Publications
Publications
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(2,524)
- Faculty Publications (371)
- 2007
- Working Paper
Global Competitors as Next-Door Neighbors: Competition and Geographic Concentration in the Semiconductor Industry
By: Minyuan Zhao and Juan Alcacer
Despite the many advantages offered by technology clusters, firms located in them face the risk of losing valuable knowledge to nearby competitors. In this study, we argue that multi-location firms strategically organize their R&D activities to appropriate the value of... View Details
- February 2007 (Revised November 2011)
- Case
Esquel Group: Integrating Business Strategy and Corporate Social Responsibility
By: F. Warren McFarlan, William C. Kirby and Tracy Manty
Focuses on the experience of China's largest shirt manufacturer in managing various aspects of government relations in China. Identifies a wide variety of social initiatives it has undertaken. View Details
- January 2007
- Article
Acquisitions and Firm Growth: Creating Unilever's Ice Cream and Tea Business
By: G. Jones and Peter Miskell
This article provides a longitudinal case study of the use of acquisitions by the Anglo-Dutch multinational Unilever to build the world's largest ice cream and tea businesses. The study supports recent resource-based theory which argues that complementary rather than... View Details
- October 2006 (Revised August 2007)
- Case
RKS Guitars
By: Elie Ofek, Thomas J. Steenburgh, Michael I. Norton and Kerry Herman
RKS has designed a revolutionary electric guitar and needs to decide how to best market their innovation. The iconic status of existing electric guitars, and the lack of any recent radical innovations in the category, pose challenges in securing consumer adoption. If... View Details
- 2006
- Other Unpublished Work
Does Competition Increase Patent Litigation? Empirical Evidence of Strategic Patenting in the Telecom Equipment Industry
By: Juan Alcacer and Rachelle C. Sampson
Anecdotal evidence suggests that patent litigation has increased in the last 20 years as firms in knowledge intensive industries use patents more frequently to protect their knowledge stocks and managers focus on extracting new revenue streams from existing patent... View Details
- April 2006 (Revised June 2008)
- Case
New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc.
By: H. Kent Bowen, Robert S. Huckman and Carin-Isabel Knoop
Considers whether New Balance, one of the world's five largest manufacturers of athletic footwear, should respond to Adidas' planned acquisition of Reebok--a transaction that would join the second- and third-largest companies in the industry. Highlights the unique... View Details
- April 2006 (Revised September 2009)
- Case
BYD Company, Ltd.
By: Robert S. Huckman and Alan D. MacCormack
Considers whether BYD Co., Ltd., the largest Chinese maker of rechargeable batteries, should enter the Chinese automobile industry by acquiring Qinchuan Auto, a state-owned car manufacturer. Set just after BYD's initial public offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange... View Details
- March 2006
- Course Overview Note
International Finance: A Course Overview Note
By: Mihir A. Desai
Describes the International Finance course at Harvard Business School, which argues that the forces of globalization have fundamentally changed the scope and activities of firms, thereby altering the practice of finance within these firms. As a consequence of an... View Details
- Article
The Information Technology Ecosystem: Structure, Health, and Performance
By: Marco Iansiti and Gregory L. Richards
A number of modern industries are organized as complex networks of firms whose integrated efforts are necessary to deliver value to end customers. The complexity of these networks, or business ecosystems, and the associated interdependencies among firms, make... View Details
- Article
Policy Implications of Weak Patent Rights
By: James J. Anton, Hillary Greene and Dennis Yao
Patents vary substantially in the degree of protection provided against unauthorized imitation. In this chapter we explore a range of work addressing the economic and policy implications of "weak" patents—patents that have a significant probability of being overturned... View Details
- December 2005 (Revised February 2006)
- Case
Migros
By: Forest L. Reinhardt, Vincent Marie Dessain and Anders Sjoman
In October 2005, Urs Riedener, head of marketing at Swiss retailer Migros, is contemplating the company's competitive position. Primarily a retailer for foods and near-foods products, the cooperative Migros, with close to 600 retail outlets in Switzerland (but only... View Details
