Publications

March 2019 (Revised May 2019)
Case

Philips Lighting: Light-as-a-Service

By: Mark R. Kramer, Thijs Geradts and Bhanuteja Nadella

As LEDs with a 25-year lifespan replace incandescent lightbulbs, Philips Lighting faced major disruption and began to explore a new shared value business model of selling light as a service. Although it offers better profit margins and a reduced environmental... View Details

Keywords: Disruptive Innovation; Business Model; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Competitive Strategy

TeachingInterests

Strategy Execution

By: Dennis Campbell

This course takes strategy as given and teaches what students need to know to execute and win in highly competitive markets. Using fundamental building blocks based on accountability systems and structures, this course is divided into seven modules:

1.... View Details

04 May 2021
News

Workplace Diversity: Managers Must Build a Culture of Belonging

January 1994 (Revised March 1995)
Case

NovaCare, Inc.: Living the Vision

By: Lynn S. Paine

NovaCare's CEO is considering how further to institutionalize the company's espoused values and beliefs. One challenge is integrating two newly acquired businesses; another is better aligning the values of the company's managers with those of its front-line... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Health Care and Treatment; Labor and Management Relations; Management Teams; Values and Beliefs; Mergers and Acquisitions; Mission and Purpose; Health Industry

January 2018
Teaching Note

Still Leading (B1): Hon. Bob McDonald—Profiting from Purpose

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

This case is included in the Still Leading series, which is part of an opening series of cases used in the Advanced Leadership Initiative at Harvard University. This case can also be taught as a standalone case as it is rich with many key leadership lessons that fall... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Personal Development and Career; Values and Beliefs; Transition

2024
Working Paper

The Rise of Alternatives

By: Juliane Begenau, Pauline Liang and Emil Siriwardane

Since the 2000s, U.S. public pensions have shifted their risky investments towards alternative assets like private equity and hedge funds, some more aggressively than others. We explore several explanations for these cross-sectional trends, focusing on those implied by... View Details

Keywords: Investment Funds; Investment Return; Risk and Uncertainty

Read Now

August 2001 (Revised March 2008)
Case

NerveWire, Inc.

By: Nitin Nohria and Anthony Mayo

NerveWire, a management consulting and systems integration provider based in Newton, MA, was closing in on its second anniversary. In the beginning days of NerveWire, the major challenge was recruiting--finding the right people who embodied its values and business... View Details

Keywords: Values and Beliefs; Leadership; Mission and Purpose; Behavior; Internet; Newton

January–February 2020
Article

Consumer Reactions to Drip Pricing

By: Shelle Santana, Steven Dallas and Vicki Morwitz

This research examines how drip pricing—a strategy whereby a firm advertises only part of a product’s price upfront and then reveals additional mandatory or optional fees/surcharges as the consumer proceeds through the buying process—affects consumer choice and... View Details

Keywords: Drip Pricing; Pricing; Consumer Protection; Hidden Fees; Price; Consumer Behavior; Perception

Find at Harvard

July 1982 (Revised December 1984)
Case

Esmark, Inc. (A)

By: William E. Fruhan Jr.

Involves the management of a firm with a market value of a going concern that is less than its breakup value. How does management maximize value for shareholders in this environment? View Details

Keywords: Finance; Markets; Business and Shareholder Relations; Value; Food and Beverage Industry

21 Jun 2023
Blog Post

Building a Better World: The Harvard Builders Club

Amid the greatest economic, geopolitical, and social uncertainty in years, there is one thing we can be sure about – real value creation and innovation are enduring. This is... View Details

January 2021 (Revised May 2021)
Case

Amazon Shopper Panel: Paying Customers for Their Data

By: Eva Ascarza and Ayelet Israeli

This case introduces a new Amazon program that has consumers upload their receipts from transactions outside of Amazon, in exchange for money. Through the discussion, the case aims to explore issues in customers’ privacy in the digital age, the value of customers’ own... View Details

December 2014
Technical Note

The Thermostat Industry: Transformation from Analog to Digital

By: Karim R. Lakhani, Kerry Herman and Christine Snively

This note examines the evolution of the thermostat industry as it transitioned from analog to digital technologies. It presents an overview of key industry participants and the shift in value creation and value capture models for firms. View Details

Keywords: Digital; Digital Convergence; Business Models; Digital Transition; Technology Change; Technology Strategy; Information Technology; Digital Transformation; United States

March 2002 (Revised June 2005)
Case

AOL Time Warner, Inc.

By: Stephen P. Bradley and Erin Sullivan

AOL Time Warner, which has been billed as the "first fully integrated media and communications company of the Internet Century," raises the fundamental question of how value will be created and captured by the merger of AOL and Time Warner. This case describes just how... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Internet and the Web; Value Creation; Organizational Culture; Consolidation; Change Management; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United States

04 Feb 2020
Video

Dr. Manu Chandaria

Manu Chandaria, Chair of the Comcraft Group in Kenya, explains the importance of maintaining consistency in one’s core values and that, in family businesses, these values extend both to company- and... View Details

28 Jan 2016
Blog Post

Why Get an MBA?

These days you don’t have to look far to find someone questioning the value of an MBA. It seems like every week brings another article on rising costs and evolving employers. Even if you don’t believe the... View Details

2008
Book

Ownership Quotient: Putting the Service Profit Chain to Work for Unbeatable Competitive Advantage

By: James L. Heskett, W. Earl Sasser Jr. and Joe Wheeler

Hundreds of large organizations worldwide have used the groundbreaking Service Profit Chain to improve business performance. Now The Ownership Quotient reveals the next generation of the chain: customer and employee "owners" of your business. Employee-owners exhibit... View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Customer Ownership; Employee Ownership; Competitive Advantage; Value Creation

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October 2013
Article

The Strategy That Will Fix Health Care

By: Michael E. Porter and Thomas H. Lee

In health care, the days of business as usual are over. Around the world, every health care system is struggling with rising costs and uneven quality, despite the hard work of well-intentioned, well-trained clinicians. Health care leaders and policy makers have tried... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategy; Value; Customer Focus and Relationships; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry

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12 Mar 2013
News

How to pick a pope (or any church leader)

October 1991 (Revised September 2004)
Case

Buying Time

By: William J. Bruns Jr. and Susan Harmeling

A self-contained explanation and simple practice examples to introduce students to the concepts of compound interest, present value loans, bonds, and leases. Necessary present value tables are included. The study questions provide simple exercises to enhance student... View Details

Keywords: Bonds; Financing and Loans; Learning