Publications

December 2007 (Revised July 2008)
Case

Montague Corporation: Unfolding the Future in Cycling

Montague has developed a major innovation that creates a new sub-category in the bicycle industry: a full-sized, high-quality bicycle that folds. In contrast to existing small-wheeled folding bicycles that are portable, but with inferior performance characteristics,... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Product Positioning; Demand and Consumers; Adoption; Bicycle Industry

March 2025 (Revised April 2025)
Case

Perplexity: Redefining Search

By: Suraj Srinivasan, Michelle Hu, Sriraghav Srinivasan and Radhika Kak

By early 2025, Perplexity had rapidly evolved from a modest startup into a popular "answer engine" valued at $9 billion. The company had boldly positioned itself as the disruptor to Google aiming to redefine search for the AI age. Through novel AI... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Venture Capital; Innovation Leadership; Technological Innovation; Internet and the Web; Business Startups; Competitive Strategy; Business Model; Technology Industry; United States

When Google bought Nest, a maker of digital thermostats, for $3.2 billion just a few months ago, it was a clear indication that digital transformation and connection are spreading across even the most traditional industrial segments and creating a staggering array... View Details

May 2024
Background Note

Pricing Strategy and Channels of Distribution: Where Value Delivery and Value Capture Intersect

By: Elie Ofek

Channels of distribution are a critical component of a firm’s go-to-market strategy. A company may elect to sell its products directly to customers (DTC) without the assistance of any intermediaries or, alternatively, it may seek several channel partners to help it... View Details

Keywords: Price; Distribution Channels; Business Strategy; Markets

October 2020
Article

The Supply Chain Economy: A New Industry Categorization for Understanding Innovation in Services

By: Mercedes Delgado and Karen G. Mills

An active debate has centered on the importance of manufacturing for driving innovation in the U.S. economy. This paper offers an alternative framework that focuses on the role of suppliers of goods and services (the “supply chain economy”) in national performance. We... View Details

Keywords: Supply Chain Industries; Business-to-consumer Industries; Services; Innovation; Economy; Framework; Supply Chain; Service Operations; Innovation and Invention; Economic Growth; United States

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2013
Teaching Note

The COFCO Group (TN)

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Zheng Xiaoming and Ziqian Zhao

COFCO was China's sole legitimate window for agricultural foreign trade before 1987. The reform of China's foreign trade system beginning in 1987 cost COFCO its monopoly position. Subsequently, the SOE giant capitalized on its foreign trade expertise to strategically... View Details

Keywords: China; Food; China

24 Jul 2023
Research & Ideas

Part-Time Employees Want More Hours. Can Companies Tap This ‘Hidden’ Talent Pool?

jobs that balance with personal circumstances. 29 percent said that they work part-time due to caregiving responsibilities. Spotlight on women and caregivers Caregivers are the largest segment of these untapped workers, comprising a third... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin

23 Nov 2010
First Look

First Look: November 23

Publications Blind Ethics: Closing One's Eyes Polarizes Moral Judgment and Discourages Dishonest Behavior Authors: E. M. Caruso and F. Gino Publication: Cognition (forthcoming) Abstract Four experiments demonstrate that closing one's eyes affects ethical judgment and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

10 May 2011
Working Paper Summaries

The Impact of Forward-Looking Metrics on Employee Decision Making

Keywords: by Pablo Casas-Arce, F. Asís Martínez-Jerez & V.G. Narayanan; Banking

October 2022
Article

A Structural Model of Organizational Buying for Business-to-Business Markets: Innovation Adoption with Share-of-Wallet Contracts

By: Navid Mojir and K. Sudhir

The paper develops the ﬁrst structural model of organizational buying to study innovation diﬀusion in a B2B market. Our model is particularly applicable for routinized exchange relationships, whereby centralized buyers periodically evaluate and choose contracts,... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Buying Behavior; Healthcare Marketing; B2B Markets; B2B Innovation; New Product Diffusion; New Product Adoption; Organizations; Acquisition; Behavior; Health Care and Treatment; Marketing; Innovation and Invention

October 2011 (Revised May 2015)
Case

The American Repertory Theater

By: Rohit Deshpande, Allen S. Grossman and Ryan Johnson

When Diane Paulus, artistic director and CEO of the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) first started in 2008, she attracted media coverage around an aesthetic that aimed to give the audience more ownership over the theater experience, excited theatergoers by... View Details

Keywords: Advertising Campaigns; Arts; Business Model; Leading Change; Media; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Nonprofit Organizations; Competitive Strategy; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; North and Central America

November 2006
Case

Organics: Coming Center Stage?

By: James E. Austin and Reed Martin

The organics movement has certainly come a long way. From hippie farming communes and a scattering of natural food stores in the 1960s, organics outgrew its origins as a counterculture curiosity of the 1970s to become the fastest growing segment of the food industry in... View Details

Keywords: Food; Supply and Industry; Consumer Behavior; Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

Article

Divide and Conquer: Competing with Free Technology under Network Effects

By: Deishin Lee and Haim Mendelson

We study how a commercial firm competes with a free open source product. The market consists of two customer segments with different preferences and is characterized by positive network effects. The commercial firm makes product and pricing decisions to maximize its... View Details

Keywords: Profit; Product Launch; Network Effects; Open Source Distribution; Adoption; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage

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10 Feb 2016
HBS Seminar

Chris Blattman, Associate Professor, Columbia SIPA

June 2024 (Revised August 2024)
Case

Cementos Argos in the U.S.: Go Big or Go Home?

By: Jorge Tamayo, Ruth Costas, Pedro Levindo and Karina Souza

In April 2011, Colombian group Cementos Argos had to decide on whether to double down its business in the U.S., amidst the U.S. cement industry’s lowest performance in 30 years. Argos— Colombia’s leading cement producer and one of the “jewels” of Grupo GEA, the... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Organization; Business Subsidiaries; Talent and Talent Management; Cost vs Benefits; Financial Crisis; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Global Strategy; Business Strategy; Construction Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Latin America; South America; North and Central America; United States; Colombia

February 2021 (Revised May 2021)
Case

SafeGraph: Selling Data as a Service

By: Ramana Nanda, Abhishek Nagaraj and Allison Ciechanover

Set in January 2021, the CEO of SafeGraph, a four-year-old startup that sold Data as a Service, looked to the future. His aim was to become the most trusted source for data about a physical place. The company provided points of interest (POI) and foot traffic data on... View Details

Keywords: Data As A Service; Monetization; Pricing; Business Startups; Analytics and Data Science; Consumer Behavior; Analysis; Business Model; Health Pandemics; Information Industry; United States

Web

Behavioral Finance & Financial Stability

credit-market booms. See Robin’s other research here , Sam’s other research here , Andrei’s other research here , and Jakob’s other research here . More Info Segmented Arbitrage By: Adi Sunderam , Emil Siriwardane & Jonathan Wallen NOV... View Details

19 Oct 2010
First Look

First Look: October 19, 2010

segmentations that are based on a correlation of product sales or service with the attributes of the purchaser (such as age, gender, income level, and education level), jobs-based segmentation seeks to... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2022 (Revised July 2022)
Teaching Note

Camera IQ and the Metaverse: Building Augmented Reality Brand Experiences

By: Jill Avery

Camera IQ, a camera marketing software company that empowered brands to create and launch augmented reality experiences (AREs) across social platforms, had just raised an additional $5 million to fund further product development and expand its marketing and sales... View Details