Publications

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10 Apr 2014
Blog Post

HBS FIELD 2 - A good sneak-peek into consulting

One of Harvard’s most interesting experiences during the first year of the MBA is FIELD 2. FIELD 2 is a program where students work in small teams to complete projects for companies operating in emerging economies around the globe. In my... View Details

Keywords: Consulting

June 1973 (Revised July 1982)
Case

Textron, Inc.

By: Norman A. Berg

Covers the historical development, current business, management philosophies, corporate strategy, and the nature and role of the corporate headquarters in managing the highly diversified operations. Based on Textron, Inc. (A). View Details

Keywords: History; Management Style; Business or Company Management; Corporate Strategy; Business Headquarters; Operations

January 2024
Case

National Football League and Private 5G

By: Andy Wu, Grant Son and Shuoyu Chen

On September 9, 2021, the National Football League (NFL) designated Verizon as its official 5G partner in a 10-year deal, committed to enhance the experience for NFL teams, players, and fans in stadiums. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said, “Verizon will help us... View Details

Keywords: Football; National Football League; 5G; Verizon; Communication Technology; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Technology Adoption; Risk and Uncertainty; Business Strategy; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Sports Industry; Telecommunications Industry

Web

Marketing - Faculty & Research

no. 4 (July–August 2025): 126–133. Reputation Burning: Analyzing the Impact of Brand Sponsorship on Social Influencers By: Mengjie Cheng and Shunyuan Zhang July 2025 | Article | Management Science The growth of the influencer marketing... View Details

July 2006 (Revised October 2006)
Case

Lenovo: Building A Global Brand

By: John A. Quelch and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Announced in December 2004, the $1.75 billion acquisition of IBM's PC division by Lenovo, China's largest PC maker, made headlines around the world. A relative upstart in the business, Lenovo acquired the division of IBM that invented the PC in 1981. While Lenovo was... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Information Infrastructure; Global Strategy; Acquisition; Brands and Branding; Manufacturing Industry; Computer Industry; China

2016
Working Paper

Innovating in Science and Engineering or 'Cashing In' on Wall Street? Evidence on Elite STEM Talent

By: Pian Shu

Using data on MIT bachelor's graduates from 1994 to 2012, this paper empirically examines the extent to which the inflow of elite talent into the financial industry affects the supply of innovators in science and engineering (S&E). I first show that finance does not... View Details

Keywords: Higher Education; Engineering; Personal Development and Career; Science; Finance

SSRN

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February 2009 (Revised December 2009)
Case

Merck: Global Health and Access to Medicines

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Katharine Lee

The case describes the effort of Merck, a global leader in pharmaceuticals, in making available its medicines to the poor. The challenge for the company (or for that matter, any pharmaceutical company) is how to integrate its business strategy with its corporate social... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Health Care and Treatment; Emerging Markets; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Poverty; Business Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry

June 2020
Case

MOD Pizza: A Winning Recipe? (Abridged)

By: Boris Groysberg, John D. Vaughan and Matthew Preble

This is an abridged version of “MOD Pizza: A Winning Recipe?” HBS Case No. 416-004. Scott and Ally Svenson, the founders of MOD Pizza, had to make a number of decisions in planning how to scale their small company. They wanted to grow MOD from 45 stores as of May 2015... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Employees; Employee Relationship Management; Selection and Staffing; Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing; Service Delivery; Organizational Culture; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Service Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

November 2019 (Revised December 2020)
Case

Grupo Éxito: Facing Colombia's Competitive Grocery Retail Industry

By: José B. Alvarez, Carla Larangeira, Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago and Miguel Diaz Moreno

Grupo Éxito, a leading South American retailer, faced declining market shares in Colombia in 2019 with the arrival of low-cost competitors and emerging digital trends. Originally founded in Medellín, Éxito had over the course of its seventy-year history evolved from a... View Details

Keywords: Grocery; Market Share; Information Technology; Trends; Competitive Strategy; Retail Industry; Colombia; Latin America

08 Nov 2011
First Look

First Look: Nov. 8

PublicationsHow Much Is a Reduction of Your Customers' Wait Worth? An Empirical Study of the Fast-Food Drive-Thru Industry Based on Structural Estimation Methods Authors:Gad Allon, Awi Federgruen, and Margaret P. Pierson... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

14 Jun 2016
First Look

June 14, 2016

a way for managers to balance the analytical side of their work with the human side and find a sound way forward when analysis falls short. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=50601 forthcoming Patent... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

11 Jan 2010
Research & Ideas

Mixing Open Source and Proprietary Software Strategies

approaching it product by product.” Their findings highlight the complexities managers face in navigating an increasingly competitive industry. But if there's no easy recipe for software firms, even in the seemingly ideal balance of mixed... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Web Services

January 2009 (Revised July 2009)
Case

Alibaba's Taobao (A)

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Julie M. Wulf

This case examines the decision of Alibaba Group to diversify from an international business-to-business (B2B) exchange (Alibaba.com) into a B2C and C2C exchange (Taobao.com) for Chinese retailers and consumers. In China, Taobao had managed to displace the once... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Demand and Consumers; Market Transactions; Service Operations; Diversification; Internet and the Web; China

Web

Program Requirements - Doctoral

are required to take seven additional doctoral courses. Management Control and Performance Measures (HBS 4403) Empirical Research in Financial Reporting and Analysis (HBS 4250) Doctoral Seminar in Accounting... View Details

April 2004 (Revised November 2004)
Background Note

Why Complex Systems Fail

Operationally excellent organizations create competitive opportunities for themselves that are not available to their peers. One view of the manager's competitive dilemma is to pick the right position for his organization, differentiating it, for example, as a... View Details

Keywords: Organizations; Complexity

September 2006
Case

IR at BP: Investor Relations and Information Reconnaissance

By: Gregory S. Miller, Daniela Beyersdorfer and Anders Sjoman

BP's IR director has begun a program to use information regarding external views of BP and the industry as part of the firm's planning and operational activities. This information is generated as a portion of their award winning investor relations program, and had... View Details

Keywords: Knowledge Use and Leverage; Operations; Information Management; Business and Shareholder Relations; Planning

October 2013
Article

How Firms Respond to Mandatory Information Disclosure

By: Anil R. Doshi, Glen W.S. Dowell and Michael W. Toffel

Mandatory information disclosure regulations seek to create institutional pressure to spur performance improvement. By examining how organizational characteristics moderate establishments' responses to a prominent environmental information disclosure program, we... View Details

Keywords: Information Disclosure; Institutional Theory; Environmental Strategy; Mandatory Disclosure; Environmental Performance; Information; Corporate Disclosure; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Performance Improvement; Environmental Sustainability; Manufacturing Industry; United States

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29 Sep 2003
Research & Ideas

Pride Goeth Before a Profit

At General Motors' Car Assembly Plant in Wilmington, DE, there is a film that managers like to show when times get tough. Dating to 1991, the film opens with a GM executive saying that the plant will be closed in three years. There is no... View Details

Keywords: by Theodore Kinni

August 2021 (Revised February 2022)
Case

Northvolt: Making the World's Greenest Battery

By: Jurgen R. Weiss and Emilie Billaud

In 2021, the demand for lithium-ion batteries increased rapidly, particularly for electric vehicles. Anxious not to be reliant on Asian players, Europe was keen on developing its own home-grown capacity to control the value chain, maintain employment in Europe, and get... View Details