Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(2,312)
- Faculty Publications (520)
- 2013
- Working Paper
Where do the Most Active Customers Originate and How Can Firms Keep Them Engaged?
By: Clarence Lee, E. Ofek and Thomas Steenburgh
In this paper, we study how firms offering Web services can acquire and develop an active customer base. We focus on two basic questions. First, how does the method of customer acquisition affect the way customers use the service to meet their own needs and to interact... View Details
- July–August 2013
- Article
A Joint Model of Usage and Churn in Contractual Settings
By: Eva Ascarza and Bruce G.S. Hardie
As firms become more customer-centric, concepts such as customer equity come to the fore. Any serious attempt to quantify customer equity requires modeling techniques that can provide accurate multiperiod forecasts of customer behavior. Although a number of researchers... View Details
- July–August 2013
- Article
Building Sustainable Cities
By: John D. Macomber
By 2050 the number of people living in cities will have nearly doubled, to 6 billion, and the problems created by this rampant urbanization are among the most important challenges of our time. Of all resource-management issues, the author argues, water, electricity,... View Details
- July 24, 2013
- Article
Family Business: How to Spot a Patriarch Problem
By: Josh Baron and Rob Lachenauer
In this article, the authors discuss the concept of a "problem patriarch" in family businesses, using the example of Carl, a successful leader who undermined the talent he hired. Carl started a struggling $10 million automotive parts distributor and turned it into a $2... View Details
- June 2013 (Revised March 2016)
- Case
Estonia: Transition, EU Membership, and the Euro
By: Michael E. Porter, Christian Ketels and Örjan Sölvell
The case discusses the economic development of Estonia, covering specifically the period from regaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 until 2015. It tracks the process from the initial transition towards a market economy to becoming an EU member country,... View Details
- May 2013
- Case
Bridgewater Associates
By: Jeffrey T. Polzer and Heidi K. Gardner
Bridgewater Associates was the world's largest hedge fund with approximately $120 billion in assets under management in mid-2012, and its leaders attribute its record-beating performance to the firm's culture of "radical transparency." The founder, Ray Dalio, was... View Details
- 2013
- Article
Immigration and Employer Transitions for STEM Workers
By: Sari Pekkala Kerr and William R. Kerr
We analyze the career trajectories of STEM workers and firm-level hiring of immigrants using the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) database of the US Census Bureau. We find STEM career adjustments during periods of abnormally high immigration into the... View Details
- March 27, 2013
- Article
Downton Abbey: Real Life Lessons for Trust & Estate Advisors
By: Josh Baron and Devin Bird
The article discusses how the TV series "Downton Abbey" reflects challenges and opportunities faced by business families. The show's storyline, centered around the aristocratic Crawley family and their estate, parallels real-world situations where business families... View Details
- February 2013 (Revised December 2015)
- Case
Groom Energy Solutions: Selling Efficiency
By: Michael W. Toffel, Kira R. Fabrizio and Stephanie van Sice
Groom Energy Solutions helps organizations reduce their energy use and costs through the implementation of energy efficiency measures, which create long-term financial and environmental benefits. With early success serving customers in the cold storage and industrial... View Details
Keywords: Groom Energy Solutions; Jon Guerster; Salem, MA; Energy Management; Energy Efficiency Paradox; Sustainability Management; Manufacturing; Cold Storage; Commercial Real Estate; Enterprise Smart Grid; Carbon Accounting; LED Lighting; Sustainability Research; Entrepreneurship; Environmental Entrepreneurship; Energy Entrepreneurship; Energy Services; Electricity; Startup; Expansion; Growth; Sustainability; Business Startups; Forecasting and Prediction; Energy Conservation; Revenue; Geographic Location; Human Resources; Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Operations; Service Delivery; Strategic Planning; Science; Environmental Sustainability; Climate Change; Society; Social Issues; Technology Adoption; Energy Industry; Green Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Utilities Industry; United States; Boston
- December 2012 (Revised March 2015)
- Case
AmTran Technology Ltd.
