Publications

Web

Strategy - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

Understanding Competition & Strategy To understand strategy—what it is, why it’s important, and how to develop a successful one for any organization—you must begin with understanding competition. For more... View Details

August 2021
Article

Information Seeding and Knowledge Production in Online Communities: Evidence from OpenStreetMap

By: Abhishek Nagaraj

The wild success of a few online communities (like Wikipedia) has obscured the fact that most attempts at forming such communities fail. This study evaluates information seeding, an early-stage intervention to bootstrap online communities that enables contributors to... View Details

Keywords: Online Communities; Knowledge Production; Crowdsourcing; Innovation; Digitization; Internet and the Web; Digital Platforms; Social and Collaborative Networks; Analytics and Data Science; Knowledge Dissemination

Find at Harvard

July 2012 (Revised April 2014)
Case

Research In Motion: The Mobile OS Platform War

By: Alan MacCormack, Brian Dunn and Chris F. Kemerer

The case describes competition in the market for smart phones in the US, and the position of one player, Research In Motion (RIM) who manufacture the popular Blackberry line of products. Early in 2011, RIM is in trouble. Its stock price has plummeted, amidst poor... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Product Development; Technology Strategy; Platform Strategy; Software; Hardware; Technological Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Information Infrastructure; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Digital Platforms; Applications and Software; Telecommunications Industry; Technology Industry; Canada; United States

December 2021
Case

Burning Glass Technologies: From Data to Product

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Amy Klopfenstein

In May 2021, Matt Sigelman, CEO of Burning Glass Technologies, a company that provided labor market analytics for a variety of markets, navigates his company’s transition from data company to product company. Burning Glass originated as a service that used artificial... View Details

9 AM – 9 AM EDT, 05 Sep 2018
HBS Online

HBX Disruptive Strategy

Make innovation a reality with strategies from two-time Worlds Most Innovative Business Thinker, Clayton Christensen. Program Dates: September 5, 2018 - October 17, 2018 View Details

2023
Working Paper

Estimating Productivity in the Presence of Spillovers: Firm-Level Evidence from the U.S. Production Network

By: Ebehi Iyoha

This paper examines the extent to which productivity gains are transmitted across U.S. firms through buyer-supplier relationships. Many empirical studies measure firm-to-firm spillovers using firm-level productivity estimates derived from control function approaches.... View Details

Keywords: Supply and Industry; Partners and Partnerships; Production

30 Sep 2013
Research & Ideas

Do Mergers Hurt Product Quality?

according to a recent study by Harvard Business School Assistant Professor Albert W. Sheen. In The Real Product Impact of Mergers, Sheen finds that mergers generally have little effect on product quality... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Consumer Products

Research Summary

Resource Relatedness and the Location Strategy of the Multi-Business Firm

We provide new insights into firm location decisions by disentangling and comparing location strategies of multibusiness firms and standalone firms in the same industries. We find that units of multibusiness firms exhibit internal agglomeration, which is stronger than... View Details

Keywords: Multibusiness Firm; Agglomeration; Resource Redeployment; Corporate Strategy

December 1989 (Revised April 1997)
Case

Destin Brass Products Co.

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

A specialized manufacturer of brass valves, pumps, and flow controllers is troubled by competitive pricing in pumps and higher than expected margins for flow controllers. Managers suspect that cost accounting and cost allocations to products may be to blame. Two... View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Activity Based Costing and Management; Five Forces Framework; Customer Value and Value Chain; Competition; Business Strategy; Design; Inflation and Deflation; Asset Pricing; Governance Controls; Manufacturing Industry

2021
Working Paper

Accounting for Product Impact in the Oil and Gas Industry

By: Katie Panella, George Serafeim and Katie Trinh

We apply the product impact measurement framework of the Impact-Weighted Accounts Initiative (IWAI) in two competitor companies within the oil and gas industry. We design a monetization methodology that allows us to calculate monetary product impact estimates of... View Details

SSRN

1999
Chapter

Rugby Houshiki ni yoru Shin-Seihin Kaihatsu Kyousou (New Product Development Competition Using the Rugby Method)

By: Hirotaka Takeuchi and Ikujiro Nonaka

2023
Book

Research Handbook on Digital Strategy

By: Carmelo Cennamo, Giovanni Battista Dagnino and Feng Zhu

This state-of-the-art Research Handbook presents a comprehensive overview of the key strategic challenges that firms face when dealing with digital markets, platforms, and products and services, from old strategy questions in need of different solutions to entirely... View Details

Keywords: Digital Strategy

02 May 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Profits and Economic Development

Keywords: by Dan Schwab & Eric Werker

2023
Working Paper

Organizational Responses to Product Cycles

By: Achyuta Adhvaryu, Vittorio Bassi, Anant Nyshadham, Jorge Tamayo and Nicolas Torres

Product cycles entail the mass production of new—and often increasingly complex—products on a regular basis. How do firms manage these changes? We use granular daily data from a leading automobile manufacturer to study the organizational impacts of introducing new... View Details

Keywords: Training; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Knowledge Management; Production; Product; Organizational Structure; Auto Industry; Argentina

March 2016 (Revised September 2021)
Case

South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow?

By: Richard H.K. Vietor and Haviland Sheldahl-Thomason

Twenty years after the end of Apartheid, South Africa's democracy persists, albeit with problems. A tripartite coalition — the African National Congress, the labor unions, and the Communist Party — still controls the political system but with diminishing economic... View Details

Keywords: Politics; Development; Productivity; Labor; Labor Unions; Infrastructure; Government and Politics; Economic Growth; Performance Productivity; Economy; Social Issues; South Africa

February 1994 (Revised August 1998)
Case

Newell Co.: Acquisition Strategy

By: David J. Collis

Newell is a $1.5 billion manufacturer and distributor of low-tech home and hardware products, geared to serve volume purchasers. In 1992, Newell is considering two approaches to expand its current product line with the acquisitions of Sanford Corp., a $140 million... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Marketing Channels; Corporate Strategy; Diversification; Expansion; Manufacturing Industry

01 Apr 2002
Conference Presentation

To Beta or Not to Beta?: The Pedagogy and Execution of a Web-based New Product Development Exercise

By: Andrew McAfee and Alan MacCormack

Keywords: Product Development; Online Technology; Web

September 2003 (Revised February 2004)
Case

Electronic Arts: The Blockbuster Strategy

Describes the process that the firm employs to allocate resources to new product development projects. Examines whether the firm can sustain its competitive advantage given its existing game design process. View Details

Keywords: Resource Allocation; Competitive Advantage; Decision Making; Product Development; Video Game Industry