Publications

21 Mar 2004
Research & Ideas

Loyalty: Don’t Give Away the Store

is getting them into the store one more time. Q: Often you'll see that when one store offers a special, its competitor will come up with a similar deal. Does this copycat strategy work in attracting... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls; Consumer Products; Retail

31 Jul 2023
News

Striving for Imperfection

your own capabilities, have you build the assets of your enterprise, and then actually step into that risk. Another way of thinking about it would be to say that strategy is dynamic problem solving, not... View Details

Keywords: Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management

March 2018
Article

Making the Numbers? 'Short Termism' and the Puzzle of Only Occasional Disaster

By: Hazhir Rahmandad, Rebecca Henderson and Nelson P. Repenning

Much recent work in strategy and popular discussion suggests that an excessive focus on "managing the numbers"—delivering quarterly earnings at the expense of longer-term investments—makes it difficult for firms to make the investments necessary to build competitive... View Details

Keywords: Capability; Short-termism; System Dynamics; Tipping Point; Business or Company Management; Earnings Management; Resource Allocation

Find at Harvard

October 2008 (Revised February 2009)
Case

Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering

Explores the journey of aggressive learning and capability building in the operations of a major Korean Shipbuilder. While DSHM had once used its superior learning capability to topple its Japanese competition, it now faced the potential for a similar attack from new... View Details

Keywords: Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Ship Transportation; Competitive Strategy; Globalization; Manufacturing Industry; Japan; China; South Korea

21 Aug 2013
Research & Ideas

What Went Wrong at J.C. Penney?

economy is in a better place, they can stabilize the company for the next 12 months. Then they might have a shot at answering the multi-billion-dollar question: What is a viable strategy for the future of J.C. Penney? A few years ago,... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner; Retail

09 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

It’s Time to Reset Decision-Making in Your Organization

objective, scope, and competitive advantage. In times of turmoil, CEOs should revisit their strategy and ask key questions: What is the organization’s ultimate objective? In which directions (products, customers, geographies, vertical... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Sarah Abbott

October 2000 (Revised May 2001)
Case

Editora Abril S.A.

By: Michael Y. Yoshino and Perry Fagan

Brazil's media conglomerate Editora Abril S.A. is Latin America's largest publishing and printing company; it publishes books, and comic books, videos, maps, travel guides, music, and textbooks. It also owns Brazil's largest database marketing company, its... View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Investment; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Communications; Market Design; Media; Service Delivery; Private Ownership; Expansion; Web Sites; Publishing Industry; Service Industry; Brazil

17 Nov 2003
Research & Ideas

The Business Case for Diabetes Disease Management

end, participants agreed that while disease management is a thorny concept involving all these many constituencies, it might in some instances leave room for business potential in the form of a carve-out. A carve-out, as defined in the... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Health

November 2022
Teaching Note

Proximie: Using XR Technology to Create Borderless Operating Rooms

By: Ariel D. Stern, Alpana Thapar and Menna Hassan

Founded by Nadine Hachach-Haram in 2016, Proximie was a digital medicine platform that used mixed reality and a host of digital audio and visual tools to enable clinicians, proctors, and medical device company personnel to be virtually present in operating rooms (ORs),... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Business Growth and Maturation; Growth and Development Strategy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Decision Making; Health Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

04 Apr 2023
What Do You Think?

How Does Remote Work Affect Innovation?

(iStockphoto/visualspace) When former Google CEO Eric Schmidt tells how the company’s ad algorithm—the heart of its financial success—was revamped, here’s what he says: One Friday afternoon in May 2002, (company co-founder) Larry Page was... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

November 2023
Case

From Imitation to Innovation: Zongshen Industrial Group (Abridged)

By: Willy Shih and Nancy Dai

Like other small shops based in Chongqing, China, Zongshen Industrial Group started by assembling motorcycles from "standard" parts. The quality of its early products was good enough for rural Chinese buyers, though wealthier consumers usually purchased premium... View Details

Keywords: Disruptive Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Competitive Strategy; Supply Chain; Product Positioning; Manufacturing Industry; Motorcycle Industry; China

April 1995
Case

Minnetonka Corporation: From Softsoap to Eternity

Minnetonka Corp. which was founded in 1964, began as a niche player in the gift soap and novelty toiletries markets. In 1980, it entered--and managed to capture a piece of--the mass bar-soap market with pump-dispensed Softsoap liquid soap. In 1984, the company took on... View Details

Keywords: Innovation Strategy; Consumer Products Industry