In February 2013, US Airways announced that it would merge with American Airlines to create the world’s largest airline. During the acquisition integration process, CEO Doug Parker had to determine how best to combine the two airlines’ core systems, operating processes, and leadership teams, as well as the appropriate scope and speed of strategic changes. Parker knew that his choices would send important signals to employees, customers, and competitors. Harvard Business School senior lecturer Da...
Sep 07, 2021•26 min•Ep. 156
In August 2017, Baroo Pet Care founder and CEO Lindsay Hyde wanted to continue expanding her pet services startup to new cities. In addition to raising venture capital, she needed to consider her growth strategy. Should she continue focusing on the needs of her early adopters or start tailoring Baroo’s services to more mainstream customers? And how fast is too fast to grow? Hyde (MBA 2014) joins Harvard Business School entrepreneurship Professor Tom Eisenmann to discuss how an early false positi...
Aug 24, 2021•29 min•Ep. 155
Gong’s business proposition is simple: provide software that automatically captures, understands, and analyzes written and spoken sales conversations to help sales teams sell more effectively. But can technology that leverages conversational insights make a measurable impact on a company’s bottom line? Harvard Business School associate professor Alison Wood Brooks and Gong CEO and co-founder Amit Bendov discuss what salespeople can learn from their own conversations and how Gong can defend again...
Aug 10, 2021•27 min•Ep. 154
Horst Dassler , the son of the founder of Adidas, cultivated relationships with athletes and national associations – with the aim of expanding his family’s sports apparel business. In doing so, he created the first sports sponsorships for the Olympics, and ultimately became a key force behind the commercialization of sports today. Harvard Business School professor Geoffrey Jones explores the pros and cons of the globalization and commercialization of sport in his case, spanning from the 1930s to...
Jul 27, 2021•23 min•Ep. 153
In 2007, Alibaba’s Taobao became China’s leading consumer e-commerce marketplace, displacing the once dominant eBay. How did underdog Taobao do it? And will it be able to find a way to monetize its marketplace and ensure future success? Harvard Business School professor Felix Oberholzer-Gee discusses his case, “ Alibaba’s Taobao ,” and related strategy lessons from his new book, Better, Simpler Strategy: A Value-Based Guide to Exceptional Performance....
Jul 13, 2021•30 min•Ep. 152
When Kathy Fish became Procter & Gamble’s Chief Research, Development & Innovation Officer in 2014, she was concerned that the world’s leading consumer packaged goods company had lost its capability to produce a steady stream of disruptive innovations. In addition, intensifying competition from direct-to-consumer companies convinced Fish that P&G needed to renew its value proposition to make all aspects of the consumer experience “irresistibly superior.” But making this change would ...
Jun 29, 2021•28 min•Ep. 151
After years of success in providing quality furniture at affordable prices, Swedish furniture maker IKEA is challenged by the rise of online shopping and changing consumer behavior, plus the arrival of a new leader. The company’s top executives know they had to step out of their comfort zones and embrace new strategic initiatives to stay relevant. But which initiatives will best enable IKEA to evolve while staying true to the company’s core values? Harvard Business School professors Juan Alcacer...
Jun 15, 2021•23 min•Ep. 150
Marcus by Goldman Sachs marked a dramatic shift for the 150-year-old financial institution, which historically had served only businesses and the wealthiest people. The fintech startup operated within Goldman Sachs, offering unsecured personal loans for the mass market, high-yield deposits, and a credit card in partnership with Apple. Harvard Business School associate professor Rory McDonald discusses the challenges of launching and operating a startup within an established company in his case, ...
Jun 01, 2021•25 min•Ep. 149
Georgia State University was facing a growing “summer melt” problem, where nearly 20 percent of incoming students never actually enrolled. The university used a data-based approach to retain students of all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds and help them graduate. Harvard Business School professor Mike Toffel and senior fellow Robin Mendelson discuss what the university learned about improving student success, while scaling its efforts to help other universities, in their case, “ Stu...
May 18, 2021•27 min•Ep. 148
After decades of brain drain in rural America, Tulsa Remote is working to attract a diverse group of remote workers to live in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The program offers a $10,000 grant to remote workers and entrepreneurs living outside Oklahoma, who relocate to the state’s second largest city for one year – with the goal that they stay longer and truly engage in the community. Harvard Business School professor Prithwiraj “Raj” Choudhury discusses how the Tulsa Remote model provides workers the flexibi...
