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• Case | HBS Case Collection | June 2019 (Revised July 2019)

  Building a Meritocracy at Alghanim Industries

  Paul M. Healy, Susanna Gallani and Esel Çekin

  Building on his father’s legacy, Omar Alghanim (MBA 2002) had been working on strengthening a performance-driven culture based on meritocracy in the family business, Alghanim Industries. The task had been particularly challenging because of traditional Middle East practice of relying on relationships and influence to conduct business. Omar’s vision attracted and empowered like-minded employees who were rewarded on merit and who delivered on the firm’s mission of providing excellent service to its customers. Together, they revamped the company’s performance and compensation system and established a well-structured control and compliance mechanism. The next challenge for Omar was to transform the workforce from a mono-culture, male-dominant expat community to a diverse mix of people, cultures, backgrounds, and viewpoints. In particular, he needed to find a way to attract talented women and local Kuwaitis to become part of his organization.

  Keywords: meritocracy; Social Norms; Family Business; Organizational Culture; Performance; Diversity; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Middle East; Kuwait;

  Citation:

  Healy, Paul M., Susanna Gallani, and Esel Çekin. "Building a Meritocracy at Alghanim Industries." Harvard Business School Case 119-019, June 2019. (Revised July 2019.)  View Details

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• Technical Note | HBS Case Collection | January 2019 (Revised June 2019)

  U.S. Commercial Health Insurance Industry

  Susanna Gallani, Mary Witkowski and Harry B. Wolberg

  Citation:

  Gallani, Susanna, Mary Witkowski, and Harry B. Wolberg. "U.S. Commercial Health Insurance Industry." Harvard Business School Technical Note 119-064, January 2019. (Revised June 2019.)  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | November 2017 (Revised June 2019)

  JOE & THE JUICE Crosses the Atlantic (with video link)

  Ethan Rouen and Suraj Srinivasan

  As JOE & THE JUICE began its rapid U.S. expansion in 2017, its founder and CEO, Kaspar Basse, fretted about how he could keep his employees feeling like they were doing meaningful work. Founded in 2001, JOE & THE JUICE had always focused on making healthy juices, banning prepackaged or processed foods, and providing meaningful work for front-line food services employees. To instill employees with a sense of ownership, JOE & THE JUICE had developed a transparent promotion and compensation scheme, a rigid training program, and an explicit promise to promote only from within (the CFO was 31-years-old and had spent a decade working at the company). On the other hand, employees were encouraged to make the juice bars their homes. There were no required uniforms or scripts on how to interact with customers. This strategy had led to great success in Europe. In a decade, JOE & THE JUICE had spread across the continent and was immensely profitable. But as it moved into the United States and prepared for a potential IPO, the company began struggling to retain talent and worried about how it could successfully import its internal culture while maintaining its rapid growth.

  Keywords: Organizational Culture; Employees; Retention; Expansion; Growth Management;

  Citation:

  Rouen, Ethan, and Suraj Srinivasan. "JOE & THE JUICE Crosses the Atlantic (with video link)." Harvard Business School Multimedia/Video Case 118-039, November 2017. (Revised June 2019.)  View Details

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