Publications

10 Apr 2006
Research & Ideas

Lessons from the Browser Wars

In a famous example of how first movers can lose their advantage, second-mover Microsoft won the Web browser wars from Netscape and continues to dominate the market today. But that competition was the... View Details

Keywords: by Sara Grant; Computer; Consumer Products; Technology

January 2007 (Revised October 2011)
Case

Roppongi Hills: City Within a City

By: Anita Elberse, Andrei Hagiu and Masako Egawa

Minoru Mori is the CEO of Mori Building, which has built Roppongi Hills, an ambitious large-scale, mixed-use development in Tokyo, Japan that includes high-end retail, restaurants, hotel, office, library, and art museum. A destination site for tourists and local... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Development Economics; Brands and Branding; Urban Development; Competition; Real Estate Industry; Tokyo

01 Jun 2014
News

Spring Training for Startups

The Winners Most Innovative, Greatest Impact (via online voting) York Street Partners Transforming financial markets to support Sri Lanka's development Best Investment (via HBS Alumni Angels) Busbud Busbud makes it easy to search,... View Details

04 Jan 2021
What Do You Think?

How Do We Sustain Organization Diversity?

December 16, 2020. Summing up last month’s column My column last month about job training inequality and economic growth sparked many insightful comments about the role of markets as arbiters of fairness and the nature of View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

14 May 2013
First Look

First Look: May 14

Lady Gaga, and LeBron James? Which strategies give leaders in film, television, music, publishing, and sports an edge over their rivals? In this book, drawing on my case studies and other research on the worlds of media and sports, I explain a powerful truth about the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2009
Other Teaching and Training Material

Personal Rapid Transport at Vectus, Inc.

By: Benjamin Edelman

PRT vehicles—often called "driverless taxis"—sought to combine the best characteristics of cars, taxis, and trains, while adding features unavailable in any existing transportation system. Like cars and taxis, PRT vehicles carried small groups—often just a single... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Network Effects; Transportation Networks; Transportation Industry

Read Now

04 Apr 2018
Op-Ed

Op-Ed: Why Private Investors Must Fund 'New Nuclear' Power Right Now

markets choose the winners, not government officials—no matter how well-intentioned. No politician seeks public financing for a specific competitor without threat of voter reaction. In short, competition... View Details

Keywords: by Joseph Lassiter; Energy; Green Technology

15 Dec 2014
Research & Ideas

Deconstructing the Price Tag

they are way out of whack with the market norm—and when the firm makes it clear that its own markup is much higher than what competitors charge. For instance, if a company charges $30 for a T-shirt, but emphasizes that competitors are... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Retail

17 Mar 2021
Research & Ideas

Beyond Pajamas: Sizing Up the Pandemic Shopper

that attract consumers to retailers’ websites. Companies typically have to balance the popularity of these policies in a competitive market with the high costs of managing returns, including shipping and... View Details

Keywords: by Ayelet Israeli, Eva Ascarza, and Laura Castrillo; Retail

February 2002 (Revised May 2006)
Case

Volvo Trucks (C): Closing Volvo Global Trucks

By: Michael E. Porter and Orjan Solvell

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Market Entry and Exit; Competitive Strategy; Five Forces Framework; Truck Transportation; Global Strategy; Globalized Markets and Industries; Manufacturing Industry; Retail Industry; United States; Europe

24 Apr 2014
News

Côme Laguë (MBA 1993)

companies don’t find success but still have valuable IP. That IP tends to be lost, or picked up for little money by companies that don't contribute to the competitiveness of the technology industry,” says Laguë. “I like salvaging them,... View Details

2015
Working Paper

The U.S. Experiment with Fair Trade Laws: State Police Powers, Federal Antitrust, and the Politics of 'Fairness,' 1890-1938

By: Laura Phillips Sawyer

Prior to the Great Depression and President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal programs, considerable pressure for antitrust revision came from trade associations of independent proprietors. A perhaps unlikely leader, Edna Gleason, organized California's retail pharmacists... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Fairness; Laws and Statutes; Supply and Industry; Business and Government Relations

Read Now

June 2003
Case

Rise and Fall (?) of Palm Computing in Handheld Operating Systems,The

Describes the evolution of the handheld operating system market. Describes the rise to dominance of Palm's operating system and the significant challenge to that dominance posed by Microsoft's Windows CE. View Details

Keywords: Competition; Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Network Effects; Information Technology Industry; Computer Industry

1991
Book

Advantage Sweden

By: Michael E. Porter, Orjan Solvell and I. Zander

Keywords: Industry Clusters; Competitive Advantage; Corporate Strategy; Industry Structures; Global Strategy; Economy; Sweden

Find at Harvard

10 Mar 2021
News

Elevator Pitch: Game Time

has begun manufacturing, and the glasses will be available to all in summer 2021. Bottom Line: Tilt Five’s competitive advantage boils down to its proprietary technology, resulting in a more affordable, comfortable (lighter) headset that... View Details

Keywords: AI; virtual reality; gaming; technology; entrepreneurship; startups; Amusement, Gambling, and Recreation Industries; Arts, Entertainment

01 Jun 2000
News

Capturing Human Capital

simultaneously," commented HBS professor Christopher A. Bartlett in a recent interview with writer Peter K. Jacobs. Bartlett, faculty chair of the School's Executive Education Program for Global Leadership, identified the globalization of View Details

March 2009 (Revised March 2014)
Teaching Note

Roppongi Hills: City Within a City

By: Andrei Hagiu

Teaching Note for [707431]. View Details

Keywords: Competition; Performance; Brands and Branding; Buildings and Facilities; Real Estate Industry; Tokyo

January 2020
Case

The Origins of Bell Labs

By: Tom Nicholas and John Masko

In 1947, scientists at Bell Labs invented the transistor—a tiny signal amplifier that would go on to become the fundamental building block of the digital age. But, confounding most traditional economic assumptions, it was not a vigorous startup that made this momentous... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Innovation Leadership; Technological Innovation; Patents; Monopoly; Organizational Structure; Competitive Strategy; Telecommunications Industry; Boston; Massachusetts; New York (city, NY)