Publications

Register to Read

July 2010
Supplement

Post-Crisis Compensation at Credit Suisse (C)

By: Clayton S. Rose and Aldo Sesia

The (C) case describes the results of Credit Suisse's PIP I program, the value of PAF, shareholders' vote on the new compensation plan supported by management, and the impact of the company's approach to the U.K. banker's tax. View Details

Keywords: Voting; Taxation; Compensation and Benefits; Business and Shareholder Relations; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; Switzerland; United Kingdom

21 Mar 2024
News

OC Alumni Get Clarity on AI; Inequality and Climate Change Explored in DC

So far, it has hosted events with alumni clubs in Boston, New York, San Francisco, and Switzerland as well as DC. Stops in Chicago and London are forthcoming, and plans are underway for more clubs visits in the future. “This networking... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley

September 2013 (Revised November 2023)
Case

Antoine Leboyer and GSX

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Antoine Leboyer (HBS '92) acquired the Swiss-based software company GSX in February 2008. He managed through the recession of 2008–2009, dealt with a tumultuous separation from the founder/owner, rebuilt the management team, and upgraded the company's software... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Small Business; Finance; Private Equity; Growth and Development Strategy; France; Switzerland

May 2003 (Revised November 2012)
Teaching Note

Silvio Napoli at Schindler India (TN) (A) and (B)

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Teaching Note for (9-303-086) and (9-302-054). View Details

Keywords: India; Switzerland

01 Sep 2011
News

‘Green’ Trailblazers

Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo & Co. Boston and San Francisco Global investment management firm Alan Greenshields (MBA 1992) Fortu Holding AG Basel, Switzerland Proprietary technologies for next-generation rechargeable batteries Michael... View Details

Keywords: Health, Social Assistance; Management; Architectural, Engineering, and Related Services; Professional Services

April 1985 (Revised September 1993)
Background Note

Hattori-Seiko and the World Watch Industry in 1980

By: Michael E. Porter and Edward J. Hoff

Focuses on the industry's development and evolution in three principal watch producing countries: Switzerland, the United States, and Japan. Based in part on two earlier cases by F.T. Knickerbocker and H.E.R. Uyterhoeven. View Details

Keywords: Industry Growth; Consumer Products Industry; Japan; Switzerland; United States

May 2021
Case

André Hoffmann: Beyond Philanthropy

By: Lauren Cohen, Hao Gao, Jiawei Ye and Spencer C.N. Hagist

André Hoffmann is a leader of one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies. His exceptional tenure in philanthropy over the past several decades, including being president of the WWF and the vice-president of the MAVA Foundation, has allowed him access to a far... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Restructuring; Social Entrepreneurship; Values and Beliefs; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Cash Flow; Macroeconomics; Ethics; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Switzerland; United States; Japan

01 Sep 2007
News

How to Take a Stand On UBS and Climate Change

What is the responsibility of business regarding social issues? And how does that jibe with maximizing profits? In “UBS and Climate Change — Warming Up to Global Action?” Associate Professor Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Professor Forest Reinhardt present the dilemma facing... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Finance

March 2014 (Revised November 2020)
Case

The Novartis Malaria Initiative

By: Michael Chu, Vincent Marie Dessain and Emilie Billaud

The Novartis Malaria Initiative was designed, as a result of a precedent–setting agreement with the World Health Organization in 2001, to provide a breakthrough treatment for malaria—"at no profit"—for public health systems. What had begun as an exemplary act of... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Product Marketing; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Social Enterprise; Pharmaceutical Industry; Switzerland; Africa; Nigeria

07 Mar 2018
Research & Ideas

Electronic Health Records Were Supposed to Cut Medical Costs. They Haven't.

University School of Medicine, and HBS. The researchers plan to replicate the study internationally to compare costs in Switzerland and other countries. It’s complicated As for why administrative costs are so high in the United States and... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Health

December 2006 (Revised January 2007)
Case

Restructuring Navigator Gas Transport Plc

By: C. Fritz Foley

How should creditors pursue their claims in a multi-jurisdiction bankruptcy? David Butters, Managing Director at Lehman Brothers, negotiates a restructuring of Navigator Gas Transport, a shipping company that is headquartered in Switzerland, incorporated in the Isle of... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Complexity; Capital Structure; Restructuring; International Finance; Law; Ship Transportation; Shipping Industry; Switzerland; Isle of Man

24 Apr 2014
News

A passion for the sea doubles the percent of ocean set aside for conservation

Ernesto Bertarelli (MBA 1993), an America’s Cup–winning sailor and avid scuba diver, understands the importance of protecting marine ecosystems. The former owner and CEO of the pharmaceutical and biotechnology company Serono has provided funding for the Chagos Island... View Details

01 Sep 2024
News

The Road Less Traveled

There’s already proof the transition is viable: A recent study in Switzerland found 51 percent of those surveyed said they now use their car less often having bought an e-bike. Micromobility adopters may ultimately decide to give up car... View Details

Keywords: Janine White; illustrations by WACSO; Transit and Ground Passenger Transportation; Transportation

02 Jun 2003
Research & Ideas

Stuck in Gear: Why Managers Don’t Act

just one company but an entire community of firms latches onto the same success formula" as happened with Akron, Ohio with tires; Detroit, Michigan with automobiles; Sheffield, England with steel; and Jura, Switzerland with watches.... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

April 1997
Case

ABB Germany

By: Hugo Uyterhoeven

Describes Europe's most famous postwar multinational merger between Asea of Sweden and Brown Boveri of Switzerland. Gives background on both companies and focuses particularly on BBC's geographic organization, its corporate culture, and the relationship between its... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Multinational Firms and Management; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Goals and Objectives; Organizational Culture; Performance Improvement; Geographic Location; Rank and Position; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Sweden; Switzerland; Germany

Find at Harvard

December 1996 (Revised June 2003)
Case

Cynthia Hogan and the Birth of Novartis

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter

An American woman heads an integration office for merger transition activities between two giant Swiss pharmaceutical companies. She needed to develop an implementation plan to shape the new global powerhouse. View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Global Strategy; Organizational Design; Strategic Planning; Pharmaceutical Industry; Switzerland; United States

June 1998
Teaching Note

Orthoteks USA Series TN

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr. and Richard G. Hamermesh

Teaching Note for (9-384-057), (9-384-058), (9-384-059), (9-384-060), (9-384-061), and (9-384-062). View Details

Keywords: Health Industry; United States; Switzerland

16 Sep 2014
Research & Ideas

Has Apple Reinvented the Watch?

especially from a consumer health and wellness standpoint. It's where we know the health care industry is moving. Q: Apple has always been known for innovative design. Have they succeeded to do that with the Apple Watch? A: Several of the watch CEOs I spoke to in View Details

Keywords: Re: Ryan L. Raffaelli; Electronics; Retail; Health

February 2018
Case

Stealing Time: America's Disruption of the Swiss Watch Industry

By: Eric Van den Steen and Aaron Stark

After years of growth, the Swiss watch industry faced an existential crisis. Exports to the U.S., their primary market, had dropped by more than two thirds over the past five years. Swiss watches were being disrupted by high-quality and affordable American products.... View Details

Keywords: Business Strategy; Disruption; Change Management; United States; Switzerland