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Publications
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- Faculty Publications (19)
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- September 2024
- Case
Cathay Cargo: Turnaround Short Haul, or Double Crew Long Haul?
By: Willy Shih and Billy Chan
Tom Owen, Director Cargo at Cathay Pacific Airways, had a problem. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the grounding of passenger flights meant the sudden loss of 50% of the airline's cargo carrying capacity. But the bigger challenge was that the Hong Kong government imposed... View Details
- July 2024
- Case
Titan: OceanGate's Tragedy of Titanic Proportions
By: Aiyesha Dey, Joseph Pacelli, James Barnett and ZeSean Ali
In June 2023, OceanGate’s Titan submersible imploded attempting to reach the Titanic shipwreck site 3,800 meters below sea level. All five passengers aboard died, including OceanGate founder and CEO Stockton Rush. Before the tragedy, many in the deep-sea exploration... View Details
- August 2022
- Case
Air Wars: Deregulating the U.S. Airline Industry
By: Tom Nicholas and James Weber
In the early decades of the twentieth century, the U.S. government assisted in the development of an airline industry by subsidizing the delivery of mail and allowing mail carriers to also fly passengers. Because the government awarded mail routes to the lowest... View Details
Keywords: Government Regulation; Deregulation; Change Management; Economics; Entrepreneurship; Financial Management; Business History; Human Resources; Compensation and Benefits; Labor; Labor Unions; Leading Change; Leadership Style; Crisis Management; Industry Structures; Operations; Strategy; Adaptation; Competition; Air Transportation; Air Transportation Industry; United States
- September 2021
- Case
TAV Airports: Acquiring Almaty International
By: Juan Alcácer and Esel Çekin
The case opens in April 2020 with Sani Şener, CEO of TAV Airports, a vertically integrated regional airport operator headquartered in Istanbul, Turkey, and his team discussing the pending acquisition of the Almaty International Airport in Kazakhstan. The company had... View Details
- April 2020
- Case
Cockpit Dynamics in Air France 447 and United 232
By: Amy C. Edmondson and Joshua Raymond
This case compares leadership and team dynamics between the cockpit crews in two renowned passenger airline crashes, twenty years apart: Air France 447 in 2009 and United 232 in 1989. The key dimensions of difference across the cases include organization and task... View Details
- January 2020
- Case
Sunset Limited or Full Speed Ahead? Amtrak Talks to Congress
By: John D. Macomber
Richard Anderson took the helm of Amtrak in 2017 after leading a successful turnaround at Delta Airlines. Amtrak is a US state owned enterprise with about $3.5 bn in annual revenue (and a large operating loss) that is responsible for substantial segments of passenger... View Details
- April 14, 2017
- Article
Companies Like United Need to Cultivate Good Judgment, and Free Their Employees to Use It
By: John A. Deighton
United Airlines has pledged to improve its training programs and empower its employees to put customers first in the wake of a video showing a passenger being dragged from a plane. Of all the U.S. air carriers, United should have known the power of social media and... View Details
- September 2016 (Revised March 2020)
- Teaching Note
Fasten: Challenging Uber and Lyft with a New Business Model
By: Feng Zhu
Fasten, a new ridesharing start-up in Boston, entered the scene in September 2015 hoping its unique vision of transparency for both driver and passenger and strategy to keep riders' fares low and charge drivers a flat $0.99 fee per ride, as opposed to the 20%–30%... View Details
- September 2016 (Revised July 2018)
- Case
United Airlines: More Out-and-Back Flying?
