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Are You Paying Too Much for That Acquisition?
Mergers and acquisitions Magazine ArticleThe key is knowing what your top price is—and having the discipline to stick to it. -
Research: How Our Class Background Affects the Way We Collaborate
Leadership & Managing People Digital ArticleAn interdependent approach to teamwork can help employees from low-income backgrounds shine - and make your whole organization more productive. -
Staples’ New Run at Strategic Innovation
Innovation Digital ArticleWhat do you do when the very breakthrough strategy that once made your business uniquely powerful now threatens to turn you into a commodity? That’s the question stationery supplier Staples is facing. I still remember when Staples changed my life. Before its 1986 opening, buying stationery and office supplies was a time-consuming, inconvenient, and expensive […] -
How to Penetrate the US Market
Marketing Digital ArticleAccounting for almost 30% of world GDP, the United States is the world’s largest and most demanding market for almost everything from oil to microprocessors to premium coffee. Companies around the world aspire to do business in the US, or at least with US companies in their home markets. By doing so, they learn much […] -
Avoid Decisions, Avoid Life
Decision making and problem solving Digital ArticleI recently moved to a new home. As is typical, my wife and I spent many hours throwing out things that we no longer needed. Old shoes, clothes, electronics, mounds of papers, and old books. It is shocking how much junk one family can accumulate over the years. My 5 year old — our resident […] -
The Decision to Trust
Decision making and problem solving Magazine ArticleA new model explains the mental calculations people make before choosing to trust someone. -
Anatomy of a Failed Launch — The Michelin PAX Tire
Innovation Digital ArticleIt is always instructive to examine how successful firms can go wrong, even in markets that they think they understand well. The market failure of the Michelin run-flat PAX tire illustrates the common mistake of failing to realize that even a groundbreaking product has to create a complete consumption chain. Broken links in the chain […] -
Executive Incentives vs. Corporate Growth
Boards Magazine ArticleBonuses and other forms of incentive compensation are an effective motivator of executives to achieve ever higher earnings per share. The drive to produce short-term results, however, often influences management to forgo investment in capital equipment and R&D that would benefit the corporation several years hence even more than improved earnings next year would. The […] -
How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy
Competitive strategy Magazine ArticleAwareness of these forces can help a company stake out a position in its industry that is less vulnerable to attack. -
Why the Apple Watch Is a Gift to the Swiss Watch Industry
Competitive strategy Digital ArticleIt’s the new Swatch. -
How Our Hotel Used Data to Make Our Laundry Service Glamorous
Customer service Digital ArticleA source of customer complaints became a source of revenue. -
Creating Breakthroughs at 3M
Innovation Magazine ArticleCompanies say they want breakthrough products, but most are far more adept at making incremental improvements to existing lines. A pioneering division at 3M successfully navigated a process that leads to breakthrough thinking. -
Ten Ways to Create Shareholder Value
Corporate governance Magazine ArticleCompanies profess devotion to shareholder value but rarely follow the practices that maximize it. What will it take to make your company a level 10 value creator? -
Five Warning Signs Your Innovation Efforts Are Going Off the Rails
Innovation Digital ArticleFor the past ten years, my colleague, Chris Trimble, and I have studied one critical question: What are the best practices for executing an innovation initiative? Execution is the poor stepchild of the innovation challenge. People love to engage in the hunt for the big ideas, but, let’s face it, without execution capability, an idea […] -
Diversification via Acquisition: Creating Value
Mergers and acquisitions Magazine ArticleDuring the past 25 years an increasing proportion of U.S. companies have seen wisdom in pursuing a strategy of diversification. Between 1950 and 1970, for example, single-business companies comprising the Fortune “500” declined from 30% to 8% of the total. Acquisition has become a standard approach to diversification. In recent years the productivity of capital […] -
Competing on Customer Journeys
Sales & Marketing Magazine ArticleAs digital technology has enabled shoppers to easily research and buy products online, sellers have been scrambling after them, trying to understand and... -
Make the Most of Scarce Data-Mining Talent
Technology & Operations Digital ArticleTaking advantage of big data is as much about people as technology. -
In a Pandemic, We Buy What We Know
Psychology Digital ArticleHow fear and disgust drive consumer behavior. -
Why I’m Glad I Got Fired
Managing yourself Digital ArticleThis post is part of HBR’s special issue on failure. I came to be an expert on collaboration because Carol Bartz both hired me and fired me — within 18 months. Here’s what happened. A friend of mine, Godfrey Sullivan, asked me to consider running the operations for the Americas unit at Autodesk. Only sheer […] -
Is It Time for a New Job?
