Publications

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March 2008 (Revised March 2009)
Case

Microsoft's Unlimited Potential (A)

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Marie Bell

In April 2007, Bill Gates announced Microsoft Unlimited Potential. Its mission was to enable social and economic opportunity for the next five billion people. To deliver against this mission, Microsoft sought to focus its citizenship efforts and its product development... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Emerging Markets; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Growth and Development Strategy

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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

April 2014
Tutorial

Conjoint Analysis: Online Tutorial

By: Elie Ofek and Olivier Toubia

The Conjoint Analysis: Online Tutorial is an interactive pedagogical vehicle intended to facilitate understanding of one of the most popular market research methods in academia and practice, namely conjoint analysis. The aim is to provide students or executives going... View Details

Keywords: Market Research; Conjoint Analysis; Market Segmentation; Pricing; Marketing Strategy

September 2019 (Revised May 2020)
Supplement

Keroche (D): Transforming the Core Business

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Pippa Tubman Armerding

This case describes Keroche co-founder Tabitha Karanja’s decision to exit the wine business following the Kenyan government’s 2007 increase in excise taxes on wine. In August 2007, Keroche introduced the vodka drink Viena Ice as a replacement for its fortified wines,... View Details

2010
Working Paper

Integrity: A Positive Model That Incorporates the Normative Phenomena of Morality, Ethics, and Legality Abridged

By: Werner H. Erhard, Michael C. Jensen and Steve Zaffron

We present a positive model of integrity that, as we distinguish and define integrity, provides powerful access to increased performance for individuals, groups, organizations, and societies. Our model reveals the causal link between integrity and increased... View Details

Keywords: Trust; Performance Productivity; Information Technology; Knowledge; Moral Sensibility; Opportunities; Competitive Advantage; Legal Liability; Cost vs Benefits

SSRN

May 2025
Case

From oneworld to a New World? LATAM’s High-Stakes Alliance Dilemma

By: Juan Alcacer and Valentina Tarzijan

As global alliances evolve and regulatory barriers mount, LATAM Airlines must reassess the strategic logic of partnerships. In 2019, Delta Air Lines proposed a $1.9 billion investment and deeper cooperation via a Joint Business Agreement, prompting LATAM to evaluate... View Details

Keywords: Aviation; Airlines; Transportation; Alliances; Agreements and Arrangements; Governance; Competitive Strategy; Air Transportation Industry; Latin America; North America

08 May 2012
First Look

First Look: May 8

case:http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/712028-PDF-ENG Social Strategy at American Express Mikołaj Jan Piskorski and David ChenHarvard Business School Case 712-447 American Express has developed a number... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

2014
Working Paper

Cleaning House: The Impact of Information Technology on Employee Corruption and Performance

By: Lamar Pierce, Daniel Snow and Andrew McAfee

This paper examines how firm investments in technology-based employee monitoring impact both misconduct and productivity. We use unique and detailed theft and sales data from 392 restaurant locations from five firms that adopt a theft monitoring information technology... View Details

Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Information Technology; Ethics; Performance Productivity; Employees

SSRN

May 2012
Case

Indigo Telecom Australia

By: Cynthia A. Montgomery and Keith Chi-ho Wong

Two entrepreneurs identify an opportunity to bring ubiquitous satellite phone service to the outback of Australia. This case challenges students to carefully identify and evaluate the added-value the firm is bringing to the market, its priorities in implementation, and... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Start-up; Co-founders; Entrepreneurs; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Business Strategy; Telecommunications Industry; Australia

October 1995 (Revised September 1996)
Case

Dell Computer Corporation

By: Das Narayandas and V. Kasturi Rangan

Traces the evolution of the personal computer industry over the last 20 years and uses this as a backdrop to look at how Dell Computer Corp. grew from a small start-up to a multi-billion-dollar company in a decade. Dell is now faced with a set of decisions on the... View Details

Keywords: Industry Growth; Competitive Strategy; Profit; Computer Industry

January 1998 (Revised March 2000)
Case

Reading Rehabilitation Hospital: Implementing Patient-Focused Care

Reading Rehab Hospital has experimented with a popular new concept in health care--patient-focused care--intended to increase quality and reduce costs by organizing care delivery around particular diagnoses or "service lines," rather than around the functions or... View Details

Keywords: Demand and Consumers; Production; Service Operations; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry

May 2017
Supplement

Betfair (B), (C), and (D) Case Slides

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and John Heilbron

Contains slides related to the Betfair B, C, and D cases.
Abstracts:
B) Buoyed by success in the market for gambling contracts, Betfair attempts to enter the market for financial products using its exchange model.
C) Prompted by a takeover bid from... View Details

Keywords: Betfair; Exchange; Betting; Leisure Industry; Betting Markets; Market Design; Digital Platforms; Diversification; Business Model; Laws and Statutes; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Financial Services Industry; Europe

29 May 2018
News

How Amazon’s digital health moves could affect providers

January 1997 (Revised December 1999)
Case

OXO International

By: H. Kent Bowen, Marilyn Matis and Sylvie Ryckebusch

OXO, a kitchen tools and gadgets company, was started by a businessman who had 30 years of experience in the housewares industry. With his wife and son as founders, he creates a new niche in the gadgets industry for high-end gourmet stores. The company has headquarters... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Supply Chain Management; Production; Design; Ownership; Business Startups; Acquisition; Consumer Products Industry; Asia; New York (city, NY); Connecticut

September 2007 (Revised January 2009)
Case

Reading Rehabilitation Hospital: Implementing Patient-Focused Care (A) (Abridged)

By: Roy D. Shapiro

Reading Rehab Hospital has experimented with a popular concept in health care--patient-focused care--intended to increase quality and reduce costs by organizing care delivery around particular diagnoses or "service lines," rather than around the functions or... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Medical Specialties; Quality; Cost; Management Practices and Processes; Business Strategy; Service Delivery; Health Industry

13 Oct 2021
News

Apple's China Problem

January 2025 (Revised June 2025)
Case

U.S. Steel: Proposed Acquisition by Nippon Steel

By: Willy Shih

The case setting is the proposed acquisition of U.S. Steel by Nippon Steel, which elicited a great deal of controversy. The purpose of the case is to look at the history of the American steel industry since World War II and understand how the steel minimill operators... View Details

Keywords: Disruptive Innovation; Mergers and Acquisitions; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Business History; Technological Innovation; Business Strategy; Manufacturing Industry; Steel Industry; United States

August 2022
Case

Meaningful Gigs

By: Brian Trelstad and Rachel Philbin

In October 2020, just a year after founding their company Meaningful Gigs, founders Ronnie Kwesi Coleman and Stephanie Nachemja-Burton prepared for a vital investment meeting with Rethink Education. They had already reached $400,000 in annually recurring revenue (ARR)... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Growth and Development Strategy; Revenue; Education Industry; Technology Industry; Africa; United States