Publications

April 2008
Article

Can You Say What Your Strategy Is?

By: David J. Collis and Michael G. Rukstad

Keywords: Strategy

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October 2023
Case

To Fizzle Out or Heat Up? PepsiCo and Coca-Cola’s SodaStream and Costa Coffee Acquisitions

By: David Collis and Haisley Wert

U.S. beverage giants PepsiCo and Coca-Cola shared many similarities by August 2018—both were founded by pharmacists in the 1890s, grew to offer hundreds of drink brands, and championed rival flagship products that drove loyalists into taste-testing wars. That month,... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Acquisition; Diversification; Expansion; Brands and Branding; Food and Beverage Industry

Web

Technology & Innovation - Faculty & Research

production workers) are associated with more autonomy and a wider span of control. By contrast, communication technologies (like data networks) decrease autonomy for both workers and plant managers. Treating technology as endogenous using... View Details

December 2020
Supplement

Komatsu Smart Construction: Launch Video

By: Rajiv Lal, David J. Collis and Akiko Saito

Short video of the concept of "Smart Construction" that was shown at the launch of the business by Komatsu. Illustrates what the automated construction site might look like in the future. View Details

Keywords: Automation; Construction; Construction Industry; Japan

2005
Book

Corporate Strategy: A Resource-Based Approach

By: David J. Collis and Cynthia A. Montgomery

Keywords: Corporate Strategy

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June 2023
Teaching Note

Komatsu and Smart Construction

By: David J. Collis

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 521-042. The case describes the introduction by Komatsu, the Japanese earth moving equipment manufacturer, of a new business model—Smart Construction. This replaces the one-time sale of a capital good with a software platform that... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Technology Adoption; Construction Industry

May 2020
Teaching Note

Edward Jones: Implementing the Solutions Approach

By: David J. Collis

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 719-411.Updates the classic Edward Jones strategy case as the firm shifts to a new "Solutions" business model from its previous "product" model in response to changes in the brokerage industry, technology and demographics, and its own... View Details

Keywords: Management; Strategy; Value; Business Model; Financial Services Industry; North and Central America

March 1995 (Revised March 1995)
Case

Smashing the Cube: Corporate Transformation at CIBA-GEIGY Ltd.

By: David J. Collis and Elizabeth Wynne Johnson

CIBA-GEIGY is a large, diversified multinational corporation that transforms itself in the 1990s through a massive structural and cultural change. The case describes the changes implemented and the processes used to effect change in portfolio, people, and structures.... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Change Management; Transformation; Investment Portfolio; Multinational Firms and Management; Organizational Culture; Corporate Strategy

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Research - Race, Gender & Equity

Sanaz Mobasseri, William A. Kahn and Robin J. Ely This paper uses systems psychodynamic concepts to develop theory about the persistence of racial inequality in U.S. organizations and to inform an approach for disrupting it. We treat... View Details

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Advisory Board - Entrepreneurship

Strategic Management Journal and elsewhere. He has also authored, co-authored or supervised over 150 cases at Harvard Business School. He is the author of Do Lunch or Be Lunch: The Power of Predictability in Creating Your Future, published View Details

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Aldrich Hall | About

eliminated from the 1920s campus construction for economic reasons, and growing enrollments in the wake of World War II stretched the limits of provisional facilities in Baker and Carpenter Halls. With extensive input from Dean Donald K. View Details

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Events - Business History

Entrepreneurial History," co-organized by Geoffrey Jones and Christina Lubinski. Oct 27 27 Oct 2025 Business History Seminar David Smith (Wilfrid Laurier University), "Reimagining the Mid-Century American... View Details

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C. Roland Christensen - Christensen Center for Teaching & Learning

spanned half a century. At the time of his death in 1999, he was the Robert Walmsley University Professor, Emeritus, at Harvard. Beloved and revered by generations of HBS students, Christensen regarded himself first and foremost as a... View Details

December 2020
Supplement

Tokio Marine Group (B)

By: David J. Collis, Nobuo Sato and Akiko Kanno

Updates the Tokio Marine (A) case by providing information on the organisation structure adopted by the Japanese insurance firm as it moved to integrate its global operations, along with changes in HR policies that sought to balance traditional Japanese practices with... View Details

Keywords: Organisational Design; Organization Structure; Culture; Global Strategy; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Organizational Culture; Values and Beliefs; Human Resources; Insurance Industry; Japan

January 2025 (Revised April 2025)
Case

Less Is More: Will Aldi's Expansion Plans Pay Off in a Crowded U.S. Grocery Market?

By: David Collis and Haisley Wert

In 2024, the discount grocery retailer Aldi announced bold U.S. expansion plans. Within five years, the German company would increase its store count by 30% to reach 3,200+ stores across the United States and approach becoming the fifth largest grocery retailer in the... View Details

Keywords: Scope; Grocery; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Business Model; Competitive Strategy; Retail Industry; United States

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Historical Data & Sources - Business History

Notes: Literacy rates are based on population surveys which were not conducted on a regular basis and did not cover many developing countries. Download Data Set in Excel Apollo Hospitals Apollo Hospitals Map created by John Regan, MBA... View Details

October 1988 (Revised May 1989)
Case

General Electric: Consumer Electronics Group

By: David J. Collis and Nancy Donohue

Highlights the General Electric takeover of RCA and the consolidation of the two companies' consumer electronic groups. Starting first with a history of the television industry in the United States, Europe, and Japan, and then a brief discussion of the main competitors... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Markets; Business Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Electronics Industry