Publications

June 2025 (Revised July 2025)
Case

Full-Funnel Advertising on TikTok

By: Jeremy Yang, Ayelet Israeli and Alexis Lefort

In 2025 TikTok is working to grow its brand and performance advertising business, along with a new integrated full-funnel solution. As an emerging media platform with unique ad formats and user behavior in a privacy-first environment, TikTok faces both significant... View Details

Keywords: Social Media; Growth and Development Strategy; Advertising; Brands and Branding; Digital Marketing; Measurement and Metrics

Web

Faculty & Research | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

practice and train business leaders. Nonprofit Strategy & Governance Expanding its early focus on helping nonprofits operate more efficiently to the emerging space of social enterprises and the challenges of measuring social impact, the... View Details

July 2000
Background Note

Industry Transformation

By: Michael E. Porter and Jan W. Rivkin

One of the steepest challenges a strategist faces is to navigate his or her company through a period of industry transformation--an era of rapid and wholesale changes in industry structure. This note considers how periods of transformation typically unfold. It then... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Management; Management Practices and Processes; Industry Growth; Industry Structures; Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Consulting Industry; Service Industry

Web

HBR Classics - Alumni

Wendall-Wedellsborg The Discipline of Innovation , Peter F. Drucker The Innovation Catalysts , Roger L. Martin Managing Markets and Customers Building Loyalty in Business Markets Customer Management... View Details

October 2024
Case

Sacoor Brothers: From Co-Family CEOs to No Family CEOs?

By: Lauren Cohen, David Ager and Alpana Thapar

Sacoor Brothers, a luxury clothing retail company, was founded in 1989 in Lisbon, Portugal, by four brothers—Malik, Salim, Rahimo, and Moez. After establishing a strong presence in Portugal, the brothers were drawn to the rapidly growing retail markets in the Middle... View Details

Web

Online Leadership and Management Courses | HBS Online

leadership and management course best aligns with your career level and experience, learning objectives, and educational goals. Access Your Free Flowchart You May Also Be Interested In Strategy Business Essentials Entrepreneurship &... View Details

22 Jul 2002
Research & Ideas

Is Performance-Based Pricing the Right Price for You?

Because pricing is such a difficult and complex arena, it has confounded sales and marketing executives and scholars for centuries. In no other marketing element is the two-sided conflict and cooperation... View Details

Keywords: by Benson Shapiro; Manufacturing

Web

Mid-US - Global

breaking into the highly regulated and competitive spirits industry. Gibson reflects on the leadership principles that could contribute to her continued success as she enters the cognac market and considers what other leaders can learn... View Details

Research Summary

The Institutional Foundations of Lending: Indirect Regulation and State-Building

The Institutional Foundations of Lending: Indirect Regulation and State-Building makes two main theoretical contributions to the scholarship on credit markets and institutional development. First, the book demonstrates that opportunistic lenders can take... View Details

17 Jan 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: January 17

style, and thus set prices that limit market penetration. The winning strategy diverges from this approach in almost every respect. When innovators develop products that people want to pull into their lives,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2011 (Revised December 2012)
Case

Rent the Runway

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Laura Winig

Two months after a successful launch in November 2009, the cofounders of Rent the Runway (RTR), a website that rented designer dresses, are debating whether to grow their startup at a measured pace and focus on improving operational effectiveness, or raise a new round... View Details

Keywords: Lean Startup; Electronic Commerce; Fashion; Expansion; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; E-commerce; Fashion Industry

June 2023
Teaching Note

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited: Global Leadership in Chipmaking

By: William C. Kirby and Noah B. Truwit

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 321-126. The general purpose of this case is to explore the evolving nature of business relations across the Taiwan strait, focusing on the prominence of Taiwan's high-tech industry. After the legendary founder of Taiwan Semiconductor... View Details

Keywords: Geopolitical Units; Government and Politics; Competition; Production; Disruption; Semiconductor Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Taiwan; Taiwan Strait; China

Fall 2016
Article

How Do Customers Respond to Increased Service Quality Competition?

By: Ryan W. Buell, Dennis Campbell and Frances X. Frei

When does increased service quality competition lead to customer defection, and which customers are most likely to defect? Our empirical analysis of 82,235 customers exploits the varying competitive dynamics in 644 geographically isolated markets in which a nationwide... View Details

Keywords: Service Quality Competition; Retail Banks; Empirical Operations; Retention; Service Operations; Quality; Competition; Banking Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

07 Jul 2015
First Look

First Look: July 7, 2015

Successful Products for Emerging Markets By: Winter, Amos, and Vijay Govindarajan Abstract—Multinationals are starting to catch on to the logic of reverse innovation, in which products are designed first for consumers in low-income... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

05 Apr 2011
First Look

First Look: April 5

state-owned construction company strike one deal after another in South Carolina despite political backlash and in New York where well-established competitors dominate? The case examines the U.S. market entry View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2017
Case

BlaBlaCar: The Road Ahead...

By: Karim R. Lakhani, Arun Sundararajan, Emilie Billaud and Caroline Caltagirone

In 2017, the co-founders of BlaBlaCar—the world’s largest long-distance carpooling company—reflected on the evolution of their venture and the way forward. BlaBlaCar had reached critical mass and size; yet staying still was not going to be enough to be relevant and... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Business Startups; Transformation; Decision Making; Values and Beliefs; Growth and Development Strategy; Digital Platforms; Network Effects; Strategic Planning; Competitive Strategy; Expansion; Internet and the Web; Transportation Networks; Transportation Industry; Web Services Industry; France; Europe

06 Oct 2008
Research & Ideas

Updating a Classic: Writing a Great Business Plan

lamebrained the idea. Also, we have difficult factor markets like energy, but that simply means that there are great opportunities for people with ideas for alternative energy. Were I rewriting the article today, I might emphasize the... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

December 2020
Supplement

VIA Science (B)

By: Juan Alcácer, Rembrand Koning, Annelena Lobb and Kerry Herman

Via (a) captures the early days of the data analytics startup as founders Gounden and Ravanis considered which markets offer the right opportunities for their firm and what kinds of experiments will help them narrow their choice. Supplement Via (b) reveals the... View Details

Keywords: Data Analytics; Machine Learning; Artificial Intelligence; Strategy; Business Startups; AI and Machine Learning; Telecommunications Industry; Utilities Industry; United States; Japan