Publications

June 2007 (Revised July 2007)
Case

USG Corporation (A)

Deals with CEO Bill Foote's decision of how to deal with USG's exposure to asbestos liability. USG was the largest building materials company in the United States, with 14,000 employees and gross revenues of $3.8 billion. Although USG used asbestos in a small subset of... View Details

Keywords: Legal Liability; Construction Industry

October 1995 (Revised September 1996)
Case

Dell Computer Corporation

By: Das Narayandas and V. Kasturi Rangan

Traces the evolution of the personal computer industry over the last 20 years and uses this as a backdrop to look at how Dell Computer Corp. grew from a small start-up to a multi-billion-dollar company in a decade. Dell is now faced with a set of decisions on the... View Details

Keywords: Industry Growth; Competitive Strategy; Profit; Computer Industry

30 Oct 2017
News

Research: The Rise of Partisan Media Changed How Companies Make Decisions

01 Sep 2016
News

Making Progress on Strategic Priorities

The Harvard Business School Campaign has played a critical role in advancing the School’s mission through the “Five I” strategic priorities. Selected highlights of new activities made possible by generous support from alumni and friends... View Details

October 2005
Case

Intel Corporation 2005

By: David B. Yoffie and Michael Slind

Buoyed by strong recent sales growth but humbled by failed strategic bets and other missteps, Intel in 2005 initiated a major reorganization. Under its new CEO, Paul Otellini, the company shifted toward a "platform" model, inspired by the success of its Centrino... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Alignment; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Semiconductor Industry

March 2010 (Revised May 2010)
Case

Boston Scientific Corporation (A)

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Charlie Attlan

Boston Scientific Corporation just bought Guidant at a record breaking price to expand their cardiovascular franchise. They need to rationalize their product portfolio to make the acquisition work. What should they sell and why? View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Decision Choices and Conditions; Growth and Development; Product Marketing; Product Development; Franchise Ownership; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

December 1997
Case

Wriston Manufacturing Corporation

By: Janice H. Hammond

Wriston Manufacturing is a broad-line maker of components for the automotive industry. It has developed a network of nine plants as its product line has grown. Newer, higher-volume products tend to be made in newer, focused, high-volume plants, while older product... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Cost Management; Business or Company Management; Production; Performance Efficiency; Auto Industry

05 Oct 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Doing What the Parents Want? The Effect of the Local Information Environment on the Investment Decisions of Multinational Corporations

Keywords: by Nemit O. Shroff, Rodrigo S. Verdi & Gwen Yu

June 2010 (Revised December 2013)
Supplement

Hang Lung Properties and the Chengdu Decision (B)

By: John D. Macomber, Michael Shih-Ta Chen and Keith Chi-Ho Wong

Second phase of auction for a prime retail development parcel in Chengdu, China. Competition forces the firm to revisit all of its land purchase criteria. Hang Lung Properties is known for rigorous due diligence, for discipline in buying property, and for good... View Details

Keywords: Geographic Location; Auctions; Bids and Bidding; Infrastructure; Competitive Strategy; Valuation; Real Estate Industry; Chengdu

Article

Strategic Disclosure: The Case of Business School Rankings

By: Michael Luca and Jonathan Smith

We empirically analyze disclosure decisions made by 240 MBA programs about which rankings to display on their websites. We present three main findings. First, consistent with theories of countersignaling, top schools are least likely to disclose their rankings, whereas... View Details

Keywords: Voluntary Disclosure; Shrouded Attributes; Information Unraveling; Rankings; Higher Education; Corporate Disclosure; Rank and Position

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October 2009
Article

Negotiation Analysis: From Games to Inferences to Decisions to Deals

By: James K. Sebenius

Exemplified by the pioneering work of Howard Raiffa and often expressed in the pages of the Negotiation Journal, the emergent prescriptive field of "negotiation analysis" progressively developed from Raiffa's early contributions to game theory and to his later... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Negotiation Participants; Negotiation Preparation; Negotiation Process; Negotiation Tactics; Game Theory

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Teaching Interest

Risk Management for Corporate Leaders

By: Robert Simons

As companies adapt to the aftershocks of the global recession, senior executives and boards are discovering that risk management has never been more important. The financial crisis revealed that risk management structures break down just when... View Details

February 1996 (Revised November 1998)
Case

Brown Group, Inc.--The Dividend Decision

By: Joseph L. Bower

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Restructuring; Investment Return

01 Nov 2010
News

How IT Shapes Top-Down and Bottom-Up Decision Making

2013
Chapter

Behavioral Corporate Finance: A Current Survey

By: Malcolm Baker and Jeffrey Wurgler

We survey the theory and evidence of behavioral corporate finance, which generally takes one of two approaches. The market timing and catering approach views managerial financing and investment decisions as rational managerial responses to securities mispricing. The... View Details

Keywords: Managerial Roles; Theory; Corporate Finance; Financial Management; Investment; Market Timing; Behavioral Finance; Prejudice and Bias; Economics; Forecasting and Prediction

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October 2007
Article

Grist: A Strategic Approach to Climate

By: Michael E. Porter and Forest Reinhardt

Climate change will affect everything businesses do, as government efforts to mitigate carbon emissions cause their prices to rise steeply. This special edition of Forethought takes a hard-nosed look at the risks and opportunities of climate change. Michael E. Porter... View Details

Keywords: Customer Value and Value Chain; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Leadership; Logistics; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Performance Improvement; Climate Change; Competitive Advantage; Corporate Strategy

April 1995
Supplement

Cooper Industries' Corporate Strategy (B)

By: David J. Collis and Elizabeth Wynne Johnson

Brings students up to date regarding a recent decision by the chairman. View Details

Keywords: Governing and Advisory Boards; Decisions; Corporate Strategy

January 2018
Case

Ak Gıda: IPO or Strategic Sale

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Eren Kuzucu

In 2015, Yıldiz Holding, one of the world’s largest producer of confections, biscuits and crackers, was at the end of its divestiture process from Ak Gida, one of the leading dairy companies in Turkey. The company had adopted a dual track process, pursuing an initial... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Private Sector; For-Profit Firms; Business Model; Business Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Growth and Development Strategy; Value Creation; Decision Making; Growth Management; Mergers and Acquisitions; Initial Public Offering; Business Conglomerates; Business Exit or Shutdown; Family Business; Joint Ventures; Food and Beverage Industry; Turkey