Publications
Publications
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(2,330)
- Faculty Publications (434)
- January 2004
- Background Note
Why Developers Don't Understand Why Consumers Don't Buy
Looks at the psychological biases developers bring to the new product development process. Identifies three reasons why developers may do a poor job of identifying the demand for an innovative, new concept or product: (1) the self-selection bias, (2) differing initial... View Details
- January 2004
- Article
Corporate Venturing: The Origins of Unilever's Pregnancy Test
By: Geoffrey Jones and Alison Kraft
The relative ability of different sizes of firm and organisational designs to develop and sustain dynamic capabilities in innovation and create new businesses remains a matter of contention. While Chandler among many others has emphasised the pre-eminent role of large... View Details
- October 2003 (Revised January 2005)
- Case
Microsoft: Launching the Smart Watch
By: John T. Gourville and Christina L. Darwall
Microsoft is on the verge of launching its Smart Watch technology, which will allow specially designed watches to receive up-to-date information on sports, business, traffic, news, etc. After several years of effort and millions of dollars spent, the questions now... View Details
- October 2003 (Revised March 2004)
- Case
Symbian: Setting the Mobility Standard
By: Fernando F. Suarez and Thomas R. Eisenmann
Symbian, a joint venture owned by companies who collectively sold a dominant share of the world's cell phones, faced competition from Microsoft in developing the operating system for "smartphones," which integrated mobile communications and computing functions. In... View Details
- October 2003
- Case
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company: Building a Platform for Distributed Innovation
By: Marco Iansiti and Marcin Strojwas
Surging costs of building a state-of-the-art fabrication facility were pushing firms to outsource manufacturing while advanced technologies were requiring a tighter coupling between design and manufacturing. Explores the development of strategy in this environment.... View Details
- July 2003 (Revised October 2018)
- Case
Starbucks: Delivering Customer Service
By: Youngme Moon and John Quelch
Starbucks, the dominant specialty-coffee brand in North America, must respond to recent market research indicating that the company is not meeting customer expectations in terms of service. To increase customer satisfaction, the company is debating a plan that would... View Details
- July 2003 (Revised December 2003)
- Case
Mitchells/Richards
By: Amy C. Edmondson and Corey B. Hajim
Describes a small, luxury retail chain's operational sophistication achieved through the use of technology and high-touch customer service. A family-run business, Mitchells has built its success with a customer service strategy know internally as "hugging." The term is... View Details
- July 2003 (Revised October 2013)
- Case
Model N Inc.
By: Marco Iansiti and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld
The CEO of a Silicon Valley start-up needed to make organizational and product changes to deliver a new software solution to a Fortune 500 customer. He was wondering how he should structure the company to best meet the requirements for this particular customer, while... View Details
- June 2003
- Case
In-N-Out Burger
By: Youngme E. Moon, Lucy Cummings, Sonali Sampat, Sam Thakarar and Kerry Herman
In-N-Out Burger is a fast-food chain with 171 company-owned locations in three states--California, Nevada, and Arizona. It has an extremely hardcore customer base and the company appears to be in good financial health. The primary issue in this case concerns expansion:... View Details
- May 2003
- Module Note
Managing Product Development
By: Stefan H. Thomke
Introduces students to the managerial aspects critical to conceiving, designing, and developing innovative products and services. Considers the full range of activities required: learning about customer needs, understanding and managing experimentation and problem... View Details
- March 2003 (Revised October 2003)
- Case
Campbell Soup Company: Transforming for the 21st Century
By: Lynda M. Applegate and Jamie Ladge
In July 2001, Campbell Soup's newly appointed CEO, Douglas R. Conant, addressed a group of Wall Street analysts and unveiled his plan to kick-start growth. His plan called for organizational renewal and revitalization, redesign of core customer-facing processes... View Details
- March 2003
- Background Note
Customer Migration and Customer Types
By: Das Narayandas
Describes the evolution of customer relationships using the price vs. cost-to-serve matrix. View Details
- January 2003 (Revised May 2003)
- Case
VendQuest (A): The Business Idea
By: Dwight B. Crane and David Foster
A potential founder of a company is considering whether to start up a new enterprise that would link parts distributors with customers in the construction industries via the Internet. This case describes the industry and the potential advantages to distributors and... View Details
- December 2002 (Revised October 2006)
- Case
Tesco Plc.
By: David E. Bell
Tesco, a supermarket chain, has been transformed from a third-rate retailer to a global leader in the past ten years. This case describes how that was accomplished. Interviews with Tesco employees explain the company's approach to understanding customers, motivating... View Details
- October 2002 (Revised April 2007)
- Case
Dell Computers (A): Field Service for Corporate Clients
By: Frances X. Frei, Amy C. Edmondson and Corey B. Hajim
Explores the highly successful PC and low-end server manufacturer's entry into the large-scale server market in the United States. A key difference of this new market is the intense service element required to support the larger hardware. Specifically, the industry... View Details
- September 2002 (Revised January 2013)
- Case
MedCath Corporation (A)
By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Pete Stavros
MedCath is a horizontally integrated chain of heart hospitals that partners with local cardiologists. It claims that its focus leads to better and cheaper results than those of an everything-for-everybody general hospital. Community hospitals generally vehemently... View Details
- August 2002 (Revised June 2006)
- Case
Great Dakota Bank: Online Banking
By: Frances X. Frei, Youngme E. Moon and Hanna Rodriguez-Farrar
In 2002, Great Dakota Bank's retail division is considering how heavily it should be promoting the company's online banking service. A recent promotional campaign appears to have significantly increased enrollments in online banking, but it is unclear whether the bank... View Details
- December 2001 (Revised January 2002)
- Case
Nestle S.A.
By: Ray A. Goldberg and Hal Hogan
Peter Brabeck wants to focus Nestle as a wellness company in the global food system and do so in a way that provides both growth in sales and margins in both developed and developing countries. View Details
- November 2001 (Revised September 2002)
- Case
International Management Group (IMG)
By: Bharat N. Anand and Kate Attea
In 2001, International Management Group (IMG) is the dominant company in the sports management industry. Its founder and CEO, Mark McCormack, is credited with having created the industry of sports management in the early 1960s. Over the next 40 years, IMG's expansion... View Details
- October 2001 (Revised November 2002)
- Case
Herman Miller(B): Creating Innovation Streams
By: Sandra J. Sucher and Stacy McManus
In 1997, Mike Volkema faced the difficulty of attempting to revitalize a once dynamic organization. Volkema wondered how he could incorporate advances made within subsidiaries, such as Miller SQA's business model innovation, into the company as a whole while also... View Details