Publications

Read Now

December 2010
Supplement

Rackspace Hosting (2000)

By: W. Earl Sasser, James L. Heskett and Tom Ryder

The leadership team of Rackspace, faced with accommodation of its service offering and dwindling financial reserves, decides to make customer focus the rallying cry of its new strategy. View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Planning; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Service Delivery; Strategy; Finance; Information Technology Industry

Web

CSV in Practice - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

but for Cisco customers, increasing industry growth. The program has also strengthened Cisco’s relationships with suppliers, customers and government. Integrating Strategy... View Details

November 2011 (Revised December 2012)
Case

Rent the Runway

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Laura Winig

Two months after a successful launch in November 2009, the cofounders of Rent the Runway (RTR), a website that rented designer dresses, are debating whether to grow their startup at a measured pace and focus on improving operational effectiveness, or raise a new round... View Details

Keywords: Lean Startup; Electronic Commerce; Fashion; Expansion; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; E-commerce; Fashion Industry

November 2000 (Revised June 2010)
Case

Bush Boake Allen

By: Stefan H. Thomke and Ashok Nimgade

Bush Boake Allen, a flavor and fragrance firm, is considering strategic options that would integrate customers into its innovation process via a potentially disruptive Internet-based technology. As this approach could result in dramatic changes to the firm's business... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Disruptive Innovation; Technological Innovation; Management Teams; Product Design; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Conflict Management; Internet; Chemical Industry

10 Oct 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, October 10, 2017

highlights the key insights from the rich firm-level literature on MNCs. We then focus on how financial conditions in host countries affect the extent of FDI-related capital inflows, shape the operations of foreign firms, View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

04 May 2020
Research & Ideas

Predictions, Prophets, and Restarting Your Business

awareness of cybersecurity issues. Combined with the ability to block ads, the growing costs of acquiring customers online, the experience of “Zoombombing,” and controls on consumer data by EU regulators... View Details

Keywords: by Frank V. Cespedes

March 1987 (Revised April 1987)
Background Note

Specialties vs. Commodities: The Battle for Profit Margins

By: Benson P. Shapiro

Explains the differences between commodities and specialties and defines four different types of specialty products. The analysis is customer oriented. Special attention is given to the distinctions between functions (product- ) and relationship (vendor-oriented)... View Details

Keywords: Goods and Commodities

Find at Harvard

14 Oct 2002
Research & Ideas

The Widening Rift Between Corporations and Society

occurs—the status quo overpowers new ideas and turns them into variations on the same old themes. That is why every innovation from quality circles to reengineering to customer View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

October 1990 (Revised September 1993)
Case

Changing the Culture at British Airways

By: John P. Kotter

In just 10 years, 1980-1990, British Airways turned around both its declining image and financial situation. Focusing on the paramount importance of customer service, British Airways went from "bloody awful" to "bloody awesome." Experiencing a financial crisis in 1981... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Problems and Challenges; Customer Relationship Management; Corporate Strategy; Privatization; Air Transportation Industry; United Kingdom

19 Feb 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, February 19, 2019

service relationships is neither well understood, nor consistently factored into service design. In this paper, two laboratory experiments and one field experiment, conducted in financial service contexts,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2017
Article

Resident Networks and Corporate Connections: Evidence from World War II Internment Camps

By: Lauren Cohen, Umit Gurun and Christopher J. Malloy

We demonstrate that simply by using the ethnic makeup surrounding a firm’s location, we can predict, on average, which trade links are valuable for firms. Using customs and port authority data on the international shipments of all U.S. publicly traded firms, we show... View Details

Keywords: Information Networks; Trade Links; Firm Behavior; Networks; Geographic Location; Ethnicity; Organizations; Trade

Find at Harvard

Read Now

12 Sep 2023
Book

Successful, But Still Feel Empty? A Happiness Scholar and Oprah Have Advice for You

Schedule your downtime and leisure just as you would work. Set goals that focus on service to others and earned success. Take your vacations. Invest more in family,... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

21 Nov 2013
News

Case Study: BlackBerry and Thorsten Heins

there is anything he could have done to reverse the decline. In essence, Blackberry fell victim to a challenge that affects many companies in fast-paced, technology-based industries. Once they achieve market leadership, they focus their... View Details

Keywords: Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management of Companies and Enterprises

Research Summary

Convergence of Media & Technology: Long-tail vs. Large body

What is the empirical relationship between preferences and technology adoption? Focus on information search & technology. Joint work with Bharat Anand View Details

15 May 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, May 15, 2018

players. With this information, TrustSphere could help customers infer where relationships existed and the strength of those relationships, information that could be leveraged... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

01 Jun 2018
News

June 2018 Alumni and Faculty Books

Rob Ristagno (MBA 2005) Independently published Ristagno guides you step-by-step through the five forces of dramatic online revenue growth and shows why it is vital to identify your very best customers View Details

May 2003
Case

Liz Claiborne, Inc.

By: Rajiv Lal, Walter J. Salmon and Edie Prescott

Discusses the business portfolio emphasis of a large multibrand manufacturer and the future of department stores as well as how relationships between manufacturers and key customers can be improved. View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Investment Portfolio; Brands and Branding; Production; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Apparel and Accessories Industry