to the development of Chinese capitalism over... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 14, 2019
Article

The CEO's Guide to Retirement

By: Bill George

Some CEOs remain in the role too long, hurting investors, employees, and their own legacy. The author sees a frequent reason for that: CEOs don’t know how to identify the optimal time to retire, and they procrastinate because they can’t imagine what they will do after... View Details

Keywords: CEO; Executive Retirement; Retirement; Decision Making; Planning

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October 2001 (Revised February 2007)
Background Note

Accounting for Employee Stock Options

Employees who have been granted stock options have the right to purchase shares of their company's stock at a specified price within a specified time period. The accounting for such employee stock options has been a controversial and complex topic for decades. The... View Details

Keywords: Employee Stock Ownership Plan; Accounting

June 2024
Case

SnapTravel: Betting on 'Super.com'

By: Reza Satchu and Tom Quinn

This case explores SnapTravel, a travel startup offering discounted hotel rooms, and its founders’ desire to pivot to a “super app” that saved customers money across many different purchase types. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Hussein Fazal and Henry Shi saw SnapTravel... View Details

February 2023 (Revised March 2025)
Case

Graphic Packaging: Project Cowboy (A)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and E. Scott Mayfield

In July 2019, Graphic Packaging CEO Michael Doss was proposing a $600 million investment in a new machine to produce coated recycled board (CRB), a type of paper packaging used for consumer products (cups, cereal boxes, beverage boxes, etc.) that utilized recycled... View Details

Keywords: Capital Budgeting; Growth Management; Demand and Consumers; Duopoly and Oligopoly; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Expansion; Value Creation; Supply and Industry; Pulp and Paper Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States; North America

September 2024
Case

Xendit: Hiring for Growth

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Steve Castano, Quoc Anh Nguyen and Claire Wu

In 2019, Xendit, a growth-stage Southeast Asia (SEA) fintech venture based in Jakarta, was looking to hire a Head of Sales and Head of Product to lead its next phase of growth. Founded by Moses Lo and Tessa Wijaya, Xendit provided payment infrastructure, modeling... View Details

Keywords: Fintech; Financing and Loans; Entrepreneurship; Jobs and Positions; Sales; Product; Growth and Development; Selection and Staffing; Organizational Culture; Expansion; Financial Services Industry; Technology Industry; Southeast Asia; Indonesia; Philippines

October 2022
Case

Afrigen Biologics: Vaccines for the Global South

By: Debora L. Spar and Julia Comeau

The majority of vaccines used on the continent of Africa (99%) are produced offshore. This makes African nations reliant on the West for major health care needs, a problem which was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Afrigen Biologics (in partnership with the WHO)... View Details

Keywords: Vaccination; Vaccine; mRNA; COVID; COVID-19; Inequity; Hub-and-spoke; Health Care and Treatment; Health Pandemics; Production; Social Issues; Business and Government Relations; South Africa; Africa