Publications

Awards

Annual Conference Best Paper in Innovation and Entrepreneurship

By: Ryan L. Raffaelli

Awarded the 2018 Best Paper in Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Industry Studies Association Annual Conference for “The Use of History as a Strategic Resource: Institutional Resilience and the Complementarity of Entrepreneurship and Guardianship in Swiss... View Details

2004
Book

Global Strategy and Organization

By: Anil K. Gupta and Vijay Govindarajan

In the battle for global dominance, only those organizations that lead the ongoing globalization of their industries will succeed. That's why students need a strategic framework that they can apply in a global setting. View Details

May 2021 (Revised May 2022)
Case

Headspace vs. Calm: A Mindful Competition

By: Ayelet Israeli and Anne Wilson

By 2021, the mindfulness app wars reached their apex. Over 2,000 meditation apps were available to consumers, but two apps, Headspace and Calm, dominated the space, jointly holding about 70% of the total market. Headspace had established itself as the approachable... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Communication; Integrated Strategy; Brand; Brand ＆ Product Management; Brand Communication; Brand Differentiation; Brand Building; Brand Management; E-Commerce Strategy; Ecommerce; App; App Development; Applications; COVID; COVID-19; Pandemic; Pricing; Pricing Strategy; Subscription Model; Subscription; Partnerships; Strategic Partnerships; B2B Vs. B2C; B2B; Health ＆ Wellness; Wellbeing; Digitization; Commoditization; Mobile App; Mobile App Industry; Mobile Healthcare; Mobile Marketing; Digital Brand; Digital Health; Consumer Health; Apps; Online Business; Online Competition; Online Community; Online Entertainment; Entertainment And Leisure; Meditation; Marketing; Marketing Communications; Brands and Branding; Price; Strategy; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Partners and Partnerships; Health; Well-being; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Communication; Communication Strategy; Disruption; Consumer Behavior; Digital Marketing; E-commerce; Applications and Software; Health Industry; Health Industry; Health Industry; United States; North America; United Kingdom

March 1992 (Revised November 1993)
Background Note

Trading the Right to Pollute: Developing the Market for Pollution Allowances

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

Examines the issues underlying the formation of the market for tradeable pollution allowances, following the requirement of Title IV of the 1990 Amendments to the Clean Air Act. Examines the implications that these trade the allowances hold for the U.S. electric... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Pollutants; Trade; Utilities Industry

June 1983 (Revised April 1991)
Case

Dominion Engineering Works

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Dominion Engineering Works faces important strategic decisions about whether to continue its focused strategy of selling newsprint machines to the Canadian paper industry or whether recent changes in industry conditions and the emergence of three global competitors... View Details

Keywords: Machinery and Machining; Globalized Markets and Industries; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Partners and Partnerships; Competitive Strategy; Customization and Personalization; Diversification

August 2000 (Revised December 2001)
Background Note

Emerging Networked Business Models: Lessons from the Field

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Meredith Collura

Provides an overview of the networked models that are revolutionizing market industries and the organizations that compete and do business within them. Teaching Purpose: To introduce students and executives to emerging networked models and to provide a foundation for... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Decision Making; Networks; Strategy

24 Jan 2017
Blog Post

A Journey From HBS to Human Resources

Susan Levine MBA ‘98 shares her career journey from HBS to her multi-faceted role at Bain Capital. Susan had the opportunity to work in different industries during her time at Bain Capital, including financial services, health care, View Details

Keywords: Consulting; Health Care; Manufacturing

January 1987 (Revised June 1989)
Case

Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi-Cola (A)

Focuses on the competitive interaction between Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola specifically and the effect their dominance has on the other industry participants. Coke and Pepsi's competitive strategies are examined in an in-depth analysis; each firm's behavior is used to... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Duopoly and Oligopoly; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

23 Oct 2018
Working Paper Summaries

Opportunistic Returns and Dynamic Pricing: Empirical Evidence from Online Retailing in Emerging Markets

Keywords: by Chaithanya Bandi, Antonio Moreno, Donald Ngwe, and Zhiji Xu; Service

April 2022 (Revised May 2022)
Case

Mastercard Labs (A)

By: Linda A. Hill, Sunil Gupta, Emily Tedards and Julia Kelley

When Ajaypal (Ajay) Banga became the CEO of Mastercard in 2010, he shifted the company’s competitive focus from card networks to cash itself. Mastercard’s new vision of a “World Beyond Cash” distilled into a three-pronged framework: Grow the core business, Diversify... View Details

Ramon Casadesus-Masanell is the Herman C. Krannert Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. He joined HBS in 2000 where he has taught the required MBA Strategy course, an elective course on Competing Business Models, and Ph.D. courses on... View Details

Keywords: apparel; energy; paper; semiconductor; software

November 2017
Teaching Note

Tencent

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

Teaching Note for HBS No. 718-426. Tencent had undergone many transformations since it was founded in 1998 as a simple messaging service. In 2017, it was the largest online games provider in China with a wide range of game types, China’s largest social networking... View Details

February 2001 (Revised June 2001)
Case

Competitive Dynamics in Home Video Games (B): Nintendo Power

Tells the story of Nintendo's revival of the home video game industry in the mid-1980s and its dominance of the market in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Strategic issues addressed include the creation of value by sparking dormant demand and the capture of value... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Video Game Industry

July 2008 (Revised January 2012)
Case

Enterprise Risk Management at Hydro One (A)

By: Anette Mikes

An early adopter of Enterprise Risk Management, energy giant Hydro One anticipated new threats and opportunities in an industry that faced climate change and carbon legislation, the deregulation of electricity markets, and the greater adoption of renewable... View Details

Keywords: Capital Budgeting; Knowledge Sharing; Managerial Roles; Risk Management; Strategic Planning; Situation or Environment; Environmental Sustainability; Renewable Energy; Energy Industry

July – August 2011
Article

What Factors Drive Analyst Forecasts?

By: Boris Groysberg, Paul Healy, Nitin Nohria and George Serafeim

A firm's competitive environment, its strategic choices, and its internal capabilities are considered important determinants of its future performance. Yet there is little evidence on whether analysts' forecasts of firm performance actually reflect any of these factors... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Forecasting and Prediction; Industry Growth; Judgments; Performance; Valuation; Price; Quality; Innovation and Invention; Organizational Culture; Competency and Skills; Surveys

22 Jan 2019
Working Paper Summaries

Corporate Sustainability: A Strategy?

Keywords: by Ioannis Ioannou and George Serafeim

TeachingInterests

Strategy - Building and Sustaining Competitive Advantage

By: Jan W. Rivkin

With the accelerating pace of competition, cutting-edge companies are defined by innovative strategies. In this Executive Education program, we explore how to develop groundbreaking stratgies and action plans for execution, forecast industry evolution, and analyze... View Details

July 2013
Case

Sample6: Innovating to Make Food Safer

By: Robert F. Higgins and Kirsten Kester

Tim Curran, CEO of Sample6, a start-up biotechnology company developing a novel food safety diagnostics platform, must decide how to partner with food industry players. How can he best convince leaders in this mature industry to adopt a new technology and improve food... View Details