This case looks at United Airlines when it is facing a decision on whether to shift its aircraft routing to more "out-and-back" routing in order to try to improve its on-time performance. As one of the world's largest airlines, United had a very large fleet and... View Details
Keywords: Service Excellence; Service Management; Service Quality; Service Quality Competition; Services; Airline Industry; Airlines; Operational Complexity; Operational Disruptions; Operational Effectiveness; Operations Improvement; Operations Management; Operations Strategy; Air Transportation; Operations; Service Operations; Service Delivery; Performance Effectiveness; Performance Improvement; Complexity; Air Transportation Industry; United States
- May 2016 (Revised March 2020)
- Case
Fasten: Challenging Uber and Lyft with a New Business Model
By: Feng Zhu and Angela Acocella
Fasten, a new ridesharing start-up in Boston, entered the scene in September 2015 hoping its unique vision of transparency for both driver and passenger and strategy to keep riders' fares low and charge drivers a flat $0.99 fee per ride as opposed to the 20-30%... View Details
- September 2015
- Case
Eco7: Launching a New Motor Oil
By: John Quelch and Sunru Yong
Aaron Jonnerson, vice president of marketing at the automotive division of Avellin, must make marketing mix decisions for the launch of Eco7, a new environmentally-friendly motor oil. The company's performance has been mediocre, shareholder pressure is increasing, and... View Details
- 2015
- Book
MOVE: Putting America's Infrastructure Back in the Lead
Americans are stuck. We live with travel delays on congested roads; shipping delays on clogged railways; and delays on repairs, project approvals, and funding due to gridlocked leadership. These delays affect us all, whether you are a daily commuter, a frequent flyer,... View Details
Keywords: United States; Railroad History; Airlines; Airline Industry; Air Transportation; Passenger Transportation; Cities; Urban Planning; Freighting; Change; Leadership; Public Policy; Change Leadership; Public Finance; Infrastructure; Policy; Technological Innovation; Change Management; Leading Change; Urban Development; Project Finance; Entrepreneurship; City; Transportation; Transportation Industry; Transportation Industry; Transportation Industry; Transportation Industry; United States
- February 2014 (Revised May 2014)
- Background Note
Flying High, Landing Low: Strengths and Challenges for U.S. Air Transportation
By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Aditi Jain and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone
The U.S. air transportation system flies high on some indicators, mostly involving capacity to take to the air, but lands low on others, mostly involving ground facilities and processes. This note provides an overview of the history and current state of air... View Details
- January 2014 (Revised May 2014)
- Background Note
Rail Transportation in the United States
By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Matthew Guilford
In the 20th century, automobiles and airlines pushed rail into the background as an often-troubled and neglected mode. After a review of the long history of rail in the U.S., this paper examines the situation in the 21st century, including the rail market structure,... View Details
- January 2013
- Case
Austal, Ltd. (A)
By: Willy C. Shih, Margaret Pierson and Dawn H. Lau
Austal, Ltd. was an Australian builder of high-speed passenger ferries. It had translated that expertise into a foothold in the defense market on the US Navy Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program with an Alabama assembly facility. In January 2009 it had just completed... View Details
Keywords: Globalization; Global Markets; Economic Downturn; Design And Manufacturing; Preservation Of Capabilities; Shipbuilding; Global Footprint; Military Contracts; Geographic Location; Global Strategy; Globalized Markets and Industries; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Ship Transportation; Transportation Industry; Australia; United States; Alabama; Philippines
- January 2013
- Supplement
Austal, Ltd. (B)
By: Willy Shih, Margaret Pierson and Dawn H. Lau
Austal, Ltd. was an Australian builder of high-speed passenger ferries. It had translated that expertise into a foothold in the defense market on the US Navy Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program with an Alabama assembly facility. In January 2009 it had just completed the... View Details
- January – February 2012
- Article
When One Business Model Isn't Enough
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Jorge Tarzijan
Trying to operate two business models at once often causes strategic failure. Yet LAN Airlines, a Chilean carrier, runs three models successfully. Casadesus-Masanell, of Harvard Business School, and Tarziján, of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, explore how... View Details
- November 2006 (Revised March 2010)
- Case
Two Ways to Fly South: Lan Airlines and Southwest Airlines
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Tarun Khanna, Jorge Tarzijan and Jordan Mitchell
To maximize their effectiveness, color cases should be printed in color. Looks at the different business models of two highly successful and profitable airlines: Chilean-based Lan Airlines and U.S.-based Southwest Airlines. Lan Airlines pursues a hub-to-spoke... View Details
- May 1996 (Revised March 2005)
- Case
Bombardier TEG (A)
By: Stephen P. Bradley and Takia Mahmood
Bombardier, a Canadian manufacturer of passenger railcars and market leader in the United States, faces aggressive competition from a new entrant, U.S.-owned Morrison Knudsen, that has come into the industry with closely related capabilities in engineering and... View Details