Publications

February 2015 (Revised November 2015)
Supplement

Building an Integrated Biopharma Company: Crucell (B)

By: Richard G. Hamermesh, Marianne Van Der Steen and Susan Harmeling

The Crucell (B) case updates events at Crucell since 2009. In September, 2009, Johnson & Johnson acquired 18% of Crucell for $400 million. This investment was part of a business development deal. Subsequently, in 2012, Johnson & Johnson acquired Crucell for $2.8... View Details

Keywords: Biotechnology; Biopharmacy Company; Licensing Agreements In Biopharmacy; Licensing; Human Cell-line Technology; Vaccine; Healthcare Innovation; Global Health; Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Acquisition; Innovation and Invention; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

04 Jun 2014
News

Meeting of the minds

Article

Where Do Resources Come from? The Role of Idiosyncratic Situations

By: Gautam Ahuja and Riitta Katila

In this paper, we examine the emergence of resources. Our analysis of technological capability acquisition by global U.S.-based chemical firms shows that the emergence of resources is inherently evolutionary. We find that path-creating search that generates resource... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Resource Allocation

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May 2017
Article

The Reference Wars: Encyclopædia Britannica's Decline and Encarta's Emergence

By: Shane Greenstein

The experience of Encyclopædia Britannica provides the canonical example of the decline of an established firm at the outset of the digital age. Competition from Microsoft’s Encarta in 1993 led to sharp declines in the sales of books, which led to the distressed sale... View Details

Keywords: Digital; Britannica; Diseconomies; Encyclopedias; Applications and Software; Books; Competition; Publishing Industry

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2013
Working Paper

Entrepreneurs, Firms and Global Wealth since 1850

By: G. Jones

This working paper integrates the role of entrepreneurship and firms into debates on why Asia, Latin America and Africa were slow to catch up with the West following the Industrial Revolution and the advent of modern economic growth. It argues that the currently... View Details

SSRN

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19 Apr 2010
Research & Ideas

The History of Beauty

not take a great deal of capital nor technological expertise to launch an entrepreneurial venture in many beauty products—although for such a venture to have any hope of... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Beauty & Cosmetics

October 2017
Case

Pricing PatientPing

By: Frank V. Cespedes, Julia Kelley and Amram Migdal

In 2017, Jay Desai, the CEO of Boston-based health care technology company PatientPing, had to consider a number of interrelated pricing challenges. Founded in late 2013, PatientPing sold a software platform that allowed health care providers to receive real-time... View Details

Keywords: Pricing; Health Tech; Health Technology; Marketing; Sales Process; Sales Strategy; Price; Sales; Marketing Strategy; Health Care and Treatment; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Boston; North America; Massachusetts; United States

13 Feb 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, February 13, 2018

passionately for a global-historical approach to political ideas. To better understand the development of liberalism, he looked not only to the works of great thinkers but also to their reception View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Web

The Railroads: The First Big Business - Railroads and the Transformation of Capitalism | Harvard Business School

Railroads Finance Management Business Analysts Mass Distribution Mergers & Syndicates Research Links The Railroads: The First Big Business Beginning in the mid-sixteenth century, local railroads around the world served as a means View Details

July 2001 (Revised October 2004)
Case

PSA: The World's Port of Call

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Nancy Bartlett, Dolly Chang-Leow and Neo Boon Siong

Details the evolution of an e-business strategy and capabilities over a 16-year period. What began in 1984 as an effort to automate the port of Singapore to achieve productivity savings, by 2000 had evolved into a global e-business called Portnet.com. Closes as senior... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; Technological Innovation; Internet and the Web; Business or Company Management; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry

13 Jun 2017
Blog Post

Benefits of the MS/MBA: Engineering Sciences Program

I was always observing the managers that inspired me--and trying to understand what worked (and why) when leading a team.” When Damjan made the move to Boston, he had the chance to explore the intersection between View Details

October 2018
Case

Zenefits Board of Directors (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz

