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• Case | HBS Case Collection | June 2020 (Revised November 2020)

  Vanguard Retail Operations (A)

  Willy C. Shih and Antonio Moreno

  The first two cases in this series are set in the financial services industry, and explore whether it is better for back-office workers to be generalists who provide the flexibility of being able to handle the complete range of transactions that the company faces or specialists who focus on a subset of the overall transaction mix. The objective is to introduce the advantages of demand pooling in reducing the variability associated with the forecasting of highly variable workloads, while also demonstrating the benefits to worker learning and efficiency improvements that can come from specialization.
  
  The case is set at the Retail Investor Group Operations of the Vanguard Group, the mutual funds and ETF giant. Karin Risi, the managing director, is faced with a back-office operation that hasn’t kept up with massive transaction growth, one that is struggling under the weight of mounting client phone call and transaction volumes, client complaints, and buckling employee morale. And worse, the press was taking notice. The (A) case details the complexity in the growing backlog and frames the question of whether they should pursue a specialist model. The (B) case, for distribution in class, details the impact of an initial segmentation of workload into eight categories and poses additional questions for class discussion and analysis.

  Keywords: pooling; generalist model; specialist model; Operations; Service Operations; Management; Financial Services Industry; United States;

  Citation:

  Shih, Willy C., and Antonio Moreno. "Vanguard Retail Operations (A)." Harvard Business School Case 620-104, June 2020. (Revised November 2020.)  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | October 2017 (Revised October 2020)

  Coaching Makena Lane

  Ethan Bernstein and Om Lala

  Makena Lane has a gift for producing results, even in the challenging retail context of the 2010s, but she also has a knack for “ruffling some feathers” in the process. Recruited to a Fortune 500 grocery and pharmacy retailer after climbing to Associate Principal in McKinsey & Company’s retail practice, she successfully grew their high-margin yet highly competitive beauty category beyond anyone’s expectations. Yet then she was passed over for promotion, receiving the feedback that her “concerning” and “abrasive” interpersonal style had made it impossible to promote her. Instead of a promotion, Lane is offered an executive coach.
  
  The case offers a uniquely in-depth (and intimate) view of how Lane approaches the one-year coaching engagement and the outputs from it, including her pre-coaching self-reflection, agreed-upon purpose and outcomes, 360 feedback, the coach’s advice to her, an in-depth coach’s final report, and Lane’s one-pager of lessons learned.
  
  At the end of the year of coaching, Lane’s boss unexpectedly departs, leaving Lane with a direct path to promotion. Senior leadership now once again faces the difficult decision of whether to promote Lane, this time based on their assessment of whether Lane has authentically transformed through coaching or just taken superficial steps to check off boxes on the way to promotion.

  Keywords: executive coaching; employee promotions; career transition from consulting to operating role; 360-degree feedback; retail; organizational behavior; Personal strategy ＆ style; mentoring; Personal Development and Career; coaching; Talent and Talent Management; Growth and Development; Employees; Leadership Style; Leadership Development; Management Style; Performance Evaluation; Personal Development and Career; Retail Industry; Australia; Europe; Canada; South Africa; United States; Asia;

  Citation:

  Bernstein, Ethan, and Om Lala. "Coaching Makena Lane." Harvard Business School Case 418-031, October 2017. (Revised October 2020.)  View Details

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• Teaching Plan | HBS Case Collection | October 2020

  Merck: COVID-19 Vaccines

  Willy C. Shih

  COVID-19 infections were still climbing across the U.S. and many other parts of the world in September 2020, and it seemed that every time Ken Frazier, the CEO of Merck & Co. consented to an interview in recent months he always seemed to hear the same question, “Where’s Merck?” The company, a leader in the global vaccine business had a low public profile even though it was working assiduously on two vaccine candidates for the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. The U.S. Government had initiated a high profile program—Operation Warp Speed (OWS)—to accelerate the development of vaccines, but Merck was notably absent. Should Merck seek or accept funding from OWS, and what terms might accompany such an agreement?

  Keywords: vaccines; Health Pandemics; Health Testing and Trials; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Research and Development; Business Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States;

  Citation:

  Shih, Willy C. "Merck: COVID-19 Vaccines." Harvard Business School Teaching Plan 621-067, October 2020.  View Details

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