Publications

October 2010 (Revised May 2012)
Background Note

Reverse Engineering, Learning, and Innovation

By: Willy C. Shih

This background reading looks at reverse engineering in the context of piracy and knock-offs in emerging markets like China. It first considers legal aspects of reverse engineering in strong property rights regimes like the United States as a way of unpacking the legal... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Learning; Engineering; Innovation and Invention; Intellectual Property; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Emerging Markets; China; United States

2024
Working Paper

Appropriate Entrepreneurship? The Rise of China and the Developing World

By: Josh Lerner, Junxi Liu, Jacob Moscona and David Yang

Global innovation and entrepreneurship has traditionally been dominated by a handful of high-income countries, especially the US. This paper investigates the international consequences of the rise of a new hub for innovation, focusing on the dramatic growth of... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Emerging Markets; Economic Growth; China

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14 Sep 2010
First Look

First Look: September 14, 2010

management practices and decentralization. Productivity dispersion between firms and countries has motivated the improved measurement of firm organization across industries and countries. There appears to be substantial variation in... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 2019 (Revised December 2019)
Case

Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys: A Power Couple

By: Boris Groysberg, Annelena Lobb and Sarah Mehta

Set in 2018, this case follows married couple and music industry titans Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys as they consider how best to use their platforms to achieve their goals. Since achieving professional success in the music industry early in their lives, Swizz and Keys... View Details

Keywords: Entertainment; Music Entertainment; Personal Development and Career; Entrepreneurship; Goals and Objectives; Power and Influence; Music Industry; Music Industry; Music Industry

August 2004 (Revised April 2007)
Case

Intel Capital, 2005 (A)

By: David B. Yoffie, Barbara Mack, Adriana Boden and Lee Rand

All companies in a technology-intensive industry must worry about the development of their ecosystems and, in particular, the availability and cost of complementary assets. One strategy for promoting complements is to invest in them directly. Explores Intel's strategy... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Venture Capital; Competition; Corporate Strategy; Investment; Assets; Corporate Finance; Semiconductor Industry; Semiconductor Industry; Semiconductor Industry; United States

15 Jan 2013
First Look

First Look: January 15

circumscribe citizen-employees, and they engage in production and trade. But individual corporations are no longer adequate to serve as the primary unit of analysis. Over the years, systems of distributed innovation-so-called business ecosystems-have become... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

June 2013
Supplement

Novozymes/Henrik Meyer, V.P. of Marketing and Business Development, Novozymes

By: Krishna G. Palepu

Video Supplement to the case, "Novozymes: Cracking the Emerging Markets Code." View Details

Keywords: Business To Business Marketing; Emerging Markets; Strategy; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry; China; Denmark

September 2010
Case

Aaron's: Household Goods for the U.S. Base of the Pyramid

By: Michael Chu and Charles Augustus Smithgall IV

With $2.5 billion system-wide revenues, Aaron's, a major rent-to-own supplier to the U.S. base of the pyramid, continues to grow in the recession, but CEO R.C. Loudermilk, Jr. wonders how long the company can sustain the fast growth rate of its past. Founded in 1955,... View Details

Keywords: Fairness; For-Profit Firms; Renting or Rental; Financial Crisis; Demand and Consumers; Social Enterprise; Income; Goods and Commodities; Competitive Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; United States

10 Sep 2012
HBS Case

HBS Cases: Branding Yoga

larger audience," Deshpandé says. Creating Value "Branding Yoga" is one of five branding cases Deshpandé uses in his classes to explore how companies create brands that are differentiated and worthy of a price premium. In addition to yoga, he cites the... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard; Entertainment & Recreation

January 2005 (Revised November 2009)
Case

Tata Consultancy Services

By: Rohit Deshpande and Seth Schulman

As CEO of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), S. "Ram" Ramadorai had grown the company into an emerging IT services powerhouse, with marquee clients such as General Electric, offices in 32 countries, and revenues of nearly $2 billion dollars. Now, he was about to steer... View Details

