Publications

15 Nov 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Algorithmic Foundations for Business Strategy

Keywords: by Mihnea Moldoveanu

2023
Working Paper

Coordinated R&D Programs and the Creation of New Industries

By: Daniel P. Gross and Maria P. Roche

Complex systems technologies—including “deep tech”—are prone to numerous frictions that stymie commercial development. Yet technologies with these features underpin some of the most valuable industries of the past century. We examine how large, mission-oriented... View Details

Keywords: Research and Development; Policy; Business and Government Relations; Technological Innovation; Collaborative Innovation and Invention

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January 2015 (Revised March 2015)
Case

Oberoi Hotels: Train Whistle in the Tiger Reserve

By: Ryan W. Buell, Ananth Raman and Vidhya Muthuram

Celebrated as one of the world's premiere luxury hotel brands, Oberoi Hotels attracts and serves some of the most quality-sensitive guests in the world. The case considers the challenge of how an organization, with a standardized service model, can repeatedly delight... View Details

Keywords: Service Quality; Service Management; Service Quality Competition; Customer Management; Customer Service Excellence; Employee Empowerment; Employee Engagement; Employee Training; India; Hospitality; Hotel Industry; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Customer Satisfaction; Employees; Quality; Accommodations Industry; India

April 2011
Article

Strategies for Learning from Failure

By: Amy C. Edmondson

Many executives believe that all failure is bad (although it usually provides lessons)--and that learning from it is pretty straightforward. The author, a professor at Harvard Business School, thinks both beliefs are misguided. In organizational life, she says, some... View Details

Keywords: Learning; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Leadership; Business Processes; Organizational Culture; Failure; Opportunities

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January 1994 (Revised April 2011)
Background Note

Note on Private Equity Partnership Agreements

By: Josh Lerner

Venture capital by necessity is a long-run investment. Consequently, since the mid-1960s virtually all venture financing has been raised through private partnerships with a ten-year or longer life span. To govern these investments, complex contracts have sprung up... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Financing and Loans; Investment; Governance; Contracts; Partners and Partnerships

November 2007 (Revised March 2009)
Case

Allston: Brand vs. Architecture

By: Andre F. Perold, Arthur I Segel and Christopher M. Gordon

Harvard President Lawrence Summers had presided over the final interviews of world-renowned architects being considered for the science complex planned for Harvard's expanded campus in Allston. The selection process had absorbed nine months in 2005 and amplified the... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Brands and Branding; Design; Urban Development; Selection and Staffing; Construction Industry; Boston

January 2002 (Revised May 2002)
Case

Digital China Holdings Limited: ERP as a Platform for Building New Capabilities

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Guoqing Chen and Kai Reimers

This case analyzes a complex ERP implementation that takes place in one of the leading companies in China. The issues are indistinguishable from those facing a U.S. organization. View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Technology Adoption; Information Technology; Complexity; Problems and Challenges; China

January 2008 (Revised August 2008)
Case

The Time Warner Center: Mixed-Use Development

By: A. Eugene Kohn, Arthur I Segel and David Lane

Despite the failure of other attempts to bring mixed use development in New York City, Related Companies in 2004 opened Time Warner Center, a huge complex incorporating offices, shops, restaurants, music auditoriums, a hotel, and luxury apartments on Columbus Circle in... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Marketing; Buildings and Facilities; Construction; Development Economics; New York (city, NY)

25 May 2011
HBS Case

QuikTrip’s Investment in Retail Employees Pays Off

according to market, QuikTrip uses the same store layout everywhere, along with limited product variety. "The reduced complexity that results from these decisions leads to higher employee productivity and fewer errors," says... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail

October 2010 (Revised December 2015)
Supplement

Toyota Motor Corporation: 1990-2010

By: Roy D. Shapiro and Stephanie van Sice

This case follows Toyota's remarkable growth and geographic expansion from 1990 to 2010 and, in the recalls of 2009 and 2010, poses questions about the impact of that growth. Issues of increasing technological complexity also play a part. View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development; Problems and Challenges; Expansion; Complexity; Technology; Auto Industry

24 Sep 2015
Cold Call Podcast

Dangerous Mines: Saving Lives through Leadership

October 2003 (Revised December 2003)
Case

STMicroelectronics N.V., 2003 Convertible Bond Offering

By: William E. Fruhan Jr.

Focuses on the valuation of a complex option embedded in a convertible debenture with a negative yield to maturity. View Details

Keywords: Bonds; Valuation

July 2021 (Revised July 2024)
Course Overview Note

Social Entrepreneurship and Systems Change

By: Brian Trelstad and Preeti Varma

Systems thinking is a discipline that emerged in the 20th century as a way to understand the complex interrelationships among various players and dynamics within an industry or field that resist simple, reductionist thinking. The big challenges we face play out in... View Details

Keywords: Systems Thinking; Social Entrepreneurship; System; Change

December 2001
Exercise

Exercise on Employee Stock Option Dilution

By: Brian J. Hall

Discusses the effects of option dilution on stock prices and shareholder value. To simplify the example and isolate the complexity of option dilution, we make a number of simplifying assumptions. View Details

Keywords: Stocks; Price; Employee Stock Ownership Plan; Business and Shareholder Relations; Complexity; Value

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February 1975 (Revised December 1991)
Case

Elizabeth Best (C)

By: Wickham Skinner and Ardis Burst

Discusses a problem that confronted the appointee later--how to get a large, complex job accomplished without evident resources. View Details

Keywords: Projects; Problems and Challenges