Publications

January 2013
Case

Andrew Ryan at VC Brakes

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Sunru Yong

An aftermarket brake component manufacturer, VC Brakes, is bought out by a global automotive parts corporation after the 2008 financial crisis. Unlike its previous parent company, the new owner attempts to change VC Brakes' autocratic management style and... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Quality Management; Crisis Management; Human Resource Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Quality; Change Management; Leading Change; Restructuring; Management Practices and Processes; Problems and Challenges; Auto Industry

Educators

March 1994 (Revised March 1995)
Case

Astra/Merck Group

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Marie Bell

Astra/Merck (A/M), originally a joint venture of AB Astra and Merck & Co., is preparing to be an independent company in 1993. Since the company does not engage in basic research and development of drugs, it is essentially a distribution organization. Fundamental to... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Marketing Strategy; Distribution; Performance Evaluation; Research and Development; Risk and Uncertainty; Sales; Competitive Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry

Find at Harvard

2021
Book

Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World That Never Stops Changing

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Selling is changing, but the impact on sales of megatrends like ecommerce, big data, and AI is often misunderstood and not supported by empirical data. Managers who fail to separate fact from hype will make decisions based on bad assumptions and, in a competitive... View Details

Keywords: Sales; Strategy; Salesforce Management; Change; Adaptation

Web

Faculty & Researchers - Managing the Future of Work

2019. With Jan W. Rivkin. How AI Could Help Small Businesses , Harvard Business Review Digital Articles, 2019. Frank Nagle Assistant Professor of Business Administration Frank... View Details

2024
Working Paper

Igniting Innovation: Evidence from PyTorch on Technology Control in Open Collaboration

By: Daniel Yue and Frank Nagle

Many companies offer free access to their technology to encourage outside addon innovation, hoping to later profit by raising prices or harnessing the power of the crowd while continuing to steer the direction of innovation. They can achieve this balance by opening... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Power and Influence; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Corporate Governance

April 2002 (Revised May 2003)
Case

Nghe An Tate & Lyle Sugar Company (Vietnam)

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Frank J. Lysy and Carrie Ferman

In September 1998, Paul Cooper, Tate & Lyle's finance director for international investments, asked the International Finance Corp. (IFC) to consider lending up to $45 million to finance a $90 million sugar mill in northern Vietnam. Ewen Cobban, an IFC agricultural... View Details

Keywords: Business and Government Relations; Food and Beverage Industry; Viet Nam

Educators

Web

Faculty & Research - Global

Nairobi Office Singapore Office Tel Aviv Office New Research March–April 2025 Article European Business Review Getting Value from Digital Technologies By: Frank Cespedes and Georg Krentzel Companies need digital technologies in an... View Details

Web

Measure Outcomes & Cost for Every Patient - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

reported by condition, are essential for both care improvement and for making informed choices by patients, payers, and other provider organizations. Outcomes represent the ultimate measure of quality. The... View Details

February 2024
Case

Does “Matter” Matter? Amazon and Open Standards in the Smart Home Industry

By: Frank Nagle

In early 2023, the smart home industry stood at a pivotal juncture. The recent launch of “Matter” version 1.0, an ambitious interoperability standard developed by the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), promised to unify a fragmented market plagued by incompatible... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Resource Allocation; Standards; Business Strategy

Educators

Web

Batten Hall | About

Batten Hall Frank Batten (MBA 1952) Batten Hall is named in honor of media pioneer and entrepreneur Frank Batten (MBA 1952). Batten Hall became part of the HBS campus in 2011. The building was once home to... View Details

Web

2023 Reunion Presentations - Alumni

Reunions 2023 Reunion Presentations At Reunions, HBS faculty and other thought leaders address a range of issues facing business and society. Program recordings and materials (slide deck, handouts, etc.) are made available only when permission is given View Details

March 2024
Teaching Note

CoPilot(s): Generative AI at Microsoft and GitHub

By: Frank Nagle and Maria P. Roche

This teaching note is the companion to case N9-624-010 CoPilot(s): Generative AI at Microsoft and GitHub, which takes place in late 2021. The case briefly describes the history of both GitHub and Microsoft with a particular focus on open source software (OSS)—software... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; AI and Machine Learning; Applications and Software; Technological Innovation; Product Launch; Open Source Distribution; Product Development; Commercialization; Competition; Resource Allocation; Technology Industry

November 2023
Article

Open Source Software and Global Entrepreneurship

By: Nataliya Langburd Wright, Frank Nagle and Shane Greenstein

This is the first study to consider the relationship between open source software (OSS) and entrepreneurship around the globe. This study measures whether country-level participation on the GitHub OSS platform affects the founding of innovative ventures, and where it... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Applications and Software; Business Ventures; Development Economics; Innovation and Invention; Global Range

SSRN

Web

Business & Environment - Faculty & Research

See All HBS Working Knowlege 18 Jun 2024 How Natural Winemaker Frank Cornelissen Innovated While Staying True to His Brand Re: Tiona W. Zuzul 15 Nov 2018 Can the Global Food Industry Overcome Public Distrust? Re: Ray A. Goldberg 17 Oct... View Details

28 Sep 2020
News

In R&D, Generalists Are More Valuable Than You Think

Web

Skydeck - Alumni

Takeoff Former Continental Airlines CEO Frank Lorenzo (MBA 1963) recounts the radical ideas and relentless negotiations that transformed the airline industry The Musts of 2024 Alumni recommendations from the year in media Solving the... View Details

May 18, 2020
Other Article

Media Bias? But Not What You Think It Is

By: Frank V. Cespedes

The media are often accused of political bias. But news outlets reflect many political beliefs in a fragmented media environment. However, an almost across-the-board bias is how news media talk about digital business, and the pandemic has exacerbated that bias, which... View Details

Keywords: Bias; Digital Business; Media; Disruption; Health Pandemics