Publications

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November 1989 (Revised March 2000)
Case

Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners (A): Leveraged Buyouts and Financial Distress

By: Michael C. Jensen, Willy Burkhardt and Brian Barry

Wisconsin Central Ltd. is a regional railroad formed in a leveraged buyout, which is currently in default on its loan covenants. The case uses this situation to examine the financial structure of a typical LBO association and its internal control mechanisms and... View Details

Keywords: Financial Management; Governing and Advisory Boards; Leveraged Buyouts; Financial Condition; Financing and Loans; Corporate Finance; Rail Industry

January 2009 (Revised October 2009)
Case

GLOBALGAP: Food Safety and Private Standards

By: David E. Bell and Mary Louise Shelman

In response to new laws governing liability and several food safety scares in the 1990s, European retailers drove the creation of a universal production standard based on Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) for fresh fruit and vegetables and a third-party certification... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Food; Governance Compliance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business and Government Relations; Safety; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Europe

September 1990 (Revised November 1991)
Case

Merck & Co., Inc. (A)

Merck & Co., Inc., a major pharmaceutical company, is in the process of reviewing and evaluating its personnel policies and practices. Employee interviews revealed that rewards for excellent performance were not adequate: outstanding performers received salary... View Details

Keywords: Performance Evaluation; Compensation and Benefits; Pharmaceutical Industry

April 2019 (Revised March 2020)
Case

Handy: The Future of Work? (A)

By: Nien-hê Hsieh and Kieron Stopforth

Witnessing numerous lawsuits alleging that online platform companies misclassified workers as contractors when they were actually employees, Handy’s founders faced a series of decisions. Handy was an online platform business that enabled customers to book appointments... View Details

Keywords: Employment; Working Conditions; Entrepreneurship; Compensation and Benefits; Internet and the Web; Ethics; Fairness; Service Industry; United States

24 Oct 2006
First Look

First Look: October 24, 2006

plan or lose control of Medco to Temasek. Purchase this case: http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=207021 Mount Auburn Hospital: Physician Order Entry Harvard Business School Case 603-060 Mount Auburn Hospital is... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2000 (Revised April 2001)
Case

Grupo Beta San Miguel (A)

By: Ray A. Goldberg, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Hal Hogan

The World Trade Organization and NAFTA are reviewing the sweetener system and governmental sugar programs and their impact on world trade. What position should Jose Pinto take, and how will this affect his company, Mexico, and the global sugar players? View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Government and Politics; System; Competitive Advantage; Management Teams; Mexico

August 2014
Case

Netflix in 2011

By: Willy Shih and Stephen Kaufman

Reed Hastings founded Netflix to provide a home movie service that would do a better job satisfying customers than the traditional retail rental model. But as it encountered challenges it underwent several major strategy shifts, ultimately developing a business model... View Details

11 May 2015
Research & Ideas

A Road Map to Fix America’s Transportation Infrastructure

Any highway commuter who has wasted hours stuck in traffic can see the cracks in the United States' transportation system, as can any airline passenger who has been stranded overnight in an airport. Yet while many agree that the need for infrastructure change is... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Transportation

November 2006 (Revised August 2008)
Case

Lincoln Electric

By: Jordan I. Siegel

The case describes Lincoln Electric's business strategy and incentive system, and it discusses the global strategy choices that the company faces going forward. Lincoln Electric is deciding whether a strong push into India should be the next step in the company's... View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Globalized Firms and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; Expansion; India

11 Oct 2016
First Look

October 11, 2016

case: https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/product/717001-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 117-104 Management Control Systems Module 4: Organizing for Performance This module... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 1990 (Revised June 1991)
Case

IBM Corp.: ""Make It Your Business"" (A)

By: Robert L. Simons

In 1987, IBM changed its strategy in an attempt to become a market-driven company rather than a product-driven company. The case begins with a description of the new strategy and the reasons for the change and then describes the top-down sales planning and quota system... View Details

Keywords: Commercialization; Competitive Advantage; Business Strategy; Goals and Objectives; Strategic Planning; Motivation and Incentives; Sales; Volatility; System; Information Technology Industry

December 2011
Article

Egalitarianism and International Investment

By: Jordan I. Siegel, Amir N. Licht and Shalom H. Schwartz

This study identifies the effect of a key cultural dimension—egalitarianism—on a set of international investment outcomes. Egalitarianism expresses a society's cultural orientation with respect to intolerance for abuses of market and political power. We show... View Details

Keywords: Egalitarianism; International Investment; Culture; Cultural Distance; Foreign Direct Investment; Informal Institutions; Social Institutions; Cross-listing; Investment; Equality and Inequality; Mergers and Acquisitions

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12 Oct 2022
Video

Ifeoma Ajunwa: Limitless Boundaries of Employee Surveillance

05 Aug 2002
Research & Ideas

Are Consumers the Cure for Broken Health Insurance?

The health insurance system in the United States is broken, and business is paying the price. Employers' insurance premiums reached an estimated $450 billion in 2000, and then shot up again, at three times the rate of inflation, in 2001.... View Details

Keywords: by Regina E. Herzlinger

November 2008 (Revised February 2009)
Case

Omron: Sensing Society

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Ethan S Bernstein

"Leading profitable growth is only part of the goal. We cannot live without breathing, but we do not live in order to take a breath,” said Omron's President and CEO, Hisao Sakuta, in 2008. Omron, a $7B global supplier of sensors, control system components, advanced... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Transformation; Competitive Advantage; Leadership; Goals and Objectives; Globalized Firms and Management; Innovation and Invention; Values and Beliefs; Mission and Purpose; Electronics Industry

August 2007 (Revised May 2008)
Case

Rebuilding the New Orleans Public Schools: Turning the Tide? (Abridged)

After Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans Public School System is faced with rebuilding from the ground up. The challenge is enormous, as is the opportunity to remake the lowest-performing public school system in Louisiana and one of the lowest-performing in the nation.... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Transformation; Entrepreneurship; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Natural Disasters; Conflict and Resolution; Education Industry; New Orleans

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11 May 2009
Research & Ideas

The IT Leader’s Hero Quest

process redesign. Over the years, the CIO job has remained a hot seat in business and has, in turn, become a key management position in executing a company's competitive cost structure and strategy. It has become a key senior View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

March 2003 (Revised November 2003)
Case

Resourcery, Ltd.

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Feyi A. Boroffice

Recounts the story of how a successful Nigerian entrepreneur has expanded his systems integration/networking business. He now faces the problem of raising growth capital in a developing country. View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Growth Management; Expansion; Race; Entrepreneurship; Developing Countries and Economies