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Strategies for Learning from Failure
Organizational culture Magazine ArticleWe are programmed at an early age to think that failure is bad. That belief prevents organizations from effectively learning from their missteps. -
Kodak's Downfall Wasn't About Technology
Innovation & Leadership Digital ArticleWhat it missed was the business model. -
Why Start-ups Fail
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Magazine ArticleIf you're launching a business, the odds are against you: Two-thirds of start-ups never show a positive return. Unnerved by that statistic, a professor... -
Do Most Family Businesses Really Fail by the Third Generation?
Organizational Development Digital ArticleDebunking the oft-cited "three generation" myth. -
Finding Your Company's Second Act
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Magazine ArticleAccelerating technological improvements have changed the speed with which new innovations penetrate markets. Graphed over time, the market adoption of... -
Why Hard-Nosed Executives Should Care About Management Theory
Strategy & Execution Magazine ArticleTheory often gets a bum rap among managers because it's associated with the word "theoretical," which connotes "impractical." But it shouldn't. Because... -
Can Zombie Firms Survive Rising Interest Rates?
Finance & Accounting Digital ArticleThey feast on cheap credit, which is drying up. -
Here's Why Strategy Chiefs Succeed or Fail
Leadership & Managing People ResearchBased on a study of 55 strategists. -
3 Reasons New Coaches and Consultants Fail
Leadership & Managing People Digital ArticleOne mistake: Not taking low-fee, brand-building work early on. -
Seven Ways to Fail Big
Strategy & Execution Magazine ArticleWhat causes companies to fail spectacularly? A recent study of 750 of the biggest U.S. business disasters of the past 25 years reveals that seven popular... -
When Your Job Is Your Identity, Professional Failure Hurts More
Leadership & Managing People Digital ArticleIt's one risk of conflating your role with your self-worth. -
Why CRM Projects Fail and How to Make Them More Successful
Sales & Marketing Digital ArticleUse them to improve the sales process, not just evaluate it. -
Redefining Failure
Organizational Development Magazine ArticleOne surefire way to avoid failure is to narrowly define it. If you care about your company and your customers, entrepreneur Seth Godin argues, you'll... -
One Reason Mergers Fail: The Two Cultures Aren’t Compatible
Mergers and acquisitions Digital ArticleWhen tight and loose cultures merge, they often clash. -
A Tale of Two Business Models
Strategy & Execution VideoSometimes businesses that seem similar on the surface have dramatically different business models that produce dramatically different results. -
Maybe Failure Isn't the Best Teacher
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Magazine ArticleThe conventional wisdom tells us that we learn from failure, but new research suggests it often has the opposite effect: When things go wrong, people... -
Why Hard-Nosed Executives Should Care About Management Theory (HBR OnPoint Enhanced Edition)
Strategy & Execution Magazine ArticleTheory often gets a bum rap among managers because it's associated with the word "theoretical," which connotes "impractical." But it shouldn't. Because... -
The Art of Admitting Failure
Leadership & Managing People Digital ArticleThis post is part of HBR's special issue on failure. When it comes to business, we are incredibly unaccepting and fearful of making mistakes. And forget... -
Why Haven Healthcare Failed
Global Business Digital ArticleDespite being backed by Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase, the company is disbanding less than three years after its launch. -
The Case for Investing in Underdogs
Finance & Accounting Digital ArticleDon't undervalue the overlooked.