May 04, 2021•25 min•Ep. 147
How did the evolution of Boeing’s organization and management lead to two tragic plane crashes within six months, in which a total of 346 people died? Harvard Business School professor Bill George discusses the long roots that ultimately led to the crash of Lion Air flight 610 in October 2018 in Indonesia and the crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 in March 2019 in Ethiopia. He discusses the role cost cutting, regulatory pressure, and CEO succession played in laying the foundation for these t...
Apr 20, 2021•20 min•Ep. 146
Rubicon began with a bold idea: create a cloud-based, full-service waste management platform providing efficient service anywhere in the U.S. Their mobile app did for waste management what Uber had done for taxi service. Five years after the case’s publication, Harvard Business School associate professor Shai Bernstein and Rubicon founder and CEO Nate Morris discuss how the software startup leveraged technology to disrupt the waste industry and other enduring lessons of professor Bill Sahlman’s ...
Apr 06, 2021•31 min•Ep. 145
Guild Education is an education marketplace that connects employers and universities to provide employees with “education as a benefit.” The Denver-based company is transforming traditional tuition-assistance programs by facilitating direct payment by the employer to the academic institution and by supporting students with coaching and advising. Now CEO and co-founder Rachel Carlson must decide how to manage the company’s future growth. Should she focus on expanding Guild’s core education market...
Mar 23, 2021•28 min•Ep. 144
In 2000, Rohit Gera turned his family’s boutique real estate development firm in Pune, India, into a dynamic innovator in housing solutions for urban Indian families. Today Gera Developments stands at a crossroads, with Gera planning the end of his managerial career. How should the family think about scaling the business? And, should the company seek a successor to lead those efforts from inside or outside the family? Senior Lecturer Christina Wing and case protagonist Rohit Gera discuss the fam...
Mar 09, 2021•27 min•Ep. 143
Survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Massacre and their descendants believe historic social injustices should be addressed through reparations. Harvard Business School professor Mihir Desai discusses the arguments for and against reparations in response to the Tulsa Massacre and, more broadly, to the effects of slavery and racist government policies in the U.S. in his case, “ The Tulsa Massacre and the Call for Reparations .”...
Mar 02, 2021•26 min•Ep. 142
The late 20th century saw dramatic growth in incarceration rates in the United States. Of the more than 2.3 million people in U.S. prisons, jails, and detention centers in 2020, 60 percent were Black or Latinx. Harvard Business School assistant professor Reshmaan Hussam probes the assumptions underlying the current prison system, with its huge racial disparities, and considers what could be done to address the crisis of the American criminal justice system in her case, “ Race and Mass Incarcerat...
Feb 23, 2021•27 min•Ep. 141
As the first Black female factory manager to lead a John Deere plant, Rosalind Fox must figure out how to build relationships with her staff, who are mostly white men. Harvard Business School senior lecturer Tony Mayo discusses the pressure on Fox to assimilate into the dominant culture, her decision to lean into her authentic self, and the deep connection between employee engagement and authenticity in his case, “ Rosalind Fox at John Deere .”...
Feb 16, 2021•27 min•Ep. 140
As a Black female CEO, Shellye Archambeau is no stranger to adversity. Becoming a leader was her goal since high school, and she achieved it through decades of hard work and skillful decision making. Now she faces her most critical leadership decision. The software company she leads, MetricStream, is losing customers, hemorrhaging cash, and struggling to make payroll. Several board members are pressing to sell the company even at dismally low valuations. She and her board chairman need to decide...
Feb 09, 2021•30 min•Ep. 139
Bill Riddick, an African-American community leader and counselor, must find a way to bridge the divide between Black and white community leaders, who are on opposing sides of school integration in Durham, North Carolina, in 1971. Harvard Business School professor Francesca Gino and senior researcher Jeffrey Huizinga explain how empathy and curiosity can foster understanding in divisive situations in their case, “ Bill Riddick and the Durham S.O.S. Charrette .”...
Feb 02, 2021•27 min•Ep. 138
Melvin Carter, the mayor of Saint Paul, Minnesota, swept into office in 2018, promising to improve equity. In his campaign, he had spoken from experience about what it felt like to be pulled over by police as a Black man. He wanted to create a new public safety framework that would be rooted in community. But then the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out much of the city’s budget and the May 2020 killing of George Floyd by a police officer in neighboring Minneapolis sparked calls to defund the police. Ho...
