Publications

2009
Chapter

Creating Superior Customer Value in a Connected World

By: Ranjay Gulati

"In the early twenty-first century, customers are more demanding than ever, and difficult economic times make them all the more so. As customers tighten their wallets and increase their demands, firms face greater pressure to provide superior customer value. Reducing... View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Customer Value and Value Chain; Consumer Behavior; Product Design; Social and Collaborative Networks; Value Creation

September 2022 (Revised August 2023)
Case

Audrey Tang: Using Technology to Strengthen Democracy in Taiwan

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Shweta Bagai

Since the early days of the internet, Taiwan had a vibrant community of civic hackers and open-source programmers who engaged with social issues. Audrey Tang was one of them. She spearheaded the 2014 Sunflower Student Movement in Taiwan, where protestors peacefully... View Details

Keywords: Democracy; Internet; Web Technology; Digital Transformation; Digital Platform; COVID; Information Technology; Applications and Software; Governance; Entrepreneurship; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Innovation and Invention; Taiwan; China; Asia

07 Jul 2019
HBS Case

Walmart's Workforce of the Future

technological innovations such as robot workers and in-house incubators. Walmart fights a revenue drop The case details how the rise of ecommerce (and the success of Amazon in particular) affected Walmart’s discount stores (which sell... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail

June 2004 (Revised June 2006)
Case

Scientific-Atlanta, Inc.

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann

Scientific-Atlantia (S-A), a leading manufacturer of cable TV equipment, is confronting strategic challenges in mid-2004. For decades, cable operators have faced high switching costs that have locked them into exclusive supply relationships with either S-A or its... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Competition; Industry Structures; Television Entertainment; Duopoly and Oligopoly; Manufacturing Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry

01 Oct 2001
Research & Ideas

How To Make Restructuring Work for Your Company

its consumer tissue products business. Management was quite open in declaring this goal. However, experience suggests that investors and analysts generally reward promises of revenue growth much less than they do evidence of cost... View Details

Keywords: by Stuart C. Gilson

25 Aug 2014
HBS Case

Starbucks Reinvented

of what he wanted to accomplish. The case, Koehn's fourth to focus on Starbucks, opens in February 2007. Schultz, no longer Starbucks' CEO but still its chairman, is worried the company is losing its ability to be true to its values while... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Food & Beverage

19 Dec 2023
Research & Ideas

15 Podcast Episodes That Grabbed Listeners in 2023

to innovate in the climate space, and shares his advice for those interested in careers in business and climate. Beyond Net Zero: How Seventh Generation Plans to Achieve Real Zero Carbon Ashley Orgain, chief impact officer at Seventh... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

28 Aug 2007
First Look

First Look: August 28, 2007

paper quantifies anecdotal evidence that Chinese firms are more diversified than similar firms in other countries. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/08-007.pdf Innovation through Global Collaboration: A New Source of... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

27 May 2014
First Look

First Look: May 27

distribution strategy for Glass, a wearable computer that projected information on a display viewable with an upward glance. Options, which were not mutually exclusive, included 1) continuing to sell Glass directly through online channels, 2) creating an View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

28 Nov 2023
Book

Economic Growth Draws Companies to Asia. Can They Handle Its Authoritarian Regimes?

leaders have no political competition, or open autocracies like that of Russia, Turkey, and Malaysia, which hold elections but may lack safeguards and transparency that keep them fair. The book investigates the relationship between... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

20 Nov 2017
Research & Ideas

How Independent Bookstores Have Thrived in Spite of Amazon.com

bookstore activity and industry conferences; and an analysis of 915 newspaper and trade publication articles that mentioned independent bookselling in some fashion. He even attended a training course on how to open an independent... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel (with video by Amelia Kunhardt); Retail

09 Jan 2012
Research & Ideas

Location, Location, Location: The Strategy of Place

places to open up shop; Alcácer says it's a mistake to allow low costs to completely override other factors. "You should not only think about whether there's a market there or cheaper labor," he says. "You also have to... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

01 Mar 2023
What Do You Think?

How Much Does 'Deep Purpose' Matter to the Bottom Line?

employees. Nikos Mourkogiannis cited four types of purpose that provide “sources of energy” for an organization: Heroism: The desire to change the world and society. Discovery: The challenge of adventure and innovation characterized by... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

26 Jun 2020
Research & Ideas

Why Japanese Businesses Are So Good at Surviving Crises

by overcoming personal struggle before, and she knew firsthand what supplies fellow shelter survivors needed most. Kato accepted the challenge, reopening her store 11 days after the earthquake struck. Soon afterward, seeing customers flocking to that one store, other... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

03 Jan 2023
Book

Confront Workplace Inequity in 2023: Dig Deep, Build Bridges, Take Collective Action

culture. “This is about leadership development and crafting innovative cultures,” says Opie. “So many companies are locked. They have these arthritic approaches to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and then they're shocked when they don't... View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds

16 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

Restaurant Revolution: How the Industry Is Fighting to Stay Alive

25-50 percent even after restaurants are permitted to reopen. It’s still an open question how skittish the American public will be about returning to one of its favorite pasttimes. As a result, the restaurant industry that emerges from... View Details

Keywords: by Michael S. Kaufman, Lena G. Goldberg, and Jill Avery; Food & Beverage

January 2020 (Revised May 2021)
Case

Salary Finance US

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

In October 2019, Dan Macklin, the newly-appointed chief executive of Salary Finance Inc., was weighing his options for the future of the business. The company’s value proposition was quite simple: partner with employers to offer employees affordable loans that were... View Details

Keywords: Employees; Credit; Financing and Loans; Wages; Innovation and Invention; Expansion; Growth Management; Decision Making; Financial Services Industry; United States