Search

The case provides a brief bio of Goldman Sachs'Chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein and highlights several challenges Blankfein faced as CEO. Blankfein took over as the firm's leader in 2006 and continued to be CEO/Chairman in early 2018.

Library case detailing the career of Mary Barra, GM's CEO from January 2014, and her handling of the GM ignitions scandal, GM's move into electric and autonomous car development, and activist investors.

In 2017, Tomer Zvulun, the CEO and artistic director of The Atlanta Opera, was considering next steps. Zvulun had adapted quickly to the new, dual role of chief executive and artistic director, although there had been a steep learning curve. As he gained traction, the Opera's profile as an up and coming arts organization also grew. However, there was still much to be done if Zvulun wanted the Opera to be ranked among the best in the country. Should Zvulun should hire a chief operating officer to help manage day-to-day operations, and if so, should he focus his search on internal or external candidates? More broadly, Zvulun wondered how could he best balance his significant personal, professional, and organizational aspirations?

James'Hondo'Geurts, the Acquisition Executive for U.S. Special Operations Command was in the middle of his Senate confirmation hearing in 2017 to become Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition. The questions had a common theme: how would Geurts's experience running an innovative procurement effort for U.S. Special Forces units enable him to change a much larger-and much more rigid-organization like the U.S. Navy? In one of the most secretive parts of the U.S. military, Geurts founded an open platform called SOFWERX to speed the rate of ideas to Navy SEALs, Army Special Forces, and the like. His team even sourced the idea for a hoverboard from a YouTube video. But how should things like SOFWERX and protypes like the EZ-Fly find a place within the Navy writ large?

Supplement to (A) case. Katie Hood, CEO of the One Love Foundation (One Love), a group dedicated to the prevention of relationship violence, had grown the organization's base of funding support to $6 million by 2017 and broadened its mandate to include relationships across many demographics. But questions about how best to deploy their funding loomed, as well as divergent views on the pace of growth the organization should target. One Love also needed to develop better metrics by which to measure its success. This case explores Hood's plan of action as she aims to bring One Love to greater scale.

Katie Hood, CEO of the One Love Foundation (One Love), a group dedicated to the prevention of relationship violence, had grown the organization's base of funding support to $6 million by 2017 and broadened its mandate to include relationships across many demographics. But questions about how best to deploy their funding loomed, as well as divergent views on the pace of growth the organization should target. One Love also needed to develop better metrics by which to measure its success. This case explores Hood's plan of action as she aims to bring One Love to greater scale.

This note provides an overview of the snacking industry in 2017.

Mondel z International'is a packaged foods company competing primarily in'snacks'around the globe. The case describes how and why the Kraft Inc. CEO, and later Mondelez CEO, Irene Rosenfeld, created Mondelez, and how she positioned it as a growth company at a time when many packaged food companies were suffering declines. The case also discusses trends in the snack food business and invites readers to suggest how the company's new CEO should build on the foundation that Irene created.

The case focuses on Irene Rosenfeld's tenure as CEO of the global snack food company Mondel z International. Beginning in 2006, she had led the company through many acquisitions, including France's LU Biscuit and British confectionery company Cadbury, before, in 2012, boldly splitting the company into two: Kraft, a North American grocery business, and Mondel z International, a global snack food company.

The case describes opportunities for and barriers to collaboration between the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and Harvard Business School as SEAS prepares to move two-thirds of its faculty and classes to a new campus in Allston, 1.5 miles from its current Cambridge location. Companion cases ('SEAS in 2016,'817-063, and'HBS in 2016,'817-062) provide background on the two schools.

Leading fertilizer producer Yara International demonstrates the concept of creating shared value through the Southern Agricultural Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT) initiative, which brought together multiple organizations to enhance agricultural development in rural regions.

Korea Telecom has committed $4billion in investments and R&D to build a GiGAtopia, essentially ushering in the next generation of mobile (5G) and wired infrastructure. CEO Dr. Hwang and his team are considering which areas to prioritize in terms of new products and services in development. The top five sectors identified by KT's team include Internet of Things (including connected cars and smart city/homes), media, health, energy, and security and surveillance. Which might provide some quick wins both in terms of revenues and market lead. Should KT develop solutions that could be exported to other countries? Should KT go all in across all five sectors, or select one or two to prioritize?

This note introduces key managerial issues in new product development. It describes the product development funnel and alternative approaches to structuring product development teams including functional, lightweight, heavyweight, and autonomous/dedicated teams, which vary in their capacity to manage integration. More formal product development approaches including the stage-gate process and critical-path method are described, as are agile methods and principles-and related tools such as scrum, extreme programming, feature-driven development. Product development metrics including lead time, capacity, and productivity are defined and discussed.

