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Show Results For
-
All HBS Web
(1,307)
- News (242)
- Research (889)
- Events (1)
- Multimedia (14)
- Faculty Publications (361)
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- May 2011
- Case
Baria Planning Solutions, Inc.: Fixing the Sales Process
By: Steven C. Wheelwright and William Schmidt
Baria Planning Solutions (BPS) is a consulting firm that specializes in using spend analysis to help companies identify savings through reduced procurement costs and improved supplier performance. Management is concerned about the disappointing performance of the sales...
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Keywords:
Quantitative Analysis;
Technology;
Operations Management;
Product Lines;
Manufacturing;
Capacity Planning;
Production Planning;
Production;
Management Practices and Processes;
Service Operations;
Supply Chain Management;
Salesforce Management;
Planning;
Consulting Industry;
North and Central America
Wheelwright, Steven C., and William Schmidt. "Baria Planning Solutions, Inc.: Fixing the Sales Process." Harvard Business School Brief Case 114-568, May 2011.
- June 2017 (Revised September 2021)
- Case
Sales Misconduct at Wells Fargo Community Bank
Set in early 2017, this case examines widespread sales misconduct at Wells Fargo Community Bank. Wells Fargo's governance and controls are described in the lead up to the September 2016 announcement that Wells Fargo had settled with regulators for $185 million in...
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Keywords:
Corporate Governance;
Governance Controls;
Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms;
Governing and Advisory Boards;
Executive Compensation;
Lawsuits and Litigation;
Crisis Management;
Mission and Purpose;
Organizational Design;
Business and Community Relations;
Business and Government Relations;
Crime and Corruption;
Business Organization;
Business Model;
Ethics;
Corporate Accountability;
Governance Compliance;
Policy;
Compensation and Benefits;
Resignation and Termination;
Laws and Statutes;
Legal Liability;
Business or Company Management;
Risk Management;
Business Processes;
Organizational Culture;
Organizational Structure;
Failure;
Agency Theory;
Business and Shareholder Relations;
Business and Stakeholder Relations;
Risk and Uncertainty;
Salesforce Management;
Public Opinion;
Banking Industry;
North and Central America
Srinivasan, Suraj, Dennis W. Campbell, Susanna Gallani, and Amram Migdal. "Sales Misconduct at Wells Fargo Community Bank." Harvard Business School Case 118-009, June 2017. (Revised September 2021.)
- 08 Sep 2014
- Research & Ideas
The Strategic Way To Hire a Sales Team
has been consistent for years: involuntary turnover in sales organizations has remained at 13 percent, since peaking at 14.6 percent in 2009, and total turnover (involuntary and voluntary—i.e., retirements,...
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Keywords:
by Carmen Nobel
- 27 Oct 2002
- Research & Ideas
Want a Happy Customer? Coordinate Sales and Marketing
mid-sized account base. At the top of the customer base pyramid where the accounts are huge, marketing and sales must make joint decisions about product, price, brand, and all kinds of support. When heavyweight distributors demand private...
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by Benson Shapiro
- 23 Oct 2000
- Research & Ideas
The Strategy-Focused Organization
illustrate how major organizations have used the Scorecard to create an entirely new performance management framework that puts strategy at the center of a company's key management processes and systems. Mobil North America Marketing and...
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by Robert S. Kaplan & David P. Norton
- November 2016
- Article
Spatial Organization of Firms and Location Choices Through the Value Chain
By: Juan Alcacer and Mercedes Delgado
We explore the impact of geographically bounded, intra-firm linkages (internal agglomerations) and geographically bounded, inter-firm linkages (external agglomerations) on firms' location strategies. Using data from the Census Bureau's Longitudinal Business Database,...
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Keywords:
Location Choices;
Agglomeration Economies;
Value Chain;
Organization Theory;
Geographic Location;
Business Strategy
Alcacer, Juan, and Mercedes Delgado. "Spatial Organization of Firms and Location Choices Through the Value Chain." Management Science 62, no. 11 (November 2016).
- 22 Feb 2021
- Book
Reaching Today's Omnichannel Customer Takes a New Sales Strategy
comments below. Book Excerpt Chasing Stars By Frank V. Cespedes There is no doubt that talent matters and that sales stars exist. But an overreliance on stars from outside organizations can 27 have...
