Publications

2003
Article

Closing the Loop: Product Take-back Requirements and their Strategic Implications

By: Michael W. Toffel

In Asia, Europe, and North America, regulators are seeking to reduce waste disposal and develop recycling markets by requiring manufacturers to manage the end-of-life disposition of products they produce. Such policies attempt to "close the loop" for products ranging... View Details

Keywords: Wastes and Waste Processing; Energy Conservation; Product Development; Strategy; Policy; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Manufacturing Industry; Asia; Europe; North and Central America

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March 2005
Case

Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), The

By: George C. Chacko, Anders Sjoman, Daniela Beyersdorfer and George Robert Nelson

The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBEO) must decide how to respond to new competition in the market for financial options. Options have typically been a very liquid asset class, despite the fact that many single-name options are listed on the CBOE, the second largest... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Financial Liquidity; Financial Markets; Financial Services Industry; Chicago

October 1996 (Revised April 1997)
Case

Tweeter etc.

By: John T. Gourville and George Wu

In the early 1990s, Tweeter etc., a small regional retailer of higher-end audio and video equipment, faced increasing competitive pricing pressures from several large regional and national consumer electronics chains. In response, in 1993, they introduced "Automatic... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Customer Focus and Relationships; Price; Market Entry and Exit; Supply Chain Management; Competition; Electronics Industry; Electronics Industry

April 2007
Case

Schibsted

By: Bharat N. Anand and Sophie Hood

In 2006, newspaper firms in developed markets were severely threatened on three fronts: the growth of online news, online classified advertising, and free newspapers. Schibsted, however, had managed to cope with these challenges successfully, and had become something... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Product Launch; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Adaptation; Competitive Advantage; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Scandinavia

23 Jan 2007
First Look

First Look: January 23, 2007

introducing a generation to the practice of personal computing and laying the foundation for the Information Age. Gates and Jobs turned their curiosity about electronics into a multi-billion dollar industry. From early experiments like... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Gary P. Pisano

Gary Pisano is the Harry E. Figgie, Jr. Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School where he has been on the faculty since 1988. From 2018-2023, Pisano was Harvard Business School’s Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Promotion and... View Details

Keywords: electronics; electronics; electronics; electronics; electronics

August 2003 (Revised September 2003)
Case

Tower Software

Tower Software (TS) is a publicly traded corporation engaged in multiple facets of the computer software business. Its flagship product, TS SERVE, is a successful proprietary network operating system. TS also develops and sells applications software for word... View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Product Launch; Web Services Industry; Web Services Industry

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February 2014
Article

Developing a System to Track Meaningful Outcome Measures in Head and Neck Cancer Treatment

By: Ronald S. Walters, Heidi W. Albright, Randal S. Weber, Thomas W. Feeley, Ehab Y. Hanna, Scott B. Cantor, Carol M. Lewis and Thomas W. Burke

The health care industry, including consumers, providers, and payers of health care, recognize the importance of developing meaningful, patient-centered measures. This article describes our experience using an existing electronic medical record largely based on free... View Details

Keywords: Cancer Treatment; Cancer Care In The U.S.; Outcomes Measurement; Health Care and Treatment; Measurement and Metrics; Health Industry; North and Central America

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March 1991
Supplement

Zenith and High-Definition Television--1990, Video

By: Benjamin Gomes-Casseres and David B. Yoffie

Records a visit by Jerry Pearlman, Zenith CEO, to an MBA classroom. He is shown commenting on Zenith strategy and industrial policy issues and fielding student questions. View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Business Strategy; Policy; Trade; Competition; Electronics Industry

2018
Working Paper

Show or Tell? Improving Agent Decision Making in a Tanzanian Mobile Money Field Experiment

By: Jason Acimovic, Chris Parker, David F. Drake and Karthik Balasubramanian

When workers make operational decisions, the firm's global knowledge and the workers’ domain-specific knowledge complement each other. Oftentimes workers have the final decision-making power. Two key decisions a firm makes when designing systems to support these... View Details

Keywords: Employees; Decision Making; Training; Performance Improvement; Money; Mobile Technology; Developing Countries and Economies; Financial Services Industry

SSRN

February 2006 (Revised June 2007)
Case

Atheros Communications

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Lauren Barley

Managers at Atheros, a leading provider of wireless local area network chipsets, must decide whether to join a special interest group (SIG) proposed by Intel to end an impasse over standards for the 802.11n (11n), the next generation of "Wi-Fi" technology. Two factions... View Details

Keywords: Intellectual Property; Standards; Wireless Technology; Semiconductor Industry; United States

July 1989 (Revised April 1996)
Case

AUCNET: TV Auction Network System

The AUCNET system links buyers and sellers in the wholesale used car market in Japan. Video images delivered via videodisk or satellite along with an inspector's opinion and objective character based data are used to conduct a realtime auction over computers and... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Market Entry and Exit; Auctions; Service Industry; Japan; United States

July 2008 (Revised September 2009)
Case

Betfair vs. UK Bookmakers

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Neil Campbell

Betting exchanges provide an electronic platform that allows ordinary consumers to not only back teams to win, but also to lay odds for other punters to back. This business model allows punters to cut out the middleman of the bookmaker and leads to a much more... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Decision Choices and Conditions; Two-Sided Platforms; Market Transactions; Competition; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

25 Jul 2007
Lessons from the Classroom

The Evolution of Apple

In the context of the computer industry at large, professor David Yoffie explores the ups and downs of a company that's always been a bit different in "Apple Computer, 2006." The case poses this question: Given its 2 percent... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Computer; Technology

Anita Elberse

Anita Elberse is the Lincoln Filene Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.

Professor Elberse develops and teaches an MBA course covering the "Businesses of Entertainment, Media, and Sports," which ranks among the most sought-after... View Details

Keywords: e-commerce industry; e-commerce industry; e-commerce industry; e-commerce industry; e-commerce industry; e-commerce industry; e-commerce industry; e-commerce industry; e-commerce industry; e-commerce industry; e-commerce industry; e-commerce industry; e-commerce industry; e-commerce industry; e-commerce industry; e-commerce industry; e-commerce industry; e-commerce industry

D. Quinn Mills

Daniel Quinn Mills provides thought leadership in several fields including leadership, strategy, venture capital, finance, economics and geopolitics. He has been a director of publicly-listed firms and is currently a director of several closely-held private... View Details

Keywords: accounting industry; accounting industry; accounting industry; accounting industry; accounting industry; accounting industry; accounting industry; accounting industry; accounting industry; accounting industry; accounting industry; accounting industry; accounting industry; accounting industry

November 1997 (Revised May 2002)
Case

MicroAge, Inc.: Orchestrating the Information Technology Value Chain

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Kirk A. Goldman

MicroAge, Inc. started as a storefront in Tempe, AZ in 1976 selling personal computer kits to hobbyists. During their first year of operation, founders Jeff McKeever and Alan Hald sold $1.5 million worth of computer kits, priced at under $1,000 each. Twenty years... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Growth Management; Risk Management; Product; Opportunities; Horizontal Integration; Information Infrastructure; Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Technology Industry; Arizona

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August 2001 (Revised February 2005)
Case

Dakota Office Products

By: Robert S. Kaplan

The senior management team of Dakota, an office products distributor, is concerned about the company's first loss in history. Explores the role for activity based costing and customer profitability measurement in a distribution company. Dakota's customers are... View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Profit; Distribution; Customers; Distribution Industry