Publications

22 Dec 2009
First Look

First Look: Dec. 22

take advantage of factor cost differences. Instead, multinationals tend to own the stages of production proximate to their final production, giving rise to a class of high-skill, intra-industry vertical FDI.... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

17 Apr 2007
First Look

First Look: April 17, 2007

policies that promote localism. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/07-062.pdf The Speed of New Ideas: Trust, Institutions and the Diffusion of New Products Authors:Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Victor Calanog Abstract Trust in... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

2012
Chapter

The Confederacy of Heterogeneous Software Organizations and Heterogeneous Developers: Field Experimental Evidence on Sorting and Worker Effort

By: Kevin J. Boudreau and Karim R. Lakhani

Software development occurs in a patchwork or "confederacy" of different types of institutions (universities, small start-ups, multinational enterprises, government agencies, etc.) utilizing varied work approaches. Here we speculate on one possible explanation for this... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Applications and Software; Product Development; Organizations; Employees; Behavior; Competition; Cooperation; Creativity; Information Technology Industry

Find at Harvard

August 2015 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Amazon.com, 2021

By: John R. Wells, Benjamin Weinstock, Gabriel Ellsworth and Galen Danskin

In February 2021, Amazon announced 2020 operating profits of $22,899 million, up from $2,233 million in 2015, on sales of $386 billion, up from $107 billion five years earlier (see Exhibit 1). The shareholders expressed their satisfaction (see Exhibit 2), but not all... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Analysis; Retail; E-commerce; Amazon; Internet; Amazon.com; AmazonFresh; Jeff Bezos; Cloud Computing; Marketplaces; Streaming; E-reader Market; Digital Media; Mobile App; Online Retail; Shipping; Database; Tablet; Kindle; Kindle Fire; Smartphone; Delivery; Digital Platforms; Competition; Internet and the Web; Corporate Strategy; Digital Marketing; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Business Organization; For-Profit Firms; Film Entertainment; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Music Entertainment; Television Entertainment; Profit; Revenue; Global Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Taxation; Business History; Human Resources; Resignation and Termination; Books; Human Capital; Working Conditions; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Management Practices and Processes; Industry Growth; Industry Structures; Media; Distribution; Distribution Channels; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Infrastructure; Logistics; Product Development; Supply Chain; Supply Chain Management; Organizational Culture; Public Ownership; Work-Life Balance; Problems and Challenges; Labor and Management Relations; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Diversification; Expansion; Integration; Horizontal Integration; Vertical Integration; Information Infrastructure; Information Technology; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Price; Applications and Software; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Working Capital; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Value and Value Chain; Retail Industry; Advertising Industry; Distribution Industry; Electronics Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Information Technology Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; Music Industry; Publishing Industry; Shipping Industry; Technology Industry; Video Game Industry; Web Services Industry; United States; Washington (state, US); Seattle

09 Feb 2016
First Look

February 9, 2016

and Technology Through Academic-Industry Partnerships By: Chai, Sen, and Willy C. Shih Abstract—Partnerships that foster the translation of scientific advances emerging from academic research organizations into commercialized products at... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

July 1997
Case

Walt Disney's Dennis Hightower: Weaving Together the European Operations

By: Ashish Nanda

The case describes the actions taken by Dennis Hightower as president of Disney Consumer Products in Europe and the Middle East from 1988 to 1994. It focuses on how he has gone about establishing a regional office and knitting local operations closer together, the... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business or Company Management; Multinational Firms and Management; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Middle East; Europe

08 Jun 2009
Research & Ideas

The Return of the Salesman

address: that salespeople promoted innovations; that they acted as brokers of information; and that their activities "embodied the spirit of capitalism in popular culture." Could you elaborate on the importance of these themes? A: In the early 20th century, a lot of... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

05 Jun 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, June 5, 2018

traditional question of how the inflow of foreign workers affects native employment and earnings to explore effects on innovation and productivity, wage inequality across skill groups, the behavior of multinational firms, firm-level... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

12 Dec 2023
Research & Ideas

COVID Tested Global Supply Chains. Here’s How They’ve Adapted

operations back from China. The authors examine the effects of these variables between 2017 and 2022, a tumultuous period that put stress on the global economic system. They crunch product-level trade statistics from United Nations Comtrade, as well as information on... View Details

