Publications

June 2013
Case

Olympic Rent-A-Car U.S.: Customer Loyalty Battles

By: John Deighton and James T. Kindley

The marketing and operations managers for Olympic Rent-A-Car meet to decide how to respond to changes in the loyalty rewards program at the market-leading competitor. The competitor's program gives awards based on dollars spent instead of days rented and eliminates... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Competitive Strategy; Marketing; Operations; Auto Industry; Service Industry

April 1998 (Revised February 2001)
Case

CBS Evening News

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

The CBS Evening News looks for options for growth of the franchise. This case discusses CBS's main competitors and their positioning in the evening news market, as well as the history and operations of the CBS Evening News. View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Competition; Business Growth and Maturation; Media; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

September 2004 (Revised October 2005)
Case

Sapient Corporation

By: Rakesh Khurana and Joel Podolny

Describes the start-up, growth, organizational design, and operations over the first 10 years of a professional services firm. Focuses on the creative use of organizational purpose and values as an integral part of strategy and alignment of organizational activities. View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Operations; Knowledge Management; Strategy; Service Industry

April 2008
Exercise

Exercise: Customer-Operator Letter Writing

By: Frances X. Frei

The exercise involves having students write letters to an organization of their choice describing their operating experience at a detailed level. The companies' responses are paired with the students' letters and the entire collection is made available to the class.... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Customer Satisfaction; Customer Value and Value Chain; Knowledge Sharing; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Performance Improvement

Clayton Rose is Baker Foundation Professor of Management Practice. He currently teaches the course Accountability in the Advanced Management Program. His research is focused on the how leaders can manage the challenges created by the intense, varied and often... View Details

Keywords: financial services

May 2000 (Revised January 2003)
Case

Health Development Corporation

By: Richard S. Ruback

Health Development Corp. (HDC) owns and operates health clubs in the Greater Boston area. HDC engaged a local investment banker to explore a sale of the company. The most likely buyer views HDC's prior purchase of real estate as a negative. HDC's management is... View Details

Keywords: Cash Flow; Property; Business Exit or Shutdown; Valuation; Value; Decisions; Health Industry; Boston

21 Dec 2010
First Look

First Look: December 21

the period from 1996 to 2005 to test the hypothesized relationships. How Managers Use Multiple Media: Discrepant Events, Power and Timing in Redundant Communication Authors:P.M. Leonardi, T.B. Neeley, and E.M. Gerber... View Details

August 1992 (Revised February 1998)
Supplement

Star Distributors, Inc. (B)

By: David A. Thomas

Presents the dilemma of Don Waters, vice president of Franchise Operations at Belmont Beverages. Waters must must decide what to do about the conflict between two partners in one of Belmont's franchises. View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Conflict Management; Franchise Ownership; Partners and Partnerships; Distribution Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

March 2018 (Revised January 2019)
Case

Gilead Mexico

By: Michael Chu and V. Kasturi Rangan

With a breakthrough cure for Hepatitis C listing in the U.S. at $1,000/pill, Gilead must now solve the issue of making it available to patients across the world, much as it did for its blockbuster HIV/AIDS antiretrovirals. For Erik Musalem, the new general manager of... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Price; Strategy; Management; Pharmaceutical Industry; Mexico

December 2024
Case

Yum China: People First

By: David E. Bell, Shu Lin and Nancy Dai

Joey Wat, CEO of Yum China Holdings, Inc., which operated KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell in mainland China, oversaw KFC’s milestone as the first Western quick-service chain in China to surpass 10,000 stores, with Pizza Hut exceeding 3,000 locations. This expansion was... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Franchise Ownership; Performance Efficiency; Expansion; Employees; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; China

Web

Academic Units - Faculty & Research

Academic Units Accounting and Management Business, Government and the International Economy Entrepreneurial Management Finance General Management Marketing Negotiation,... View Details

March 2021
Case

Founders Factory

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport and James Barnett

In January 2020, Founders Factory (FF) Executive Chairman Brent Hoberman and CEO Henry Lane Fox were considering FF’s expansion strategy. FF operated as a venture capital (VC) fund built around an accelerator and incubator, and organized around sectors within... View Details

September 2012 (Revised January 2013)
Case

SMARTBITES (A)

By: Michael Roberts, Jeronimo Silva and Amar Bhide

The case describes a Turkish brother-sister team who are evaluating the option of acquiring and operating a franchise of a US bakery/cafe in Turkey. They are comparing this option to that of simply starting a similar business. View Details

Keywords: Franchising; Start-up; Franchise Ownership; Family Ownership; Business Startups; Cost vs Benefits; Multinational Firms and Management; Food and Beverage Industry; Retail Industry; Turkey; United States

April 2013 (Revised November 2013)
Case

Growing Financial Services in India: Aditya Birla Financial Services Group

By: Paul M. Healy and Rachna Tahilyani

Aditya Birla Financial Services Group is a large, broad-based, Indian financial services institution offering products ranging from life insurance and mutual funds to private equity. The company has witnessed a turnaround in recent years and regained lost market share.... View Details

Keywords: Regulatory Environment; Finance; Asset Management; Business Growth and Maturation; Transformation; Leadership Development; Leadership Style; Business Processes; Organizational Structure; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Competitive Strategy; Diversification; Segmentation; Financial Services Industry; Insurance Industry; India

November 2005 (Revised February 2006)
Module Note

Rethinking Branding

By: Youngme E. Moon

The classical branding paradigm assumes that brands should be built to last and that the role of the brand manager is to protect the long-term sustainability of the brand. Outlines the structure and content of an eight-session module that offers a more expansive... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding

17 Nov 2015
Lessons from the Classroom

How Activist Investors Became Respectable

influence that activist investors such as Icahn are gaining on Wall Street.) Carl Icahn made news last month when he announced he had accumulated a large ownership stake in American International Group (AIG) and said he wanted the company split up. His letter making... View Details

Keywords: by Joseph Fuller; Financial Services; Banking

November 2019 (Revised December 2019)
Case

Marcus by Goldman Sachs

By: Rory McDonald, Samir Junnarkar and David Lane

Five years on from the 2008 financial crisis, Goldman Sachs remained wounded. Revenues at the global investment bank had stagnated below pre-crisis levels, and the firm had yet to rebound from a substantial decline in securities-trading revenues. Marcus by Goldman... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Banks and Banking; Innovation Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Organizational Culture; Financial Services Industry; United Kingdom