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Publications
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- Faculty Publications (2,671)
- January 1998 (Revised September 1998)
- Case
Staples (A)
By: Myra M. Hart, Marco Iansiti and Barbara Feinberg
Chronicles development of a new business concept. Starts with Stemberg's search for a new employment opportunity, then provides details of his decision to launch a new venture concept through careful matching of personal capabilities and experience against a variety of... View Details
- January 1998 (Revised February 2006)
- Background Note
Creating Competitive Advantage
By: Pankaj Ghemawat and Jan W. Rivkin
A firm such as Schering-Plough that earns superior, long-run financial returns within its industry is said to enjoy a competitive advantage over its rivals. This note examines the logic of how firms create competitive advantage. It emphasizes two themes: First, to... View Details
- January 1998 (Revised April 2001)
- Case
Acer America: Development of the Aspire
By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Anthony St. George
Follows the development, national launch, and global rollout of the Aspire, Acer's first new product developed outside of Taiwan. Implementing a very promising new PC concept proves challenging to Mike Culver and his U.S. team, who are plagued by coordination problems... View Details
- January 1998 (Revised April 1998)
- Case
Lincoln Electric: Venturing Abroad
By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Jamie O'Connell
Lincoln Electric, a 100-year-old manufacturer of welding equipment and consumables based in Cleveland, Ohio, motivates its U.S. employees through a culture of cooperation between management and labor and an unusual compensation system based on piecework and a large... View Details
- January 1998 (Revised February 2002)
- Case
Funai Consulting Company, Ltd. (A)
By: Lynn S. Paine and Tomoya Nakamura
In the summer of 1997, a consultant at Japan's Funai Consulting Co. Ltd., must decide how to respond to a client's proposal to offer "open pricing" (based on willingness to pay) to customers unable to pay the standard price for the client's product. The client, Akita... View Details
- January 1998 (Revised September 2001)
- Background Note
A Note on Angel Financing
By: Paul A. Gompers
Discusses the economics of the private equity market and recent efforts by the U.S. Small Business Administration to promote greater angel financing. View Details
- December 1997 (Revised April 1998)
- Case
www.springs.com
By: F. Warren McFarlan and Melissa Dailey
Business Week's June 1997 "Rising Star" profile of Springs Industries' president and COO, Crandall Bowles, reported that she was poised to become one of the top two or three women executives in the country. In November 1997, the company announced Bowles' appointment to... View Details
- December 1997 (Revised February 2000)
- Case
Hewlett Packard: Creating, Running, and Growing an Enduring Company
By: H. Kent Bowen and Courtney Purrington
Traces the development of Hewlett-Packard Co. from a small start-up company in 1938 to a world-class manufacturer of electronic instruments and computer products. Examines the challenges of starting and running a small company, including financing, human resources... View Details
- December 1997 (Revised May 1998)
- Case
CUC and HFS: Corporate Identity for a "Merger of Equals"
By: Stephen A. Greyser and Robert J. Crawford
In the wake of a major $20 billion market capitalization "merger of equals," two large consumer service firms must determine a new name for the new entity. Neither CUC nor HFS is well known among consumers. The CUC Services (e.g., shopping, travel, credit card... View Details
- November 1997
- Case
Colly Cotton Ltd.
By: Ray A. Goldberg and Tom Clay
Colly Farm is an entrepreneurial cotton farm complex that has to compete on a world market. In going public it has to satisfy the market that it can remain profitable in volatile times. View Details
- November 1997 (Revised December 2000)
- Case
Corn Products International, Inc.
By: Ray A. Goldberg and Tom Clay
A firm that started in corn processing and moved up the value-added food chain decides to spin-off the original commodity part of the business. How does the new spin-off survive and how does it develop a strategy? Firms in the food system are separating out their... View Details
- November 1997 (Revised December 1999)
- Case
Cinemex
By: James L. Heskett
The founders of Cinemex, the largest capitalized venture start-up in Mexican history, are debating several issues concerning the operations of their new chain of motion picture theatres in Mexico City. The first concerns whether some seats should be left unsold to... View Details
- November 1997 (Revised July 1999)
- Case
Guidant: Cardiac Rhythm Management Business (A)
By: Steven C. Wheelwright and Mikelle Eastley
Examines the choices Guidant must make in research and development spending and new product development. More specifically, CEO Jay Graf considers the payoffs and tradeoffs of using product development skills that he learned in CPI's core business when applied to a... View Details
- November 1997 (Revised October 2000)
- Case
Interactive Minds (A)
By: William A. Sahlman, Michael J. Roberts and Christina L. Darwall
The efforts of two recent Harvard Business School graduates to start a venture capital/consulting firm focused on opportunities related to the Internet are recounted. Raises the question of what the nature of this opportunity is, how well-positioned the protagonists... View Details
- November 1997
- Case
National Pork Producers Council
By: Ray A. Goldberg and Tom Clay
Al Tank, CEO of the National Pork Products Council, is facing an environmental and structural crisis in the U.S. pork industry. Can he resolve the environmental and image problems of his industry in time? Can he receive the support of both his growers and the... View Details
- October 1997 (Revised June 1998)
- Case
Woolworths South Africa
By: David B. Yoffie and Anthony St. George
Woolworths South Africa is one of the most successful retail chains in the country, modeled on Marks and Spencer of the United Kingdom. This case focuses on the sources of Woolworth's competitive advantage within South Africa and the challenges of growth in the wake of... View Details
- October 1997 (Revised October 1997)
- Case
Egon Zehnder International (B)
By: Michael Y. Yoshino, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Cate Reavis
In 1994, Egon Zehnder faced stagnation in the U.S. market and needed to discuss plans for intiating growth. Due to market demand the firm was not forced to implement options contemplated in 1994 to initiate growth. View Details
- October 1997 (Revised September 2003)
- Case
Eli Lilly and Company: Drug Development Strategy (A)
By: Stefan H. Thomke, Ashok Nimgade and Paul Pospisil
Describes how Eli Lilly and Co. tries to accelerate its new drug development process with the aid of "combinatorial chemistry"--a rapidly emerging and revolutionary approach to preclinical drug discovery. The product manager of a potential blockbuster migraine drug... View Details
- September 1997 (Revised October 1997)
- Case
Bayer AG (A)
By: John A. Quelch
Bayer's senior executives convene in Germany to consider submitting a $1 billion bid that would recover the Bayer brand name and trademark cross in North America, both of which were confiscated by the U.S. government after World War I. The group also sets out to assess... View Details
- September 1997
- Case
Bayer AG (B)
By: John A. Quelch
Bayer's senior executives detail the communications challenge program that resulted from the company's reacquisition of its brand name and trademark cross, which gave Bayer one name worldwide for the first time since World War I. View Details