The case complements'Moshe Kahlon: Telecommunications Reform and Competition in Israel's Cellular Market (A),'HBS case number 417-017, which addresses reforms to regulations in Israel's telecommunications industry initiated and implemented under the leadership of Minister of Communications Moshe Kahlon in 2009-2010. The case highlights the challenges faced by a politician attempting to institute regulatory and legislative reforms in the face of uncertainty and resistance from an incumbent oligopoly. When Kahlon entered office, three cellular companies, Pelephone, Cellcom, and Partner (the Big Three), dominated the market. Against Big Three opposition, Kahlon must decide whether to continue pushing changes to introduce new competitors in the industry, remove contract termination fees, and reduce the payment of inter-connection fees between cellular providers, which advantaged incumbent companies and drove up consumer prices. Kahlon applied a distinct political style that won him support from career civil servants within the ministry of communications and ministry of finance, from the press, and from the public. This (B) case describes the successful implementation of the reforms, which led to the entry of new competitors into the industry, a sharp decline in consumer prices, and layoffs and declining performance at the Big Three.

The case addresses reforms to regulations in Israel's telecommunications industry initiated and implemented under the leadership of Minister of Communications Moshe Kahlon in 2009-2010. The case highlights the challenges faced by a politician attempting to institute regulatory and legislative reforms in the face of uncertainty and resistance from an incumbent oligopoly. When Kahlon entered office, three cellular companies, Pelephone, Cellcom, and Partner (the Big Three), dominated the market. Against Big Three opposition, Kahlon must decide whether to continue pushing changes to introduce new competitors in the industry, remove contract termination fees, and reduce the payment of inter-connection fees between cellular providers, which advantaged incumbent companies and drove up consumer prices. Kahlon applied a distinct political style that won him support from career civil servants within the ministry of communications and ministry of finance, from the press, and from the public.

The case explores opportunities and challenges facing the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences as it: 1) grapples with rapid undergraduate enrollment growth and its smaller scale relative to other top engineering schools, and 2) prepares to move two-thirds of its faculty and classes to a new campus in Allston, 1.5 miles from its current Cambridge location.

The case explores opportunities and challenges confronting the Harvard Business School as it seeks to maintain its differentiated strategic positioning in the face of a rapidly evolving management education landscape.

In 2015, German football club Bayern Munich is considering how to enter the Chinese market. Should it build its own infrastructure or rely on third-party partnerships to reach this massive football fanbase?

In October 2015, Google restructured into Alphabet, a holding company, which analysts said would facilitate innovation among its diverse subsidiaries. But when news reports surfaced revealing struggles within Alphabet companies including Nest, the smart thermostat maker, observers began to wonder if the reorganization made sense after all.

After years of ups and downs, Germany won its fourth World Cup in 2014.This case examines the national team's recent history and the changes they made to set themselves up for success.

In 2015, Dietmar Hopp, owner of Germany's Bundesliga football team TSG Hoffenheim and co-founder of the global enterprise software company SAP, was considering how to ensure long-term sustainability and competitiveness for TSG Hoffenheim. While historically a small team from bottom rungs of the league, TSG Hoffenheim, with revenues of 60 million to 70 million, reached the top division of the Bundesliga in the 2008-2009 season thanks to a deliberate strategy focused on enhanced scouting, strong youth programs, and innovative technology and analytics that improved player development. In 2014 Hopp, who had personally invested 300 million in the club, built a'footbonaut,'an automated training environment that collected data on players'skills and strengths. The tool, one of three in the world, helped scouts and coaches better assess and develop each player. Yet some managers felt the technology was a distraction, an investment too expensive for a team that was not yet cash-flow positive. The team finished the 2014-2015 season in eighth place, below the top division, and Hopp wondered whether the focus on technology and analytics was the right strategy to grow the club. He wondered if the'moneyball'approach-when a smaller team competed with wealthier teams by using statistical analysis to buy undervalued assets and sell overvalued assets-could work in football and if investments in technology could lead the team to financial independence.

This case considers Nestl's creating shared value (CSV) strategy, which focused on the three categories of nutrition, water, and rural development. In the packaged food and beverage industry, pressure had mounted since the 1990s to improve supply chain sustainability and provide healthier, more natural foods, leading to consolidation and causing sales to decline in the 2010s. With 150 years'experience in the industry, Nestl had transformed into a nutrition, health, and wellness company and made its CSV strategy explicit in the early 21st century. By 2014, Nestl CEO Paul Bulcke considered how best to fully embed the company's CSV strategy and to communicate it to shareholders and external stakeholders.

Swedish electronics accessories retailer Kjell is considering several issues as it plots its next stage of growth. How should it balance opportunities to expand retail stores into a new market (Oslo, Norway) with additional growth in its home market-Sweden-with decisions about investments to build out its nascent online channel? Simultaneously, the company is piloting a new sales associate performance management system: should store associates be measured by monthly targets, or will daily targets prove to be more useful?