Keywords: by Scott Van Voorhis

November 2017
Teaching Note

Amazon.com, 2016

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

Teaching Note for HBS No. 716-402. On January 28, 2016, Amazon announced record 2015 operating profits of $2.2 billion on $107 billion of sales, and the markets responded with cautious optimism. For years, founder and CEO Jeffrey Bezos had prioritized growth and... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Analysis; Retail; E-commerce; Amazon; Amazon.com; AmazonFresh; Jeff Bezos; Cloud Computing; Marketplaces; Streaming; E-reader Market; Digital Media; Mobile App; Online Retail; Shipping; Database; Tablet; Kindle; Kindle Fire; Smartphone; Delivery; Market Platforms; Two-Sided Platforms; Competition; Internet; Corporate Strategy; Online Advertising; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Business Organization; For-Profit Firms; Film Entertainment; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Music Entertainment; Television Entertainment; Profit; Revenue; Global Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Taxation; Business History; Human Resources; Resignation and Termination; Books; Human Capital; Working Conditions; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Management Practices and Processes; Industry Growth; Industry Structures; Media; Distribution; Distribution Channels; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Infrastructure; Logistics; Product Development; Supply Chain; Supply Chain Management; Organizational Culture; Public Ownership; Work-Life Balance; Problems and Challenges; Labor and Management Relations; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Diversification; Expansion; Integration; Horizontal Integration; Vertical Integration; Hardware; Information Technology; Mobile Technology; Online Technology; Technology Networks; Technology Platform; Web; Web Sites; Price; Software; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Working Capital; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Value and Value Chain; Retail Industry; Advertising Industry; Distribution Industry; Electronics Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Information Technology Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; Music Industry; Publishing Industry; Shipping Industry; Technology Industry; Video Game Industry; Web Services Industry; United States; Washington (state, US); Seattle

21 Apr 2008
Research & Ideas

The New Math of Customer Relationships

banks. The ideas are reflected in remarks by managers, whether or not the actual terms are used. In many respects, they have become generic, which I suppose is the ultimate mark of usefulness. In all fairness, they are the product of the... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

16 Sep 2014
First Look

First Look: September 16

innovation performance such as firm productivity and profitability, (d) mergers, and (e) divestments as providing context or "shocks" to an activity system and their value as an empirical source of exogenous variation.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

28 Oct 2014
First Look

First Look: October 28

Designed around the course at Harvard Business School, Collis' new text takes the firm that operates across borders as a unit of analysis and the senior manager in a multinational as the typical decision maker. Illustrated with examples... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

23 Aug 2016
First Look

August 23, 2016

affects interventional cardiologists deciding between two types of cardiac stents. Analyzing 147,000 choices over six years, we find that individuals do respond to negative news by using the focal production tool less often. However, we... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

19 Dec 2006
First Look

First Look: December 19, 2006

concerns of host countries and those of investors. Without these changes, multinational corporations will lose profitable opportunities and poor countries will not gain the contributions that foreign investment can make toward alleviating... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

21 Feb 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: February 21

forthcoming Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press The Language of Global Success: How a Common Tongue Transforms Multinational Organizations By: Neeley, Tsedal Abstract—For nearly three decades, English has been the lingua franca of... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

January 2006 (Revised April 2007)
Case

General Electric Healthcare, 2006

By: Tarun Khanna and Elizabeth Raabe

In January 2006, Joe Hogan, head of General Electric (GE) Healthcare Technologies, prepared to step into William Castell's shoes as CEO of GE Healthcare, the world's leading manufacturer of diagnostic imaging equipment. In 2004, former CEO Jeff Immelt acquired Amersham... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Cost vs Benefits; Growth and Development Strategy; Mergers and Acquisitions; Machinery and Machining; Global Range; Multinational Firms and Management; Product Design; Technological Innovation; Expansion; Value Creation; Business Subsidiaries; Health Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

May 2016 (Revised May 2017)
Case

Supply Chain Finance at Procter & Gamble

By: Benjamin C. Esty, E. Scott Mayfield and David Lane

In April 2013, Procter & Gamble (P&G), the world’s largest consumer packaged goods (CPG) company, announced that it would extend its payment terms to suppliers by 30 days. At the same time, P&G announced a new supply chain financing (SCF) program giving suppliers the... View Details