Core Competencies - Publications - Faculty & Research

12 May 2009
First Look

First Look: May 12, 2009

http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/09-078.pdf Deep Dives: The Role of Top Management in Linking Relevant Capabilities to Core Activities Authors:Howard H. Yu and Joseph L. Bower Abstract The inability of established firms to make necessary... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

10 Jun 2002
Research & Ideas

Reinventing the Industrial Giant

In an effort to survive in the new economy, some-industrial giants have tried to chart an evolutionary path that combines their industrial core with new post-industrial businesses. The companies from our study that are most clearly... View Details

Keywords: by Nitin Nohria, Davis Dyer & Frederick Dalzell; Manufacturing

17 Jul 2006
Lessons from the Classroom

Developing a Strategy for Digital Convergence

the horizontal model, smaller competitors are sustaining themselves on discrete pieces of the business. RAMBUS offers the core technology, NVidia specializes in design, and TSMC offers fabrication services. "The key strategic... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Computer; Education

18 Jun 2001
Research & Ideas

Caught in the Cogs: When Manufacturing and IT Meet

mass customization. In the midst of all this added complexity, he said, the large, vertically integrated organization, involved with everything from Research and Development to customer delivery, is passing from the business landscape. "Companies need to focus on... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner

25 Jan 2000
Research & Ideas

Strategic Alliances

Carolina. "Both organizations are deploying their core competencies," Austin points out, "and they have now moved into that third, integrative stage where they're combining those competencies to devise a... View Details

Keywords: by Nancy O. Perry

07 Jun 2016
Op-Ed

Can Brand Trump Win a Presidency?

TripAdvisor. Brand Trump has been extended to other categories, from steaks, to education, to apparel. Not all of these ventures have succeeded. Few guests see the competencies of a good hotelier as relevant to designing distinctive... View Details

Keywords: by John A. Quelch; Advertising; Media & Broadcasting

30 Jan 2006
Research & Ideas

Looking Behind Bad Decisions

type of investment? A: Yes, it may be true that Boston (or any other city) benefits by keeping its football team or baseball team. But, another city without a team also would benefit from taking away Boston's team. And, as a result, cities View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls

26 Aug 2008
First Look

First Look: August 26, 2008

http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/ b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=708053 Work Is Good: Branding the Employ+Ability Mission Harvard Business School Case 809-028 Employ+Ability, a small company employing developmentally disabled adults, finds itself View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

13 Feb 2007
First Look

First Look: February 13, 2007

observations to analyze problems facing the United States in recent years and to create an agenda for renewing American strengths through returning to core American principles—but in new ways suitable to 21st century conditions. On the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

15 Nov 2010
Lessons from the Classroom

Connecting Goals and Go-To-Market Initiatives

valuations and growth options. A key to meeting growth potential is eliminating the gulf between big-picture strategy and day-to-day field execution. It's often the most difficult part of implementation because you're dealing with a combination of View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

03 Dec 2001
What Do You Think?

What Happens When the Sumo Master Learns Judo?

Microsoft, as the leader in one generation of technology, becoming the dominant player in the next generation. As long as Microsoft continues to re-deploy the margins in its core business to explore new ones, chances are the market and... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

03 Feb 2015
First Look

First Look: February 3

Eastwick, Jenna H. Frost, and Michael R. Maniaci Abstract—This article began as an adversarial collaboration between two groups of researchers with competing views on a longstanding question: Does familiarity promote or undermine... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

18 Feb 2013
Research & Ideas

Breaking Through a Growth Stall

identify your core customers and build a scalable platform for growth around them. That's the message from Frank V. Cespedes, the MBA Class of 1973 Senior Lecturer of Business Administration at Harvard Business School; James P. Dougherty,... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

15 Mar 2016
First Look

March 15, 2016

energy, time, and resources—in balanced measure—across what he calls "the three boxes": Box 1: The present—Manage the core business at peak profitability; Box 2: The past—Abandon ideas, practices, and attitudes that could... View Details

06 Aug 2018
Research & Ideas

Supersmart Manufacturing Tools are Lowering Prices on TVs, Bulbs, and Solar Panels

knowledge, is now being embedded into the tools and building blocks used to make products? Willy Shih: Knowledge is one of the core resources in a company, and translating that knowledge into processes that produce products and services... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Manufacturing; Electronics

23 Apr 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, April 23, 2019

2019 Boston: Harvard Business Review Press Becoming a Manager: How New Managers Master the Challenges of Leadership By: Hill, Linda A. Abstract—In your career, or anyone's, there is one transition that stands out as the most crucial—going from individual contributor to... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

06 Dec 2010
Sharpening Your Skills

Sharpening Your Skills: Doing Business in Emerging Markets

politically sensitive? If so, will the country continue to need my participation in the project? What Are The Best Ways To Leverage Local Resources? Porter's Perspective: Competing in the Global Economy Professor Michael Porter is a... View Details

30 Apr 2001
Research & Ideas

Entering the Age of Alliances

competencies of each partner and create two-way value is evidenced by, among others, the collaboration between The College Fund (UNCF) and Merck. UNCF, the largest and oldest minority educational assistance organization in the United... View Details

Keywords: by James Austin

20 Nov 2000
Research & Ideas

Moving from Supply Chains to Supply Networks

they don't. Speed. During the last decade, it's all been about competing through speed—being able to satisfy changing customer needs quickly, accurately, and efficiently. EE: Going back to your discussion of information technology as a... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

21 Aug 2000
Research & Ideas

Faculty Research Looks to Latin America

different in scope and age and mission: the Clark Foundation and Pfizer pharmaceuticals. These two organizations wanted to get rid of trachoma by the year 2020. "They both had very specific and clear core capabilities. Pfizer had... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

Publications