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We’re in This Together
Collaboration and teams Magazine ArticleIf your latest so-called supply chain partnership failed to live up to expectations, as so many do, it’s probably because you never stated your expectations in the first place. -
Collaborate with Your Competitors—and Win
Joint ventures Magazine ArticleCollaboration between competitors is in fashion. General Motors and Toyota assemble automobiles, Siemens and Philips develop semiconductors, Canon supplies photocopiers to Kodak, France’s Thomson and Japan’s JVC manufacture videocassette recorders. But the spread of what we call “competitive collaboration”—joint ventures, outsourcing agreements, product licensings, cooperative research—has triggered unease about the long-term consequences. A strategic alliance […] -
Should Your Family Business Have a "No In-Laws" Policy?
Organizational Development Digital ArticleThe short answer: maybe. -
Strategic Sourcing: From Periphery to the Core
Globalization Magazine ArticleOutsourcing has become strategic—yet many executives remain unprepared. A new era of capability sourcing will trigger organizational redesign and require a new set of managerial skills. -
When and How Family Businesses Should Use Shareholder Agreements
Corporate governance Digital ArticleTwo studies show that the right contract can both protect shareholders and add market value. -
Why Fights Erupt in Family Businesses
Organizational Development Digital ArticleLack of boundaries and formal structure create potential for nasty (and lasting) disagreements. -
When Trusting Your Family Hurts Your Family Business
Business and society Digital ArticleFindings from a meta-analysis of 3.8 million firms across 30 countries. -
Connect and Develop: Inside Procter & Gamble's New Model for Innovation
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Magazine ArticleFor generations, Procter & Gamble generated most of its phenomenal growth by innovating from within--building global research facilities and hiring the... -
From Spare Change to Real Change: The Social Sector as Beta Site for Business Innovation
Economics Magazine ArticleTraditionally, business viewed the social sector as a dumping ground for spare cash, obsolete equipment, and tired executives. But today smart companies are approaching it as a learning laboratory. -
Disaster Relief, Inc.
Corporate social responsibility Magazine ArticleIt’s a good thing when companies pitch in after natural or other calamities. It would be a far better thing if they partnered with aid agencies to make plans before disaster struck. -
Your Family Business’s Resiliency Depends on Its Structure
Family businesses Digital ArticleStrategies for whether your business is solely owned, sibling controlled, or diffusely owned. -
Strategy Migration in a Changing Climate
Joint ventures Magazine ArticleI’ll never forget my 25th Harvard Business School reunion, when Professor Howard Stevenson gave a lecture titled “Make Your Own Luck.” To a packed room he revealed this truth: If you want big success, build a business that responds to big trends. When he prompted us, the audience volunteered the biggest ones in the world: […] -
Saving a Family Business from Emotional Dysfunction
Boards Digital ArticleFocus on fairness. -
Designing Interactive Strategy
Operations strategy Magazine ArticleStrategy is the art of creating value. It provides the intellectual frameworks, conceptual models, and governing ideas that allow a company’s managers to identify opportunities for bringing value to customers and for delivering that value at a profit. In this respect, strategy is the way a company defines its business and links together the only […] -
5 Kinds of Ownership Roles in a Family Business
Organizational Development Digital ArticleSticking to "this is just how we do things around here" can have disastrous consequences, even for the closest family owner group. -
Organizing for Innovation: When Is Virtual Virtuous? (HBR Classic)
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Magazine ArticleChampions of virtual corporations urge managers to subcontract anything and everything. And because several high-profile corporate giants have been outperformed... -
How Family Businesses Can Attract Non-Family Talent
Organizational Development Digital ArticlePromote a culture of caring, trust, and loyalty. -
How to Make a Global Joint Venture Work
International business Magazine ArticleDespite the great potential for conflict, many companies routinely—and successfully—use joint ventures. With the increasing use of this form of management, business leaders must think about the more effective way of managing: shared management or dominant parent. This author, drawing from his research with 37 joint ventures involving mostly North American and Western European companies, […] -
Avoiding Conflict Will Only Hurt Your Family Business
Family businesses Digital ArticleBeware the corrosive effects of fake harmony. -
Strategy Tools for a Shifting Landscape
Competitive strategy Magazine ArticleIn an age when nothing is constant, strategy should be defined by narrative—plots, subplots, and characters—rather than by maps, graphs, and numbers.
