Publications
Publications
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- Faculty Publications (991)
- November 2016 (Revised December 2016)
- Module Note
Strategy Execution Module 11: Using Diagnostic and Interactive Control Systems
By: Robert Simons
This module reading introduces diagnostic and interactive control systems. Diagnostic control systems are the management-by-exception systems that managers use to monitor the achievement of their business strategy. Interactive control systems are the systems that top... View Details
Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Execution; Performance Measurement; Diagnostic Control Systems; Interactive Control Systems; Emergent Strategy; Goal Setting; Incentives; Strategy; Motivation and Incentives; Goals and Objectives; Management Systems; Performance Evaluation
- November–December 2016
- Article
The Impact of Patent Wars on Firm Strategy: Evidence from the Global Smartphone Industry
By: Yongwook Paik and Feng Zhu
Strategy scholars have documented in various empirical settings that firms seek and leverage stronger institutions to mitigate hazards and gain competitive advantage. In this paper, we argue that such “institution-seeking” behavior may not be confined to the pursuit of... View Details
- October 2016 (Revised April 2018)
- Case
JCPenney: Back in Business
By: Elie Ofek, K. Shelette Stewart and Christine Snively
In 2016, JCPenney was in the midst of a multi-year turnaround after coming dangerously close to bankruptcy. Under CEO Marvin Ellison, the company had identified three strategic objectives—a focus on omnichannel, private label goods, and increasing revenue per... View Details
- October 2016 (Revised December 2016)
- Module Note
Strategy Execution Module 6: Evaluating Strategic Profit Performance
By: Robert Simons
This module reading demonstrates how to calculate and analyze the profit generated by different business strategies. Formulas and examples are provided to calculate profit generated by changes in market share, revenue growth, efficiency improvements, and support costs.... View Details
- October 2016
- Case
Turkasset: Bringing Customer-Centricity to Debt Collection
By: Dennis Campbell and Gamze Yucaoglu
In December 2014, in preparation for the year-end board presentation, Hilmi Guvenal (PMD 1993), shareholder and CEO of Turkasset, and Ilker Yoney, COO, sat down to discuss Turkasset’s five- and ten-year strategic plans. Since taking leadership of the company in 2009,... View Details
Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Customer Experience; Customer Service; Customer-centric; Emerging Market; Customer Focus; Employee Empowerment; Employee Engagement; Employee Training; Staffing; Operations Management; Quality Management; Service Management; Service Quality; Continuous Improvement; Turkasset; Collections Agency; NPL; Call Center; Financial Services; Borrowing and Debt; Customer Focus and Relationships; Organizational Culture; Operations; Management; Service Operations; Quality; Competitive Advantage; Cost vs Benefits; Financial Services Industry; Turkey
- October 2016 (Revised February 2019)
- Module Note
Strategy Execution Module 5: Building a Profit Plan
By: Robert Simons
This module reading describes how to build a profit plan to reflect the strategy of a business in economic terms. After introducing the profit wheel, cash wheel, and ROE wheel, the module illustrates how to use a profit plan to assess the viability of different... View Details
Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Execution; Profit Planning; Cash Flow Analysis; Asset Utilization; Return On Equity; Business Planning; Testing Strategy; Analyzing Strategic Alternative; Strategy; Asset Management; Cash Flow; Investment Return; Management Systems; Profit
- September 2016
- Case
Partners Group: Ain't No Mountain High Enough
By: Nori Gerardo Lietz and Ricardo Andrade
Partners Group (PG), a Swiss-based PE manager, initiated a series of strategic shifts and evolved from a predominately fund-of-funds manager into a large, multi-asset class PE firm focused on direct investments. PG was the first PE firm to go public in 2006. A number... View Details
- September 2016 (Revised January 2020)
- Case
Pebble: Wearables Pioneer
By: David Yoffie and Allison Ciechanover
In the summer of 2016, wearables “wunderkind” and Pebble founder and CEO, Eric Migicovsky, was pleased with the young startup’s success in the five years since its founding. The Silicon Valley–based company had recently shipped its two millionth smartwatch; held the... View Details
- September–October 2016
- Article
Growing New Corporate Businesses: From Initiation to Graduation
By: Sebastian Raisch and Michael Tushman
Large companies initiate many new businesses, but few of them reach scale. The ambidexterity literature describes how companies create exploratory businesses, but says little about how they subsequently scale these businesses. The strategy literature uses real option... View Details