This note provides an overview of the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, or drones) industry in September 2015. UAVs offered many potential applications in industries as diverse as aerial imaging and photography, agriculture, construction, infrastructure inspection and monitoring, logistics or commercial payload delivery, and search and rescue and disaster relief. The pace of software and hardware innovation in the sector was transforming UAV capabilities on a rapid basis. Yet regulatory uncertainty and issues around ethics, privacy and security remained. As UAVs gained ground, an ecosystem had begun to take shape that included players in insurance, data analytics, law, and component developments, to name a few. Some players favored an open approach, others pushed toward a more closed ecosystem. The note raises the question: How might industry players work together as they contemplate the promises and challenges of UAVs?

Vita is a Norwegian cosmetics retailer owned by FSN Capital, a Scandinavian private equity company. The company has a strong market position in Norway. The case focuses on two strategic issues: how to develop an e-commerce strategy to supplement the company's traditional retail strategy, and how best to grow the company in Sweden. While both of these are potentially important future growth drivers, they also entail large investments in new capabilities, adversely affecting current performance. Given FSN's investment horizon, what is the best way to balance the short and long-term?

This note examines the evolution of the thermostat industry as it transitioned from analog to digital technologies. It presents an overview of key industry participants and the shift in value creation and value capture models for firms.

Update on Cycle for Survival's 2012, 2013, and 2014 events. Kotkins and Cycle for Survival continued the event's strong growth, and underwent the first phase of a two-year rebranding effort.

Katie Kotkins, director of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center's (MSKCC) Cycle for Survival fundraising event, had to determine the best avenue for continuing the event's success and momentum after its founder, Jennifer (Jen) Goodman Linn (HBS'99) passed away from MFH sarcoma. Jen and her husband, David Linn (HBS'00), had founded Cycle for Survival in 2007 as a way for Jen to give back to the community of doctors that had treated her since her diagnosis in 2003. The indoor cycling event had grown rapidly, and increased fundraising from $250,000 in 2007 to $4.7 million in 2011. After the event's second year, Jen and David made the decision to hand over control to MSKCC, partner with Equinox, and expand the event's fundraising efforts. At the time of Jen's passing Kotkins was focused on the 2013 event, but was faced with a series of strategic questions after losing the event's face and inspiration.

Jeff Davis, director of Space Life Sciences Directorate at NASA, has been working for several years to raise awareness amongst scientists and researchers in his organizations of the benefits of open innovation as a successful and efficient way to collaborate on difficult research problems regarding health and space travel. Despite a number of initiatives, SLSD members have been skeptical about incorporating the approach into their day-to-day research and work, and have resisted Davis's and his strategy team's efforts. The (A) case outlines these efforts and the organization members'reactions. The (B) case details what Davis and the SLSD strategy team learned, and how they adapted their efforts to successfully incorporate open innovation as one of many tools used in collaborative research at NASA.

From the late 1990s to 2006/2007, Samsung Electronics moved from one of 170 TV manufacturers to gain dominant TV market share year over year from 2007-2013. As digital technologies increasingly converged in 2013-2014, the industry faced new questions: What was the future of TV? The case considers Samsung Electronics TV Group's product development processes, as the company's mobile and TV offerings increasingly converged and consumer demands and behavior pushed the historically clear boundaries of product, content, engagement and interaction.

Mobile broadband carriers provide network access to the Internet for a range of devices (typically portable or mobile), including consumer devices such as smartphones, tablets and E-Readers, but also a host of new emerging devices. Mobile broadband networks enable data to travel in packets over telecommunication (telecom) companies'wireless (or cellular) networks. The number of worldwide mobile cellular subscriptions reached 6 billion in 2011, reflecting a penetration rate of 87%. This note provides some industry context for the advent and opportunities associated with mobile broadband.

CEO Jeff Immelt considers whether GE is moving fast enough on its new Industrial Internet initiative. The undertaking includes building out an Industrial Internet, connecting machines and devices, collecting their data and operations, and providing services to clients based on analytics of this data and information. The case considers the implications of such an initiative across all 6 of GE's business units, and how best and how quickly to execute the strategy. The firm has committed $1b in investment, building out a new software center in California, and a commercial sales function at headquarters to deploy the new products and services.

Jeff Davis, director of Space Life Sciences Directorate at NASA, has been working for several years to raise awareness amongst scientists and researchers in his organizations of the benefits of open innovation as a successful and efficient way to collaborate on difficult research problems regarding health and space travel. Despite a number of initiatives, SLSD members have been skeptical about incorporating the approach into their day-to-day research and work, and have resisted Davis's and his strategy team's efforts. The (A) case outlines these efforts and the organization members'reactions. The (B) case details what Davis and the SLSD strategy team learned, and how they adapted their efforts to successfully incorporate open innovation as one of many tools used in collaborative research at NASA.