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Arroyave Seeds
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details The central theme of this case is corporate restructuring; in particular, its thematic unit is the process of financial stress within an organization.... -
Lagunitas Brewing Company
Leadership & Managing People Case Study11.95View Details The CEO of a California-based craft brewery manages new partnership with-and potential acquisition by-industry giant Heineken. -
Pi Investments
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details Pi was a large family office pioneering the concept of 100% portfolio impact investing. Tasked with preserving capital, generating moderate returns and... -
Iceverks (B): Summer of 1993
Global Business Case Study5.00View Details Supplements the (A) case. -
Juchheim: The Failthful Pursuit of Flavour, Culture and Family Values
Strategy & Execution Case Study11.95View Details Juchheim Co. Ltd. was a confectionery family firm located in Japan. The chief executive officer and owner faced two important issues related to the future... -
Metaza: Implementing Corporate Governance in a Family Business
Management Case Study11.95View Details Metaza SA (Metaza) was a family business created by two brothers who later invited their younger siblings to join the firm. Metaza operated in the steel... -
J&J Electrical Contractors, Inc.: Remaining Viable in a Highly Competitive Industry
Strategy & Execution Case Study11.95View Details The J&J Electrical Contractors case is an example of a small regional family business that has found a way to compete against the larger and more comprehensive... -
Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny (E)--CME Returns
Finance & Accounting Case Study5.00View Details Supplements the (A) case. -
Kids&Us: International Expansion
Technology & Operations Case Study11.95View Details Kids&Us is a successful family business founded by Natàlia Perarnau and Quim Serracanta. In Spain, the company has revolutionized methods used to teach... -
Little Short Stop: Creating Strategy for a Shifting Industry
Strategy & Execution Case Study11.95View Details In early 2019, the general manager of Little Short Stop Stores, a chain of local, family-owned convenience stores in southwestern Ontario, Canada, was... -
BMS-Biocon Research Center: Growing a Joint Research Venture in India
Strategy & Execution Case Study11.95View Details Bristol Myers Squibb, a multi-national pharmaceutical company, is seeking to globalize its R&D strategy while managing costs. It has formed a joint venture... -
Mitchells/Richards
Technology & Operations Case Study11.95View Details Describes a small, luxury retail chain's operational sophistication achieved through the use of technology and high-touch customer service. A family-run... -
Manila Water Co. (B)
Organizational Development Case Study5.00View Details On August 1, 1997 the Manila Water Co. took control of the east zone of the newly privatized Manila Metropolitan Water and Sewerage System (MWSS). At... -
Birkenstock: Exit the Family. Enter a Professional CEO
Management Case Study11.95View Details The case is about Birkenstock, the renowned German shoemaker, and two turning points in its 248-year history: the owner's decision to bring in a professional... -
VC Decision-Making in India: Aavishkaar and Milk Mantra (C)
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study5.00View Details The case profiles the protagonist, Vineet Rai, managing partner of Aavishkaar Venture Management Services (an Indian, early stage VC firm with a focus... -
Pacific Dunlop China (A): Beijing
Technology & Operations Case Study11.95View Details Describes the predicament of an overworked Western plant manager in a Chinese joint venture. The fourth in a line of such managers, he must deal with... -
Stoy Foods: Role Information for Petja Stoyanovic
Leadership & Managing People Case Study8.95View Details In this simulation exercise, four family members must negotiate over the future of the family business. Should the business be sold to a strategic buyer,... -
Raiser Senior Services--The Stratford (B)
Technology & Operations Case Study5.00View Details Supplements the (A) case. -
Display Technologies, Inc. (Abridged)
Technology & Operations Case Study11.95View Details Display Technologies, Inc. (DTI) is a new joint venture between Toshiba and IBM Japan that is manufacturing the most advanced form of flat panel displays....
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We’re in This Together
Collaboration and teams Magazine ArticleIf your latest so-called supply chain partnership failed to live up to expectations, as so many do, it’s probably because you never stated your expectations in the first place. -
Arroyave Seeds
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details The central theme of this case is corporate restructuring; in particular, its thematic unit is the process of financial stress within an organization.... -
Collaborate with Your Competitors—and Win
Joint ventures Magazine ArticleCollaboration between competitors is in fashion. General Motors and Toyota assemble automobiles, Siemens and Philips develop semiconductors, Canon supplies photocopiers to Kodak, France’s Thomson and Japan’s JVC manufacture videocassette recorders. But the spread of what we call “competitive collaboration”—joint ventures, outsourcing agreements, product licensings, cooperative research—has triggered unease about the long-term consequences. A strategic alliance […] -
Should Your Family Business Have a "No In-Laws" Policy?
Organizational Development Digital ArticleThe short answer: maybe. -
Lagunitas Brewing Company
Leadership & Managing People Case Study11.95View Details The CEO of a California-based craft brewery manages new partnership with-and potential acquisition by-industry giant Heineken. -
Strategic Sourcing: From Periphery to the Core
Globalization Magazine ArticleOutsourcing has become strategic—yet many executives remain unprepared. A new era of capability sourcing will trigger organizational redesign and require a new set of managerial skills. -
Pi Investments
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details Pi was a large family office pioneering the concept of 100% portfolio impact investing. Tasked with preserving capital, generating moderate returns and... -
Iceverks (B): Summer of 1993
Global Business Case Study5.00View Details Supplements the (A) case. -
Harvard Business Review, September/October 2024
Management Magazine Issue19.95View Details Harvard Business Review publishes new and authoritative ideas for improving the practice of management. Written by leading business thinkers and executives,... -
When and How Family Businesses Should Use Shareholder Agreements
Corporate governance Digital ArticleTwo studies show that the right contract can both protect shareholders and add market value.