Publications

September 1989 (Revised July 1991)
Case

Caterpillar, Inc.: George Schaefer Takes Charge

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

For over half a century, Caterpillar, Inc. (CAT) had been a world leader in the manufacture of earthmoving and construction machinery. In 1982, just months after it recorded the highest sales and profits in its history, CAT experienced its greatest crisis. Demand fell... View Details

Keywords: Machinery and Machining; Crisis Management; Labor Unions; Demand and Consumers; Management Teams; Problems and Challenges; Competitive Strategy; Business Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Manufacturing Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Industrial Products Industry

December 1988
Article

Strategic Responses to Automobile Emissions Control: A Game-Theoretic Analysis

By: Dennis Yao

This paper examines the dynamics of standard-setting regulation under technological uncertainty and asymmetric information about technological capability. A two-period model which allows fully strategic action is developed and applied to the regulation of automobile... View Details

Keywords: Transportation; Pollutants; Standards; Governance Controls; Technological Innovation; Research and Development; Mathematical Methods

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March 1987 (Revised October 1993)
Case

Au Bon Pain: The French Bakery Cafe, The Partner/Manager Program

By: W. Earl Sasser

In recent years, Au Bon Pain (ABP), a chain of upscale French bakeries/sandwich cafes based in Boston, confronted a set of human resource problems endemic to the fast food industry (i.e., a labor shortage which made it difficult to attract and maintain quality crew... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Managerial Roles; Retention; Employees; Performance Improvement; Recruitment; Problems and Challenges; Compensation and Benefits; Food and Beverage Industry; Service Industry; Boston

March 1986 (Revised November 1990)
Case

Valerie Morgan

By: Howard H. Stevenson

Presents interviews and conversations with a woman who recently started a publishing house. Primarily concerns her immediate future regarding harvesting options: IPO, sell out, step up to chairman, venture capital, etc. Also deals with the excitement and thrill of... View Details

Keywords: Interactive Communication; Decision Choices and Conditions; Entrepreneurship; Cash; Initial Public Offering; Business or Company Management; Strategic Planning; Publishing Industry

January 1984
Article

A Simulation Analysis of Alternative Pricing Strategies for Dynamic Environments

By: Robert J. Dolan

Researchers of the strategic implications of the well-known demand (e.g., adoption and diffusion) and supply (e.g., experience effects) dynamics have typically sought analytical solutions. Their success in this has been achieved partly by limiting the richness of the... View Details

Keywords: Demand and Consumers; Price; Mathematical Methods; Supply and Industry

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Research Summary

Corporate Social Entrepreneurship

By: James E. Austin

This research is examining the process by which companies engage in strategic corporate social responsibility as an integral part of their enterprise strategy and operations. The research has conceptualized this process as entreprenurial in nature and defined it as... View Details

Website

Creating Emerging Markets

By: Geoffrey Jones

Harvard Business School has an on-going program to conduct in-depth interviews with top business leaders who have created and managed businesses in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America over the last four decades. These interviews, many lasting several... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Emerging Market