There is a joke in the cybersecurity community that there are two kinds of companies: those that know they’ve been hacked, and those that haven’t found out yet. The Target Corporation learned this the hard way during the busy holiday season of 2013, when 110 million customers’ information was compromised. Harvard Business School professor Suraj Srinivasan discusses his case entitled “Cyber Breach at Target,” which explores one of the largest cyber breaches in history, analyzing why failures happ...
Dec 20, 2016•23 min•Ep. 37
Wayfair has been around since the early days of ecommerce. But where it now exists as a single, popular brand, it was once an unaffiliated collection of 240 websites selling very different things. Harvard Business School professor Thales Teixeira takes listeners on a journey through the rise of internet sales and search engine marketing, and into the minds of the company’s executives as they built an online furniture giant from scratch. Teixeira is the author of the case entitled “Building an e-...
Dec 07, 2016•22 min•Ep. 36
On the internet, content may be king, but connecting users is the key to building an empire. The Norwegian media giant Schibsted learned this lesson the hard way, and then used it to thrive in an online news market where many others have failed. Through the lens of his new book, The Content Trap , Harvard Business School professor Bharat Anand discusses his case entitled, “Schibsted,” regarding Schibsted’s resounding success, how bringing users together drives revenue, and the importance of medi...
Nov 18, 2016•23 min•Ep. 35
By some accounts, only 5-6% of people around the world get the cardiac treatment they need to survive. The rest perish. This statistic highlights the stark need for affordable, quality health care that can be delivered at scale, and a solution to that staggering problem has sprung up in, of all places, the Cayman Islands. Harvard Business School professor Tarun Khanna discusses his case “Health City Cayman Islands” — how a new hospital with a revolutionary cost structure and service model is mak...
Nov 14, 2016•14 min•Ep. 34
An unfortunate but necessary part of a manager’s job is having to let underperforming employees go. Knowing when and how to take that step with the company’s, the employee’s, and your own best interests in mind is a difficult task. Harvard Business School professor Joe Badaracco discusses the best ways to make hard decisions and deliver bad news, pulling from his case “Two Tough Calls” and his new book, Managing in the Gray ....
Nov 03, 2016•14 min•Ep. 33
The Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare for short, had three goals: make health insurance available, required, and affordable for everyone. There was just one problem — the launch of the HealthCare.gov website was a complete and utter failure. Harvard Business School professor Len Schlesinger delves into the enormous challenges involved with building, launching, and fixing HealthCare.gov, and how those administrative trials and triumphs are instructive for any managerial setting. Schlesinger is th...
Nov 01, 2016•20 min•Ep. 32
Oktoberfest began as a raucous wedding celebration in Germany more than 200 years ago and has since grown into a worldwide phenomenon. Munich, alone, hosts some 6.4 million guests (who consume almost 8 million liters of beer) during the festival each year. Harvard Business School professor Juan Alcacer discusses his case entitled “The Munich Oktoberfest: From Local Tradition to Global Capitalism” — how the Oktoberfest brand has been transplanted around the globe, whether copycat festivals help o...
Oct 04, 2016•15 min•Ep. 31
Lego has been helping children piece together dreams and build their imaginations for decades, and has become one of the world’s most popular toys and most powerful brands in the process. But the company known for great directions lost its own in the 1990s and has stood on the brink of bankruptcy a few times since. Harvard Business School professor Jan Rivkin takes listeners behind the brick and into the minds of Lego’s leadership as they tackle digital disruption, how to innovate while remainin...
Oct 04, 2016•15 min•Ep. 30
Before “House of Cards” was an internationally-renowned and critically acclaimed hit series, it was a total shot in the dark. Luckily for the small film studio behind it, Netflix saw it as a shot worth taking. Harvard Business School professor Anita Elberse discusses her case entitled “MRC’s House of Cards” — how the Emmy award-winning show flipped the script on standard television series production, brought binge-watching into the mainstream, and ushered in a whole new era of must-see programmi...
Oct 04, 2016•13 min•Ep. 29
Most people know Apple as one of the richest and most successful companies in the world, but it wasn’t always that way. In 1997, the company suffered a near-death experience that caused it to completely reimagine itself. The result was a new line of products and a totally unique financial model that has since led to unprecedented success. Harvard Business School professor Mihir Desai explains his case, “Financial Policy at Apple, 2013” — the genius of the financial wiring behind the inventors of...