Jan 19, 2021•23 min•Ep. 137
For family social workers, coping with the hardships of children and parents is part of the job. But that can cause a lot of stress. Is it possible for financially constrained organizations to improve social workers’ well-being using non-cash rewards, recognition, and other strategies from behavioral science? Harvard Business School assistant professor Ashley Whillans describes the experience of Chief Executive Michael Sanders at the What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care, as he led a rese...
Jan 05, 2021•26 min•Ep. 136
Unilever’s Dove soap became a brand with purpose when it launched the “Campaign for Real Beauty” to combat media-driven stereotypes of female beauty. But now Dove is facing criticism about its other brands that contradict the Dove campaign, and struggling to determine the best allocation of funds between advertising and the educational programs that deliver social impact. Can Dove maintain both its market position and social impact in the future? Harvard Business School Senior Lecturer, Mark Kra...
Dec 22, 2020•24 min•Ep. 135
As Uber entered unique regional markets around the world – from New York to Shanghai, it has adapted its business model to comply with regulations and compete locally. As the transportation landscape evolves, how can Uber adapt its business model to stay competitive in the long term? Harvard Business School assistant professor Alexander MacKay describes Uber’s global market strategy and responses by regulators and local competitors in his case, “ Uber: Competing Globally .”...
Dec 08, 2020•28 min•Ep. 134
From Weight Watchers to bariatric surgery, innovations for combatting obesity abound. But which will do the most good for society and yield the best business results? Harvard Business School professor Regina Herzlinger discusses how to evaluate health care innovations aimed at providing solutions for obesity in her case, “ Fighting the Battle of the Bulge – Evaluating Innovations in Morbid Obesity Treatment .”
Nov 24, 2020•31 min•Ep. 133
Entrepreneur Christy Jones is trying to create a new venture to help women preserve their eggs and postpone motherhood. But what would an egg-freezing service sell – and to whom? Harvard Business School professor Debora Spar discusses the challenges of commercializing fertility in her case, “ Extend Fertility: Conceiving the Market for Egg Preservation .”...
Nov 10, 2020•26 min•Ep. 132
Nehemiah Manufacturing, a Cincinnati, Ohio-based company that builds fast-moving consumer goods, turned a social mission to hire convicted felons into a competitive advantage, providing the company with decreased turnover and higher staff loyalty. Harvard Business School professor Michael Chu discusses the challenges and opportunities of combining profit with social impact in his case, “ Nehemiah Mfg. Co.: Providing a Second Chance .”...
Oct 27, 2020•23 min•Ep. 131
Making voting more accessible through technology could allow more people to take part in elections. But it also poses critical downsides, if the product fails (as in the 2020 Iowa Caucuses) or if there are security failures. Harvard Business School professor Mitchell Weiss , an expert in public entrepreneurship, debates the risks, rewards, and business models for mobile voting in his case study on “ Voatz .” The mobile voting app, created by entrepreneur Nimit Sawhney, turns mobile phones into v...
Oct 13, 2020•22 min•Ep. 130
As we celebrate the five-year anniversary of Cold Call, we welcome a special guest, Harvard Business School Dean Nitin Nohria to discuss the classic case, “Rob Parson at Morgan Stanley.” The case poses a complex dilemma: should Morgan Stanley promote a high performer who lacks interpersonal skills and brushes off company values? More subtly, the case also encourages reflection about the accountability of managers in an employee’s performance.
Sep 29, 2020•24 min•Ep. 129
Simón Cohen , founder of Henco Logistics, transformed a small Mexican logistics company into a major player within the industry. Cohen credits the firm’s focus on employee happiness as the key ingredient to its success — an approach he developed following a personal crisis. Cohen and Harvard Business School professor Francesca Gino , author of the case about Henco , discuss whether or not that approach can endure through Henco’s rapid growth, leadership transition, and changing employee expectat...
Sep 15, 2020•29 min•Ep. 128
C16 Biosciences wants to replace palm oil, a major contributor to deforestation and climate change, with a lab-grown substitute. But CEO Shara Ticku faces a tough decision in bringing the product to market. Should she start small, with the lower volume personal care market? Or should she dive right into the booming lab-grown food market, with an interested investor? Harvard Business School Senior Lecturer Jeff Bussgang discusses his case, “ C16 Biosciences: Lab-Grown Palm Oi l.”...
Sep 01, 2020•22 min•Ep. 127
