Publications

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June 2021
Case

uBiome

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Olivia Graham

uBiome provided clinical tests that sequenced the DNA of human microbiome samples, providing data on health conditions directly to consumers or to prescribing physicians. Founded in 2012, the San Francisco-based startup raised $105 million from top-tier venture capital... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Crime and Corruption; Insolvency and Bankruptcy

2017
Chapter

Getting Started with Ambidexterity

By: Andrew Binns and Michael Tushman

This paper demonstrates the value of thinking about ambidexterity as having three distinct moments—ideation, incubation, and scaling—that share common features for success, such as the role of the senior team, and that also have distinct disciplines. Incubation is a... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Innovation and Invention

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25 Jun 2019
Research & Ideas

The Powerful Strategic Tool Companies Should Not Try to Control

mind that communities are governed very differently than companies. User communities operate outside the boundaries of the firm even in cases where the community organizes around a firm’s core products––and View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

12 Apr 2004
Research & Ideas

What Great American Leaders Teach Us

difference in the world. To that end, we search for opportunities to contribute to the study of leadership and the development of content for the MBA Program and various executive education offerings.... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

08 Mar 2016
First Look

March 8, 2016

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=50668 forthcoming Journal of Marketing Research Design of Search Engine Services: Channel Interdependence in Search Engine Results By: Edelman, Benjamin, and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

17 Feb 2003
Research & Ideas

Tales of the Newly-minted MBA

How do real-world conditions and shifting personal priorities influence a young MBA's early career path—those first five to ten years that executives remember as being of such critical importance? To find out, Harvard Business School... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

21 May 2007
Research & Ideas

Fixing the Marketing-CEO Disconnect

In most companies, no one knows and understands your customers and their changing needs better than the marketing department. Certainly that knowledge should be routinely presented and understood by the chief executive and board of... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

07 May 2013
First Look

First Look: May 7

to existing competitors in a local market. We provide evidence that these results are due to a sorting effect, whereby firms trade-off service quality and price, and in turn, the incumbent attracts service (price) sensitive customers in... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

07 Nov 2016
Research & Ideas

Corporate Tax Strategies Mirror Personal Returns of Top Execs

Tax strategies used by top executives on their own taxes can also show up in the companies they run. Source: Melpomenem New research shows that top executives who prefer to reduce personal taxes appear to... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland

15 Nov 2010
Lessons from the Classroom

Connecting Goals and Go-To-Market Initiatives

structure). And there are many examples among smaller and lesser-known firms run by private equity companies and capable entrepreneurs. Too often leaders of firms use their industry as an excuse for not... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

August 2015 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Amazon.com, 2021

By: John R. Wells, Benjamin Weinstock, Gabriel Ellsworth and Galen Danskin

In February 2021, Amazon announced 2020 operating profits of $22,899 million, up from $2,233 million in 2015, on sales of $386 billion, up from $107 billion five years earlier (see Exhibit 1). The shareholders expressed their satisfaction (see Exhibit 2), but not all... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Analysis; Retail; E-commerce; Amazon; Internet; Amazon.com; AmazonFresh; Jeff Bezos; Cloud Computing; Marketplaces; Streaming; E-reader Market; Digital Media; Mobile App; Online Retail; Shipping; Database; Tablet; Kindle; Kindle Fire; Smartphone; Delivery; Digital Platforms; Competition; Internet and the Web; Corporate Strategy; Digital Marketing; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Business Organization; For-Profit Firms; Film Entertainment; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Music Entertainment; Television Entertainment; Profit; Revenue; Global Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Taxation; Business History; Human Resources; Resignation and Termination; Books; Human Capital; Working Conditions; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Management Practices and Processes; Industry Growth; Industry Structures; Media; Distribution; Distribution Channels; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Infrastructure; Logistics; Product Development; Supply Chain; Supply Chain Management; Organizational Culture; Public Ownership; Work-Life Balance; Problems and Challenges; Labor and Management Relations; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Diversification; Expansion; Integration; Horizontal Integration; Vertical Integration; Information Infrastructure; Information Technology; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Price; Applications and Software; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Working Capital; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Value and Value Chain; Retail Industry; Advertising Industry; Distribution Industry; Electronics Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Information Technology Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; Music Industry; Publishing Industry; Shipping Industry; Technology Industry; Video Game Industry; Web Services Industry; United States; Washington (state, US); Seattle

09 Dec 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Friends in High Places

Keywords: by Lauren Cohen & Christopher Malloy

January 2019 (Revised March 2020)
Case

Blackstone Alternative Asset Management in 2018

By: Emil Siriwardane, Luis M. Viceira and Shawn O'Brien

In early 2018, Blackstone announced that John McCormick would succeed Tom Hill as President and Chief Executive Officer of Blackstone Alternative Asset Management (BAAM), the largest fund-of-hedge funds in the world by a sizeable margin. As new CEO, McCormick must... View Details

Keywords: Asset Management; Expansion; Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Services Industry

December 2005
Article

Up to Code: Does Your Company's Conduct Meet World-Class Standards?

By: Lynn Paine, Rohit Deshpandé, Joshua D. Margolis and Kim Eric Bettcher

Codes of conduct have long been a feature of corporate life. Today, they are arguably a legal necessity—at least for public companies with a presence in the United States. But the issue goes beyond U.S. legal and regulatory requirements. Sparked by corruption and... View Details

Keywords: Business Ethics; Standards Of Conduct; Globalized Firms and Management; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Values and Beliefs; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Governance

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April 2017
Case

Yushan Bicycles: Learning to Ride Abroad

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Paul S. Myers

Yushan Bicycles, one of Taiwan's leading bicycle manufacturers, is pursuing an international expansion strategy by increasing demand for its range of traditional and electric bicycles and shifting its product mix toward higher-margin models sold through specialty... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Conflict Management; Learning; Bicycle Industry; Taiwan; Australia

October 2009 (Revised February 2010)
Case

Wiwa v. Royal Dutch/Shell

By: Lynn S. Paine and Lara Adamsons

On the eve of trial, and after nearly 14 years of pre-trial litigation, the parties in Wiwa v. Royal Dutch/Shell jointly announced that the four U.S. lawsuits stemming from the execution of the Ogoni Nine in 1995 had been settled. View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Multinational Firms and Management; Corporate Accountability; Lawsuits and Litigation; Nigeria; United States

May 2006 (Revised November 2006)
Case

Willa Seldon at Tides Center (A)

By: Linda A. Hill and Emily Stecker

Willa Seldon, an African-American woman with 16 years of for-profit experience, was hired as executive director of Tides Center, a nonprofit in San Francisco, CA. Tides Center was a fiscal sponsor dedicated to supporting individuals and groups working toward social... View Details

Keywords: For-Profit Firms; Nonprofit Organizations; Transition; Change Management; Leadership Style; Performance; Customer Satisfaction; San Francisco