Oct 04, 2016•14 min•Ep. 28
It’s a good bet that winning a game show isn’t often on the list of top priorities at large companies. So how was it that building a robot to do just that became a prime focus at IBM? Harvard Business School professor Willy Shih discusses how building Watson, a deep question answering machine, reinvigorated a stalled research and development team, taught IBM a ton about communication and product development, and led to a hotly contested “Jeopardy!” match on the Harvard Business School campus. Sh...
Oct 04, 2016•16 min•Ep. 27
College represents one of the biggest decisions and investments many consumers will ever make. But can they really trust the rankings available to help them choose? Harvard Business School professor Bill Kirby unpacks the complex world of university rankings, including what “world-class” actually means, what rankings don’t take into account, and how schools are learning to game an imperfect system. Kirby is the author of the case study, “World-class Universities: Rankings and Reputation in Highe...
Oct 04, 2016•14 min•Ep. 26
A novel idea: give loyal customers a chance to buy shares in a company they love. That’s the premise behind LOYAL3, which uses the democratizing power of technology to give average investors better access to IPOs. Harvard Business School professor Luis Viceira discusses his case entitled “LOYAL3: Own What You Love” — this novel mission, the huge new market it creates, and the delicate balance of being disruptive but only when necessary.
Oct 04, 2016•13 min•Ep. 25
Increasingly, almost every team is a global team in some capacity. This presents a difficult challenge for managers everywhere, and especially for high-potential leaders who want to take their careers to the next level: how do you bring together a team whose members are geographically and culturally dispersed? Harvard Business School professor Tsedal Neeley discusses her case — entitled “Building a Global Team: Tariq Khan at Tek” — of a real-life executive charged with corralling a hugely divers...
Oct 04, 2016•14 min•Ep. 24
Though Google has become the U.S. face of the driverless car movement, other global companies have been developing similar technology for more than a decade. Mobileye is one of them, with a $10 billion valuation and a huge head start in a potentially enormous market. Harvard Business School professor David Yoffie discusses why a company many have never heard of will be a lynchpin in the future of self-driving automobiles. Yoffie is the author of the case study, “Mobileye, The Future of Driverles...
Oct 04, 2016•13 min•Ep. 23
Carla Ann Harris has blazed trails and excelled at institutions like Harvard and Morgan Stanley. But doing so has required her to strike a careful balance between her professional image and her personal passions. Harvard Business School professor Lakshmi Ramarajan discusses her case, “Carla Ann Harris at Morgan Stanley,” about Harris’ inspiring success and the importance of managing perceptions to achieve greatness.
Oct 04, 2016•14 min•Ep. 22
Since brewing is a marketing-driven business, finding ways to differentiate a beverage from its competition is crucial. Heineken’s chief marketing officer took a novel approach: take the complicated processes of production and distribution and make them interesting and important to the consumer. Harvard Business School professor Forest Reinhardt explains his case study, “Heineken: Brewing a Better World” — how a big, sophisticated company used small details, from trucking routes to the color of ...
Oct 04, 2016•9 min•Ep. 21
Entrepreneurs like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are tapping into their vast personal wealth to make commercial space travel a reality. In the process, they’re revitalizing a listless national space program. Harvard Business School professor Matthew Weinzierl discusses his new case entitled “Blue Origin, NASA, and New Space,” and how public-private partnerships are becoming the building blocks for the hottest new startup sector.
Oct 04, 2016•15 min•Ep. 20
The statistics are startling: about one-third of American workers suffer from chronic work stress; $27 billion worth of work days are lost to mental health-related absences each year. Harvard Business School professor John Quelch discusses his case — entitled “Mental Health in the American Workplace” — on the state of mental health in the U.S. workplace, and why even though companies are better than ever about providing services to their workers, the stigma attached to mental health leaves a lot...
Oct 04, 2016•12 min•Ep. 19
Can big companies fix big problems? Are they responsible for doing so? As the third-largest employer in the world, any move Walmart makes reverberates around the globe. Yet despite its many successes and innovations, particularly in terms of sustainability, the company often faces criticism for its business practices. Harvard Business School professor Rebecca Henderson discusses what she calls the paradigmatic case: how Walmart takes huge risks, makes great strides, and demonstrates how companie...