- 2016
- Working Paper
Decision-Making by Precedent and the Founding of American Honda (1948 – 1974)
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and John Heilbron
American Honda was founded in 1959 as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Honda Motor Company to facilitate sales and distribution in the United States. The details of American Honda’s early history have long served as evidence in debates among scholars and practitioners... View Details
- August 2016 (Revised August 2016)
- Teaching Note
Intrapreneurship at DaVita Healthcare Partners
By: Joseph B. Fuller and Matthew Preble
DaVita Healthcare Partners Inc. (DaVita) is one of the U.S.'s leading dialysis providers, a process whereby persons with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) are connected to a machine that performs the functions of a healthy kidney. Kent Thiry, DaVita's CEO, has expanded... View Details
- 2016
- Working Paper
Do Network Dynamics Undermine Idea-based Network Advantages? Experimental Results from an Entrepreneurship Bootcamp
By: Rembrand Koning
Do networks plentiful in ideas provide early stage startups with performance advantages? On the one hand, network positions that provide access to a multitude of ideas are thought to increase team performance. On the other hand, research on network formation argues... View Details
- June 2016 (Revised November 2021)
- Case
chotuKool: 'Little Cool,' Big Opportunity
By: Rory McDonald, Derek van Bever and Efosa Ojomo
In 2013, a team led by Gopalan Sunderraman, vice president of corporate development at Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd.—one of the companies owned by Godrej Group, a large Indian conglomerate—was preparing to launch an innovative low-cost refrigerator. Developed expressly... View Details
- May 2016 (Revised August 2022)
- Case
RegionFly: Cutting Costs in the Airline Industry
By: Susanna Gallani and Eva Labro
RegionFly is a small, private airline specializing in ultra-premium services. Founded shortly after the "Golden Age of airline travel," RegionFly's financial performance had been strong for several decades. More recently, however, the results have taken a downward... View Details
- May 2016
- Article
'Both/And' Leadership
By: Wendy K. Smith, Marianne Lewis and Michael Tushman
Leaders face a multitude of strategic paradoxes—contradictory pressures that are too often viewed as "either/or" choices. There are innovation paradoxes, in which the pursuit of new offerings and processes conflicts with the mandate to sustain the tried and... View Details
- 28 Apr 2016
- Other Presentation
Unlocking the Potential of Geothermal Energy: Strategic Implications for Iceland, Other Nations and the International Community
By: Michael E. Porter and Christian H.M. Ketels
Professor Porter initiated the mapping of Iceland Geothermal Cluster Initiative in cooperation with the consulting company Gekon. He and his colleaque Dr. Christian Ketels introduced their findings in November 2010 at the first Iceland Geothermal Conference held in... View Details
Keywords: Iceland; Geothermal; Renewable; Competitiveness; Competition; Renewable Energy; Energy Industry; Iceland
- April 2016 (Revised June 2017)
- Teaching Note
Dollar General Bids for Family Dollar
By: Jonas Heese, Paula A. Price and Suraj Srinivasan
In spring 2015, Dollar General CEO Rick Dreiling was looking ahead to retiring at year's end but worried about ensuring continued growth for the company he had built since 2008 into a market leader in the U.S. discount retail world. Dollar General operated over 11,500... View Details
- March 2016 (Revised February 2017)
- Case
Hello Alfred: Come Home Happy
By: Joseph B. Fuller and Carin-Isabel Knoop
On a mission to "automate the on-demand economy," Harvard Business School classmates Marcela Sapone and Jessica Beck launched Hello Alfred in 2013 to provide subscribers with an "Alfred" to complete various chores for a monthly fee. In early 2016, the company has built... View Details
- 2016
- Working Paper
The Impact of Patent Wars on Firm Strategy: Evidence from the Global Smartphone Market
By: Feng Zhu
Strategy scholars have documented in various empirical settings that firms seek and leverage stronger institutions to mitigate hazards and gain competitive advantage. In this paper, we argue that such “institution-seeking” behavior may not be confined to the pursuit of... View Details
- February 2016 (Revised October 2017)
- Case
The Jungle and the Debate over Federal Meat Inspection in 1906
By: David Moss and Marc Campasano
In early June 1906, the House Committee on Agriculture heard testimony from two investigators appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt to verify allegations of unsanitary conditions at Chicago slaughterhouses that had appeared in Upton Sinclair's recent novel, The... View Details