Minimum Viable Product - Publications - Faculty & Research

01 May 2006
What Do You Think?

Who Will Cast a Longer Shadow on the 21st Century: Friedman or Galbraith?

the twenty-first century as the epoch-making era of playing fields becoming more level and opening markets, reducing government control, and spreading lifestyles and products of different cultures from all over the world. In this context,... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

22 Feb 2016
Research & Ideas

The ‘Mother of Fair Trade’ was an Unabashed Price Protectionist

pharmacists did, their cut-rate prices on popular brand-name packaged goods posed a major threat to mom-and-pop businesses like Gleason’s. So she and other traditional retailers began arguing that pineboards practiced predatory pricing, selling View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Retail; Health; Legal Services

12 Jul 2004
Research & Ideas

Michael Porter’s Prescription For the High Cost of Health Care

they would not try to be all things to everyone. In most businesses, it is common sense to develop products and services that create unique value. For many hospitals, developing uniqueness is a significant change in mind-set and deciding... View Details

Keywords: by Michael E. Porter; Health

05 Dec 2013
What Do You Think?

Is Walmart Defying Economic Gravity?

levels." Others cited evidence that Walmart's model has some practical limitations. Evidence of possible friction was presented by Clark Phippen, who cited symptoms that suggest that Walmart is becoming "arthritic."(1) Employees, he wrote, consider... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Retail

24 Jul 2014
Op-Ed

Reform Tax Law to Keep US Firms at Home

economic activity away from the US. In fact, the evidence suggests the opposite as firms expand globally, they also expand domestically. Indeed, American welfare can be advanced by ensuring that investments in the US and abroad are owned by the most View Details

Keywords: by Mihir Desai; Pharmaceutical

18 Sep 2000
Research & Ideas

Big Deals: Financing Large-Scale Investments

regularly." More and more companies are turning to project finance to support large capital investments, and the trend is likely to continue due to privatization, deregulation, and globalization. "In an increasingly global business environment, achieving... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

04 Jun 2001
Research & Ideas

RealNetworks, CNET, and Judo Strategy

short time ago is that there is now no room for error. You need real businesses, real revenue, real profits, and real cash flows." Yoffie asked the panelists to consider three questions: Since click-through rates on Internet ads have been almost non-existent, is... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner

15 May 2020
Research & Ideas

Find Your Pragmatic Path through Radical Uncertainty

willing to bear to reopen the economy. No one can predict with any certainty how shopping patterns and consumer tastes will change. No one can be sure when people will feel safe enough to travel so that the hotels, airlines, restaurants, and ski resorts will become... View Details

Keywords: by Howard Stevenson, Eugene B. Kogan, and Shirley Spence

11 Jun 2007
Lessons from the Classroom

Teaching the Next Generation of Energy Executives

You may think that being an energy executive—especially a manager in a leading oil company—might be the easiest job around. Just flip the production switch, and watch gas prices head toward $4 a gallon. But students enrolled in Harvard... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Energy; Utilities

25 Feb 2013
Research & Ideas

Lean Strategy Not Just for Start-Ups

Entrepreneur-in-Residence Eric Ries, lean start-up thinking entails launching as quickly as possible with a "minimum viable product," a bare-bones creation that includes just enough features to allow for useful feedback from... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Financial Services

03 Sep 2013
First Look

First Look: September 3

profitability. Using a sample of 42,337 unique firms from 49 countries, we find that corporate profitability mean reverts faster in countries where product and capital markets are more competitive. Moreover, holding constant product,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

30 Jan 2006
Research & Ideas

Looking Behind Bad Decisions

deciding in large numbers not to donate. Rather, they are not thinking about it. In other countries (e.g., Belgium), the default is that unless you specify that you do not want to donate your organs, you become a viable donor at death. In... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls

25 Aug 2009
First Look

First Look: August 25

reduction in monopoly price leads to the production of units that cost less than their value to consumers (standard channel); (ii) regulation calms down existing consumers because a reduction in the profits of an "unkind" firm... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

04 Aug 2021
Research & Ideas

Worried About the Great Resignation? Be a Good Company to Come From

employees so they would be viable candidates for jobs long after they left the company. It developed systems to promote employee innovation as well as offering flexible work options such as part time work so employees could focus on... View Details

Keywords: by Sandra J. Sucher and Shalene Gupta

15 Jul 2002
Research & Ideas

Going Green Makes Good Business Sense

business is simplistic, said Reinhardt. Companies always operate based on imperfect information about their competitive arena. To succeed as a viable concern with an environmental conscience, "you have to look deeper. And look... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

30 Jun 2008
Research & Ideas

Rethinking Retirement Planning

phase; it simply doesn't represent a sustainable solution for consumers. Yet employers are the natural gatekeepers for retirement plans, he believes. For example, when focus groups were presented with a new retirement product, individuals balked at signing on until... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Banking; Financial Services

24 Mar 2002
Research & Ideas

The Trick of Balancing Business and Government

is no simple matter to rank the importance of myriad institutions. Minimum conditions of basic education, transportation, and communications must be in place; but the question of institutions remains centered on basic empowerment.... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

16 Jul 2024
Research & Ideas

Weighing Digital Tradeoffs in Private Equity

When private equity (PE) firms buy a company, they typically follow a standard playbook to create value—streamlining operations, restructuring debt, changing management, and cutting costs. However, as digital technologies and artificial intelligence allow companies to... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services

04 Jul 2016
Research & Ideas

Is Your Org Chart Stuck in a Rut? Try a Scientific Experiment

line.” Bernstein believes the key to breaking that cycle may lie in research partnerships that help organizations conduct more field experiments. Just as many companies test out new products with “a/b” testing, they might also take an... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

30 Sep 2008
First Look

First Look: September 30, 2008

votes to more popular candidates, a phenomenon often called strategic voting. For other parameters, the model predicts "vote-stealing" where the addition of a third candidate robs a viable major candidate of electoral support.... View Details