Publications

April 2014
Article

Who Lives in the C-Suite? Organizational Structure and the Division of Labor in Top Management

By: Maria Guadalupe, Hongyi Li and Julie Wulf

Top management structures in large U.S. firms have changed significantly since the mid-1980s. While the size of the executive team—the group of managers reporting directly to the CEO—doubled during this period, this growth was driven primarily by an increase in... View Details

Keywords: Communication; Functions; Centralization; M-form; Hierarchy; Top Management Team; C-Suite; Activities; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Diversification; Managerial Roles; Organizational Design; Information Technology; Organizational Structure; Management Teams; United States

Web

Bankruptcy | Baker Library | Bloomberg Center | Harvard Business School

stagnant. By 2007, declining home prices and rising rates on adjustable rate mortgages triggered a wave of foreclosures, causing devastation to millions of Americans. Firms like Lehman Brothers pursued an aggressive strategy of borrowing... View Details

March 2000 (Revised February 2005)
Case

Hewlett Packard--Computer Systems Organization: Selling to Enterprise Customers

By: Das Narayandas and Robert C. Dudley

In late 1996, Manuel Diaz, head of Worldwide Sales for Hewlett-Packard's (HP) Computer Systems Organization (CSO), is reviewing the results of an audit of HP's enterprise customer management approach with the objective of identifying market and organizational... View Details

Keywords: Accounting Audits; Transformation; Customer Relationship Management; Cost vs Benefits; Marketing Strategy; Sales; Computer Industry

16 May 2023
In Practice

After Silicon Valley Bank's Flameout, What's Next for Entrepreneurs?

greatest, I would start by looking here given how ventures founded by women and minorities—and ventures targeting women and minorities—struggle to raise the capital they need to succeed. Rembrand Koning is an assistant professor in the View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman; Technology; Financial Services

26 Jun 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, June 26, 2018

its Chief Strategy and Growth Officer Nurtaç Ziyal Afridi, were tasked with divesting its vertical assets including Ak Gıda. The duo had prepared Ak Gıda for an IPO in Istanbul, while also having negotiated... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

September 2024
Supplement

National Public Broadcasting (B)

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Pre-abstract: Instructors should consider the timing of making videos available to students, as they may reveal key case details.
Abstract: This (B) case supplement is designed for use by faculty only to support classroom instruction in conjunction with... View Details

Keywords: Financial Strategy; Financial Management; Media; Ownership; Strategy; Advertising; Decision Choices and Conditions; Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Mergers and Acquisitions; Private Equity; Journalism and News Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United States

20 Nov 2017
Research & Ideas

How Independent Bookstores Have Thrived in Spite of Amazon.com

promotion of independent bookstores. But then a funny thing happened. While pressure from Amazon forced Borders out of business in 2011, indie bookstores staged an unexpected comeback. Between 2009 and 2015, the ABA reported a 35 percent View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel (with video by Amelia Kunhardt); Retail

May 2013 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Gap, Inc., 2000

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

From humble beginnings as a Levi jeans store, by 2000 Gap, Inc. had grown to become the world's leading specialist clothing retailer. Its CEO, Millard S. Drexler, the "merchant prince," was credited with transforming Gap into a global empire, leading the company... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Change; Fashion; Risk and Uncertainty; Competition; Performance Consistency; Problems and Challenges; Globalized Firms and Management; Competitive Strategy; Business Growth and Maturation; Strategy; Retail Industry; Fashion Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States

20 May 2014
First Look

First Look: May 20

(inflows minus outflows of private capital) are positively correlated with countries' productivity growth; (2) net sovereign debt flows (government borrowing minus reserves) are negatively correlated with growth only if net public debt is... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2002 (Revised January 2010)
Case

BP and the Consolidation of the Oil Industry, 1998-2002

By: Forest L. Reinhardt, Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and David J Hanson

Examines the economics of the oil and gas industry with a focus on 1998 through 2001. Discusses the rationale behind using a growth in scale as a means to increase profitability and to gain competitive advantage. Also examines the classic strategic implications of... View Details

Keywords: Non-Renewable Energy; Growth and Development Strategy; Industry Structures; Competitive Advantage; Consolidation; Horizontal Integration; Vertical Integration; Energy Industry

25 Jun 2018
Research & Ideas

In America, Immigrants Really Do Get the Job Done

helps drive innovation and growth—and could even become more vital to global competitiveness in the future. “The debate is red-hot right now, but in the background, the workforces are rapidly aging in most advanced countries, and public debt levels are high,” he says.... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Agriculture & Agribusiness; Technology; Service

August 2011 (Revised May 2012)
Case

Haier: Taking a Chinese Company Global in 2011

By: Tarun Khanna, Krishna G. Palepu and Phillip Andrews

In 2011, Haier, China's leading appliance manufacturer, had over $20 billion in worldwide sales and had just been named the leading refrigerator manufacturer worldwide. Describes Haier's rise over three decades from a defunct refrigerator factory in China's Qingdao... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Global Strategy; Expansion; Diversification; Emerging Markets; Consumer Products Industry; Manufacturing Industry; China

16 Jun 2021
HBS Case

Cruising in Crisis: How Carnival Is Riding Out the COVID-19 Storm

moved aggressively to restructure its debt. “At a high level, the reason companies become financially distressed is pretty straightforward—they don’t have enough cash relative to what they owe their creditors,” says Gilson, whose research focuses on View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Travel

December 2022 (Revised September 2024)
Case

Sword Health

By: Regina E. Herzlinger, Annelena Lobb and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Virgilio “V” Bento, CEO of Sword Health—a startup that provided virtual physical therapy to patients in self-insured firms via AI and sensor technology with supervision by a physical therapist with a doctorate—considered how to increase its U.S. market share. To do so,... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Competitive Strategy; Health Industry; Technology Industry

06 Feb 2020
Research & Ideas

What We Learned from Reading Jeff Bezos’ Patents

attributed to our lack of in-depth understanding of each patent’s language. However, this may also indicate that Bezos feels there are more opportunities in other areas or that he has chosen to cede control of AWS’s growth to Andy Jassy,... View Details

Keywords: by Tricia Gregg and Boris Groysberg; Retail

November 2021 (Revised December 2022)
Case

Babban Gona: Great Farm

By: Kristin Fabbe, Tarun Khanna, Caroline M. Elkins, Zeke Gillman, Eleni Kyrkopoulou and Thomaz Teodorovicz

In 2020, Babban Gona was one of the world’s largest farming operations with over 140,000 acres of maize farms, an area over ten times as large as Manhattan, and over 80,000 member-farmers in Nigeria. According to the company, the average Nigerian farmer’s net income... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Value Creation; Agribusiness; Capital Budgeting; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Nigeria; Africa