Publications

Article

How Smart, Connected Products Are Transforming Competition

By: Michael E. Porter and James E. Heppelmann

Information technology is revolutionizing products. Once composed solely of mechanical and electrical parts, products have become complex systems that combine hardware, sensors, data storage, microprocessors, software, and connectivity in myriad ways. These "smart,... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Competition; Information Technology; Transformation; Information Technology Industry

Register to Read

17 Sep 2012
Research & Ideas

Blue Skies, Distractions Arise: How Weather Affects Productivity

efficiency. In "Rainmakers: Why Bad Weather Means Good Productivity," the authors show that workers are especially productive on rainy days, simply because they're not tempted by the possibilities of a sunny day—a walk in the park, for... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

January 1974 (Revised February 1974)
Case

Picard Printing Products (A)

By: Louis T. Wells Jr.

November 1995 (Revised May 1997)
Case

General Re Financial Products

2007
Case

Improving Productivity at Infosys

By: Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble

Read Now

January 2007
Supplement

Sonoco Products Company (C)

By: Boris Groysberg, David A. Thomas and David Lane

Keywords: Energy; Energy Industry

December 1999
Case

Avon Products China (B)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Jennifer Gui

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Business Ventures; Ethics; Government and Politics; Globalization; Global Strategy; China

Educators

September 1995
Supplement

At Play Productions (C)

By: William A. Sahlman and Andrew S. Janower

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship

September 1995
Case

At Play Productions (A)

By: William A. Sahlman and Andrew S. Janower

Fast Answer

Medical devices: Competitive products

What are the substitute and/or competitative medical products? You may begin with the following approaches: Check market research reports. You may begin with: BCC Research Frost & Sullivan Medical devices databases by FDA Conduct a preliminary... View Details

12 PM – 1 PM EDT, 10 Sep 2019
Webinars: Career

How to Succeed in Tech Product Management

YouTube product management director Tom Leung (MBA 2003) will share some of the key traits and skills that set great product managers apart as well as some of the tradeoffs when thinking about product management versus other common tech jobs for MBAs. View Details

January 2008
Article

The Value of a Broader Product Portfolio

By: Bharat Anand

The mantra "Every product must stand on its own bottom line" may no longer be the one to chant. Nowadays, broadening your portfolio can increase both your chances of a big win and the benefit your other products can get from a hit's popularity. View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Product Development; Expansion; Value Creation

23 Apr 2012
News

How to Brand a Next-Generation Product

Setting the Stage for Productive Negotiations

Understanding how to arrange the meeting space is a key aspect of preparing for negotiation. In this video, Professor Guhan Subramanian discusses a real world example of how seating arrangements can influence a negotiator's success. The discussion was held in his... View Details

September 2017
Teaching Note

The Productivity Decline: Demographics, Robots, or Globalization?

By: Laura Alfaro and Hayley Pallan

In the early 21st century, there was a noticeable trend of declining productivity growth. Despite the persistent decline in productivity growth, a consensus on its explanation had not been reached. Some of the debate focused on the technicalities of productivity... View Details

Keywords: Performance Productivity; Measurement and Metrics; Technological Innovation; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Globalization; Business and Government Relations

Summer 2017
Article

Performance Feedback in Competitive Product Development

By: Daniel P. Gross

Performance feedback is ubiquitous in competitive settings where new products are developed. This article introduces a fundamental tension between incentives and improvement in the provision of feedback. Using a sample of 4,294 commercial logo design tournaments, I... View Details

Keywords: Feedback; Evaluation; Tournaments; Innovation; Performance Evaluation; Motivation and Incentives; Rank and Position; Product Development; Learning

March 2025
Case

Skylight: Hit Product or Scalable Company?

By: Rembrand Koning, Christina Wallace and Jeff Huizinga

Skylight, originally a digital frame startup aimed at connecting dispersed families, expanded with a second product—Calendar—to help families manage schedules. Despite significant potential, Calendar struggled with persistent technical issues and poor customer... View Details

Keywords: Culture; Software; Hardware; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Customer Satisfaction; Resource Allocation; Product Launch; Business Strategy; Expansion

Educators

25 Oct 2013
News

The Benefits of a Productive Cocoon

May 1998
Article

Market Structure, Innovation and Vertical Product Differentiation

By: Shane Greenstein and Garey Ramey

We reassess Arrow's (1962) [Economic Welfare and the Allocation of Resources for Invention, in NBER, The Rate and Direction of Innovative Activity (Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ)] results concerning the effect of market structure on the returns from process... View Details

Keywords: Product; Market Design; Innovation and Invention; Monopoly; Competition