Publications

17 Dec 2012
News

Oliver Burkeman on Failed New Year's Resolutions

December 2011 (Revised April 2013)
Case

Akamai's Edge (A)

By: Eric Van den Steen

In 2009, Paul Sagan, CEO of Akamai, the leading online content delivery network with a 60% market share, needs to decide how to respond to aggressive entry in its market, whether and how to pursue the explosive growth in online video, and whether to stay with its... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Advantage; Market Entry and Exit; Business Model; Competitive Strategy; Values and Beliefs; Business Strategy; Internet

March 1999 (Revised January 2000)
Background Note

A Note on Microeconomics for Strategists

By: Kenneth S. Corts and Jan W. Rivkin

Summarizes the core ideas about the microeconomics of markets that are most relevant to business strategy. Sections I and II develop two basic building blocks of any market, demand and supply. Section II discusses how demand and supply interact to determine the... View Details

Keywords: Microeconomics; Cost; Cost of Capital; Market Entry and Exit; Business Strategy; Competition; Corporate Strategy

March 2005 (Revised August 2019)
Case

Cisco Systems: Managing the Go-to-Market Evolution

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

With the collapse of the dot-com market and related shrinkage in the high-tech industry, Cisco took a dip in its sales and profits in 2001. Coming back from the recession, Cisco had to manage and evolve its go-to-market strategy and design in keeping with its new... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Design; Business Cycles; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Channels; Marketing Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Business Strategy

October 1993 (Revised September 1994)
Case

Northern Telecom (A): Greenwich Investment Proposal (Condensed)

By: Robert J. Dolan

The business products division has developed a business proposal asking for $50 million to fund the creation of a new telephone system for the small business market. The company's last entry into this marketplace lost $70 million. The new product would face 100... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Communication Technology; Market Entry and Exit; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Investment; Product Development; Telecommunications Industry; Canada

October 2008 (Revised February 2012)
Case

Amazon Web Services

By: Robert S. Huckman, Gary P. Pisano and Liz Kind

Considers the development of Amazon Web Services (AWS), a division of Amazon.com, Inc., specializing in the provision of web-based storage and computing services to web developers. The case focuses on the issues facing Andy Jassy, the head of AWS, in 2008 as AWS faces... View Details

Keywords: Price; Market Entry and Exit; Service Operations; Competition; Diversification; Retail Industry; Web Services Industry

17 Sep 2010
News

Something for the weekend

2011
Book

The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work

By: Teresa M. Amabile and Steve J. Kramer

The most effective managers have the ability to build a cadre of employees who have great inner work lives-consistently positive emotions; strong motivation; and favorable perceptions of the organization, their work, and their colleagues. The worst managers undermine... View Details

13 May 2013
Blog Post

3 Projects, 1 Priceless Picture

goes on. But, I suppose I should dedicate at least one entry to my professional experience this summer. Unlike most interns at Nike who have one project over the course of the summer, I’ve actually had the opportunity to learn invaluable... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Products / Retail

15 Feb 2012
News

Why Social Change is Good for Business

2017
Working Paper

Self-Employment Dynamics and the Returns to Entrepreneurship

By: Eleanor W. Dillon and Christopher T. Stanton

Small business owners and others in self-employment have the option to transition to paid work. If there is initial uncertainty about entrepreneurial earnings, this option increases the expected lifetime value of self-employment relative to pay in a single year. This... View Details

Keywords: Self-employed; Small Business; Business Earnings; Entrepreneurship; Ownership; Compensation and Benefits

Read Now

02 May 2016
HBS Seminar

Chiara Farronato, Harvard Business School

December 1998 (Revised January 2003)
Case

R.R. Donnelley: Country and Opportunity Analysis in Eastern Europe

Examines several market entry options for R.R. Donnelley's expansion into Eastern Europe. Used as an introduction to a Harvard Business School course titled "New Opportunities in Emerging Markets." Asks students to consider the following issues: 1) the impact of... View Details

Keywords: Opportunities; Market Entry and Exit; Emerging Markets; Europe

May 1999
Case

African Communications Group (Condensed)

Describes the opportunities that confront the African Communications Group, an entrepreneurial organization that plans to introduce a wireless pay-phone system in Tanzania. Provides a foundation for the analysis of value creation and of value capture. The possibility... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Telecommunications Industry; Tanzania

Teaching Interest

Leading Professional Service Firms

By: Andy Wu

As entry barriers rapidly disappear, competition is accelerating and reshaping the business landscape for professional service firms. Navigating this continual change successfully requires extraordinary leadership abilities. This professional service firm... View Details

January 1993 (Revised November 1995)
Case

AXA: The Global Insurance Company

Claude Bebear, the CEO of AXA, the tenth-largest insurer in Europe, has just completed an acquisition of the Equitable, the seventh-largest insurer in the United States. As part of his strategy to make AXA the first truly global insurance company, Bebear is considering... View Details

Keywords: Market Entry and Exit; Insurance; Global Strategy; Acquisition; Insurance Industry; Asia; North America; Europe

26 Sep 2023
Cold Call Podcast

The PGA Tour and LIV Golf Merger: Competition vs. Cooperation

Keywords: Sports

March 1996
Case

African Communications Group

Describes the opportunities that confront the African Communications Group, an entrepreneurial organization that plans to introduce a wireless pay-phone system in Tanzania. Provides a foundation for the analysis of value creation and of value capture. The possibility... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Competition; Entrepreneurship; Forecasting and Prediction; Wireless Technology; Telecommunications Industry; Tanzania