Cold Call

As the transportation landscape evolves, can Uber adapt its business model to be successful in unique regional markets around the world? Alexander MacKay describes Uber’s global market strategy and responses by regulators and local competitors.

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.”

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?

Nehemiah Manufacturing turned a social mission to hire convicted felons into a competitive advantage, 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.”

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 or there are security failures. Harvard Business School professor Mitchell Weiss debates the risks, rewards, and business models for mobile voting in his case study on “Voatz.”

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.

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. But can that approach endure through Henco’s rapid growth, leadership transition, and changing employee expectations?

C16 Biosciences wants to replace palm oil, a major contributor to deforestation and climate change, with a lab-grown substitute. Should the synthetic biology startup start small in the personal care market or dive into booming lab-grown food market?

Singapore officials added a nationwide, Bluetooth-based contact tracing program called TraceTogether to their suite of Covid-19-fighting strategies, which already included human-led tracing. The new digital program’s success would rely on mitigating privacy issues. Would Singaporeans adopt TraceTogether? As Singapore’s government opened up the technology to the world, would you? Harvard Business School professor Mitch Weiss discusses his new case, “TraceTogether.”

The digital-first, direct-to-consumer beauty brand Glossier considers marketing strategies that move away from organic community support and toward influencer marketing and paid media. Harvard Business School professor Jill Avery discusses the debate in her case, “Glossier: Co-Creating a Cult Brand with a Digital Community.”

After a highly publicized act of racial discrimination by a Starbucks employee against two African American men in one of its stores in 2018, the company closed its 8,000 U.S. coffee shops for a day of unconscious bias training. The company also revised store policies and employee training practices. Harvard Business School professors Francesca Gino and Katherine Coffman discuss what we can learn about unconscious bias in corporate culture from Starbucks’ reaction to that incident in their case, “Starbucks: Reaffirming Commitment to the Third Place Ideal.”

Harvard Business School professor Len Schlesinger and RSE Ventures Co-founder Matt Higgins discuss why direct-to-consumer channel businesses, like teledentistry company SmileDirectClub, must implement a strategy that moves them beyond DTC in order to thrive – and how to make that change. This episode is based on the Harvard Business School case, “SmileDirectClub: Better is Better.”

By 2016, the Big Apple Circus had weathered many storms in its 38 seasons as one of the most well-known New York City nonprofits. But with ticket sales and charitable giving in steep decline, the future for this beloved circus and its Clown Care program is uncertain. Harvard Business School professor David Fubini discusses his case, “Big Apple Circus: Time to Fold the Tent?”

How should the vaccine alliance, Gavi, respond to the worldwide need for a vaccine for the Covid-19 pandemic? Harvard Business School professor Tarun Khanna discusses how experimentation, judicious risk taking, and entrepreneurship in finance and capital markets could enable the way forward and unlock the science in his case, “Gavi and Covid-19: Pandemic of the Century.”

After 50 years at the helm of Cummings Properties, billionaire and philanthropist Bill Cummings is winding down his roles at both the family business and foundation that he built. How should the management team move the company forward? Harvard Business School professor Christina Wing and protagonist Bill Cummings discuss the case, “Bill Cummings: The Cummings Way.”

The rise of autonomous vehicles has enormous implications for business and society. Harvard Business School professors Bill Kerr and Elie Ofek explore the factors influencing development and commercialization, as well as future success and consumer adoption in their cases: “Autonomous Vehicles: The Rubber Hits the Road... but When?” and “Autonomous Vehicles: Smooth or Bumpy Ride Ahead?”

Healthy buildings and superior air quality are increasingly important as people spend 90% of their lives indoors. Harvard professors John Macomber and Joseph Allen discuss their case, “A Tower for the People: 425 Park Avenue,” their new book, “Healthy Buildings,” and how their learnings extend to a post-COVID world.

In the ever-changing video games industry, Epic Games, the maker of the incredibly popular Fortnite multi-player game, considers whether it could become a PC-games distribution platform. Harvard Business School’s Andy Wu discusses his case, “Epic Games.”

In this special episode of Cold Call, Brian Kenny speaks with Harvard Business School professor Srikant Datar about how Harvard Business School brought 1,800 MBA students and 200 faculty online in under two weeks amid the Covid-19 pandemic. They discuss the challenges of scaling under pressure to maintain the highest level of participant-centered learning possible, the lessons learned, and how this crisis may change the way we teach and learn forever.

