Publications

07 Jul 2014
Research & Ideas

Banning Big-box Stores Can Hurt Local Retailers

protect local businesses from the crushing competition of "big-box" stores. But it turns out such rules often backfire, according to research by Raffaella Sadun, an assistant professor in the Strategy unit at Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Retail

25 Apr 2016
Blog Post

Attending HBS to Grow the Family Business

a degree in marketing. She then spent three years at GE Healthcare as a process improvement consultant before coming to Harvard Business School. Post HBS, she worked as a senior analyst in Nike’s corporate strategy department before... View Details

July 2013 (Revised August 2017)
Case

TaKaDu

By: Elie Ofek and Matthew Preble

In December 2012, Amir Peleg, founder and CEO of TaKaDu, reflected on how to position his young firm for the next fiscal year and beyond. The small Israeli startup had developed an innovative software system that used patented algorithms and statistical analysis to... View Details

January 2011 (Revised November 2015)
Case

The National Geographic Society (A)

By: David A. Garvin and Carin-Isabel Knoop

In January 2010, John Fahey, president, CEO, and chairman of the board of trustees' executive committee of the Washington, D.C.-based National Geographic Society (NGS), must decide how best to organize the 121-year old mission-driven organization for a world of... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Information Publishing; Leadership Style; Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Managerial Roles; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Internet; Publishing Industry

February 2010
Teaching Note

Sealed Air China (TN)

By: Regina M. Abrami, William C. Kirby and F. Warren McFarlan

Teaching Note for [308051]. View Details

Keywords: Globalization; Investment; Growth and Development Strategy; Experience and Expertise; Market Entry and Exit; Production; Performance Efficiency; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Service Industry; China; Shanghai

19 Nov 2021
Blog Post

Alumni Spotlight: Career Advice from Alums Working in Climate

there are so many innovative companies doing great work in this space that if you want to move into cleantech, you'll find plenty of opportunities to do so." Lisa Wetstone (MBA 2019), Director of Innovation & Growth View Details

01 Oct 2021
Blog Post

Alumni Spotlight: Career Advice from Alums Working in Climate

are so many innovative companies doing great work in this space that if you want to move into cleantech, you'll find plenty of opportunities to do so." Lisa Wetstone (MBA 2019), Director of Innovation & Growth View Details

April 1998
Case

Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team (Abridged)

By: Clayton M. Christensen

Becton Dickinson's Vacutainer business was largely based in the United States, but in 1980 management determined to grow the business aggressively first in Europe and then Japan. These areas demanded new products that were tailored to local markets. Despite the change... View Details

Keywords: Resource Allocation; Growth and Development Strategy; Change Management; Product Development; Global Strategy; Expansion; Innovation and Invention; Multinational Firms and Management; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States; Europe; Japan

04 Sep 2007
Research & Ideas

Jumpstarting Innovation: Using Disruption to Your Advantage

that you can adopt or adapt to deliver radical improvements in the way you and others do business? Will these improvements drive profitable growth by creating proprietary advantages in the way you do business? Can you expand not just your... View Details

Keywords: by Lynda M. Applegate

September 2000 (Revised February 2007)
Case

Freeport Studio

By: Rajiv Lal and James Weber

Describes the start-up and first-year difficulties of Freeport Studio, a unit of L.L. Bean, founded in 1998 to sell women's clothing by catalog. First-year sales were far below plan, and projected profits did not materialize. Fran Philip must identify the problems and... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Profit; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Strategic Planning; Problems and Challenges; Creativity

21 May 2019
Cold Call Podcast

If the Key to Business Success Is Focus, Why Does Amazon Work?

Keywords: Re: Sunil Gupta; Retail

February 2023
Supplement

Graphic Packaging: Project Cowboy (A) Courseware

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Scott Mayfield

In July 2019, Graphic Packaging CEO Michael Doss was proposing a $600 million investment in a new machine to produce coated recycled board (CRB), a type of paper packaging used for consumer products (cups, cereal boxes, beverage boxes, etc.) that utilized recycled... View Details

Keywords: Capital Budgeting; Growth Management; Demand and Consumers; Duopoly and Oligopoly; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Expansion; Value Creation; Supply and Industry; Pulp and Paper Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States; North America

01 Dec 2011
News

Alumni Book Briefs

Manufacturing Excellence: A Leader’s Guide to Achieving and Sustaining Excellence by Larry E. Fast (PMD 52, 1986) (Productivity Press) Fast explains how to implement and sustain a top-down, comprehensive strategy for manufacturing... View Details

Keywords: Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Arts, Entertainment; Finance; Miscellaneous Manufacturing; Manufacturing

December 2004 (Revised May 2005)
Case

Levenger Company

By: Myra M. Hart, Kristin Lieb and Victoria Winston

The Leveens started a high-end catalog business as a small home-based venture in 1987. It grew into a nationally recognized, $60 million company, offering products that ranged from unique pens and pencils to leather briefcases and fully furnished offices. In 1999, it... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Financial Liquidity; Business Exit or Shutdown; Expansion; Business Growth and Maturation; Value; Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Globalization; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Retail Industry; United States

22 Apr 2019
Working Paper Summaries

Government Technology Policy, Social Value, and National Competitiveness

Keywords: by Frank Nagle

July 2010
Case

Fidelity Retires in Canada

By: Robert C. Pozen and Edward Warren Scott

The head of Fidelity Canada was faced with a decision about what to do with its retirement business there. Although Fidelity as a fund manager has made some headway in Canada, the competition has been very tough for the administration of retirement plans—a separate... View Details

Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown; Investment Funds; Globalized Firms and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Retirement; Competition; Financial Services Industry; Canada; United States