Publications

10 Mar 2017
News

The Business of Lego Batman

weekends in a row. He spoke with associate editor Julia Hanna about everything from his approach to a film’s business plan, to the challenges of managing internal growth on his teams—and how the Lego Movie is like The Avengers. READ MORE... View Details

Keywords: LEGO; Lego

04 Jan 2010
Research & Ideas

Best of HBS Working Knowledge 2009

thinking of ourselves this way. Therefore, when people behave in ways that might appear selfish, prejudiced, or perverted, they tend to engage a host of strategies designed to... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

March 2016 (Revised May 2017)
Case

Emaar: The Center of Tomorrow, Today

By: Sid Yog, Esel Cekin and Marc Homsy

Starting in 1997, Mohammad Alabbar, Chairman of Emaar, has been largely associated with Dubai's most renowned real estate projects: the world's tallest building, largest mall and biggest fountain show. Emaar's pioneering success attracted a large number of private... View Details

Keywords: Middle East; Market Entry and Exit; Competitive Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Global Strategy; Real Estate Industry; Middle East; Dubai

01 Oct 2000
News

Laura Scher of Working Assets

Laura S. Scher (MBA '85) is something of a modern-day Robin Hood, an entrepreneurial activist who redistributes the wealth of the marketplace to those in need. Through her company, San Francisco based... View Details

Keywords: Marguerite Rigoglioso

2017
Report

The Competitive Advantage of Racial Equity

By: Mark R. Kramer, Angela Glover Blackwell, Lalitha Vaidyanathan, Lakshmi Iyer and Josh Kirschenbaum

Corporate America is missing out on one of the biggest opportunities of our time for driving innovation and growth: creating business value by advancing racial equity.
Developed in partnership with PolicyLink and funded by the Ford and W.K. Kellogg foundations,... View Details

Keywords: Racial Equity; Diversity; Race; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Competitive Advantage; Value Creation

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22 Nov 2017
News

The Value of Local Independent Bookstores

09 Feb 2023
Blog Post

The Sixth Year of Short Intensive Programs (SIPs) at HBS

businesses face and the unique strategies that founders have adopted to stay relevant in the wake of the global pandemic and shifting consumer and investor preferences – from reinvesting in retail,... View Details

Blockbusters: Hit-making, Risk-taking, and the Big Business of Entertainment

What’s behind the phenomenal success of entertainment businesses such as Warner Bros., Marvel Enterprises, and the NFL—along with such stars as Jay-Z, Lady Gaga, and LeBron James? Which strategies give leaders in film, television, music, publishing, and sports an edge... View Details

25 Jul 2016
News

What Will Come of Pokémon Go?

2015
Chapter

The Fourth Wave: Business Management and Business Education in the Age of the Anthropocene

By: Andrew J. Hoffman and John Ehrenfeld

Sustainability has become mainstream in both management practice and management research. Firms incorporate sustainability strategies into their core mission. University administrators promote sustainability as central to their curricula. Scholars pursue sustainability... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Social Issues; Natural Environment; Leading Change; Management Systems

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April 2002 (Revised September 2002)
Case

Transformation of Seattle Public Schools, 1995-2002

Investigates the reform of the Seattle Public Schools from 1995 to 2002. To initiate reform in 1995, the district hired John Stanford, an Army general, and Joseph Olchefske, an investment banker, as the district's superintendent and chief financial officer,... View Details

Keywords: Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leading Change; Organizational Structure; Education; Business Strategy; Public Administration Industry; Education Industry; Seattle

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03 Apr 2006
Research & Ideas

The Competitive Advantage of Global Finance

across is that "one size fits all." This strategy effectively sacrifices many opportunities due to an unwillingness to explore how differences in regulatory environments, institutional environments, and tax rules can create... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Financial Services

2007
Working Paper

Dynamics of Platform Competition: Exploring the Role of Installed Base, Platform Quality and Consumer Expectations

By: Feng Zhu and Marco Iansiti

This paper seeks to answer three questions. First, which drives the success of a platform, installed base, platform quality or consumer expectations? Second, when does a monopoly emerge in a platform-based market? Finally, when is a platform-based market socially... View Details

Keywords: Price; Network Effects; Digital Platforms; Monopoly; Quality; Competitive Advantage; Digital Platforms

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January 1995
Case

3M: Profile of an Innovating Company

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Afroze A Mohammed

Traces the birth and development of 3M Corp., focusing in particular on the origins of its entrepreneurially-based ability to innovate. In particular, it highlights the role of CEO William L. McKnight in creating a unique set of values, policies, and structures to... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Competitive Advantage; Organizational Culture

May 2014 (Revised March 2017)
Case

Unilever's Lifebuoy in India: Implementing the Sustainability Plan

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Unilever's new Global Brand VP must not only revitalize Lifebuoy soap's sagging market performance, but simultaneously impact the health of one billion people worldwide. The latter challenge comes from Unilever's new CEO who has introduced the Unilever Sustainable... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Management; Corporate Social Responsibility; Strategy Implementation; Marketing Strategy; Mission And Purpose; Change Management; International Business; Global; Fast-moving Consumer Goods; Soap; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Health Care and Treatment; Environmental Sustainability; Global Strategy; Developing Countries and Economies; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Health Industry; India

07 Jul 2009
Research Event

Business Summit: Historical Roots of Globalization

Editor's Note: This is a summary of an HBS Business Summit presentation. View a full summary and video of the event on the HBS Centennial Web site linked below. Date of Event:... View Details

Keywords: Re: Multiple Faculty

09 Feb 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Sustainable Cities: Oxymoron or the Shape of the Future?

Keywords: by Annissa Alusi, Robert G. Eccles, Amy C. Edmondson & Tiona Zuzul

11 Jul 2012
Research & Ideas

Book Excerpt: ’The Future of Boards’

greater explicitness. But the economic shock of 2008 appears to have caused many directors to reconsider what their boards had been doing and to question whether they could or should be acting differently.... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Lorsch

June 2009
Case

Plaza, the Logistics Park of Zaragoza

In the year 2000, the Government of the Autonomous Community of Aragón, Spain, made public a project for the development of a large-scale logistics park in the outskirts of the city of Zaragoza. With an area of nearly 13 square kilometers, PLAZA (an acronym for... View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Geographic Location; Growth and Development Strategy; Infrastructure; Logistics; Supply Chain; Transportation; Distribution Industry; Zaragoza