Jeff Davis, director of Space Life Sciences Directorate at NASA, has been working for several years to raise awareness amongst scientists and researchers in his organizations of the benefits of open innovation as a successful and efficient way to collaborate on difficult research problems regarding health and space travel. Despite a number of initiatives, SLSD members have been skeptical about incorporating the approach into their day-to-day research and work, and have resisted Davis's and his strategy team's efforts. The (A) case outlines these efforts and the organization members'reactions. The (B) case details what Davis and the SLSD strategy team learned, and how they adapted their efforts to successfully incorporate open innovation as one of many tools used in collaborative research at NASA.

The Rawlinsons, a young, ambitious, career-minded couple, are considering their life and career goals. They are both successful, have aspirations to serve in public office, and are negotiating important career choices as a couple.

Susie Mulder must decide how to lead NIC+ZOE-the women's apparel brand she had recently joined as CEO-from its start-up phase into a disciplined growth phase. With growing revenues, a successful product line, and savvy private equity investors, NIC+ZOE seems perfectly positioned for growth, but the company is struggling to execute efficiently, and senior managers are torn about a key decision: whether to go into e-commerce or not.

Eight women had first enrolled in Harvard Business School's traditional MBA program in 1963. By 2013, the number of women in the MBA classroom had reached 40%. The 50th anniversary of women's enrollment in the traditional MBA program gave HBS Dean Nitin Nohria the opportunity to take stock of the progress that had been made by HBS women students and alumnae and ponder what still remained to be done. The case examines the evolving experiences of male and female MBAs over the decades through interviews with dozens of HBS alumni, as well as the experiences of female faculty at the School. The case scrutinizes a number of issues facing professional women, such as changing definitions of success and diversity, barriers faced by women at work, the expectations of work and family, and present-day implications for the pipeline of future women leaders. Students consider the role of the School in addressing disparities both on campus and in the wider business world.

In spring 2012, Yammer was on track to become a highly successful standalone company. Yammer was a leading Enterprise Social Network (ESN), providing companies a private social network in which employees could collaborate securely and efficiently. However, later that year, Microsoft executives unexpectedly reached out with an offer to acquire Yammer for $1.2 billion and integrate Yammer into the Microsoft Office division. An integration with Microsoft would have a profound effect on Yammer's scalability, software development, and organizational culture. David Sacks, CEO of Yammer, debated the challenges and opportunities related to competition, product, and culture as he thought about the offer on the table.

In April 2013, Ron Johnson (HBS'84) stepped down after just 18 months as CEO of J.C. Penney. In his brief tenure, Johnson, an acclaimed retailer respected for his innovation and success in shaping the retail image at Target and Apple, introduced dramatic departures from J.C. Penney's traditional retail approach, and enacted changes quickly and simultaneously, with little market testing. Over Johnson's final 12 months as CEO, J.C. Penney shares dropped more than 50%. The case describes the environments at Target, Apple, and J.C. Penney during Johnson's tenure and how his experiences may have shaped the strategies that he implemented while CEO at J.C. Penney.

The CEO of EFL (India), a direct sales organization, must decide which changes to the sales compensation systems would better motivate his sales reps and improve their sales performance.

In mid-2005, Intel is examining its options for where to locate its next assembly and test plant. On its short list of potential sites includes locations in China, India, Thailand, and Vietnam. Each country has its own unique benefits and risks related to infrastructure, governance, education, business culture, intellectual property protection, labor markets, experience working with Western firms, and tax breaks and other incentives. Intel's General Manager for Assembly and Test, Brian Krzanich, has to consider all of these factors as well as Intel's criteria for its new facility's location and make his recommendation to the company's board of directors. Which country and location should Intel choose?

Since the creation of the first videogame systems in the 1970s, the videogame industry has undergone numerous transformations as new technologies and market entrants fundamentally changed the gaming experience of customers. In the early 21st century, customers began accessing games without the use of a physical gaming console, either through their mobile devices, or increasingly, through the'cloud'where customers could play videogames through specially enabled devices without the need for a physical game console or game disk. How might the cloud impact the dynamics of the industry?

In February 2006, Intel has selected the location for its new assembly and test plant. This case discusses why this location was chosen from the list of possibilities introduced in'Intel: Strategic Decisions in Locating a New Test and Assembly Plant (A).'

In mid-2005, Intel is examining its options for where to locate its next assembly and test plant. On its short list of potential sites includes locations in China, India, Thailand, and Vietnam. Each country has its own unique benefits and risks related to infrastructure, governance, education, business culture, intellectual property protection, labor markets, experience working with Western firms, and tax breaks and other incentives. Intel's General Manager for Assembly and Test, Brian Krzanich, has to consider all of these factors as well as Intel's criteria for its new facility's location and make his recommendation to the company's board of directors. Which country and location should Intel choose?