11 Crucial Lessons Everyone Learns In Business School

MBA students at top-tier business schools learn the critical accounting, marketing, and management skills required to run a successful business.

One of the main ways they learn these skills is through case studies, a teaching method borrowed from the sciences and first applied to corporate analysis by Harvard Business School.

Students are presented with some of the most difficult business situations in corporate history and then discuss how a company either triumphed spectacularly or failed miserably.

We asked several professors from top business schools — including Laurence Capron of INSEAD, Tim Vogus of Vanderbilt University, Aaron Chatterji of Duke University, and Gautam Ahuja of the University of Michigan — to share the most important case studies they teach their students. We’ve highlighted the main takeaway from each.

Why Apple changed its name

Case: Apple Inc., 2008

Key takeaway: Sometimes you can’t take a rival head on.

What happened: Apple changed its name from “Apple Computers” to “Apple Inc.” in 2007. That reflected a fundamental shift in its business, away from its iconic Mac computers and towards new lines like the iPod and new iPhone, which made up more than half of the company’s revenue then.

While computers were an important part of the company, Apple’s success came from its digital devices business rather than beating Windows and Intel for share of the personal computer market. It successfully reinvented itself.

How bad communication nearly ruined a manager’s career

Case: Erik Peterson

Key takeaway: Playing politics can be unavoidable.

What happened: The case, which has several fictionalized variations to hide identities, follows Erik Peterson, a recent MBA graduate who is the general manager at a subsidiary of a large scientific materials company in the mid-2000s. Peterson’s group is developing an innovative piece of surgical equipment but is behind schedule. He offers a plan to meet a revised target, to be reviewed by headquarters.

Though hard working, highly educated, and competent, Peterson has trouble playing office politics and struggles dealing with his manager. He does not know who exactly he needs to report to and personnel problems accumulate amid the confusion. Peterson tries isolating himself from the chaos and works harder and harder on his own — while his team falls apart.

Eventually, the company gets restructured, and Peterson gets the boot. 

How USA Today reinvented itself

Case: USA Today: Pursuing The Network Strategy

Key takeaway: Sometimes the old guard can’t handle a new reality.

What happened: Facing falling circulation of the daily newspaper and the rise of digital news, USA Today CEO Tom Curley saw the need to better integrate his businesses. He wanted to leverage and share content across the company’s online, television, and print platforms.

His management team and staff were resistant, claiming insurmountable divides in culture and work style. Curley had to make the case that this was essential for the future of the business, and eventually replaced five of his seven senior managers as part of the change.

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11 Crucial Lessons Everyone Learns In Business School