Decision making and problem solving Digital ArticleJim, a communications specialist, is sitting opposite me stirring his second coffee. He has declining budgets, repetitive tasks, and an overbearing boss who micromanages his every move. He can’t remember the last time he had a great day at work. He’s shown me a clipping for a lower-paid job which he thinks he won’t get, […]
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Teaming Up to Win the Rail Deal at GE (A)
Organizational Development Case Study11.95View Details In 2012, Nalin Jain, then head of GE aviation for South Asia, was given the added responsibility for GE's transportation business in India, including... -
Pluggin In the Consumer: The Adoption of Electrically Powered Vehicles in the U.S.
Sales & Marketing Case Study11.95View Details How will U.S. consumers respond to the proliferation of alternative-fuel vehicles, such as cars powered partially or completely by electricity, in the... -
Lenovo: Digital Transformation for Supply Chain Intelligence
Management Case Study11.95View Details Through the example of Lenovo Group Limited, this case provides students an opportunity to learn about emerging and advanced digital technologies for... -
JH Men's Apparel: Building a Brand in China
Leadership & Managing People Case Study11.95View Details The president JH Men's Apparel, a men's apparel company in China, is considering the options available to his firm in light of the price war initiated... -
Collaboration Wars: Slack vs. Microsoft Teams 2023
Management Case Study11.95View Details What's the future of corporate communications? Email? Corporate messaging? The battle for corporate messaging in 2023 was stacking up as a fight between... -
CEIBS: A Global Business School Made in China
Sales & Marketing Case Study11.95View Details In 2009, just 15 years after it was founded, the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) has achieved the remarkable 8th position in the Financial... -
Stone Container Corporation (A)
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details In early 1993, Stone Container was heavily burdened by debt following a series of highly leveraged acquisitions. A prolonged depression in paper prices... -
Hospital 57357: Aligning Performance Towards a Vision of a Cancer-Free Childhood
Strategy & Execution Case Study11.95View Details The case follows the Children Cancer Hospital in Egypt, also known as Hospital 57357, as it goes through the roll-out of a new performance management... -
Strategy Execution Module 8: Linking Performance to Markets
Strategy & Execution Case Study8.95View Details This module reading shows how to link profit plans and other performance measurement systems to both internal and external markets. Starting with the... -
Betfair (B)
Strategy & Execution Case Study5.00View Details Buoyed by success in the market for gambling contracts, Betfair attempts to enter the market for financial products using its exchange model. -
Pacari: Premium Organic Chocolate
Strategy & Execution Case Study11.95View Details This case uses Pacari, a medium-sized Ecuadorian company whose chocolate bars have won multiple international quality awards, to illustrate the global... -
The Mark News
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study11.95View Details The founder of a new online news site, The Mark, has launched his venture at a time of unprecedented turmoil in the newspaper industry. While he believes... -
Flexibility at Genentech: Developing Versatile Domain Experts and Deploying Flexible Resources at One U.S. Medical Affairs Unit
Leadership & Managing People Case Study11.95View Details The Genentech Spectrum case is about infusing flexibility in a medical unit of a global biotechnology company. The protagonist is Mauricio Silva de Lima,... -
Teaching Old Companies New Tricks: The Challenge of Managing New Streams Within the Mainstream
Leadership & Managing People Case Study8.95View Details Describes the challenge of starting new ventures or new activities in established companies, especially if they diverge from the mainstream of ongoing... -
Pierre Foods Acquisition of Advanced Foods (D-1): Credit Agreement - Borrower Perspective
Sales & Marketing Case Study5.00View Details Supplement to case 919022 -
United Church Housing Corporation
Strategy & Execution Case Study11.95View Details The chairperson of the United Church Housing Corporation (UCHC) of Regina, Saskatchewan, received some information from an external consultant who was... -
Grocermax: The Online Grocer
Sales & Marketing Case Study11.95View Details GrocerMax, an online grocery retailer based in Gurugram, India, had grown steadily since its inception in 2015, managing to gain a foothold in the highly... -
Teaming Up to Win the Rail Deal at GE (B)
Organizational Development Case Study5.00View Details In 2012, Nalin Jain, then head of GE aviation for South Asia, was given the added responsibility for GE's transportation business in India, including... -
The Video-Streaming Wars in 2019: Can Disney Catch Netflix?
