Publications

July 2021 (Revised February 2022)
Case

Mary Kay Inc.: Enriching Women's Lives while Embracing Change

By: Elie Ofek, K. Shelette Stewart and Julia Kelley

In December 2020, Mary Kay Inc. Chief Marketing Officer Sheryl Adkins-Green considered several strategic dilemmas. Founded in 1963 by Mary Kay Ash, Mary Kay was a direct sales company whose Independent Beauty Consultants purchased its beauty and cosmetics products at... View Details

March 2015 (Revised May 2018)
Case

JPMorgan Chase: Tapping an Overlooked Talent Pool

By: Boris Groysberg and Katherine Connolly

By the spring of 2014, the pilot had come to an end for JPMorgan Chase's ReEntry Program, a program designed for women coming back to the workforce after a period of time away. Mary Callahan Erdoes, CEO of Asset Management, and her team had to evaluate whether or not... View Details

Keywords: Women; Training; Leadership; Motherhood; Talent and Talent Management; Experience and Expertise; Diversity; Gender; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Human Capital; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Culture; Programs; Financial Services Industry; United States

April 2018
Case

Ferrari

By: Stefan Thomke, Elena Corsi and Ashok Nimgade

Ferrari is among the world’s most powerful brands, but how the company operates has remained mysterious. The case reveals the inner workings of the company—the Ferrari Way—from the way it designs, produces, and markets its cars, to how its leadership team is driving... View Details

Keywords: Growth; Innovation; Technology Adoption; Product Design; Business Strategy; Technological Innovation; Operations; Management; Growth and Development; Auto Industry

Rosabeth Moss Kanter holds the Ernest L. Arbuckle Professorship at Harvard Business School, specializing in strategy, innovation, and leadership for change. Her strategic and practical insights guide leaders worldwide through teaching, writing, and direct... View Details

18 Dec 2007
First Look

First Look: December 18, 2007

a social loss function. Purchase the paper from SSRN.com ($5): http://papers.nber.org/papers/w13622 New Framework for Measuring and Managing Macrofinancial Risk and Financial Stability Authors:Dale F. Gray, Robert C. Merton, and Zvi Bodie... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

November 1991 (Revised June 1992)
Case

AT&T: The Dallas Works (B)

Describes the innovative use of a cross-level team as a tool for driving change at a troubled AT&T plant. After the team is disbanded, the case raises questions about the group's achievements, and about how well the organization is positioned to tackle the changes that... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Groups and Teams; Telecommunications Industry; Texas

September 2010 (Revised December 2011)
Case

Southwest Airlines One ReportTM

By: Robert G. Eccles, Beiting Cheng and Susan Thyne

In 2009, Southwest Airlines produced its first integrated annual report, the Southwest Airlines One Report, combing financial and nonfinancial performance information. This case examines Southwest's environmental and corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Accounting; Financial Reporting; Integrated Corporate Reporting; Innovation and Invention; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Air Transportation Industry; United States

July 2002 (Revised November 2002)
Case

Crucial Conversations

By: Thomas J. DeLong and Vineeta Vijayraghavan

Todd McKenna, a third-year associate at an investment banking firm, confronts his boss. His boss had told him he would be the top paid associate at the firm, and McKenna finds out that this isn't true. He approaches his boss to find out why he was lied to. View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Investment Banking; Executive Compensation; Employee Relationship Management; Rank and Position; Banking Industry

08 Jul 2021
Blog Post

Catching the Entrepreneurship Bug at HBS

ultimate team player and not at all as the type of person who would strike out on their own. I love getting dropped into new situations and diverse teams to solve new problems and this interest in View Details

August 1986 (Revised June 1987)
Case

Lotus Development Corporation: Entering International Markets

By: David B. Yoffie and John J. Coleman

Lotus 1-2-3 exploded on the American market in the spring of 1983. Nine months later Jim Manzi, vice president of marketing, hired Chuck Digate to develop an international strategy for Lotus. Case explores Lotus' rapid rise to the top of the software market in the... View Details

Keywords: Market Entry and Exit; Applications and Software; Global Strategy; Management Teams; Information Technology Industry; United States

29 Oct 2021
News

Ask Help Desk: How Remote Workers Can Separate Work and Home Lives

25 Oct 2011
Research & Ideas

Chasing Stars: Why the Mighty Red Sox Struck Out

consistently well on all six major league teams for which he has played from 1995 to 2011. The Tricky Business Of Managing Stars Shortly after the historic 2011 meltdown, Red Sox View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Sports; Banking

20 Nov 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, November 20, 2018

School Case 919-403 Philanthropy and Brand Building: Jeff Vinik and the Tampa Bay Lightning Owner Jeff Vinik and top management of the NHL Tampa Bay Lightning are reviewing their strategy and progress in... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

14 Jul 2003
Research & Ideas

Understaffed and Overworked: What Now?

challenge on her hands. Perhaps you are attempting to manage your way through a similarly exigent scenario. Trying to accomplish everything that used to be done by two or three people, you may be feeling stressed, maybe more than a bit... View Details

Keywords: by Paul Michelman

January 2022 (Revised September 2023)
Case

Simplifyy

By: Paul A. Gompers and Alicia Dadlani

Jake Lisby, co-founder and CEO of Simplifyy, a property technology startup in Kansas City, Missouri, was both exhausted and exhilarated by the flurry of activity surrounding the pivot of the business model in late 2021. Simplifyy, a venture-backed PropTech company, was... View Details

Keywords: SaaS; SaaS Business Models; Business Model; Business Startups; Small Business; Geographic Location; Technological Innovation; Information Technology; Transformation; Problems and Challenges; Real Estate Industry; Information Technology Industry; United States; Missouri

March 2000
Exercise

Developing Products on Internet Time: A Process Design Exercise

By: Stefan H. Thomke

This team exercise allows students to experience some of the dynamics of developing products in the fast-paced Internet environment and was inspired by the browser war between Netscape and Microsoft. Designed to be taught in a single class session, the exercise... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Internet and the Web; Problems and Challenges; Risk and Uncertainty; Design; Decisions; Management Practices and Processes; Integration; Organizations; Competition

September 2020 (Revised December 2020)
Case

Hot Wheels at Mattel: Reinventing the Wheel

By: Elie Ofek, Andres Terech and Nicole Tempest Keller

In 2017, Chris Down, Global Brand General Manager for Hot Wheels, and his team from the Advanced Play Group within Mattel, Inc., were considering which innovation path to pursue in order to "future proof" the Hot Wheels franchise going forward. Hot Wheels was the... View Details

Keywords: Toys; Industry Evolution; Innovation Strategy; Product Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Technological Innovation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Decision Making; Digital Transformation