Publications

April 2007
Article

Wintel: Cooperation and Conflict

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and David B. Yoffie

We study competitive interactions between Intel and Microsoft, two producers of complementary products. In a system of complements, like the PC, the value of the final product depends on how well the different components work together. This, in turn, depends on the... View Details

Keywords: Conflict and Resolution; Competition; Cooperation; Value; Performance Effectiveness; Research and Development; Motivation and Incentives; Investment; Price; Product Launch; Product

Find at Harvard

January 2011
Supplement

Matrix Capital Management (C)

By: Malcolm P. Baker and David Lane

Ben Balbale, a partner at hedge fund Matrix Capital, must decide whether to exit their investment in Rovi Corporation, a company with a diverse portfolio of patents used primarily for digital interactive guides. Rovi's shares are up over 50% from the time Balbale... View Details

Keywords: Public Ownership; Cash Flow; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Investment Funds; Financial Strategy; Valuation; Partners and Partnerships; Markets; Performance Efficiency; Patents; Stock Shares; Decisions; Financial Services Industry

27 Sep 2018
Research & Ideas

Religion in the Workplace: What Managers Need to Know

direction of CEO Michael Jeffries, the company held onto a hint of its hallmark safari style while putting a greater emphasis on casual clothes and ballooned to more than 1,000 stores worldwide, with revenues exceeding $3.5 billion by 2008. Central to View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Food & Beverage; Apparel & Accessories

30 May 2023
Research & Ideas

Can AI Predict Whether Shoppers Would Pick Crest Over Colgate?

Companies have long poured time and money into surveying customers. Now, with new research showing artificial intelligence provides plenty of rich data about shopper preferences, could customer surveys become obsolete? Companies turn to... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Consumer Products

08 Sep 2003
Research & Ideas

A Bold Proposal for Investment Reform

For companies to redeem credibility with investors, argue Harvard Business School professors Paul Healy and Krishna Palepu, "fundamental and even radical reforms must be made to the way America's markets process the flows of... View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen; Financial Services

04 May 2009
Working Paper Summaries

An Ounce of Prevention: The Power of Public Risk Management in Stabilizing the Financial System

Keywords: by David A. Moss; Banking; Financial Services

11 Dec 2012
First Look

First Look: Dec. 11

uncertainty, the unit price of IP addresses is constant until all addresses are in use and begins decreasing at that time. With uncertainty, the price before that time is a martingale, and the price trajectory afterwards is a... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2009 (Revised February 2010)
Case

Gucci Group in 2009

By: David B. Yoffie and Renee Kim

The Gucci Group had transformed itself into the world's third largest luxury retailer with multiple brands. The company had performed well even after the departure of star designer Tom Ford and former CEO Domenico De Sole. However, the challenging global economic times... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Brands and Branding; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Luxury; Corporate Strategy; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Retail Industry

19 Feb 2010
Working Paper Summaries

The Evolution of Science-Based Business: Innovating How We Innovate

Keywords: by Gary P. Pisano

May 2016
Case

AbbVie

By: Kevin Schulman, Laura Little, Samyukta Mullangi and Stephen Schleicher

This case focuses on the impact of a novel regulatory pathway, the biosimilars pathway, on the strategy of a major pharmaceutical firm that finds its largest product (60% of revenue) at risk. The case reviews the rationale for the pathway, the emerging biosimilars... View Details

Keywords: Pharmaceutical Company; M＆A Valuation; AbbVie; Health Care; Health Care and Treatment; Pharmaceutical Industry; Health Industry; United States

February 2022 (Revised June 2022)
Case

Resident 2020

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport and Thomas O. Jones

Launched in 2016, Resident was a leading player in the direct-to-consumer bed-in-a-box mattress market, where it was one of at least 175 venture-backed companies competing in the space. By late 2020, it had realized over $500 million in revenue, profitability in the... View Details

Keywords: Digital Marketing; Business Growth and Maturation; Operations; Entrepreneurship; Competitive Strategy; Initial Public Offering; Decisions; Marketing Strategy; Cash Flow; Demand and Consumers

05 Jul 2023
HBS Case

What Kind of Leader Are You? How Three Action Orientations Can Help You Meet the Moment

specific task at hand (e.g., an appreciation for broader market changes, competitor behaviors, or emergent industry trends). Relational. Relational leaders design a plan of action based on how others will perceive and be affected by the... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand

18 Oct 2010
Lessons from the Classroom

Venture Capital’s Disconnect with Clean Tech

companies can crank out a marketable prototype in a matter of months, clean-tech companies can take years to develop products—solar panels, batteries, biofuels, and the like. And even when a working prototype is born, it's hard for a... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Energy; Utilities; Financial Services

May 2006
Case

A123Systems

By: H. Kent Bowen, Kenneth P Morse and Douglass Cannon

A 123Systems was a young company that was founded on basic materials science research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A co-founder of the company, Yet-Ming Chiang, was a full professor at MIT and served as scientific adviser. Intellectual property based... View Details

Keywords: Intellectual Property; Business Startups; Research and Development; Commercialization; Technological Innovation; Science-Based Business; Product Development; Battery Industry; Electronics Industry; Massachusetts

November 2006 (Revised March 2007)
Case

Lifan Group - Automobile Production in China

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee, Tarun Khanna and Elizabeth Raabe

Lifan Group, one of China's premier motorcycle companies, considers entering automobile production. The company plans to assemble a midsize sedan, hoping it will be able to sell this car to affluent families in China and to export it. Domestic demand for cars is... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Decision Making; Demand and Consumers; Price; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry; China

04 May 2020
Research & Ideas

Predictions, Prophets, and Restarting Your Business

media usage had declined among Americans less than 35 years old, and the only age group using Facebook more were people 55 or older, according to Edison Research.) As a marketing medium, online channels were cluttered and increasingly... View Details

Keywords: by Frank V. Cespedes

Research Summary

Output and asset price fluctuations

What are the sources of business cycles? How are these shocks propagated in the economy? Why are their effects so persistent? How can we explain asset price fluctuations? How are shocks transmitted internationally?To study these questions, I have developed a series... View Details

September 2022
Background Note

On CUE: The Quest for Optimal Customer Unit Economics

By: Elie Ofek, Barak Libai and Eitan Muller

Startups are often evaluated by how well they perform on unit economics, defined as the ratio of a customer’s lifetime value (LTV) to acquisition costs (CAC). A common target for unit economics, advocated by many VCs and analysts, is 3:1 (i.e., LTV/CAC=3). While there... View Details

Keywords: Unit Economics; Business Startups; Performance Evaluation; Customer Value and Value Chain; Customer Relationship Management; Analysis