Publications

January 2017
Case

The Six CEOs of Tyco International Ltd.

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

In September 2016, Johnson Controls, Inc. completed the acquisition of Tyco International PLC, a $9.9 billion business with operating profits of $884 million. The purchase consideration was $14.4 billion. Although the deal was billed as a merger, Ireland-based Tyco... View Details

26 Nov 2001
Research & Ideas

How Toyota Turns Workers Into Problem Solvers

concluded that Toyota has come up with a powerful, broadly applicable answer to a fundamental managerial problem. The products we consume and the services we use are typically not the result of a single person's effort. Rather, they come... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Johnston; Manufacturing; Transportation; Auto

06 Jan 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Mechanisms of Technology Re-Emergence and Identity Change in a Mature Field: Swiss Watchmaking, 1970-2008

Keywords: by Ryan Raffaelli; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products

January 2017
Case

Danaher Corporation, 2007–2017

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

On July 2, 2016, Danaher Corporation completed the spinoff of Fortive Corporation. The previous day, Danaher’s stock price had reached an all-time high. In 2015, Danaher had decided to split off its test and measurement, fuel and fleet management, and automation... View Details

15 Jun 2007
Research & Ideas

Remembering Alfred Chandler

great-grandfather, the business editor and analyst Henry Varnum Poor, to 2 recent volumes, published while he was in his 80s: Inventing the Electronic Century: The Epic Story of the Consumer View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

September 2013 (Revised August 2015)
Background Note

Leadership and Teaming

By: Ethan Bernstein

Small differences in the leadership of teams can have large consequences for the success of their efforts. Many initiatives fail not because of a fatal error in judgment or insufficient ideas, knowledge, motivation, or capabilities to deliver a solution. They fail... View Details

16 Sep 2014
Research & Ideas

Has Apple Reinvented the Watch?

computer ended the use of typewriters, or how electronic fuel injection systems replaced carburetors. It's probably more accurate to say the Apple Watch introduces several impressive incremental innovations that improve and combine... View Details

Keywords: Re: Ryan L. Raffaelli; Electronics; Electronics; Electronics

08 Sep 2008
HBS Case

The Value of Environmental Activists

There are many methods, most financial, to measure the success of companies in meeting goals. But the question becomes a lot harder at Harvard Business School when MBAs are challenged to measure the efforts of environmental organizations like Greenpeace and the World... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Energy; Utilities

19 Sep 2016
Research & Ideas

Why Isn't Business Research More Relevant to Business Practitioners?

challenging, is achievable. Take HBS colleague Benjamin G. Edelman, an expert in online markets whose research focuses on consumer protection related to online businesses. “My research is made better by choosing questions that are... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Education

09 Dec 2015
Research Event

How Do You Predict Demand and Set Prices For Products Never Sold Before?

in a digitally-transformed economy. “All of these decisions would be easy to make if I knew what consumer demand will be. The problem is that I have a lot of uncertainty in demand” All retailers face tricky tactical decisions related to... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Apparel & Accessories; Apparel & Accessories

August 2007 (Revised March 2008)
Case

Fiyta - The Case of a Chinese Watch Company

By: Regina M. Abrami, William C. Kirby, F. Warren McFarlan, Luc R. Wathieu, Gao Wang, Fei Li and Tracy Manty

Fiyta had long been on of China's foremost watch brands. However, as China's economy began to improve and the livelihood of many Chinese rose with it, their tastes began to change. Exposed to more luxurious foreign brands, many Chinese strived to purchase a Swiss or... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Product Marketing; Product Positioning; Demand and Consumers; Consumer Behavior; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; China

11 Dec 2006
Research & Ideas

Fixing Price Tag Confusion

The price tag is evolving. It wasn't long ago that potential buyers had only to contemplate a single figure on a price tag—Mattress $799. But increasingly consumers are being presented with "partitioned" prices. Look at your monthly cable... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

25 Sep 2000
Research & Ideas

Cyber-Marketing: Scouting the Digital Communications Frontier

Then, we saw the addition of a new dimension, interactivity—that is, the ability to take account of millions of individual consumer responses with the aid of electronic databases," he continues.... View Details

Keywords: by Peter K. Jacobs

July 1982 (Revised May 1992)
Case

Danton's: The Specialty Store Men's Apparel Business

By: Richard S. Tedlow

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Apparel and Accessories Industry

Find at Harvard

December 2012 (Revised July 2015)
Supplement

Nalli Silk Sarees (B)

By: V.G. Narayanan, Namrata Arora and Vidhya Muthuram

Presents the company's perspective using an interview format. Ramnath K. Nalli, vice chairman of Nalli Silk Sarees Private Limited, and his daughter, Lavanya Nalli (HBS MBA 2011), the fifth generation entrepreneur to be involved in the family business, discuss customer... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Consumer Behavior; Entrepreneurship; Apparel and Accessories Industry