Publications

October 2016 (Revised February 2019)
Module Note

Strategy Execution Module 5: Building a Profit Plan

By: Robert Simons

This module reading describes how to build a profit plan to reflect the strategy of a business in economic terms. After introducing the profit wheel, cash wheel, and ROE wheel, the module illustrates how to use a profit plan to assess the viability of different... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Execution; Profit Planning; Cash Flow Analysis; Asset Utilization; Return On Equity; Business Planning; Testing Strategy; Analyzing Strategic Alternative; Strategy; Asset Management; Cash Flow; Investment Return; Management Systems; Profit

Keywords: health care

Web

Initiatives & Projects - Faculty & Research

in Africa, Asia, and Latin America throughout recent decades. Digital Data Design Institute at Harvard Because AI is only half the answer, the Digital Data Design Institute’s (D^3) global leaders in... View Details

04 Mar 2024
What Do You Think?

Do People Want to Work Anymore?

represented himself as a successful entrepreneur. The gist of the letter was that there was one thing wrong with what we wrote. It was that: “People don’t want to work any more. So I’ve designed my jobs accordingly. They can be performed... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

September 2023
Module Note

Live Case Exercise for Financial Reporting

By: Tatiana Sandino and Marshal Herrmann

Harvard Business School employs the case method as a cornerstone of its pedagogy, providing students with opportunities to engage in discussions related to difficult or contentious decisions confronted by real-world organizations. In this “live case,” we depart from... View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Research; Corporate Disclosure

June 2013 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Inditex: 2000

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

In 2000, Inditex was one of the largest specialty apparel retailers in the world, with $2.4 billion in sales from 1,080 stores across 33 countries. Zara, Inditex's main brand, produced popular designer items at a fraction of design-house prices and could push an item... View Details

Keywords: Fashion; Fashion Industry; Succession; IPO; Competition; Initial Public Offering; Multinational Firms and Management; Management Succession; Growth and Development Strategy; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Retail Industry

13 Jan 2003
Research & Ideas

The Subconscious Mind of the Consumer (And How To Reach It)

communications device or even a personal care product invokes deep thoughts and feelings about social bonding can be very helpful to R&D experts. In the case of a communications device, this suggests that tactile experiences of social bonding be "engineered... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Mahoney

January 2023 (Revised July 2025)
Technical Note

LCA Action Planning: Responsibility and Accountability

By: Sandra J. Sucher, Nien-he Hsieh and Marilyn Morgan Westner

LCA action plans integrate responsibility and accountability into decision-making and planning. This module note was designed for the LCA course and reviews six steps leaders can follow to develop a practical LCA action plan for their business. It shows how integrating... View Details

Keywords: Responsibility; Accountability; Management Challenges; Corporate Accountability; Leadership; Planning; Decisions; Strategy

September 1985 (Revised January 1986)
Case

Peter Wendell

By: William A. Sahlman

Contains a description of a decision confronting an employee of IBM in late 1981. Should he leave IBM to become head of a new venture capital fund which will specialize in technology investments? The case is designed to expose students to the nature of the opportunity... View Details

Keywords: Personal Development and Career; Jobs and Positions; Opportunities; Valuation; Decision Choices and Conditions; Resignation and Termination; Venture Capital; Financial Services Industry; Computer Industry

November 1984 (Revised March 1999)
Case

Mayers Tap, Inc. (C)

Mayers Tap, Inc. has decided to redesign its cost system. In this case it uses three different cost center designs to determine how the new system should be designed. Students are asked to drop unprofitable products under the three scenarios and explain the effects on... View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Management Systems

December 1994 (Revised October 1996)
Case

Patriot National Insurance Company: Case and Simulation

Designed to be used in conjunction with Byrnes, Byrnes & Townsend. Discusses a suit brought by a woman client who was badly injured in an automobile accident and alleges that a proximate cause of the accident was faulty repairs on her car by a Patriot-insured auto... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Insurance; Insurance Industry

10 Jun 2022
News

What the Research Really Says about American Immigration

02 Jun 2022
Video

Embracing a Digital Approach

27 Sep 2018
HBS Seminar

Cesar Hidalgo, MIT

Program

Families in Business

enterprise who meet any of the above criteria are also invited to apply on their own. Learning and Living at HBS When you participate in an Executive Education program on the HBS campus, you enter an immersive experience where every aspect of the learning model has... View Details

November 2016 (Revised December 2016)
Module Note

Strategy Execution Module 14: Managing Strategic Risk

By: Robert Simons

This module reading provides an overview of the business conduct boundaries, strategic boundaries, and internal control systems used to manage risk. Boundary systems—linked to clear, enforceable sanctions—are essential whenever demanding performance goals are set and... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Strategy Execution; Boundary Systems; Innovation; Internal Controls; Fraud; Human Behavior; Staff Experts; Strategy; Risk Management; Behavior; Governance Controls; Management Practices and Processes; Boundaries; Employees; Business Strategy; Innovation and Invention

January 2008
Case

Lenovo: Building A Global Brand (Multimedia case)

By: John A. Quelch and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Announced in December 2004, the $1.75 billion acquisition of IBM's PC division by Lenovo, China's largest PC maker, made headlines around the world. A relative upstart in the business, Lenovo acquired the division of IBM that invented the PC in 1981. While Lenovo was... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Information Infrastructure; Global Strategy; Acquisition; Brands and Branding; Manufacturing Industry; Computer Industry; China

2018
Working Paper

Ratcheting, Competition, and the Diffusion of Technological Change: The Case of Televisions Under an Energy Efficiency Program

By: Tomomichi Amano and Hiroshi Ohashi

In differentiated goods markets with societal implications, quality standards are commonly implemented to avoid the under-provision of innovation. Firms have clear incentives to engage in strategic behavior because policymakers use market outcomes as a benchmark in... View Details

Keywords: Product Differentiation; Energy Efficiency Standards; Ratcheting; Diffusion Of Innovation; Technological Innovation; Competition; Quality; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy