Strategy

When terrorists attacked the Indian city of Mumbai in 2008, employees of the Taj Mumbai hotel displayed uncommon valor. They placed the safety of guests...

To cope with volatility, companies should rethink how they approach strategic planning.

What you measure is what you get. Senior executives understand that their organization’s measurement system strongly affects the behavior of managers and employees. Executives also understand that traditional financial accounting measures like return-on-investment and earnings-per-share can give misleading signals for continuous improvement and innovation—activities today’s competitive environment demands. The traditional financial performance measures worked well […]

Judgment--the ability to combine personal qualities with relevant knowledge and experience to form opinions and make decisions--is "the core of exemplary...

Diversify your product line. Stick to your knitting. Hire a professional manager. Watch fixed costs. Those are some of the suggestions that entrepreneurs...

A dynamic new model

You don't need a time line; you need a time cone.

Twenty years after the introduction of the theory, we revisit what it does—and doesn’t—explain.

According to an analysis led by Ranjay Gulati, during the recessions of 1980, 1990, and 2000, 17% of the 4,700 public companies studied fared very badly:...

Executives are often confounded by culture, because much of it is anchored in unspoken behaviors, mindsets, and social patterns. But when properly managed,...

Your guide to (what could be) the future of the internet.

Your guide to (what could be) the future of the internet.

Categorizing the problems and growth patterns of small businesses in a systematic way that is useful to entrepreneurs seems at first glance a hopeless task. Small businesses vary widely in size and capacity for growth. They are characterized by independence of action, differing organizational structures, and varied management styles. Yet on closer scrutiny, it becomes […]

To meet the challenges of a complex world, strategic planners need to understand the differences between the four elements of VUCA--volatility, uncertainty,...

The U.S.-China trade war and the supply and demand shocks brought on by the Covid-19 crisis are forcing manufacturers everywhere to reassess their supply...

But simple doesn’t mean easy.

Today's dynamic markets and technologies have called into question the sustainability of competitive advantage. Under pressure to improve productivity,...

Measuring—and delivering—what consumers really want

How some large companies infuse their planning process with new entrepreneurial vigor, maintaining market leadership over the long haul

Snowden and Boone have formed a new perspective on leadership and decision making that's based on complexity science. The result is the Cynefin framework,...

The case follows Danish brewer Carlsberg as it develops the Green Fiber Bottle, a beer bottle made of wood pulp, in collaboration with a startup, a small-to-medium...

The landscape of today's healthcare industry is constantly changing, and it's your job to lead your team to success. This collection from Harvard Business...

In June 2015, two entrepreneurs launched HeyTaxi!, a start-up venture that used bicycle taxis in Mumbai. The goal was to reduce the time, effort, and...

In early 2017, 15 years after being launched, DMart was India's second-largest and most profitable food and grocery retailer. To achieve its stellar growth,...

In 2003, the All India Artisans and Craftworkers Welfare Association (AIACA) was launched to explore new and commercially sustainable models of livelihood...

From its inception, Salesforce, the cloud computing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) company, took a radically different approach to selling enterprise...

In March 2020, the English Premier League football (soccer) season was suspended partway through due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Two months later the season...

In 1991 Peru undertook perhaps the most radical tax administration reform in the developing world as President Fujimori created the National Tax Administration...

The case describes the digitalization of L&T Construction, the largest business of L&T, from conception to implementation. The CEO and MD of L&T believed...

Just four months after entering the U.S. market, Pro-G Sports Management, a small U.K.-based agency representing professional golfers, faced a major crisis...

It was early 2015 and executives of Komatsu Europe International N.V., whose main business is the sale of mining and construction equipment through multiple...

Faced with large external financing needs and a low stock price, Con Ed management must decide whether to pay a cash dividend in April 1974. Based on...

Discusses accounting for long-lived fixed assets, depreciation, and asset impairments.

In early 2002, XM and Sirius were fighting for control of the emerging U.S. market for satellite radio. Each company targeted consumers in automobiles,...

This note discusses how to analyze a bank from the point of view of an equity analyst or investor. The note begins by reviewing the evolution of North...

Aravind, a network of hospitals in India, is the largest provider of eye care in the world. Aravind performs approximately 270,000 surgeries per year...

This case describes Keroche co-founder Tabitha Karanja's decision to exit the wine business following the Kenyan government's 2007 increase in excise...

In 2016, two years after leading OCBC through its largest acquisition of Wing Hang Bank, Group CEO Samuel Tsien settled into his flight home from a townhall...

When terrorists attacked the Indian city of Mumbai in 2008, employees of the Taj Mumbai hotel displayed uncommon valor. They placed the safety of guests...

To cope with volatility, companies should rethink how they approach strategic planning.

What you measure is what you get. Senior executives understand that their organization’s measurement system strongly affects the behavior of managers and employees. Executives also understand that traditional financial accounting measures like return-on-investment and earnings-per-share can give misleading signals for continuous improvement and innovation—activities today’s competitive environment demands. The traditional financial performance measures worked well […]

Judgment--the ability to combine personal qualities with relevant knowledge and experience to form opinions and make decisions--is "the core of exemplary...

Diversify your product line. Stick to your knitting. Hire a professional manager. Watch fixed costs. Those are some of the suggestions that entrepreneurs...

A dynamic new model

You don't need a time line; you need a time cone.

Twenty years after the introduction of the theory, we revisit what it does—and doesn’t—explain.

According to an analysis led by Ranjay Gulati, during the recessions of 1980, 1990, and 2000, 17% of the 4,700 public companies studied fared very badly:...

Executives are often confounded by culture, because much of it is anchored in unspoken behaviors, mindsets, and social patterns. But when properly managed,...