Two siblings, Thomas and Sally Campbell, are faced with selling their childhood home. They need to make several difficult decisions, all the while navigating their contentious relationship. Harvard Business School professor Leslie John discusses the importance of asking (and answering) the right questions when negotiating, particularly under emotional stress, in her case, “The Campbell Home.”

Against the backdrop of his case, “Huawei: A Global Tech Giant in the Crossfire of a Digital Cold War,” Harvard Business School professor Bill Kirby discusses Huawei’s entrepreneurial start, where the tech giant is headed in the future, U.S.-China relations, and the Chinese government’s response to the Coronavirus.

2U, an online program management provider, believed it was the strongest partner to enable the digital transformation of universities by allowing them to offer a variety of courses to a new student profile. Harvard Business School professors Karim Lakhani and Marco Iansiti discuss the case, “2U: Higher Education Rewired,” and connections to concepts in their book, “Competing in the Age of AI.”

Following a successful career in finance, Torsten Thiele has devoted himself full-time to the challenging cause of ocean conservation and stewardship. Harvard Business School professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Thiele discuss how changing the narrative is imperative when looking for ways to solve big problems.

Harvard Business School professor Laura Huang, whose new book “Edge” explores methods for turning adversity into professional advantage, is joined by Venture Capitalist Arlan Hamilton to discuss her strategy of backing entrepreneurs who have been ignored because of stereotypes, biases, and preconceptions.

Not many Chinese companies open manufacturing facilities in the U.S., but automotive glass maker Fuyao is considering just that. Harvard Business School professor Willy Shih examines factors that go into deciding where companies should locate production facilities in his case, “Fuyao Glass America: Sourcing Decision.”

Harvard Business School professors Ethan Rouen and Charlie Wang explore whether capitalism is broken and if JUST Capital's performance evaluation rubric and strategies for exerting influence are likely to be effective in improving corporate behavior. Their case is titled, “Measuring Impact at JUST Capital.”

Mexican convenience store chain OXXO dominated its market -- until its chief rival doubled in size almost overnight. Harvard Business School professor Tatiana Sandino discusses how CEO Eduardo Padilla responded by creating an agile organization based on a team culture and strong management systems.

Should large institutional investors divest or engage if they have an issue with a company? Harvard Business School professor Vikram Gandhi discusses why and how CalSTRS, the $200 billion pension plan for California public school teachers, chooses to engage with gun makers and retailers in California in his case, “CalSTRS Takes on Gun Violence.”

Harvard Business School professor Geoff Jones discusses his case, “Thomas J. Watson, IBM and Nazi Germany,” which explores the options and responsibilities of multinationals with investments in politically reprehensible regimes.

In 2014, Neel Ghose (MBA 2019) created the Robin Hood Army, an entirely volunteer-based organization working to get surplus food to hungry people. Just four years later, they had served more than 9 million people in 103 cities around the world, all while maintaining their “golden rule” of being zero-funds. Harvard Business School’s Susanna Gallani and Ghose discuss the most pressing challenge facing the organization with its fast growth and no monetary assets: how to attract, retain, and motivate workers.

Launched in the midst of the financial crisis, Goldman Sachs' “10,000 Small Businesses” program provided business education and access to capital for small businesses across the United States. The company committed $500 million to fund the program and nine years later had graduated 7,300 participants, just shy of its goal. Harvard Business School professor Len Schlesinger discusses the success, impact, and future of the program.

Harvard Business School professors John Deighton and Jeffrey Rayport discuss how two former public radio producers launch the Gimlet Media podcast network, entering the last frontier of digital media. How can they turn a content supplier into a disruptive platform?

Children’s Hospital & Clinics COO Julie Morath sets out to change the culture there by instituting a policy of blameless reporting, which encourages employees to report anything that goes wrong or seems substandard without fear of reprisal for the act of reporting. Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson discusses getting an organization into the “High Performance Zone” by creating an environment of psychological safety and high accountability.

Harvard Business School professor Stefan Thomke discusses how past experience and intuition can be misleading when attempting to launch an innovative new product, service, business model, or process. Instead, Booking.com and other innovative firms embrace a culture where testing, experimentation, and even failure are at the heart of what they do.

