by William Schmidt - Publications - Faculty & Research

July 2023 (Revised April 2025)
Case

'Bugs' Burger Bug Killers

By: Ryan W. Buell and William Fulmer

In the height of its success, Bugs Burger Bug Killers (BBBK; Burger has a soft 'g' - it rhymes with merger) was the largest independent extermination company in America, growing at more than 20% per year. BBBK built its business on the promise of pest eradication,... View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Service Industry

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07 Aug 2009
What Do You Think?

Why Can’t Americans Get Health Care Right?

care providers such as doctors and hospitals placing profits before client needs (David Stahl, John Van Slyke, Roger Chen, Jan Fersing, Hugh Quick, among others); the agency problem separating payers such as individuals, businesses, and the Government from users (Adam... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett; Health

31 Jul 2012
First Look

First Look: July 31

perfect substitutes for equity finance, payout taxes may therefore have an effect on the investment of firms. High taxes will favor investment by firms that can finance internally. Using an international panel with many changes in payout... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

08 Mar 2021
In Practice

COVID Killed the Traditional Workplace. What Should Companies Do Now?

A year ago, COVID-19 forced many companies to send employees home—often with a laptop and a prayer. Now, with COVID cases subsiding and vaccinations rising, the prospect of returning to old office routines appears more possible. But will employees want to flock back to... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

It Came in the First Ships: Capitalism in America

years, and on into the nineteenth century, everything seemed up for grabs in the new country. Vast, apparently unlimited tracts of land were given away by the government or sold at irresistibly low prices. To get the best land, neither... View Details

Keywords: by Thomas K. McCraw

21 Mar 2019
HBS Case

The Ferrari Way

Ferrari N.V. is one of the rare brands that unequivocally achieves it—making its iconic horse logo synonymous with luxury and excitement. Thomke, the William Barclay Harding Professor of Business Administration, thinks of a student he... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Auto

September 2024
Supplement

National Public Broadcasting (B)

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Pre-abstract: Instructors should consider the timing of making videos available to students, as they may reveal key case details.
Abstract: This (B) case supplement is designed for use by faculty only to support classroom instruction in conjunction with... View Details

Keywords: Financial Strategy; Financial Management; Media; Ownership; Strategy; Advertising; Decision Choices and Conditions; Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Mergers and Acquisitions; Private Equity; Journalism and News Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United States

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30 Jul 2012
Research & Ideas

How Technology Adoption Affects Global Economies

It's not often that a best seller inspires academic research. If anything, it's usually the other way around. But Harvard Business School Associate Professor Diego A. Comin was motivated by reading Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond's... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

06 Sep 2005
What Do You Think?

What are the Lessons of New Orleans?

Summing Up Management is a complex process. Good plans executed poorly may be worse than poor plans executed well. This is never truer than at times of disaster, in which plans made from afar have to be implemented by those on the scene... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

Research Summary

A Case Study Approach to Teaching Real Estate

By: William J. Poorvu

William J. Poorvu has developed a casebook and instructor's manual for teaching real estate by the case method. Real Estate: A Case Study Approach elaborates a conceptual framework for viewing real estate and the real-estate process. The instructor's manual (which... View Details

15 Jul 2013
Research & Ideas

Five Imperatives for Improving Health Care

conference and survey from Harvard's business and medical schools may prove particularly timely. Delivered by the Forum on Healthcare Innovation, which was formed last year with encouragement from the respective deans of the two... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Health

01 Mar 2023
What Do You Think?

How Much Does 'Deep Purpose' Matter to the Bottom Line?

(iStockphoto/PeopleImages) An organization’s mission is widely recognized as its reason for being. Enlightened leaders have long known and believed that the heart of an organization’s culture is described not just by “how we do things... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

27 Jun 2005
Research & Ideas

Asian and American Leadership Styles: How Are They Unique?

make for himself at age twelve. He also started his own university, Shantou University, in 1981, with a similar purpose. 2) William and Victor Fung of Li & Fung: old traditional Chinese family-owned companies now run View Details

Keywords: by D. Quinn Mills

11 Aug 2003
Research & Ideas

Why Budgeting Kills Your Company

that didn't take any time at all," says William J. Bruns Jr., Henry R. Byers Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus, at Harvard Business School and a visiting professor at Northeastern University. After each unit's sales and... View Details

Keywords: by Loren Gary

09 May 2017
What Do You Think?

Should Management Be Primarily Responsible to Shareholders?

owners of a corporation, professional managers and directors are their agents, primarily responsible for carrying out their wishes and creating value for them. This idea was further developed in a 1976 article by Michael Jensen and View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

05 Jan 2009
Research & Ideas

Most Popular Articles and Working Papers 2008

Here are the 20 most popular stories published by HBS Working Knowledge in 2008, and the five most-read working papers authored by HBS faculty. Most Popular Articles 1. Creating a Positive Professional Image... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

13 Jul 2009
Research & Ideas

Diagnosing the Public Health Care Alternative

liabilities, estimated at about $34 trillion. They are omitted from Medicare's costs because the government uses cash accounting. If Medicare followed the accrual accounting, which private sector insurers must use, its administrative costs would increase View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Health

15 Nov 2004
Research & Ideas

Solving the Health Care Conundrum

services. Health plans will eliminate their restrictive networks, allowing members to choose in a competitive (and regional or even national) marketplace the providers that offer the best value for their condition. Plans will help patients make the best decisions View Details

Keywords: by Michael E. Porter; Health

21 Mar 2016
Lessons from the Classroom

When Your Classmate is an NBA Superstar (or Fashion Model, or Movie Actress)

approach, spearheading efforts to cut the rising costs of programming at the network by directing staff members to choose less expensive content and rely less on pricey A-list actors. Horn’s strategy paid off: View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Entertainment & Recreation; Sports; Media & Broadcasting; Education

January 2011 (Revised July 2012)
Case

National Public Broadcasting

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Bob Williams, the CEO of National Public Broadcasting (NPB), was considering an unsolicited offer to purchase the company in the early spring of 2006. The company was a media underwriting representative for public television and radio stations throughout the United... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Management; Ownership; Advertising Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry

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