Publications

June 2011
Case

Leaders Who Make a Difference: Sam Palmisano's Smarter IBM: Day 1

By: Joseph L. Bower and Sonja Ellingson Hout

Sam Palmisano explains the moves he made to transform IBM into a faster-growing, more profitable company focused on IT solutions to the problems of companies, cities, and nations. View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Transformation; Growth and Development Strategy; Business or Company Management; Information Technology Industry

August 2022
Case

In October 2020, just a year after founding their company Meaningful Gigs, founders Ronnie Kwesi Coleman and Stephanie Nachemja-Burton prepared for a vital investment meeting with Rethink Education. They had already reached $400,000 in annually recurring revenue (ARR)... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Growth and Development Strategy; Revenue; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Africa; United States

04 May 2010
First Look

First Look: May 4

We propose that firms' corporate governance and firms' strategic business activities within an industry are interlinked. By conducting a simultaneous economic analysis of business strategy and corporate governance, scholars can better... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

18 Feb 2014
News

Stick with Plan A

redefine the concept of banking and financial access in the future." Ezuza is preparing to launch its service after six years of business development, putting partnerships together and building the technology platform. "To some people,... View Details

Keywords: Robert S. Benchley; Waleed Iskandar (MBA 1993); Telecommunications

May 2025
Case

Boutiqaat: Influencing Retail in MENA

By: Juan Alcacer and Noor Al Qadhi

Boutiqaat, a Kuwait-based e-commerce platform, scaled an influencer-driven beauty retail model across MENA and now faces critical strategic choices about offline expansion and globalization. Founded in 2015, Boutiqaat combined social commerce, localized logistics, and... View Details

Keywords: Emerging Markets; Digital Strategy; Growth and Development; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Retail Industry; Kuwait; Saudi Arabia; Middle East; North Africa

June 2020
Article

Frenemies in Platform Markets: Heterogeneous Profit Foci as Drivers of Compatibility Decisions

By: Ron Adner, Jianqing Chen and Feng Zhu

We study compatibility decisions of two competing platform owners that generate profits through both hardware sales and royalties from content sales. We consider a game-theoretic model in which two platforms offer different standalone utilities to users. We find that... View Details

Keywords: Compatibility; Platform Competition; Profit Foci; Digital Platforms; Competition; Profit; Decision Making

Find at Harvard

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11 Apr 2000
Research & Ideas

Financial Services 24/7

week for it to clear will be equally unfathomable. Technology is transforming the banking industry so rapidly that anything less than around-the-clock electronic access to bank accounts seems unthinkable. While predictions vary widely as... View Details

Keywords: by Susan Young

25 Feb 2020
News

Q&A: William Kerr and Joseph Fuller

project focuses on six key forces: technology trends such as automation and artificial intelligence, contingent workforces and the gig economy, workforce demographics and the “care economy,” the middle-skills gap and worker investments,... View Details

29 Jul 2014
First Look

First Look: July 29

restaurant's margins to make it a more sustainable business. But the question was-how? What options really were available? Purchase this case: http://hbr.org/product/noma-a-lot-on-the-plate/an/814097-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 314-123 View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Sep 2014
News

Feedback

percent. Screen Saver Re: AMC Theatres’ quest for a third place Very interesting story of what brick-and-mortar can do to compete in a tough video entertainment market. The puzzle is if this is a strategy of building better mousetraps or... View Details

June 2007 (Revised April 2010)
Case

Comcast Corporation

By: Anita Elberse and Jason Schreiber

In October 2006, Comcast executives had entered negotiations with broadcast networks to broaden the selection of free network content distributed via its video-on-demand (VOD) service. The major broadcast networks, however, were unsure of the effect it would have on... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Consumer Behavior; Competitive Strategy; Technology Adoption; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry

01 Sep 2012
News

What’s the Big Idea?

Professor of Management Practice Robert Eccles has spent his academic career burrowing deeply into the arcane subject of corporate reporting—not the hottest of business topics. At least not until now. With the publication of One Report: Integrated Reporting for a... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons;Julia Hanna;Roger Thompson; Corporate Services; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Management

August 2018 (Revised September 2019)
Case

Magnus Resch: Transforming the Art Market Through Transparency

By: Henry McGee and Sarah Mehta

Economist and entrepreneur Magnus Resch was on a mission to make the art market more transparent. To that end, in 2014, he began building the Magnus app, which catalogued the price and transaction history of millions of works of art. Users could download the app, take... View Details

Keywords: Art Market; Transparency; Art Pricing; Business Startups; Decision Making; Innovation Strategy; Culture; Business Strategy; Mobile Technology; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry

January 2017 (Revised August 2019)
Case

X Fire Paintball & Airsoft: Is Amazon a Friend or Foe? (A)

By: Feng Zhu and Angela Acocella

Three years after launching his brick-and-mortar store, X Fire Paintball and Airsoft, Steve Herbert Sr. and his sons began selling products on Amazon.com’s third-party Marketplace, and online sales expanded rapidly. Over time, X Fire noticed that products of which it... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Competition; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Small Business; Retail Industry; Canada

March 2005 (Revised July 2006)
Case

Celtel International B.V.: June 2004 (A)

By: G. Felda Hardymon and Ann Leamon

Depicts the options facing Mohammed Ibrahim, founder and chairman of Celtel International, the largest pan African wireless telecommunications provider, as he tries to position his company for further growth. Should the firm, which has reached $1 billion in revenues in... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Growth and Development Strategy; Telecommunications Industry; Africa