This case describes the efforts of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to lower the cost of production of vaccines to prevent polio infections. It is an abridged version of Case No. 620-021 with less emphasis on comparison between traditional and the new compact modular process developed with the Foundation''s funding. It focuses more on the lowering of entry barriers to vaccine manufacture and some of the perceived risks associated with .....more

Why do people presume that highly attractive female executives are less honest and less trustworthy than their ordinary-looking counterparts?

Unlike rankings that are based on subjective evaluations or short-term metrics, HBR''s annual list of the best-performing CEOs in the world relies on objective performance measures over a chief executive''s entire tenure--and these "career numbers" tend to hold steady. It''s no surprise, then, that 65 of last year''s CEOs reappear this year. They do so despite a change in our methodology: This year we weighted .....more

In the face of rapid, disruptive change, companies are realizing that managers can''t be expected to have all the answers and that command-and-control leadership is no longer viable. As a result, many firms are moving toward a coaching model in which managers facilitate problem solving and encourage employees'' development by asking questions and offering support and guidance rather than issuing directives and making judgments. The .....more

Supplement to case 719019

This case on Delhivery highlights how a young enterprise had grown phenomenally, embracing a variety of business models - hyperlocal delivery, software-as-a-service, pipeline business models for services, and a platform business model. The case is particularly useful to highlight how each of these business models within the firm complement each other, and what value addition they do to each other''s business verticals and stakeholders. Being .....more

This industry note is a supplement to the case ""Delhivery: Leveraging the Platform"".

In 2018, Al Baba Sweets was a major player in the Arabic sweets and confectionery industry in Lebanon. However, in the midst of a rough patch in the country''s economy, the company was suffering from decreasing revenues. Any major decision concerning the future of the third-generation family business would have to be made carefully. New, smaller competitors were entering the market alongside the industry''s large, long-time players. .....more

In late 2017, the co-owners of Rocky Mountain Soap Company in Canmore, Alberta, faced an important challenge. Their company produced and retailed toxin-free, 100 per cent natural bath and body products, and they wanted the product packaging to reflect their company''s commitment to sustainability. To meet the challenge of identifying and implementing sustainable packaging solutions, the co-owners needed to address intensifying competition, .....more