Publications

December 1979 (Revised October 1983)
Case

Fred Henderson

By: John P. Kotter

Focuses on the management style of Fred Henderson in the context of a relatively stable business environment within Xerox Corporation. To be contrasted with the case, Renn Zaphiropoulos and the videotape, A Day with Renn Zaphiropoulos (9-881-501), which are appropriate... View Details

Keywords: Situation or Environment; Management Style; Consumer Products Industry; Electronics Industry

March–April 1979
Article

How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy

By: M. E. Porter

Many factors determine the nature of competition, including not only rivals, but also the economics of particular industries, new entrants, the bargaining power of customers and suppliers, and the threat of substitute services or products. A strategic plan of action... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Strategy

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February 1978
Case

Sierra Log Homes, Inc. (A)

By: Michael E. Porter

Describes the history and evolution of the log home manufacturing industry, a rapidly growing embryonic industry capitalizing on the back-to-basics lifestyle changes in the United States. Focuses on one of the leading firms in the industry, but allows a discussion of... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Change Management; Industry Structures; Supply and Industry; Problems and Challenges; Business Startups; Business Strategy; Manufacturing Industry; United States

August 1977 (Revised April 1987)
Case

Crown Cork & Seal Co., Inc.

By: Richard G. Hamermesh, Karen Gordon Mills and John P. Reed

Describes the technical, economic, and competitive trends in the metal container industry. The strategy of Crown Cork and Seal is then described in relation to these trends. Focuses on two immediate threats to Crown's strategy: the future of aerosol cans, given the... View Details

Keywords: Business Strategy; Industry Structures; Environmental Sustainability; Trends; Manufacturing Industry

June 1977 (Revised May 1997)
Case

University of Trent

By: Regina E. Herzlinger

Focuses on two issues: 1) technical systems that can be employed in nonprofit organizations for control and motivational purposes. Systems discussed range from payroll monitoring systems to zero-base budgeting and 2) the managerial environment needed for serious... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Motivation and Incentives; Business or Company Management; Nonprofit Organizations; Governance Controls; Education Industry

January 1977 (Revised April 1983)
Case

Corning Glass Works: The Electronic Products Division (B)

By: Michael Beer

Focuses on the recommendations and implementation strategy made by the organizational development group for the electronic product division's problems. View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Problems and Challenges; Adaptation

May 1975 (Revised October 1985)
Case

Marks and Spencer Ltd.

By: Joseph L. Bower

This business policy and retailing strategy case focuses on the unique corporate strategy and philosophy of a leading English retailer. Emphasizes expansion plans. View Details

Keywords: Learning; Policy; Management; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Retail Industry

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Research Summary

By: Boris Groysberg

Professor Groysberg's research focuses on the challenges of managing professional service firms. In particular, his work investigates how a firm can be systematic in achieving a sustainable competitive advantage by leveraging its employees. In a number of related... View Details

Research Summary

By: Ashish Nanda

Ashish Nanda's research focuses on ethics and economics of managing professional service firms.

Nanda is working on a project that studies how management of conflict of interest influences professional identity, the role of professional associations, and the... View Details

Research Summary

(formerly Leonard-Barton) Creating and Exploiting Knowledge-Based Assets

By: Dorothy A. Leonard

For the past decade, Dorothy Leonard's research has focused on how companies develop and exploit strategically advantageous knowledge assets. In her 1995 book Wellsprings of Knowledge (HBS Press), she identified and described in depth, activities that create and... View Details

Research Summary

Bringing Individuals Back In: The Effects of Career Experience on New Firm Founding (forthcoming Industrial and Corporate Change, 2003)

By: Rakesh Khurana

In this paper (with Scott Shane) the link between the career experiences of potential entrepreneurs and the decision to found a new firm is explored. Because of methodological and theoretical obstacles, sociological research on organizational foundings has largely... View Details

Research Summary

Building Small Business Utopia: How Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Can Increase Small Business Success

By: Karen Mills

Small business lending has remained unchanged for decades, laden with frictions and barriers that prevent many small businesses from accessing the capital they need to succeed. Financial technology, or “fintech,” promises to change this trajectory. In 2010, new fintech... View Details

Research Summary

Business Ethics

By: Joshua D. Margolis

Joshua Margolis is interested in how individuals can exercise leadership in the face of competing ethical and economic responsibilities, and how organizations can enable them to do that. In particular, how can managers and companies simultaneously advance... View Details

Research Summary

Business Leadership and Corporate Social Responsibility

By: Dutch Leonard

This project focuses on how business leaders can be most effective at creating better social outcomes and vibrant, successful businesses at the same time. What forms of leadership -- and in what venues (in the community, in the corporation, in politics, ...) -- turn... View Details

Forthcoming
Article

Collusion in Brokered Markets

By: John William Hatfield, Scott Duke Kominers and Richard Lowery

High commissions in the U.S. residential real estate agency market present a puzzle for economic theory because brokerage is not a concentrated industry. We model brokered markets as a game in which agents post prices for customers and then choose which other agents to... View Details