Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(5,585)
- Faculty Publications (1,042)
- 2013
- Teaching Note
The COFCO Group (TN)
By: F. Warren McFarlan, Zheng Xiaoming and Ziqian Zhao
COFCO was China's sole legitimate window for agricultural foreign trade before 1987. The reform of China's foreign trade system beginning in 1987 cost COFCO its monopoly position. Subsequently, the SOE giant capitalized on its foreign trade expertise to strategically... View Details
- 2013
- Supplement
Yanzhou Coal Mining Company Limited: Overseas Acquisitions (B)
By: F. Warren McFarlan, Yongjun Jin and Xiaohui Li
Yanzhou Coal Mining Company Limited (Yanzhou Coal) is a listed company controlled by Yankuang Group Co., Ltd. (Yankuang Group) which is affiliated to the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) of Shandong Provincial Government, China.... View Details
- December 2012
- Case
Delwarca Software Remote Support Unit
By: Roy D. Shapiro and Paul E. Morrison
Delwarca Software provides business software to large corporate clients around the world. The firm serves customers who prefer to assemble corporate solutions using a combination of software programs from various suppliers rather than implementing a single enterprise... View Details
- December 2012 (Revised January 2015)
- Technical Note
Early Career LBOs Using the Search Fund Model
By: Howard Stevenson, Michael Roberts and Jim Sharpe
The funded search model is one alternative for individuals who, at some point in their career, want to run their own companies. This note looks at the funded search, as a means to entrepreneurship through acquisition and describes the path to buy and run a business... View Details
- December 2012 (Revised August 2013)
- Case
Nestlé: Agricultural Material Sourcing Within the Concept of Creating Shared Value (CSV)
By: Ray A. Goldberg and Lorin A. Fries
Corporate Head of Agriculture Hans Jöhr's mind raced in anticipation of the executive board meeting that afternoon. Jöhr recognized the meeting as a key opportunity to strategize far into the future, reexamining how his team's efforts in sustainable agricultural... View Details
- December 2012
- Article
The Microwork Solution: A New Approach to Outsourcing Can Support Economic Development—and Add to Your Bottom Line
By: Francesca Gino and Bradely R. Staats
What's the best way to lift people out of poverty? The social entrepreneurs in the new "impact sourcing" industry believe the answer is providing work, not aid. Their organizations hire people at the bottom of the pyramid to perform digital tasks such as transcribing... View Details
- 2012
- Working Paper
An Outside-Inside Evolution in Gender and Professional Work
By: Lakshmi Ramarajan, Kathleen McGinn and Deborah Kolb
We study the process by which a professional service firm reshaped its activities and beliefs over nearly two decades as it adapted to shifts in the social discourse regarding gender and work. Analyzing archival data from the firm over eighteen years and... View Details
- November 2012
- Case
CSIRO: The Light Metals Flagship Decision
By: Willy Shih, Margaret P. Pierson and Dawn Lau
This case explores the challenge of investing in basic research as a public good. CSIRO was Australia's leading science and research agency, and it was chartered to enhance national prosperity through R&D. Its Flagships program was designed to align research interests... View Details
Keywords: R＆D; Basic Research; Government-funded Research; Public Goods; Extractive Industries; Metals; Metals Processing; Decision Choices and Conditions; Decisions; Globalized Markets and Industries; Growth and Development; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Research and Development; Science-Based Business; Technology Adoption; Technology Platform; Manufacturing Industry; Mining Industry; Oceania; Australia
- November 2012
- Article
The Organization of Firms Across Countries
By: Nicholas Bloom, Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen
We argue that social capital as proxied by trust increases aggregate productivity by affecting the organization of firms. To do this we collect new data on the decentralization of investment, hiring, production, and sales decisions from Corporate Headquarters to local... View Details
Keywords: Decentralization; Social Capital; Theory Of The Firm; Firm Objectives, Organization, And Behavior; Business Economics; Management Of Technological Innovation And R＆D; Technological Change: Choices And Consequences; Diffusion Processes; Organizational Structure; Performance Productivity; Trust; Technology Adoption; Multinational Firms and Management
- October 2012 (Revised September 2013)
- Case
