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• Supplement | HBS Case Collection | May 2019

  Amazon's HQ2 (C): Choices

  Karen Mills and Jan W. Rivkin

  Amazon’s initial request for proposals for a second headquarters (HQ2), released in September 2017, attracted great attention and, ultimately, proposals from 238 cities and regions in North America. This case discusses the company's decision to split its HQ2 between two locations, and the ensuing response from local politicians and the public.

  Keywords: economic development; headquarters; local government; incentives; Business Headquarters; Business and Government Relations; Development Economics;

  Citation:

  Mills, Karen, and Jan W. Rivkin. "Amazon's HQ2 (C): Choices." Harvard Business School Supplement 719-465, May 2019.  View Details

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• Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | July 2018 (Revised March 2019)

  Hilti (A): Fleet Management?

  Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Jan Rivkin

  This Teaching Note accompanies the case HBS No. 718-419, “Hilti (A): Fleet Management.” It provides guidelines for class discussion, as well as a board plan and transcripts of the associated videos, Hilti Fleet Management Video Supplements.
  The associated case explores the strategic decision-making process of premium power tools manufacturer Hilti in 1999, when the company was considering implementing a fleet management system in the construction industry. Fleet management would involve a shift from selling power tools to leasing them as a service. For Hilti, it represented an entirely new business model, which would substantially differentiate the company from its competitors. While fleet management had the potential to significantly improve the customer experience, Hilti was already a successful firm under its extant model and had to decide whether the restructuring of its business model was worth the risk.

  Keywords: business model innovation; total customer value; innovation; Inventions; business models; Value chains; Transformations; focusing on customers; Business Model; Restructuring; Transformation; Customer Value and Value Chain; Decision Making; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Relationship Management; Construction; Innovation and Invention; Leasing; Strategy; Liechtenstein; Switzerland; Europe;

  Citation:

  Casadesus-Masanell, Ramon, and Jan Rivkin. "Hilti (A): Fleet Management?" Harvard Business School Teaching Note 719-404, July 2018. (Revised March 2019.)  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | December 2018

  Corporate Transformation at Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany

  Joseph B. Fuller, Amy C. Edmondson, Daniela Beyersdorfer and Tonia Labruyere

  When Stefan Oschmann became CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, in 2016, the company had started its transformation from a mid-tier traditional German industry player to a global modern science and technology player. The restructuring and portfolio overhaul led by Oschmann’s predecessor Karl-Ludwig Kley since 2007 had been approved by the Merck founding family in its 13th generation, which still owned the majority of the shares. Its intermediate results had been encouraging. After three large acquisitions (Serono, Millipore, and Sigma-Aldrich) that broadened its reach from healthcare and pharmaceuticals into life sciences and performance materials and an internal optimization program, revenues and profitability had doubled in the decade leading up to 2016. But more needed to be done. Preparing for the company’s 350-year anniversary in 2018, Oschmann had kept up the pace of change, and announced further divestments and restructurings, sparking reactions from employees who expressed increasing exasperation about the new measures. In the fall of 2017 Oschmann and his Executive Board had to decide on the best strategic option for the company’s consumer health division. Should they divest a division that lacked scale but that with its consumer brands in pain and cold remedies was viewed as a symbol of the company’s origins? Was more change too much change in such a short time?

  Keywords: Corporate governance with Family Ownership; Transformation; Change Management; Restructuring; Corporate Governance; Family Ownership;

  Citation:

  Fuller, Joseph B., Amy C. Edmondson, Daniela Beyersdorfer, and Tonia Labruyere. "Corporate Transformation at Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany." Harvard Business School Case 319-072, December 2018.  View Details

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