Leadership & Managing People Case Study11.95View Details Bob Iger, chief executive officer of entertainment conglomerate Disney, thrilled investors with details about Disney's upcoming foray into video streaming... -
Coca-Cola and Huiyuan (A): Antitrust Barriers to Buying Top Chinese Brands
Global Business Case Study11.95View Details The Coca-Cola Company (Coca-Cola) announced a plan in September 2008 to acquire China's biggest domestic juice manufacturer, China Huiyuan Juice Group...
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Are You Paying Too Much for That Acquisition?
Mergers and acquisitions Magazine ArticleThe key is knowing what your top price is—and having the discipline to stick to it. -
Research: How Our Class Background Affects the Way We Collaborate
Leadership & Managing People Digital ArticleAn interdependent approach to teamwork can help employees from low-income backgrounds shine - and make your whole organization more productive. -
Teaming Up to Win the Rail Deal at GE (A)
Organizational Development Case Study11.95View Details In 2012, Nalin Jain, then head of GE aviation for South Asia, was given the added responsibility for GE's transportation business in India, including... -
Staples’ New Run at Strategic Innovation
Innovation Digital ArticleWhat do you do when the very breakthrough strategy that once made your business uniquely powerful now threatens to turn you into a commodity? That’s the question stationery supplier Staples is facing. I still remember when Staples changed my life. Before its 1986 opening, buying stationery and office supplies was a time-consuming, inconvenient, and expensive […] -
How to Penetrate the US Market
Marketing Digital ArticleAccounting for almost 30% of world GDP, the United States is the world’s largest and most demanding market for almost everything from oil to microprocessors to premium coffee. Companies around the world aspire to do business in the US, or at least with US companies in their home markets. By doing so, they learn much […] -
Pluggin In the Consumer: The Adoption of Electrically Powered Vehicles in the U.S.
Sales & Marketing Case Study11.95View Details How will U.S. consumers respond to the proliferation of alternative-fuel vehicles, such as cars powered partially or completely by electricity, in the... -
Lenovo: Digital Transformation for Supply Chain Intelligence
Management Case Study11.95View Details Through the example of Lenovo Group Limited, this case provides students an opportunity to learn about emerging and advanced digital technologies for... -
Avoid Decisions, Avoid Life
Decision making and problem solving Digital ArticleI recently moved to a new home. As is typical, my wife and I spent many hours throwing out things that we no longer needed. Old shoes, clothes, electronics, mounds of papers, and old books. It is shocking how much junk one family can accumulate over the years. My 5 year old — our resident […] -
The Decision to Trust
Decision making and problem solving Magazine ArticleA new model explains the mental calculations people make before choosing to trust someone. -
Anatomy of a Failed Launch — The Michelin PAX Tire
Innovation Digital ArticleIt is always instructive to examine how successful firms can go wrong, even in markets that they think they understand well. The market failure of the Michelin run-flat PAX tire illustrates the common mistake of failing to realize that even a groundbreaking product has to create a complete consumption chain. Broken links in the chain […]