In early 2018, the time seemed right for Zenefits investor and director Lars Dalgaard to reflect on whether Zenefits had the right board of directors to shepherd the company through its next stages of growth. For the company whose name combined the words “benefits,”... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Business Model; Corporate Accountability; Governing and Advisory Boards; Corporate Governance; Crisis Management; Entrepreneurship; Human Resources; Leadership; Risk Management; Venture Capital; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; United States; California

July 2002 (Revised August 2002)
Case

Washington Hospital Center (B): The Power of Insight

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Michelle Heskett

Dr. Craig Feied considers how to take a major technical innovation beyond his own department into a large hospital system. Reviews how proprietary information systems became indispensable in the department of emergency medicine and what it took to introduce the change... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Health Care and Treatment; Nonprofit Organizations; Medical Specialties; Organizational Culture; Crisis Management; Technological Innovation; Higher Education; Adoption; Health Industry; District of Columbia

October 2014
Teaching Note

Financial Policy at Apple, 2013 (A) and (B)

By: Mihir A. Desai and Elizabeth Meyer

This is the teaching note to HBS case 214-085: Financial Policy at Apple, 2013 (A). View Details

Keywords: Apple; Steve Jobs; Forecast; Forecasting; Forecasting And Prediction; Shareholder Activism; Share Repurchase; Dividends; Financial Ratios; Preferred Shares; Cash Distribution; Corporate Finance; Borrowing and Debt; Financial Management; Financial Strategy; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; United States; Republic of Ireland

October 2018
Case

Booking.com

By: Stefan Thomke and Daniela Beyersdorfer

The case reveals how Booking.com has become the world's leading travel accommodation platform. The company has put online experimentation at the heart of how it designs digital experiences for its customers and partners. To unlock the potential of large-scale testing,... View Details

Keywords: Travel; Product Innovation; Experimentation; A/B Testing; User Experience Design; Product Development; Product Design; Innovation and Management; Transformation; Information Technology; Digital Transformation; Travel Industry

November 2018 (Revised January 2022)
Case

JUUL and the Vaping Revolution

By: Michael W. Toffel, John Masko and Sarah Mehta

In late 2019, San Francisco-based electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) maker JUUL Labs (pronounced “jewel”) faced intense pressure. Sales of JUUL products exceeded $1 billion in 2018, dominating the e-cigarette category. While JUUL Labs’ stated goal was to help current... View Details

2020
Article

Why Do User Communities Matter for Strategy?

By: Sonali K. Shah and Frank Nagle

In this essay, we explore how strategic management research and practice could benefit from considering the benefits and challenges obtainable through working with user communities. User communities represent a unique organizing structure for the exchange of ideas and... View Details

Keywords: User Communities; Innovation; Open Source; Collaboration; Cooperative Strategy; Knowledge Sharing; Strategy; Collaborative Innovation and Invention

January 2011
Case

AIC Netbooks: Optimizing Product Assembly

By: Steven C. Wheelwright and Sunru Yong

AIC Systems, located in Taichung, Taiwan, is a manufacturer of printed circuit boards, primarily for motherboards and video cards for personal computers. The firm is considered an original design manufacturer (ODM) and takes an active role in innovating and designing... View Details

Keywords: Performance Management; Quantitative Analysis; Manufacturing; Production Planning; Production Management; Diversification; Production; Performance Efficiency; Product Design; Performance Improvement; Mobile Technology; Manufacturing Industry; Electronics Industry; Taiwan

February 2015
Teaching Note

Eataly: Reimagining the Grocery Store

By: Sunil Gupta and Michela Addis

Within a few years of its operations, the Italian-based supermarket Eataly created a lot of buzz and excitement among consumers and media. Eataly's initial success was even more impressive in an industry known for its intense competition and low margins. How did Eataly... View Details

Keywords: Customer Engagement; Innovation; Retailing; Supermarkets; Agribusiness; Entrepreneurship; Food; Customers; Innovation and Invention; Marketing; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Europe; North and Central America; Asia