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Keywords:
by Kristen Senz
- November 1989 (Revised February 1992)
- Case
Ford Motor Co.: Dealer Sales and Service
Since Henry Ford founded Ford Motor Co., Ford vehicles have been sold and serviced the same way. By the late 1980s Ford began to consider making changes in its sales and service process. Two developments forced Ford to reconsider these processes. First, Ford found...
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Keywords:
Organizational Change and Adaptation;
Change Management;
Distribution Channels;
Customer Focus and Relationships;
Service Industry;
Auto Industry;
Retail Industry;
United States
Schlesinger, Leonard A. "Ford Motor Co.: Dealer Sales and Service." Harvard Business School Case 690-030, November 1989. (Revised February 1992.)
- July 2017
- Article
The Four Stages to Becoming an Excellent Front-Line Sales Manager
Sales occupations account for more than 10% of the total U.S. labor force, and that official estimate is almost certainly low: In an increasingly service economy, many people who do business development for a living are not listed as “sales” for reporting purposes....
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Keywords:
Salesforce Management
Cespedes, Frank V. "The Four Stages to Becoming an Excellent Front-Line Sales Manager." Quotable (July 2017).
- April 2019 (Revised January 2022)
- Case
Clear Link Technologies, LLC: Driving Sales with Peer Effects
By: Christopher Stanton, Richard Saouma and Olivia Hull
The importance of a good peer or coworker is widely discussed, but understanding the glue that makes coworkers valuable is less understood. This case sheds light on the importance of peers and the practices and environments that make a group greater than the sum of its...
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Keywords:
Talent and Talent Management;
Interactive Communication;
Experience and Expertise;
Decision Making;
Training;
Design;
Compensation and Benefits;
Knowledge Acquisition;
Knowledge Sharing;
Human Capital;
Working Conditions;
Measurement and Metrics;
Outcome or Result;
Performance;
Performance Improvement;
Research;
Sales;
Salesforce Management;
Motivation and Incentives;
Telecommunications Industry;
Utah;
United States
Stanton, Christopher, Richard Saouma, and Olivia Hull. "Clear Link Technologies, LLC: Driving Sales with Peer Effects." Harvard Business School Case 819-072, April 2019. (Revised January 2022.)
- February 2018
- Case
Rosslyn Resource: Monetization and Sales Strategy
By: Robert J. Dolan and Sunru Yong
Rosslyn Resource identifies exploration targets (potential mineral deposits) in the mining industry and advances them until the project can be monetized, usually through sale to a larger mining company, in return for an upfront fee and a royalty on future revenues....
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Keywords:
Strategy;
Decision Choices and Conditions;
Business Model;
Organizational Change and Adaptation;
Mining Industry
Dolan, Robert J., and Sunru Yong. "Rosslyn Resource: Monetization and Sales Strategy." Harvard Business School Brief Case 918-509, February 2018.
- February 2011 (Revised May 2011)
- Case
Marlin & Associates and the Sale of Riverview Technologies
By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff
Riverview Technologies was a Stockholm, Sweden-based company that had developed software hedge funds. After spending more than a year in an organized sale process, the winning bidder had become increasingly difficult to work with and the closing had been substantially...
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Keywords:
Mergers and Acquisitions;
Entrepreneurship;
Negotiation Deal;
Negotiation Offer;
Negotiation Process;
Business and Shareholder Relations;
Financial Services Industry
Ruback, Richard S., and Royce Yudkoff. "Marlin & Associates and the Sale of Riverview Technologies." Harvard Business School Case 211-083, February 2011. (Revised May 2011.)
- 25 Jul 2005
- Research & Ideas
An Organization Your Customers Understand
Imagine an organization made up of a variety of three-dimensional shapes. Rectangular blocks represent the functions: manufacturing, R&D, and sales and marketing. The spheres are regional offices....
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Keywords:
by Robert Simons
- February 2018
- Case
Qualtrics (A)
By: Doug J. Chung and James M. Lattin
Qualtrics was an online survey research platform and since the beginning, the company had relied entirely on an inside sales model—sales done remotely without face-to-face contact with clients. The low-cost inside sales model, along with an emphasis on a strong sales...