Harvard Business School professors Rebecca Henderson and George Serafeim discuss the impact investing efforts of Hiro Mizuno, CIO of GPIF, Japan’s government pension fund. He says that improving corporate governance, increasing inclusion and gender diversity, and addressing climate change would expand Japan’s economy. But, should a pension fund try to change the world?

Much of the advertising purchased during the Super Bowl is about selling corporate brands rather than products. Harvard Business School professor Shelle Santana discusses her case, "Super Bowl Storytelling," (co-author: Jill Avery), regarding the art of storytelling on the world’s biggest television stage. Which stories win (or fumble) on game day?

In his case, “JUUL and the Vaping Revolution,” Harvard Business School professor Mike Toffel discusses the controversy surrounding the exponential growth of JUUL vaping products in 2018, in particular the success of its e-cigarettes with teenage high school students who had never smoked.

Harvard Business School professor Geoffrey Jones discusses the overthrow of President Jacobo Arbenz of Guatemala in 1954 in a U.S.-backed coup in support of the United Fruit Co. (now Chiquita Brands International). Jones examines the impact and role of the company in the Guatemalan economy.

Stephane Kasriel, the CEO of Upwork, the leading platform for freelance labor, considers different pricing solutions and ways to improve the matching process as part of a business model redesign.

Khan Academy is an online global education nonprofit launched by Sal Khan with the audacious mission to “provide a free world-class education for anyone, anywhere.” Harvard Business School professor Bill Sahlman discusses his case study of the company after Ginny Lee joins to help balance Khan’s aspirational vision with the short-term need for greater focus and prioritization.

Israel turned 70 years old in May of 2018, but its brand image internationally was less than ideal. Market research revealed that many people associated Israel primarily with military conflict. Harvard Business School professor Elie Ofek discusses efforts to rebrand the country in his case, “Israel at 70: Is it Possible to (re)Brand a Country?”

Harvard Business School professor Sunil Gupta explores the infiltration of Amazon into dozens of industries including web services, grocery, online video streaming, content creation and, oh, did we mention physical bookstores? What’s the big plan? Is the company spread too thin, or poised for astronomical success? Gupta is the author of the case study, “Amazon 2019.”

Challenges related to managing religion in the workplace are on the rise, as are religious discrimination claims and monetary settlements in the U.S. and around the world. Harvard Business School professor Derek van Bever discusses two examples in his case, “Managing Religion in the Workplace: Abercrombie & Fitch and Masterpiece Cakeshop.”

Toronto is experimenting with smart city concepts envisioned by Google spin-off Sidewalk Labs. Harvard Business School professors Leslie John and Mitch Weiss discuss the tradeoffs of using technology to improve modern city life at potential costs to digital privacy from their case, “Sidewalk Labs: Privacy in a City Built from the Internet Up.” Is it worth it?

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg faced a crucible moment in 2018 after Cambridge Analytica accessed data from 87 million Facebook accounts. Harvard Business School professor Bill George discusses his case, “Facebook Confronts a Crisis of Trust,” including why Zuckerberg handled the crisis as he did, the role of companies in protecting privacy, and the pros and cons of regulation.

Fishbowl's founders have built a social media platform allowing professionals to connect anonymously and with candor within their companies and industry. But the app is still largely limited to the consulting industry. Can they extend the app into other sectors? What’s the winning business model? Will adding employers to the mix pay off or kill the value? Harvard Business School professor Leslie John discusses her case study exploring the boundaries of social media and personal privacy.

Harvard Business School professor Geoff Jones examines the career of Helena Rubinstein, one of the trailblazing female entrepreneurs of the 20th century. Using guile, brilliant branding, and more than a few falsehoods, Rubinstein lifted cosmetics from an accessory item for prostitutes to a great luxury item during the Great Depression.

What happens when Intermountain Healthcare invests resources in an innovative precision medicine unit to provide life-extending, genetically targeted therapies to late-stage cancer patients? Harvard Business School professors Richard Hamermesh and Kathy Giusti discuss the case and its connections to their work with the Kraft Precision Medicine Accelerator.

Have you ever wondered how Hershey chocolate came to be so popular? Harvard Business School professor Nancy Koehn discusses the life and vision of Milton Hershey, the entrepreneur and philanthropist behind the Hershey chocolate bar, the town of Hershey, Pennsylvania, and the Milton Hershey School.

Harvard Business School professor Ray Goldberg discusses how Wegmans CEO faced a food safety issue and then helped the industry determine how it could become more proactive in the future.