Cold Call

What’s the value of crowdsourcing technological solutions to societal problems? Could a hackathon help solve the heroin crisis in Cincinnati, Ohio? Harvard Business School professor Mitch Weiss discusses the underlying skepticism and emerging realities that unfold during protagonist Annie Rittgers’ journey to organizing a successful hackathon in his case, “Hacking Heroin.”

With about 54 million Hispanics in the U.S. who have an estimated buying power of 2.3 trillion dollars, it’s no wonder Telemundo is the fastest growing television network here. But as the traditional broadcast market as a whole continues to shrink, Telemundo chairman Cesar Conde grapples with how to redefine Hispanic television to capture millennials consuming media on digital devices. Harvard Business School professor Henry McGee discusses his case entitled “NBCUniversal Telemundo: Transforming Latino Television” — how digitalization and globalization are reshaping the entire media industry, including Telemundo, right now.

Bob Nease, chief scientist at Express Scripts, wants to promote home delivery of prescription drugs by mail — a process proven to lower error rates, increase cost savings, and improve medication adherence. But, if switching to home delivery is beneficial to most employees, why don’t more of them do it? Harvard Business School professor John Beshears describes his case entitled “Express Scripts: Promoting Prescription Drug Home Delivery” — how using choice architecture, or nudging people, can guide employees to making wiser decisions while still respecting their autonomy.

Financial returns are important, but for many companies, using capital to influence positive outcomes is just as important. Enter impact investing and the example of State Street’s SHE, a gender diversity index ETF designed to track U.S. companies leading their industry in placing women on boards of directors and in senior leadership positions. Harvard Business School professor Vikram Gandhi discusses his case entitled “State Street—The Development and Growth of SHE” — the importance of investing for impact and the potential for influence on corporate America.

Faber-Castell is a 255-year-old company that makes pencils. How does an established company like this think about innovation, particularly if and when to adopt a new technology? Harvard Business School professor Ryan Raffaelli’s research looks at established companies that produce beloved products and how they manage technological shifts in their industry and in the world. This case — entitled “Faber-Castell” — explores Faber-Castell’s “companion for life” strategy and its bet to double down on the pencil.

Longchamp’s Le Pliage is one of the fashion world’s most successful products, a cultural icon across the globe. But managing the low priced, nylon handbag is challenging as Longchamp tries to move its brand upmarket into higher priced, luxury leather goods. Harvard Business School professor Jill Avery discusses her case, “Longchamp” regarding the balancing act of cherishing the heritage of an established brand against the need to look forward and grow in the face of a rapidly changing industry.

Pal’s Sudden Service has developed a unique operating model and organizational culture in the fast food restaurant business. With an emphasis on process control, zero errors, and extensive employee training and engagement, Pal’s has been able to achieve excellent performance in an extremely competitive industry. Harvard Business School professor Gary Pisano discusses his case entitled “Pal’s Sudden Service: Scaling an Organizational Model to Drive Growth” — the company’s strategic challenge of deciding how much to grow and whether its organization model will scale.

Advertising in the digital age bears little resemblance to the “Mad Men” depiction — the Don Drapers of advertising have been replaced by big data and the people who work with it. Harvard Business School professor John Deighton, the author of the case, “WPP: From Mad Men to Math Men (and Women),” and Sir Martin Sorrell, founder and group chief executive of WPP and the protagonist in the case, discuss how WPP has been successful in the new advertising world order where algorithms and robots rule.

ShotSpotter provides gunfire detection sensors to cities across the United States. CEO Ralph Clark is interested in taking the company beyond the business-to-government sales model and into new services. Could his company provide a service to colleges and schools concerned with mass shootings? Could the technology be adapted for indoor applications like shopping malls and movie theaters? Or even citywide deployment through smart cities to detect gunfire during terrorist attacks. Harvard Business School professor Mitch Weiss discusses his cases entitled “ShotSpotter” — how moving from one business model to another is difficult, and how successful companies make the transition.

It’s a common challenge for almost every startup: how much and how fast to grow. But Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of the Indian mobile payments and commerce platform Paytm, knows that he wants to take his company to $100 billion and replicate its model in other emerging markets. Harvard Business School professor Sunil Gupta discusses his case “Paytm: Building a Payments Network” — how reaching Sharma’s lofty goal won’t be about technology and finding new solutions, but rather all about finding new use cases for existing solutions.