Publications

Other Article

Sustainable Strategies and Net-Zero Goals

By: Mark L. Frigo, Robert S. Kaplan and Karthik Ramanna

In a recent Harvard Business Review article, Kaplan and Ramanna describe a rigorous approach, the E-liability method, for companies’ ESG reporting, especially as it pertains to GHG emissions measurements. They argue that the current standards for measuring... View Details

Keywords: Measurement; Sustainability; Net-zero Emissions; Environmental Sustainability; Integrated Corporate Reporting; Measurement and Metrics; Strategy

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What are the biggest problems companies face in executing their strategies? Robert Simons explains why management teams must ask themselves tough questions, like "What could cause our business to fail?"

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March 2007 (Revised February 2009)
Background Note

How to Crack a Strategy Case

By: Stephen P. Bradley, David J. Collis, Kevin P. Coyne, Andrei Hagiu, Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, Jan W. Rivkin and John R. Wells

Addresses a common concern among strategy students: "How should I tackle this case?" Describes a process for diagnosing a strategic situation, then generating, evaluating, and choosing among strategic options. View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Management Practices and Processes; Situation or Environment; Strategy; Valuation

June 1991 (Revised September 1996)
Case

Human Resource Management at American Airlines

American Airlines' strategy calls for continued growth, improvements in customer service, and cost reduction. This case examines the Human Resource Management system at American Airlines and its role in the airline's past and continued success. May be used with... View Details

Keywords: Air Transportation; Management Systems; Human Resources; Business Strategy; Air Transportation Industry; United States

May 2024
Case

SofMedica Group: Managing Growth

By: Boris Groysberg and Sarah L. Abbott

SofMedica Group had expanded from its origins as a medical equipment distributor in Romania to a holding company with four business lines operating in six countries. This expansion had been driven by SofMedica’s mission: to make cutting edge medical technology... View Details

May 2007
Article

Location Strategies and Knowledge Spillovers

By: Juan Alcacer and Wilbur Chung

Given the importance of proximity for knowledge spillovers, we examine firms' location choices expecting differences in firms' strategies. Firms will locate to maximize their net spillovers as a function of locations' knowledge activity, their own capabilities, and... View Details

Keywords: Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; For-Profit Firms; Knowledge Management; Research and Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Disruptive Innovation; Five Forces Framework; Cost Management; Technology; Competition; United States

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June 1991 (Revised June 1993)
Case

Becton Dickinson (B): Global Management

By: Michael Beer

The president of Becton Dickinson (BD) and his top management team struggle with issues of: 1) how to manage the top of the organization, focusing on leadership style, the committee structure, and the role of sector presidents, and 2) how to manage a multinational... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Multinational Firms and Management; Human Resources; Leadership Style; Management Teams; Corporate Strategy; Health Industry

27 May 2015
News

You Need an Innovation Strategy

01 Jan 2014
News

Building a Game-Changing Talent Strategy

September 2008 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Loews Corporation: Corporate Strategy as a Portfolio

By: Joseph L. Bower

In 2007, Loews Inc., under the leadership of James Tisch, was considering whether to buy natural gas properties from Dominion Resources. The question is whether the acquisition fits the corporate strategy. In exploring the questions, students will have the chance to... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Business Strategy; Business or Company Management; Value Creation; Acquisition; Management Teams

Spring 2013
Article

The Investment Strategies of Sovereign Wealth Funds

By: Shai Bernstein, Josh Lerner and Antoinette Schoar

This paper examines the direct private equity investment strategies across sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) and their relationship to the funds' organizational structures. SWFs seem to engage in a form of trend chasing, since they are more likely to invest at home when... View Details

Keywords: Sovereign Finance; Strategy; Investment Funds

January 2006 (Revised March 2007)
Background Note

Introduction to Global Strategy

By: Jordan I. Siegel

Examines when it is profitable for a company to position part or all of its activity set across national borders and how a cross-border business is successfully designed and managed. View Details

Keywords: Cross-border Business; Globalized Firms and Management; Competitive Strategy; Global Strategy; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues

November 2003 (Revised May 2008)
Case

Atlas Electrica: International Strategy

By: Michael E. Porter and Arturo Condo

Atlas must decide whether to acquire La Indeca, increasing its Central American presence, or to focus on larger Latin American markets where higher growth is possible. In the year 2000, Jorge Rodriguez was in charge of Atlas Electrica, the largest home appliance firm... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Growth and Development Strategy; Markets; Partners and Partnerships; Competition; Expansion; Latin America; Central America

September 1991 (Revised January 1992)
Case

Citibank (A): European Strategy

By: Michael Y. Yoshino

Keywords: Banks and Banking; Multinational Firms and Management; International Finance; Corporate Strategy; Banking Industry; Europe

May 06 2021
Tout

Earn a Certificate of Management Excellence

January 2007
Article

Introducing the First Management Control Systems: Evidence from the Retail Sector

By: Tatiana Sandino

Focusing on a sample of US retailers, I study the management control systems (MCS) that firms introduce when they first invest in controls, and identify four categories of initial MCS, which are defined in terms of the purposes these MCS fulfill. The first category,... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Entrepreneurial Organizations; Firm Growth; Corporate Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Management Systems; Growth and Development Strategy

SSRN

February 2001
Case

Sun Microsystems, Inc.: Solaris Strategy

In the late 1990s, Sun Microsystems' Solaris has emerged as the dominant UNIX-based alternative to Microsoft for server operating systems. At the same time, the open source operating system Linux has appeared unexpectedly, and it is generating significant excitement... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Competition; Open Source Distribution; Standards