Publications

2019
Chapter

Interorganizational Collaboration and Start-Up Innovation

By: Vikas A. Aggarwal and Andy Wu

This chapter presents an overview of the literature on collaborative relationships between start-ups and incumbent firms, focusing on the implications of these relationships for start-up innovation and performance. Value creation in such relationships occurs when... View Details

Keywords: Alliance; Corporate Venture Capital; Complementary Assets; Appropriability; Business Startups; Joint Ventures; Knowledge; Innovation and Invention; Value Creation; Entrepreneurship

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15 Oct 2007
Research & Ideas

Businesses Beware: The World Is Not Flat

expansion," Ghemawat argues. While identifying similarities from one place to the next is essential, effective cross-border strategies will take careful stock of differences as well. An expert on global strategy, Ghemawat lays out an action plan for View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

Teaching Interest

MBA Elective Curriculum Business Marketing and Sales

Business markets differ from consumer markets in important ways. Typically, the buying process is more complex, the buying units and purchase criteria differ, and marketing decisions are more closely interrelated with firm-wide strategic choices. In addition,... View Details

07 Apr 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Strategic Channel Selection with Online Platforms: An Empirical Analysis of the Daily Deal Industry

Keywords: by Lingling Zhang and Doug J. Chung; Retail

15 Jul 2002
Research & Ideas

Going Green Makes Good Business Sense

Business leaders must respond to growing concerns about pollution, but both the environment and corporate coffers can be green, says Harvard Business School professor Forest Reinhardt. The key to success may... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

August 2000 (Revised December 2001)
Background Note

Emerging Networked Business Models: Lessons from the Field

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Meredith Collura

Provides an overview of the networked models that are revolutionizing market industries and the organizations that compete and do business within them. Teaching Purpose: To introduce students and executives to emerging networked models and to provide a foundation for... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Decision Making; Networks; Strategy

September 2014
Case

Radiometer, 2003

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

In 2003, Radiometer was the world's leading supplier of blood gas analysis equipment and accessories for critical care patients. Based in Denmark, Radiometer sold through a combination of sales subsidiaries and distributors around the world, and generated sales of over... View Details

Keywords: Medical Devices; Medical Equipment ＆ Devices; Mergers ＆ Acquisitions; Strategic Analysis; Strategic Change; Family Business; Strategy; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Denmark; United States

14 Mar 2022
Research & Ideas

Lessons from COVID-19: The Business Skills Doctors Need

practice. All of these abrupt changes called for medical professionals to have a certain level of management prowess, says Robert Huckman, Albert J. Weatherhead III Professor of Business Administration at Harvard View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Health

November 2020 (Revised July 2022)
Case

Dell Technologies: Bringing the Cloud to the Ground

By: Navid Mojir and V. Kasturi Rangan

The case tells the story of Dell Technologies and its efforts to revitalize its value proposition and escape a commodity trap by acquiring EMC for $67 billion—the largest tech acquisition in history. It also shows the deeply intertwined connections between a company’s... View Details

Keywords: Value Proposition; Go-to-market; Strategic Positioning; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Technological Innovation; Business Divisions; Information Technology Industry; Computer Industry

November 1989 (Revised April 2004)
Case

Du Pont's Titanium Dioxide Business (A)

This case series is a vehicle for examining the strategic logic and risks of preemption. Rewritten versions of earlier cases. View Details

Keywords: Competition; Supply and Industry; Product Marketing; Chemical Industry

October 2009 (Revised April 2021)
Case

Ingrid Johnson and Nedbank Business Banking

By: Michael Tushman and David Kiron

This case discusses the issue of leading change at the business banking division of Nedbank, a prominent South African bank, between 2005 and 2009. (This timeframe, beginning just 11 years after Apartheid's end, covers Ingrid Johnson's leadership of this division... View Details

Keywords: Leadership And Change Management; Leadership; Leading Change; Banks and Banking; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Change Management; Leadership Style; Banking Industry; South Africa

September 2018
Case

The Financial Management of Harvard Business School

By: C. Fritz Foley and F. Katelynn Boland

In the spring of 2018, the Senior Associate Dean for Strategic Financial Planning at Harvard Business School considers potential refinements to the School's financial management practices. He faced questions about whether the metrics that had been used to evaluate... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit; Financial Management; Nonprofit Organizations; Education Industry; United States

June 2025
Case

Redefining the Edge: Jahez’s Strategic Pivot in Saudi Arabia’s Food Delivery Battle

By: Krishna G. Palepu and Ahmed Dahawy

Jahez made its mark in Saudi Arabia’s food delivery market by serving customers willing to pay more for reliable, high-quality service—a segment largely overlooked by other platforms. As the company grew, it expanded into the mass market and developed a network of... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Business Conglomerates; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Innovation Strategy; Digital Platforms; Logistics; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Expansion; Food and Beverage Industry; Saudi Arabia

October 2016 (Revised April 2018)
Case

JCPenney: Back in Business

By: Elie Ofek, K. Shelette Stewart and Christine Snively

In 2016, JCPenney was in the midst of a multi-year turnaround after coming dangerously close to bankruptcy. Under CEO Marvin Ellison, the company had identified three strategic objectives—a focus on omnichannel, private label goods, and increasing revenue per... View Details

Keywords: Retail; Customer Management; Omnichannel; Turnarounds; Private Label; Promotions; Marketing Strategy; Brands and Branding; Customer Relationship Management; Goals and Objectives; Competition; Retail Industry; United States

01 Oct 2001
Research & Ideas

Organizing the Family-Run Business

As described in the first article in this series, the "Three-circle" family business system is composed of three overlapping subsystems: those employed in the business, the shareholders, and members of the family that has a... View Details

2010
Chapter

Business Groups in Historical Perspectives

By: Geoffrey Jones and Asli M. Colpan

Business groups-collections of legally independent firms interconnected by multiple economic and social linkages that exhibit widely diversified product portfolios-are viewed as the prototypical large-enterprise form in contemporary emerging economies. By exploring the... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Management Skills; Emerging Markets; Alliances; Groups and Teams; Competitive Advantage; Great Britain

27 Apr 2009
Research & Ideas

Building Businesses in Turbulent Times

can think strategically about where the business will be and how they might build for the future. A great example is Lou Gerstner (HBS MBA '65). When he took the helm at IBM, he had to take $7 billion out of... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

February 2017 (Revised June 2017)
Case

ExxonMobil: Business as Usual? (A)

By: George Serafeim, Shiva Rajgopal and David Freiberg

Climate change was becoming an important societal and business issue as more governments were introducing climate change related regulations and investors became increasibly worried about stranded assets within oil and gas firms. In September 2016, the U.S. Securities... View Details

Keywords: Oil ＆ Gas; Oil Prices; Oil Companies; Asset Impairment; Predictive Analytics; Sustainability; Environmental Impact; Innovation; Disclosure; Accounting; Valuation; Climate Change; Renewable Energy; Environmental Sustainability; Financial Reporting; Energy Industry