Keywords: Initial Public Offering; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Labor; Competitive Strategy; Information Technology; Consulting Industry; India; United States

July 2012
Case

LEGO

By: Jan W. Rivkin, Stefan Thomke and Daniela Beyersdorfer

LEGO has emerged as one of the most successful companies in the toy industry. The case describes LEGO's gradual rise, rapid decline, and recent revitalization as it is keeping up with a changing market place. Central to LEGO's management model is the ability to find... View Details

Keywords: Innovation Management; Innovation; Operations Management; Organizational Change And Transformation; Operations; Competitive Strategy; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

Article

Entrepreneurship in the Large Corporation: A Longitudinal Study of How Established Firms Create Breakthrough Inventions

By: Gautam Ahuja and Curba Morris Lampert

We present a model that explains how established firms create breakthrough inventions. We identify three organizational pathologies that inhibit breakthrough inventions: the familiarity trap—favoring the familiar; the maturity trap—favoring the mature;... View Details

Keywords: Radical Innovation; Organizational Learning; Technology; Strategy; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business Processes; Innovation and Invention; Chemical Industry

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September 2020
Case

Apple Bets on Augmented Reality

By: Rory McDonald, David Lane and Mel Martin

In 2020, augmented reality (AR) was still a nascent technology with blockbuster potential, one which Apple was actively developing as its iPhone franchise waned. But the emergence of AR was uneven, including the disappointing Google Glass and the unexpected viral... View Details

Keywords: Augmented Reality; Industry Structures; Product Development; Commercialization; Competition; Corporate Strategy; Diversification; Information Technology; Technology Adoption; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry

November 2010 (Revised December 2012)
Case

ABB: 'In China, for China'

By: J. Gunnar Trumbull, Elena Corsi and Elisa Farri

ABB, a power and automation Swiss engineering company had to decide if they wanted to be even more integrated into the Chinese economy, ABB's biggest market, or if they should instead increase their presence in other emerging markets such as India and Brazil. View Details

Keywords: History; Multinational Firms and Management; Engineering; Problems and Challenges; Competitive Strategy; Emerging Markets; Global Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Industrial Products Industry; China; India; Brazil

18 Jan 2022
Research & Ideas

How Eliminating Non-Competes Could Reshape Tech

IP is to acquire the other firm. Senz: Why do you think more states haven't restricted non-compete agreements, given the innovation that has emerged out of California? Wu: We should think about the existence and enforcement of non-compete... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Technology

15 Jun 2009
Research & Ideas

GM: What Went Wrong and What’s Next

auto market in the 1950s. The industry leader, unbothered by competition and looming threats, began to coast on its former glory, however, and bypass such areas as consumer preferences and industry... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Auto

Research Summary

The Global Agglomeration of Multinational Firms

By: Laura Alfaro

The explosion of multinational activities in recent decades is rapidly transforming the global landscape of industrial production. But are the emerging clusters of multinational production the rule or the exception? What drives the offshore agglomeration of... View Details

Article

The Rise of Synthetic Colors in the American Food Industry, 1870–1940

By: Ai Hisano

This article examines how, starting in the 1870s, food manufacturers in the United States began to use standardized color, achieved by synthetic dyes, as part of their marketing strategies. The emergence of the synthetic dye industry paralleled the growth of mass... View Details

Keywords: Safety; Food; Health; Brands and Branding; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

December 1998 (Revised February 1999)
Case

i2 Technologies, Inc.

By: Ananth Raman and Jasjit Singh

Describes the emergence and growth of i2 Technologies and the supply chain planning software industry. In December 1998, i2's market capitalization was in excess of $2 billion; the supply chain planning software industry had annual sales of approximately $1 billion and... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Applications and Software; Supply Chain Management; Production; Forecasting and Prediction; Information Technology Industry