Publications

30 Nov 2017
News

Happy Meals (Are Here Again)

means there was a complaint—about the food, about the service, some negative thing that had escalated to the point that a manager had been called on to straighten things out. Or at least, that’s what it used to mean. In fall 2016,... View Details

Keywords: Dan Morrell; photographed by Saverio Truglia

28 Apr 2021
Blog Post

Alumni Spotlight: Cissy Chen (MBA 2019)

similar companies in their industry and recommended areas of expense adjustments that would be of help. I also quantified the environmental impact on the company’s supply chain with a proposal that they make... View Details

24 May 2011
First Look

First Look: May 24

used engineering expertise and political savvy to build a major privately held company providing the entire supply chain of water treatment, waste water, and integrated municipal solid waste capabilities.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September 2003 (Revised February 2007)
Case

PolyMedica Corporation (A)

By: David F. Hawkins and Jacob Cohen

The Securities and Exchange Commission and investors question PolyMedica Corp.'s practice of capitalizing rather than expensing of direct-response advertising. View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Business Earnings; Advertising; Private Sector; Budgets and Budgeting; Cost Management; Capital Markets; Marketing; Private Equity; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

April 1999 (Revised August 1999)
Case

R&B Falcon

R&B Falcon is the world's leading offshore drilling contractor. Amid surging exploration budgets and increasing deepwater drilling activity, the company makes huge investments in several new state-of-the art $300 million ultra-deep-water drilling rigs. As day rates and... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Change Management; Industry Growth; Mining; Product Marketing; Mining Industry

Find at Harvard

28 Aug 2017
Research & Ideas

Should Industry Competitors Cooperate More to Solve World Problems?

horizon and a significant common ownership of companies within the same industry or supply chain. Two types of investors satisfy both criteria. First, large, mostly passive asset managers such as BlackRock,... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Financial Services; Manufacturing; Agriculture & Agribusiness; Mining

September 2023 (Revised November 2023)
Case

Seeds of Innovation: GALY's Quest to Cultivate the Future of Agriculture in the Lab

By: George Serafeim and Michael Norris

In 2023, Luciano Bueno, CEO and founder of plant cell culture agriculture company GALY, was considering the best path forward for his company as he planned to pitch Series B investors. GALY, founded in 2019, aimed to produce cotton and other crops from cells grown in... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Green Technology; Goods and Commodities; Growth and Development Strategy; Science-Based Business; Entrepreneurship; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Business Startups; Decisions; Technological Innovation; Production; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Technology Industry; Boston; Sao Paulo

March 2020
Case

Voi Technology

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport and Olivia Hull

Voi Technology, a fast-growing start-up out of Sweden, is competing in the highly contested European e-scooter sharing market. With a presence in nearly 40 cities in Europe by February 2020, the firm is working hard to improve its unit economics to reach profitability.... View Details

September 1998
Case

Anheuser-Busch and the U.S. Brewing Industry

Presents an analytical report on the company's competitive position and on the industry structure in 1991. Used to show how a company can generate value through steady, incremental investment over a long period in a business model tailored to the industry context. Also... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Industry Structures; Growth and Development Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

22 Jul 2002
Research & Ideas

How Business Strategy Tamed the “Invisible Hand”

began to emerge, first in the United States and then in Europe: the vertically integrated, multidivisional (or "M-form") corporation that made large investments in manufacturing and marketing and in management hierarchies to... View Details

Keywords: by Pankaj Ghemawat

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

Rapid Response: Inside the Retailing Revolution

Once upon a time, suppliers held all the cards. Henry Ford's dictum that consumers could have any color car they wanted as long as it was black proved wrong in the extreme, but for years manufacturers in this country kept their hands firmly on the spigot of View Details

Keywords: by James E. Aisner; Apparel & Accessories; Fashion; Consumer Products; Manufacturing; Retail

November 2019 (Revised September 2022)
Case

TripAdvisor: An Itinerary for Growth

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Spencer Rascoff and Susie L. Ma

In 2019, TripAdvisor was one of the best-known and most-trafficked online travel sites. For nearly 20 years, its founder and CEO Steve Kaufer had steered TripAdvisor through many phases of growth and profitability, but recently the company’s growth had started to slow.... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Decision Making; Business or Company Management; Growth Management; Innovation and Invention; Brands and Branding; Operations; Customer Value and Value Chain; Information Technology; Travel Industry; Massachusetts