By: Willy Shih, Jyun-Cheng Wang and Karen E. Robinson
As an original design manufacturer (ODM) of television sets and leading supplier to Vizio, a market leader in the U.S. for LCD flat panel TVs, AmTran Technology Ltd. uses what founder Alpha Wu describes as a "WE" model in which western companies perform sales,... View Details
Keywords: Modularity; Technology Transitions; Analog; Digital; Television; TV; Flat-panel; ATSC; NTSC; Video; Global Strategy; Innovation and Management; Innovation Leadership; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Development; Product Design; Supply Chain; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Technology Adoption; Technology Platform; Electronics Industry; Taiwan; United States; Japan
- October 2012 (Revised February 2013)
- Case
Innova Capital: The Transition
By: Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon
The partners at Innova Capital, a leading mid-market private equity investor in Poland, must negotiate a transition of power between the two ex-patriate founders and three talented young Polish partners. If they fail to find an accomodation, the entire firm will... View Details
- October 2012
- Teaching Note
The Guardian: Transition to the Online World and The Newspaper Industry in Crisis (TN)
By: David J. Collis
- September 2012
- Case
SCMS: Battling HIV/AIDS in Africa
By: Ananth Raman, Noel Watson, Santiago Kraiselburd and Emmanuel Akili
In 2005, USAID and the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), created the Supply Chain Management System (SCMS) to procure and distribute essential medicines and supplies; provide technical assistance to transform existing supply chains; and... View Details
Keywords: HIV; AIDS; Procurement Coordination; Developing Countries; Healthcare; Public Health; Ethiopia; Supply Systems For Healthcare Delivery In Developing Countries; Healthcare Logistics Industry; Health Disorders; Health Care and Treatment; Service Delivery; Supply Chain Management; Logistics; Developing Countries and Economies; Programs; Transition; Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry; Health Industry; Ethiopia; Africa
- August 2012 (Revised August 2013)
- Background Note
Competency-Destroying Technology Transitions: Why the Transition to Digital Is Particularly Challenging
By: Willy Shih
Some technology transitions are exceedingly difficult for incumbent firms to execute. The bankruptcy filing by the Eastman Kodak Company highlighted the difficulty companies faced when their core business transitioned from an analog to a digital world. Kodak's business... View Details
Keywords: Technology Transitions; Competency-destroying; Digital; Analog; Digital Transition; Modular; Modularity; Technological Change; Radical Innovation; Incremental Innovation; Architectural Innovation; Modular Innovation; Sustaining Innovation; Competency-enhancing; Noise Propagation; Perfect Copying; Digital Music; Digital Media; Consumer Electronics; Kodak; Sony; Panasonic; Disruptive Innovation; Technology Adoption; Transition; Change Management; Consumer Products Industry; United States
- September 2012
- Other Article
An Interview with Michael Porter: Social Entrepreneurship and the Transformation of Capitalism
By: Michaela Driver and Michael E. Porter
In this interview Michael Porter explores social entrepreneurship in the context of a larger transformation of capitalism. He suggests that social entrepreneurship is an important transitional vehicle toward the creation of shared value and a capitalist system in which... View Details
- May 2012
- Case
Quietly Brilliant: Transformational Change at HTC
By: Michael L. Tushman and Kerry Herman
The case examines smartphone maker HTC's 2006 decision to become a branded company. The case focuses on the cultural and organizational shifts HTC underwent to successfully make the transition from an ODM, founded in 1997, to a leading branded manufacturer (7% market... View Details
- February 2012 (Revised January 2013)
- Case
The New York Times Paywall
On March 28, 2011, The New York Times website became a restricted site where most of the content was protected behind a "paywall." Users who exceeded the limit of 20 free articles per month were required to pay for either a digital or print subscription. The newspaper... View Details
- 2012
- Case
ChemChina
By: F. Warren McFarlan, Donghong Li, Lei Li and Hong Zhang
ChemChina is China's largest basic chemical manufacturing firm. It was included in Fortune Global 500 in 2011 and 2012, ranked No. 475 and 402. Its sales revenue in 2011 was 179 billion yuan, and profit was 600 million yuan. The year-end total assets were 254.2 billion... View Details
- 2012
- Teaching Note
ChemChina (TN)
By: F. Warren McFarlan, Donghong Li, Lei Li and Hong Zhang
ChemChina is China's largest basic chemical manufacturing firm. It was included in Fortune Global 500 in 2011 and 2012, ranked No. 475 and 402. Its sales revenue in 2011 was 179 billion yuan, and profit was 600 million yuan. The year-end total assets were 254.2 billion... View Details
- September 2011
- Article
Taking Gender into Account: Theory and Design for Women's Leadership Development Programs
By: Robin J. Ely, Herminia Ibarra and Deborah Kolb
We conceptualize leadership development as identity work and show how subtle forms of gender bias in the culture and in organizations interfere with the identity work of women leaders. Based on this insight, we revisit traditional approaches to standard leadership... View Details