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Proday: Calling the Right Play
Management Case Study8.95View Details Sarah Kunst knew the elements of a successful startup from her tenure at venture capital firms. In April 2018, however, her own app - Proday, a home fitness... -
Lehman Brothers: Too Big to Fail?, Epilogue
Global Business Case Study5.00View Details In September 2008, Hank Paulson, U.S. Treasury Secretary, Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, and Tim Geithner, President... -
Baroo (B)
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study5.00View Details Baroo CEO Lindsay Hyde must secure venture capital funding if she wants to save her pet services startup. If she is unable to finance a series A, she... -
MRC, Inc. (Consolidated)
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details A large diversified company must develop a strategy for a division whose performance has deteriorated due to its aging product. Alternatives range from... -
Cooptex: Reinventing Itself
Leadership & Managing People Case Study8.95View Details In August 2015, the managing director of the Tamil Nadu Handloom Weavers' Co-operative Society Ltd. (Co-optex), an Indian state handloom co-operative,... -
Classtivity: Payal's Pirouette
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study8.95View Details A few months after launching a new fitness technology product, the small staff of New York startup Classtivity gathers on a Saturday in April 2013 to... -
Ron Johnson: A Career in Retail
Sales & Marketing Case Study14.00View Details 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... -
Aikon Medical Devices Co. (A): Strategizing for continuous success
Strategy & Execution Case Study8.95View Details Set in 2008, the A case portrays the first 134 years of Aikon, a US multinational based in Minnesota. It is presented to participants as the baseline... -
Ça Va de Soi: A Phoenix Rises from the Ashes of a Failed IT Project - Part B - The Rise
Technology & Operations Case Study5.00View Details Supplement to case HEC138. This two-part case study of a Canadian knitwear SME called Ça Va de Soi (CVDS) presents a real-life situation: an IT project... -
Troverie (B)
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study5.00View Details Resolves the questions raised in Troverie (A); recounts pivots and efforts to raise capital from strategic investors and sell Troverie; and shares the... -
Before the Fall: Lehman Brothers 2008
Leadership & Managing People Case Study8.95View Details This case examines Lehman Brothers in the months preceding its collapse. Following the announcement of a huge and unexpected second quarter loss, the... -
Aereo
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study8.95View Details Aereo aimed to disrupt television program distribution by providing consumers access to local broadcast TV programming using offsite antennas, cloud-based... -
Breaking Bad (the Rules): Argentina Defaults, Inflates (and Grows), 1997-2015
Global Business Case Study8.95View Details In late October 2011, after losing 1 billion of dollar reserves in one month, the Argentine government began imposing a series of currency controls, limiting... -
GoPro: The Disruptive Innovator Faces Challenges
Sales & Marketing Case Study8.95View Details GoPro, Inc. was an American action camera and software manufacturer founded in 2002 by a young entrepreneur. The company introduced innovative action... -
Katerra (A)
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study8.95View Details In April 2020, Katerra executives struggled with a series of decisions that would determine the fate of one of the best-funded construction startups in... -
Tuplastibog: Is it Worth Continuing?
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details Although Tuplastibog is a fictitious name, it is based on a real company that was created in 2014 by Juan Carlos Ordoñez, using financing from his family's... -
Lehman Brothers: Too Big to Fail?
Global Business Case Study8.95View Details In September 2008, Hank Paulson, U.S. Treasury Secretary, Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, and Tim Geithner, President... -
Restructuring JAL
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details Hideo Seto, the recently appointed chairman of the investment committee of the Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corporation, must decide whether to push... -
TCS: Agility at Scale-Managing Change
Management Case Study8.95View Details The head of Agile Initiative Network (AIN) at TCS, an India based multinational IT services-consulting-business solutions enterprise, has been mandated... -
Into the Raging Sea: Final Voyage of the SS El Faro
Technology & Operations Case Study8.95View Details Captain Michael Davidson of the container ship SS El Faro was determined to make his planned shipping trip on time-but a hurricane was approaching his...
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Strategies for Learning from Failure
Organizational culture Magazine ArticleWe are programmed at an early age to think that failure is bad. That belief prevents organizations from effectively learning from their missteps. -
Kodak's Downfall Wasn't About Technology
Innovation & Leadership Digital ArticleWhat it missed was the business model. -
Why Start-ups Fail
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Magazine ArticleIf you're launching a business, the odds are against you: Two-thirds of start-ups never show a positive return. Unnerved by that statistic, a professor... -
Project Deutschland: Unpeeling the Onion of a Distressed Real Estate Portfolio, Teaching Note
Finance & Accounting Digital ArticleTeaching note for case 216055. James Tallest analyzed the opportunity to invest in a distressed portfolio of high quality properties in Germany by acquiring... -
Do Most Family Businesses Really Fail by the Third Generation?
Organizational Development Digital ArticleDebunking the oft-cited "three generation" myth. -
New Insights into Enron
20.18View Details Malcolm Salter, Harvard Business School professor. -
Finding Your Company's Second Act
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Magazine ArticleAccelerating technological improvements have changed the speed with which new innovations penetrate markets. Graphed over time, the market adoption of... -
Why Hard-Nosed Executives Should Care About Management Theory
Strategy & Execution Magazine ArticleTheory often gets a bum rap among managers because it's associated with the word "theoretical," which connotes "impractical." But it shouldn't. Because... -
Is Retail Dying? Plus, How Are Companies Spending their Tax Cuts?
Global Business Audio20.18View Details Youngme, Mihir, and Felix discuss whether the "retailpocalypse" is real, try to figure out how companies are spending their Trump tax cuts, debate whether... -
Can Zombie Firms Survive Rising Interest Rates?
Finance & Accounting Digital ArticleThey feast on cheap credit, which is drying up.