Keywords: Competitive Advantage; Corporate Governance; Corporate Strategy; Cooperative Ownership; Supply Chain Management; Product Marketing; Environmental Sustainability; Social Enterprise; Business or Company Management; Marketing Strategy; Retail Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Switzerland
- July 2005 (Revised April 2006)
- Case
Carnival Cruise Lines
By: Lynda M. Applegate, Robert Kwortnik and Gabriele Piccoli
Highlights the potential value of customer data and the choices and challenges the firm faces when attempting to capture this value. Carnival collects a significant amount of individual-level behavioral and demographic customer data. Senior management must now decide... View Details
- June 2005 (Revised August 2011)
- Case
Narayana Hrudayalaya Heart Hospital: Cardiac Care for the Poor (A)
By: Tarun Khanna, V. Kasturi Rangan and Merlina Manocaran
Describes the mission, vision, and strategy of a team of entrepreneurs headed by a charismatic heart surgeon who founded a heart hospital in Bangalore, India. The purpose of the hospital was to offer health care for the masses. This tertiary care hospital performed... View Details
- June 2005 (Revised June 2006)
- Case
Ducati Corse: The Making of a Grand Prix Motorcycle
By: Francesca Gino and Gary P. Pisano
Examines the product development strategy and processes of the Ducati motorcycle racing team during the 2003-2004 Grand Prix seasons. Invites discussion of appropriate design and development strategies to facilitate learning across product generations. Specifically,... View Details
- April–May 2005
- Article
Markets for Partially-Contractible Knowledge: Bootstrapping Versus Bundling
By: James J Anton and Dennis A. Yao
We discuss how a seller can appropriate rents when selling knowledge that lacks legal property rights by solving either an expropriation or a valuation problem and then analyze how seller rents increase when a portion of the intellectual property (IP) can be protected.... View Details
- January 2005 (Revised February 2005)
- Case
Ray Rogers and the Corporate Campaign (A)
By: James K. Sebenius and Michael A. Wheeler
Sets the stage for analyzing the strategy of labor organizer Ray Rogers in bringing J.P. Stevens to the bargaining table when conventional union tactics failed. Though set in the specific context of labor-management relations, it illustrates much more fundamental... View Details
- 2005
- Article
Increasing Exploration: Evidence from International Expansion
By: Juan Alcacer, Heather Berry and Wilbur Chung
While firms balance exploitation and exploration to maximize profits, specifics of how firms pursue this balance are scarce. We focus on how firms increase their exploration after obtaining greater capabilities and experience via sequential international expansion.... View Details
Keywords: Price Bubble; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Industry Growth; Research and Development; Profit; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Disruptive Innovation; Five Forces Framework; SWOT Analysis; Duopoly and Oligopoly; Manufacturing Industry; Japan; United States
- November 2004 (Revised September 2007)
- Case
The Mitchell Family and Mitchells/Richards
By: Amy C. Edmondson, John A. Davis, Corey B. Hajim and Kelly Mulderry
Describes a small, luxury retail chain's operational sophistication achieved through the use of technology and "high-touch" customer service. A family-run business, Mitchells has built its success with a customer service strategy known internally as "hugging." The term... View Details
- September 2004 (Revised October 2005)
- Case
Sapient Corporation
By: Rakesh Khurana and Joel Podolny
Describes the start-up, growth, organizational design, and operations over the first 10 years of a professional services firm. Focuses on the creative use of organizational purpose and values as an integral part of strategy and alignment of organizational activities. View Details
- September 2004 (Revised December 2004)
- Case
Metso Paper: Globalization of Finnish Metal Workshops
By: Lynda M. Applegate, Marikka Heikkila and Kalle Lyytinen
Metso Paper, the world's largest producer of paper machines, aims to transform itself into a knowledge- and information-based service and solution provider for the paper industry by aggressively exploiting information technologies. In the fall of 2002, Jorma Hujala, a... View Details