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Keywords:
Sales Strategy;
Inside Sales Model;
Sales;
Strategy;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Organizational Change and Adaptation
Chung, Doug J., and James M. Lattin. "Qualtrics (A)." Harvard Business School Case 518-082, February 2018.
- November 2017 (Revised April 2019)
- Case
Summa Equity: Building Purpose-Driven Organizations
By: George Serafeim and David Freiberg
In 2015, Reynir Indahl left top Nordic private equity firm Altor Equity Partners to found Summa Equity (Summa). After long contemplation following the financial crisis, Indahl was convinced the financial system was producing negative externalities and that the current...
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Keywords:
Corporate Purpose;
ESG;
ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance;
Social Impact;
Investment Management;
Management Practices;
Innovation;
Voice;
Environmental Impact;
Private Equity;
Social Enterprise;
Finance;
Capital Markets;
Management Practices and Processes;
Innovation Leadership;
Leadership;
Innovation and Management;
Entrepreneurship;
Mission and Purpose;
Value Creation;
Financial Services Industry;
Norway;
Sweden;
Scandinavia
Serafeim, George, and David Freiberg. "Summa Equity: Building Purpose-Driven Organizations." Harvard Business School Case 118-028, November 2017. (Revised April 2019.)
- September 2002
- Case
Align Technology, Inc.: Matching Manufacturing Capacity to Sales Demand
By: H. Kent Bowen and Jonathan P Groberg
Align Technology is a four-year-old medical products company that has invented a new product requiring new manufacturing processes. Demand for the new product has grown more slowly than initial forecasts predicted, and the cost structure is preventing the company from...
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Keywords:
Health Care and Treatment;
Collaborative Innovation and Invention;
Problems and Challenges;
Product;
Forecasting and Prediction;
Marketing Strategy;
Sales;
Demand and Consumers;
Production;
Health Industry
Bowen, H. Kent, and Jonathan P Groberg. "Align Technology, Inc.: Matching Manufacturing Capacity to Sales Demand." Harvard Business School Case 603-058, September 2002.
- 21 Nov 2016
- Research & Ideas
It Matters That Your CEO Doesn't Know Much About Sales
retention. He discusses that gap in a recent article in the European Business Review, titled What Senior Executives Should Know About Sales. “If you look at the Fortune 500, there is currently only one CEO who came up the organization...
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Keywords:
by Michael Blanding
- October 1988 (Revised December 1989)
- Case
Siemens Electric Motor Works (B): Pricing Interdivisional Sales
Examines Siemens' policy for pricing products transferred between the manufacturing and sales divisions of their Electric Motor Works, where both are profit centers. It is unique in that the organizational linkage between the product costing system and the transfer...
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Keywords:
Production;
Price;
Organizational Structure;
Profit;
Business Processes;
Manufacturing Industry
Wruck, Karen. "Siemens Electric Motor Works (B): Pricing Interdivisional Sales." Harvard Business School Case 189-090, October 1988. (Revised December 1989.)
- 09 Oct 2001
- Research & Ideas
Driven: How Human Nature Shapes Organizations
and Nohria examine how an organization built around the four-drive theory might look. The return from your work must be the satisfaction which that work brings you and the world's need of work. With it, life is heaven, or as near heaven...
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Keywords:
by Paul Lawrence & Nitin Nohria
- November 2012
- Article
The Organization of Firms Across Countries
By: Nicholas Bloom, Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen
We argue that social capital as proxied by trust increases aggregate productivity by affecting the organization of firms. To do this we collect new data on the decentralization of investment, hiring, production, and sales decisions from Corporate Headquarters to local...
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Keywords:
Decentralization;
Social Capital;
Theory Of The Firm;
Firm Objectives, Organization, And Behavior;
Business Economics;
Management Of Technological Innovation And R&D;
Technological Change: Choices And Consequences;
Diffusion Processes;
Organizational Structure;
Performance Productivity;
Trust;
Technology Adoption;
Multinational Firms and Management
Bloom, Nicholas, Raffaella Sadun, and John Van Reenen. "The Organization of Firms Across Countries." Quarterly Journal of Economics 127, no. 4 (November 2012). (Slides from 2008, Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 12-005, August 2011.)