Publications

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January 2017
Case

The Six CEOs of Tyco International Ltd.

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

In September 2016, Johnson Controls, Inc. completed the acquisition of Tyco International PLC, a $9.9 billion business with operating profits of $884 million. The purchase consideration was $14.4 billion. Although the deal was billed as a merger, Ireland-based Tyco... View Details

August 2016 (Revised December 2016)
Module Note

Strategy Execution Module 2: Building a Successful Strategy

By: Robert Simons

This module reading describes the basics of building a successful strategy. Topics in this module include a discussion of the distinction between corporate and business strategy; how to conduct a SWOT analysis of market dynamics and internal capabilities; the use of... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Strategy Execution; Business Strategy; Five Forces; Distinctive Capabilities; Emergent Strategy; Mission Statements; Strategy; SWOT Analysis; Competitive Advantage

2011
Other Unpublished Work

International Air Transport Association Vision 2050

By: Michael E. Porter

IATA asked 35 strategic thinkers to develop this vision for the next 40 years for the airline industry. The group benefited greatly by the inspirational and strategic leadership and wisdom of Singapore's Minister Mentor, Lee Kuan Yew. And Harvard University Professor... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Singapore

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November 2000 (Revised December 2000)
Background Note

Online Content Providers

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Alastair Brown

Describes the business model for online content providers, companies that distribute copyright content via the Internet. Focuses on their revenue and cost drivers and on the ways that online content providers create value for consumers. Also investigates the benefits... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Customers; Value Creation; Business Model; Internet and the Web; Cash Flow; Risk and Uncertainty; Growth and Development Strategy; Problems and Challenges; Decision Making; Profit; Information Industry

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June 2023 (Revised November 2023)
Case

Sober Sidekick

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Kumba Sennaar

Case on the nascent business model of a mobile health IT startup. In particular, should they pivot away from their successful lead generation business model to charging health plans. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Operations; Business Startups; Business Model; Health Industry; United States

05 Apr 2022
Blog Post

The HBS New Venture Competition Turns 25: Celebrating A Quarter Century of Innovation and Entrepreneurship

from across Harvard bring new ideas and models to address these crises,” said Rob Zeaske (MBA 2002), director of the Social Enterprise Initiative. “The NVC’s 25th anniversary is a celebration of a generation... View Details

August 2018
Case

MISHA: Modernizing the World of Shisha

By: William R. Kerr and Gamze Yucaoglu

The case opens in 2017 with two of the five co-founders of MISHA telling the company’s CEO Michal Portz that they believe it is time for the global venture to shut down its operations and cease investments. Portz and another co-founder believe MISHA can still... View Details

Keywords: Innovation And Management; Entrepreneurship; Private Sector; For-profit Firms; Business Strategy; Decision; Business Startups; Emerging Markets; Business Model; Marketing Strategy; Distribution Channels; Market Entry and Exit; Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Value Creation; Decision Choices and Conditions; Technology Industry; Qatar; United States

08 Dec 2020
Cold Call Podcast

Uber's Strategy for Global Success

Keywords: Technology; Transportation

08 Jun 2018
News

My First Job: Selling Shoes, Surviving Black Monday, and Shaped by Chicken Lenses

insight into how the business model might work. And so by seeing several industries in a very short period of time, then it really did teach me how to think strategically. And... View Details

01 Apr 2001
News

New Ventures New Gains

experience a different educational model. “Cases can’t always completely capture the way the real world unfolds,” says Roberts, explaining that participants must source primary data and conduct in-depth View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna and Susan Young; Martin Dubilier (MBA 1952); Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services

June 2017
Case

AT&T Versus Verizon: A Financial Comparison

By: V.G. Narayanan and Joel L. Heilprin

This case asks students to prepare a report comparing the financial and operating performance of AT&T and Verizon. Taking the perspective of a communications industry analyst, they must also consider the differences between and implications of the companies' business... View Details

Keywords: Financial Statements; Operations; Analysis; Business Model; Accounting; Performance Effectiveness; Telecommunications Industry

14 Feb 2023
HBS Case

Is Sweden Still 'Sweden'? A Liberal Utopia Grapples with an Identity Crisis

Swedish capitalism is like.” Could this lead to the end of the high-tax “Swedish model” that like-minded nations have come to admire? Harvard Business School Professor Debora Spar, who has analyzed Sweden extensively, says no, the Swedish View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

01 Apr 1996
News

Stewards of the Seventh Generation

Resources for the Future, a Washington, D.C., think tank dedicated to providing research and policy analysis for environmental decision makers. "And even if returns on environmental investments were always... View Details

Keywords: Marguerite Rigoglioso, Garry Emmons, Linda Goodspeed, and Elaine Gottlieb

December 2012 (Revised May 2014)
Case

Hotel Ivory

By: Arthur I Segel, Nicolas P. Retsinas and Jonathan Lo

Cheick Sanankoua is an MBA student who believes that he has found the perfect investment property, a small, independently owned hotel, on the Ivory Coast. However, he has had trouble raising money for the investment beyond friends and family. Through contacts in the... View Details

Keywords: Real Estate; Emergent Countries; Investing; Entrepreneurial Finance; Debts; Cash Flow; Quantitative Analysis; Financing; Development Stage Enterprises; Small ＆ Medium-sized Enterprises; Africa; Ivory Coast; Venture Capital; Emerging Markets; Property; Investment; Accommodations Industry; Real Estate Industry; Africa

October 2011 (Revised February 2012)
Case

One Game to Rule Them All: Lord of the Rings Online and the MMO Market

Keywords: Competition; Strategy; Business Model; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Video Game Industry

27 Mar 2025
Blog Post

IFC India 2025: Driving India's EV Future: Insights from Ather Scooter and Exponent Energy

offering premium models like the 450X and Rizta, featuring touchscreen dashboards, WhatsApp navigation, and live location sharing. Their focus on performance View Details

01 Feb 1997
News

Shaping the Future of Business: Entrepreneurial Evolution at HBS

that focus on entrepreneurship as an ongoing process, not just the launch of a new venture. Concurrently, he has developed a model of entrepreneurship that describes the process as "the pursuit of opportunity beyond resources currently... View Details

Keywords: Nancy O. Perry and Susan Young; profiles by Garry Emmons

Article

Transition to Clean Technology

By: Daron Acemoglu, Ufuk Akcigit, Douglas Hanley and William R. Kerr

We develop a microeconomic model of endogenous growth where clean and dirty technologies compete in production and innovation, in the sense that research can be directed to either clean or dirty technologies. If dirty technologies are more advanced to start with, the... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Entrepreneurship; Environmental Sustainability; Green Technology Industry