Creating the First Public Law Firm: The IPO of Slater & Gordon Limited
By: Benjamin C. Esty and E. Scott Mayfield
Slater & Gordon (S&G), a midsized Australian law firm with a high-growth consolidation strategy, had an initial public offering (IPO) scheduled for May 2007. Due to a series of regulatory changes in Australia in recent years, the IPO provided an opportunity for S&G to... View Details
Keywords: IPO; Mergers ＆ Acquisitions; Law Firm; Value Drivers; Growth Strategy; Revenue Recognition; Roll-up; Consolidator; Initial Public Offering; Valuation; Consolidation; Mergers and Acquisitions; Financial Strategy; Growth Management; Corporate Governance; Business Strategy; Legal Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; Australia
- 2012
- Book
Producing Prosperity: Why America Needs a Manufacturing Renaissance
By: Gary P. Pisano and Willy Shih
For years—even decades—in response to intensifying global competition, American companies decided to outsource their manufacturing operations in order to reduce costs. But we are now seeing the alarming long-term effect of those choices: in many cases, once... View Details
- 2012
- Other Unpublished Work
Measuring Shared Value: How to Unlock Value by Linking Business and Social Results
By: Michael E. Porter, Greg Hills, Marc Pfitzer, Sonja Patscheke and Elizabeth Hawkins
Measuring shared value allows companies to maximize opportunities for innovation, growth, and social impact at scale. This article explains the specific purpose of shared value measurement and offers a step-by-step process and pragmatic approaches to measurement with... View Details
Keywords: Society
- 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
- Case
Microsoft Office 2007 (Abridged)
By: Marco Iansiti and Bianca Buccitelli
A discussion of the history and processes behind the development of Microsoft's Office 12 software. View Details
- October 2012
- Article
Target the Right Market
By: Jill Avery and Thomas Steenburgh
SparkPlace is a two-year-old business with a hot new product: software that manages and measures the effectiveness of permission-based marketing campaigns for social media. The company is in the process of deciding on which of two customer segments to focus its... View Details
Keywords: Marketing; Market Segmentation; Customer Defection; Customer Lifetime Value; Customer Relationship Management; CRM; Market Segmentation And Target Market Selection; Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Value and Value Chain; Technology Industry; United States
- September 2012 (Revised April 2013)
- Case
Digital Microscopy at Carl Zeiss: Managing Disruption
By: Willy Shih
Ulrich Simon, the head of the Microscopy business group at Carl Zeiss AG knew that his unit was facing a disruptive threat, so he chartered a special team to tackle the industrial segment. Given a high degree of autonomy, the project team developed an understanding of... View Details
- 2012
- Working Paper
Entrepreneurship in the Natural Food and Beauty Categories Before 2000: Global Visions and Local Expressions
By: Geoffrey Jones
This working paper examines the creation of the global natural food and beauty categories before 2000. This is shown to have been a lengthy process of new category creation involving the exercise of entrepreneurial imagination. Pioneering entrepreneurs faced little... View Details
Keywords: Marketing; Consumer Goods; Entrepreneurs; Environment; Food; Globalization; Business History; Agribusiness; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Asia; Europe; Latin America; Middle East; North and Central America
- August 2012 (Revised November 2012)
- Case
Colorscope, Inc. (Abridged)
By: V.G. Narayanan
A small company in the graphic design business faces severe price competition. The company must respond by cutting costs and making process improvements. View Details
- July 2012 (Revised August 2012)
- Case
Global Knowledge Management at Danone (A) (Abridged)
By: Amy C. Edmondson and David Lane
This case explores French consumer goods company Danone's novel approach to knowledge management. In 2007, Human Resource Chief (Executive Vice President) Franck Mougin assesses the company's knowledge-sharing tools and considers his options going forward. Through... View Details
- July–September 2012
- Article
The (Un)Hidden Turmoil of Language in Global Collaboration
By: Tsedal Neeley, Pamela J. Hinds and Catherine D. Cramton
Companies are increasingly relying on a lingua franca, or common language (usually English), to facilitate cross-border collaboration. Despite the numerous benefits of a lingua franca, our research reveals myriad challenges that disrupt collaboration and contribute to... View Details