Publications

November 2015 (Revised February 2016)
Supplement

Allianz Turkey: Focus on the Customer (B)

By: W. Earl Sasser and Gamze Yucaoglu

At the age of 39, Solmaz Altın took over the helm at Allianz Turkey. Solmaz quickly realized that, although the insurance market was thinly penetrated in Turkey, the company was operating in a very competitive environment with pressure on prices and, hence, cost... View Details

Keywords: Service Excellence; Customer Experience; Customer Service; Emerging Market; Customer Focus; Net Promoter Score; Customer Relationship Management; Competition; Leading Change; Service Operations; Emerging Markets; Customer Satisfaction; Insurance Industry; Turkey

April 1999 (Revised August 2000)
Case

Compaq Computer: Focus Groups

By: David E. Bell and Ann Leamon

Gives the final report, both results and methodology, of the focus group on Compaq Computer's new consumer notebook. Describes the groups, selection method, and methodology in detail. Should Compaq base its product design on the opinions of 64 people? Must be used with... View Details

Keywords: Selection and Staffing; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Product Design; Outcome or Result; Corporate Strategy; Computer Industry

18 Jul 2010
News

Renewed focus on finance

February 2008
Article

Does Focus Improve Operational Performance? Lessons from the Management of Clinical Trials

By: Robert S. Huckman and Darren Zinner

Keywords: Performance; Operations; Learning; Management; Health

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25 May 2016
News

A Focus on Sustainability

Carl Ferenbach (MBA 1972) Carl Ferenbach (MBA 1972), who enjoyed a remarkably successful career in the investment business, has spent much of the last decade focused on his passion for the environment. Channeling his energy, intelligence, and philanthropic dollars into... View Details

01 Oct 2001
News

Guy de Chazal: Changing Focus

Guy de Chazal has arrived a bit behind schedule for his 25th Reunion interview. Trim and elegantly attired, he apologizes for being detained at an off-site meeting for Morgan Stanley & Co., where he is a managing director and president of... View Details

Keywords: Deborah Blagg

2005
Working Paper

Does Focus Improve Operational Performance? Lessons from the Management of Clinical Trials

By: Robert S. Huckman and Darren E. Zinner

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07 Jul 2017
News

New Managers Should Focus on Helping Their Teams, Not Pleasing Their Bosses

February 7, 2023
Editorial

Business Schools are Ignoring Students’ Changing Aspirations: They Must Focus on Management as a Calling

By: Andrew J. Hoffman

Many management students today are concerned about the mounting threats of climate change, income inequality, health care, and more. They increasingly see business as a place to make a difference in the world. Andrew Hoffman writes that business schools are slow to... View Details

Keywords: Business Education; Social Issues; Values and Beliefs; Mission and Purpose

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22 Feb 2022
News

A Focus on Latinx Entrepreneurs

David Perez (MBA 1996) readily admits that launching Avance Investment Management in May 2020, at the height of the pandemic, was “the worst timing ever.” But the Cuban native, who studied engineering in East Germany and saved his... View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Gillespie

November 2002 (Revised April 2003)
Case

Charoen Pokphand Group: A Renewed Focus

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Cate Reavis

As one of Asia's biggest agriindustrial conglomerates, Charoen Pokphand, although solidly positioned in Thailand, was facing an increasingly competitive and complex business environment in China, where it made 30% of revenues. A change in management of the family-owned... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Agribusiness; Business Conglomerates; Family Business; Competition; Restructuring; Partners and Partnerships; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Thailand; China

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09 Dec 2011
News

Harvard program puts focus back on sales

01 Oct 2014
What Do You Think?

Is Too Much Focus a Problem?

people to do senior managers all want innovation and risk taking in principle, but they don't have ways of measuring and evaluating it in the short term. So focus generally wins in larger, well-established... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

June 2014 (Revised January 2017)
Case

Focus Financial Partners and the U.S. RIA Industry in 2014

By: Luis Viceira and Emily A. Chien

In the Spring of 2014, Rudy Adolf, CEO and founder of Focus Financial, and the two other co-founders of the firm are considering alternative growth strategies to solidify Focus Financial's position as a leading aggregator of independent wealth management firms in the... View Details

Keywords: Financial Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Model; Financial Services Industry

01 Nov 2019
News

Evolution of the consumer focus in healthcare

June 2012
Case

Siemens AG: Key Account Management

By: Thomas Steenburgh, Michael Ahearne and Elena Corsi

The key account manager of an engineering company has to convince a department to give up important contracts. The German engineering company Siemens had set up a global key account management program since 2010. The key account manager of an emerging account had been... View Details

Keywords: Key Account Management; Commercialization; Marketing; Marketing Management; Engineering; Marketing Strategy; Customer Relationship Management; Profit; Problems and Challenges; Electronics Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Europe