Publications

Educators

Article

ESG Integration in Investment Management: Myths and Realities

By: Sakis Kotsantonis, Christopher Pinney and George Serafeim

The authors’ aim in this article is to set the record straight on the financial performance of sustainable investing while also correcting a number of other widespread misconceptions about this rapidly growing set of principles and methods. Myth Number 1:... View Details

Keywords: ESG; Sustainability; Investment Management; Finance; Corporate Social Responsibility; Integrated Corporate Reporting; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Investment; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Governance

2021
Article

The Virtues and Limitations of Dynamic Capabilities

By: Bharat Anand and David J. Collis

Dynamic capabilities have been identified as a key determinant of competitive advantage. This paper explores the foundations of dynamic capabilities, and the limits to their effectiveness, first theoretically and then through the case of Danaher, the most successful... View Details

Keywords: Dynamic Capabilities; Danaher; Resources; Theory Of The Firm; Value-based Strategy; Organizations; Performance Effectiveness; Competitive Advantage; Strategy

July–August 2025
Article

Case Study: Do We Reskill or Replace Our Workforce?

By: William Kerr

To remain competitive in the internet-of-things era, should the CEO of SolidTech Innovations, a fictional elevator company, invest a lot of money in reskilling its entire staff? The industry is moving from hardware to software in the form of smart, connected elevators.... View Details

Keywords: Training; Competency and Skills; Employees; Change Management; Leading Change

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October, 2022
Article

The Economic Dynamics of Competing Power Generation Sources

By: Gunther Glenk and Stefan Reichelstein

Competing power generation sources have experienced considerable shifts in both their revenue potential and their costs in recent years. Here we introduce the concept of Levelized Profit Margins (LPM) to capture the changing unit economics of both intermittent and... View Details

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October 2016 (Revised December 2016)
Module Note

Strategy Execution Module 6: Evaluating Strategic Profit Performance

By: Robert Simons

This module reading demonstrates how to calculate and analyze the profit generated by different business strategies. Formulas and examples are provided to calculate profit generated by changes in market share, revenue growth, efficiency improvements, and support costs.... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Execution; Evaluating Business Performance; Profitability Analysis; Variance Analysis; Measuring Effectiveness; Measuring Efficiency; Activity-Based Costing; Flexible Budget; Accounting; Strategy

Brand-new markets are like the wormholes of science fiction, where the usual rules of time and space do not apply. When a market has just been born, the forces of competition there are constantly in flux, it's unclear who your customers really are, and conventional... View Details

28 Sep 2006
Working Paper Summaries

Architectural Innovation and Dynamic Competition: The Smaller “Footprint” Strategy

Keywords: by Carliss Y. Baldwin & Kim B. Clark; Computer

2012
Chapter

China: The Indigenization of Insurance

By: Elisabeth Koll and David Faure

The concept of insurance was introduced to China in the early nineteenth century by Westerners trading in Guangzhou and practised essentially among them. We argue that indigenization of insurance, in particular life insurance, was a slow process that stretched from the... View Details

Keywords: History; Insurance; Insurance Industry; China

December 2007
Article

Adoption of Information Technology under Network Effects

By: Deishin Lee and Haim Mendelson

Because information technologies are often characterized by network effects, compatibility is an important issue. Although total network value is maximized when everyone operates in one compatible network, we find that the technology benefits of the users depend on... View Details

Keywords: Network Effects; Standards; Competitive Strategy; Customization and Personalization; Information Technology; Technology Adoption

Web

Podcast - Business & Environment

and co-CEO, Allbirds XPRIZE: Accelerating Climate Change Solutions 20 APR 2022 | Climate Rising Marcius Extavour, XPRIZE’s VP-Climate and Energy, discusses how his organization designs competitions to spur innovations for carbon removal... View Details

12 Mar 2024
HBS Case

How Used Products Can Unlock New Markets: Lessons from Apple's Refurbished iPhones

Some of Apple’s most loyal customers think nothing of upgrading to the latest iPhone every time one comes out. But what about consumers who can’t splurge on a $1,000 iPhone 15 Pro? And what about the electronic waste that would accrue if people threw away functional... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Electronics; Information Technology

12 PM – 1 PM EST, 18 Feb 2015
Webinars: Trending@HBS

U.S. Competitiveness: An Economy Doing Half Its Job

The HBS U.S. Competitiveness Projects report on the most recent alumni survey highlighted a troubling divergence in the U.S. economy. Middle- and working-class citizens are struggling, as are many small businesses. Professor Jan Rivkin will focus on aspects of the U.S.... View Details

Malcolm S. Salter

Malcolm Salter has been a member of the Harvard Business School faculty since 1967. His teaching and research focus on issues of corporate strategy, organization, and governance.

In addition to teaching at HBS, he has held faculty positions at the Harvard... View Details

Keywords: arts; automobiles; energy; investment banking industry; retailing; venture capital industry

January 2007 (Revised October 2008)
Case

H&R Block 2006

By: Peter Tufano

Mark Ernst, the Chairman, CEO and President of H&R Block, has to decide how to respond to a competitive threat posed by a competitor's refund-lending product. Block is the largest U.S. tax preparation firm, which competes not only on its tax preparation services, but... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Financing and Loans; Personal Finance; Taxation; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Competition; Financial Services Industry

Educators

May 2013
Article

From Russia with Love: The Impact of Relocated Firms on Incumbent Survival

By: Oliver Falck, Christina Guenther, Stephan Heblich and William R. Kerr

We identify the impact of local firm concentration on incumbent performance with a quasi-natural experiment. When Germany was divided after World War II, many firms in the machine tool industry fled the Soviet occupied zone to prevent expropriation. We show that the... View Details

Keywords: Geographic Location; Competition; Supply and Industry; Labor; West Germany; Soviet Union

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January 2025
Supplement

A Winning Strategy (B): Innovation in Olympic Speed Skating

By: Rebecca Karp, Maria Roche, Maisie Wiltshire-Gordon and Tom Quinn

This case describes the aftermath of decisions made by two innovators in the Olympic sport of speed skating: the U.S. Men’s team, which devised a new approach to the team pursuit event; and Nils van der Poel, a Swedish skater who created a new training plan that defied... View Details

Keywords: Sports; Disruptive Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Knowledge Sharing; Performance Improvement; Sports Industry; United States; Sweden; Netherlands; Norway

March 2022 (Revised April 2022)
Teaching Note

France Télécom (A), (B), and (C)

By: Ashley Whillans

This case series discusses the evolution of France Télécom (now Orange) from a national telephone monopoly to a private company. During this process, the company faced numerous challenges including the entry of new competition from other countries and a workforce that... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Compensation and Benefits; Employee Relationship Management; Business Organization; Well-being; Communications Industry; Telecommunications Industry; France