Oct 04, 2016•15 min•Ep. 18
It’s been a few months since many of us made New Year’s resolutions. Have you stuck with yours? Harvard Business School professor Leslie John studies how to help people change bad habits (and reinforce good ones) by looking at what makes them tick. Here, she discusses stickK, an application that motivates people by forcing them to put skin in the game of self-improvement. John is the author of the case entitled, “Making stickK Stick: The Business of Behavioral Economics.”
Sep 19, 2016•12 min•Ep. 17
Maine has had one of the worst state economies in the country the last few years. But something special is happening there of late that could change the face of job creation in the future. Harvard Business School professor Karen Mills , the former administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration under President Obama, explains her new case, “The Maine Food Cluster Project,” including the role catalytic philanthropy and cluster initiatives can play in reenergizing struggling business secto...
Sep 19, 2016•9 min•Ep. 16
For entrepreneurs, size and scale don’t have to come at the cost of agility. Fabricio Bloisi, a 21-year-old Brazilian college graduate, proved that with his company Movile. Harvard Business School professor Lynda Applegate discusses how, with the right blend of talent, ambition, and teamwork, a company can become an international powerhouse and still remain nimble and true to its roots. Applegate is the author of the case study, “Movile: Building a Global Technology Company.”...
Sep 19, 2016•10 min•Ep. 15
Research says that 85% of people will make a purchase after reading online reviews about a product or service. This has had huge implications for the hotel industry and helps explain why TripAdvisor, a massive repository of user-generated reviews, was the most-visited travel website in the world in 2013. Harvard Business School professor Thales Teixeira discusses his case study, “Managing Online Reviews at TripAdvisor,” regarding TripAdvisor’s staggering success, how the company has forced an en...
Sep 19, 2016•13 min•Ep. 14
Though not everyone may know her name, Madam C.J. Walker helped invent what have become staples of our modern country and economy: national sales forces, corporate social responsibility, and, yes, even basic haircare. Orphaned at age 8, married at 14, and widowed at 20 with a daughter to raise, Walker went on to become a millionaire entrepreneur in the Deep South at the turn of the century, against all odds. Harvard Business School professor Nancy Koehn describes Walker’s inspiring real life sto...
Sep 19, 2016•17 min•Ep. 13
No organization wants to fail. But even for the best and the brightest, failure is inevitable, and occasionally that failure can be catastrophic. Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson describes her experience writing and teaching a case on the Columbia space shuttle’s final mission, including the organizational challenges within NASA that contributed to it, and the lessons that can be taken from the tragedy. Edmondson is the author of the case study, “Columbia’s Final Mission.”...
Sep 19, 2016•13 min•Ep. 12
Running for office requires a lot of public speaking. But often, it’s what candidates aren’t saying that can make or break their campaigns. Take the case of Dan Silver, an experienced congressional candidate who leaves voters cold despite his eminent qualifications. With the help of KNP Communications, Silver is forced to watch himself at the podium and makes some profound discoveries. Harvard Business School professor Amy Cuddy delves into this fascinating case — entitled “Congressional Candida...
Sep 19, 2016•12 min•Ep. 11
Digitally-enabled prescription medication may sound futuristic. Thanks to Proteus, the future is now. The company has developed the technology to place microchips inside prescription pills, allowing doctors to retrieve real-time updates on everything from dosing, to vital signs, to the efficacy of different medications. However, regulating and marketing such ground-breaking technology is almost as complicated as the medical conditions it can help cure. Harvard Business School professor Richard H...
Sep 19, 2016•12 min•Ep. 10
How do you manage a community, grow it, and sustain it? Threadless has done it since 2007 by crowdsourcing its T-shirt designs and selling the best ones. Harvard Business School professor <strong>Karim Lakhani</strong> talks about the challenges, exciting moments, and ultimate dilemma in the case: When do you grow the community vs. when do you go national and make the big money? Many companies consider how to bring elements of community into their companies. Learn more about this fas...
Sep 19, 2016•12 min•Ep. 9
Ron Johnson’s career path has featured stops at some of the world’s largest and most innovative retailers, including Target, Apple, and J.C. Penney. At each stop, Johnson learned invaluable lessons, like how to build on success, how to keep growing as an individual, and how to embrace missteps. Harvard Business School professor Das Narayandas examines Johnson’s career trajectory and discusses the importance of personal accountability and creative planning in the rapidly-changing world of retail....
Sep 19, 2016•12 min•Ep. 8
