Publications

Alan MacCormack is the MBA Class of 1949 Adjunct Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, a member of The Digital, Data, and Design (D^3) Institute at Harvard, and a core faculty member... View Details

Keywords: automotive; communications; computer; e-commerce industry; electronics; high technology; information technology industry; internet; semiconductor; software; telecommunications; venture capital industry

19 Oct 2018
News

Lessons from Mayo Clinic’s Redesign of Stroke Care

22 Jan 2018
News

Activist chiefs fill the vacuum left by government

09 May 2012
Research & Ideas

Clayton Christensen’s “How Will You Measure Your Life?”

its stores. But, obviously, it didn't make money from movies sitting on the shelves; it was only when a customer rented a movie that Blockbuster made anything. It therefore needed to get the customer to... View Details

January 2009 (Revised June 2010)
Case

Cisco Business Councils (2007): Unifying a Functional Enterprise with an Internal Governance System

By: Ranjay Gulati

In response to the 2001 market downturn, Cisco Systems implemented a major restructuring that transformed the company from a decentralized to centralized organization. While recognizing that a centralized, functional structure was necessary to avoid product and... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Customer Focus and Relationships; Governing and Advisory Boards; Resource Allocation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Corporate Strategy; Technology Industry

July 2012 (Revised January 2014)
Case

HGRM: Bringing Back High Touch Hospitality

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Gabriele Piccoli

The case centers on the dilemma faced by Carlo Fontana, the owner-operator of a small chain of two four-star urban hotels located in Lugano, Switzerland, and the other in Milan, Italy. Having developed an extensive customer service and operations information system,... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Customer Relationship Management

September 2003 (Revised January 2004)
Case

Alessi: Evolution of an Italian Design Factory (A)

By: Youngme E. Moon, Vincent Dessain and Anders Sjoman

Alessio Alessi, head of distribution at family-run Alessi S.p.A., is facing price and brand confusion among customers and is considering reorganizing Alessi's worldwide network of distributors. By describing the challenges facing Alessi, an internationally acclaimed... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Transition; Cost Management; Brands and Branding; Product Positioning; Distribution; Production; Problems and Challenges; Networks; Consumer Products Industry

December 1986 (Revised November 1990)
Case

Club Med (B)

Highlights the issue of high employee turnover in a multi-site, international subsidiary of a large resort company. Also described are service-quality problems the company has because the amount of value added through employee interaction with customers is high.... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Retention; Recruitment; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Tourism Industry; United States

April 1990 (Revised October 1992)
Case

Black & Decker Corp.: Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker (A)

A fire is reported in a Black & Decker Spacemaker Plus Coffeemaker. This newly introduced product is a "Key Introduction" for Black & Decker's Household Product Group (HPG). HPG's president has to decide whether the product should be recalled and, if so, how the recall... View Details

Keywords: Safety; Risk Management; Ethics; Product Marketing; Consumer Products Industry

06 Nov 2012
News

For Entrepreneurs, Three Ways to Control Your Destiny and Rekindle Joy

20 May 2019
News

Why Do We Let Political Parties Act Like Monopolies?

02 Mar 2017
News

For retail, the revolution is televised

03 May 2011
First Look

First Look: May 3

next-generation product. Read the article: http://hbr.org/2011/05/the-best-way-to-name-your-product-20/ar/1 Think Customers Hate Waiting? Not So Fast... Authors:Ryan W. Buell and Michael I. Norton Publication:Harvard Business Review 89,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2023
Working Paper

Debiasing Treatment Effect Estimation for Privacy-Protected Data: A Model Auditing and Calibration Approach

By: Ta-Wei Huang and Eva Ascarza

Data-driven targeted interventions have become a powerful tool for organizations to optimize business outcomes by utilizing individual-level data from experiments. A key element of this process is the estimation of Conditional Average Treatment Effects (CATE), which... View Details

Keywords: Analytics and Data Science; Consumer Behavior; Marketing

Read Now

2013
Tool

Harvard Business Review's Go to Market Tools: Market Sizing

By: Jill Avery and Thomas Steenburgh

Market size matters. On the hook to launch your division's next great product or service? Need to convince higher ups that your product will fit that gaping revenue hole—and is worth the team's scarce marketing and product development resources? You need hard data to... View Details

Keywords: Quantitative Analysis; Tools; Go To Market Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Marketing

November 2001
Case

Sigma Networks, Inc.

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Christina L. Darwall

Sigma Networks, a venture capital-based telecommunications start-up, provides metropolitan area networks (MANs) that use fiberoptic lines to connect local Internet service providers (e.g., ISPs, hosting firms) with a long-haul ("backbone") network. MANs represent a... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Customers; Capital Budgeting; Venture Capital; Strategic Planning; Technology Networks; Telecommunications Industry