Publications

This report analyzes the pace of clean energy additions that would be needed to meet New England's 2050 economy-wide decarbonization targets. It concludes that to meet those targets average annual clean energy additions would likely have to increase 4-8 fold over the... View Details

September 2021 (Revised March 2024)
Case

Tesla in 2023: 'Electrified' Competition

By: Eric Van den Steen, Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Karen Elterman

Over its 17 years in existence, Tesla had redefined people’s view of electric cars, and in 2020, the company saw its stock rise by more than 700% to became the most valuable carmaker in the world. In December 2020, Tesla celebrated its fifth consecutive quarter of... View Details

Keywords: Barrier To Entry; Competitive Advantage; Innovation; Tesla; Automotive Industry; Sustainable Competitive Advantage; Values; Vision; Learning By Doing; Economies Of Scale; Electric Vehicle; Scenario Planning; Batteries; Competitive Strategy; Product Positioning; Profit; Competition; Industry Growth; Auto Industry

30 Sep 2011
News

The Most Successful CEOs Come from Within

April 1995 (Revised June 1996)
Background Note

Note on Building the Self-Sustaining Firm

Describes the strategic and organizational challenges of turning a fledgling enterprise into a self-sustaining business. In contrast to traditional life-cycle models, the note argues that businesses evolve in idiosyncratic ways. Therefore the leaders of young... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy

Sub-Saharan Africa’s recent economic boom has raised hopes and expectations to lift the regions’ ‘bottom millions’ out of poverty by 2030. How realistic is that goal? We approach this question by comparing the experiences of three front-runners of region-specific... View Details

20 Sep 2019
Research & Ideas

Solving the Riddle of How Companies Grow Over Time

other hand, the age of companies does seem to matter, with older companies in general growing more slowly than newer firms. Next, the team looked at the issue of persistence—that is, how likely companies are to sustain their View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Manufacturing

July 2012 (Revised July 2014)
Case

Warby Parker: Vision of a 'Good' Fashion Brand

By: Christopher Marquis and Laura Velez Villa

In its third year of existence and poised to double its workforce, Warby Parker attributed its success to an innovative approach in the eyewear industry and to the company culture that supported it. With a mission combining social and business goals, the company had... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Innovation; Business And Society; Social Responsiblity; Organizational Behavior; Social Entrepreneurship; Growth Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Brands and Branding; Organizational Culture; Marketing Strategy; Innovation and Invention; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Health Industry; United States

20 Oct 2010
Op-Ed

Export Competitiveness: Reversing the Logic

sustained growth while pursuing a strong export orientation provided the empirical backdrop for this approach. Government policy to achieve export-led growth is then... View Details

Keywords: by Christian Ketels

2022
Chapter

Luxury Tourism and Environmentalism

By: Geoffrey Jones

This chapter examines the evolution of luxury tourism and its environmental impact. Whilst mass tourism is widely seen as environmentally damaging, the impact of luxury tourism is nuanced. During the first stage of the growth in the nineteenth century, the numbers of... View Details

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January 2020 (Revised October 2021)
Case

Zara: An Integrated Store and Online Model (A)

By: Antonio Moreno

In 2010, amidst the growth of ecommerce and the emergence of new, purely online, fashion players, Zara launched its first online store, Zara.com. Since then, Zara’s online business had grown at a fast pace. By 2018, 12% of Inditex Group’s total sales came from the... View Details

Keywords: Stores; Integration; Operations; Business Model; Strategy; E-commerce; Retail Industry; Fashion Industry; Europe

TeachingInterests

Program for Leadership Development

By: Michael L. Tushman

Accelerating the Careers of High-Potential Leaders

Successful businesses know that investing in the next generation of leaders is critical to sustaining competitive advantage and achieving corporate growth over the long term. The Program for Leadership... View Details

January 2011 (Revised January 2011)
Case

Marvel Enterprises, Inc. (Abridged)

By: Anita Elberse

The management team of Marvel Enterprises, known for its universe of superhero characters that includes Spider-Man, the Hulk, and X-Men, must reevaluate its marketing strategy. In June 2004, only six years after the company emerged from bankruptcy, Marvel has amassed a... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Intellectual Property; Rights; Growth and Development Strategy; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

April 2012 (Revised June 2012)
Case

HP Labs in Singapore

By: Willy Shih, Pankaj Agarwal and Christine Chi

When HP established a branch of its corporate research lab in Singapore, the government played a key role through its Economic Development Board (EDB). Chris Whitney, the lab's director, sought to generate revenue from the lab's innovations, making it financially... View Details

Keywords: Research and Development; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Development Economics; Government and Politics; Motivation and Incentives; Innovation and Invention; Revenue; Technology Industry; Singapore

09 Mar 2003
Research & Ideas

Six Keys to Building New Markets by Unleashing Disruptive Innovation

Established companies historically have struggled when trying to create new markets. Success seems fleeting and unpredictable. Recent research indicates these problems are systemic. Most companies that are started fail. Of those that succeed, most cannot View Details

Keywords: by Clayton M. Christensen, Michael E. Raynor & Scott D. Anthony

2020
Working Paper

Reinventing Retail: The Novel Resurgence of Independent Bookstores

By: Ryan Raffaelli

This study examines how community-based brick-and-mortar retailers can achieve sustained market growth in the face of online and big box retail competition. The appearance of Amazon.com in 1995 led to a significant decline in the number of independent bookstores in the... View Details

Keywords: Bookstores; Competitive Strategy; Business and Community Relations; Customization and Personalization; Growth and Development; Retail Industry; United States

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October 2000
Case

GE's Two-Decade Transformation: Jack Welch's Leadership Multimedia Case

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Meg Wozny

General Electric is faced with Welch's impending retirement, and the question on many minds is whether anyone can sustain the blistering pace of change and growth characteristic of the Welch era. After briefly describing GE's heritage and Welch's transformation of the... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Transformation; Organizational Change and Adaptation

13 Dec 2022
Interview

Why Some Start-Ups Fail to Scale

By: Jeffrey Rayport and Curt Nickisch

Managing rapid growth is a huge challenge for young businesses. Even start-ups with glowing reviews and skyrocketing sales can fail. That’s because new ventures and corporate initiatives alike have to sustain profitability at scale, according to Harvard Business School... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Growth Management; Outcome or Result; Transition

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08 Feb 2011
First Look

First Look: Feb. 8

of causes. System-level accidents occur when anomalies or errors in different parts of an interconnected system negatively reinforce one another, spiraling up out of control until they eventually drive the system outside of its View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

April 1999 (Revised June 1999)
Case

1-800 Buy Ireland

By: Willis M. Emmons III, Adele S. Cooper and J. Richard Lenane

After decades of poor economic performance, the Irish government adopted major changes in economic policy in 1987. By the end of the 1990s, Ireland's real GDP growth rate of almost 10% per year exceeds that of all member nations of the European Union (EU). A key... View Details

Keywords: Integration; Development Economics; Supply and Industry; Policy; Foreign Direct Investment; Growth and Development Strategy; Macroeconomics; Republic of Ireland