Publications

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June 2009
Case

Manchester Products: A Brand Transition Challenge

By: John A. Quelch and Heather Beckham

In January of 2005, Manchester Products Inc., a longtime leader in office furniture that only recently entered into the home furniture market, acquired Paul Logan's Furniture Division (PLFD). The acquisition of PLFD made Manchester an instant market leader in household... View Details

Keywords: Acquisitions; Consumer Marketing; Brand Equity; Branding; Brands and Branding; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Mergers and Acquisitions; Retail Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States

October 2011 (Revised March 2015)
Case

Dongfeng Passenger Vehicle Company: Marketing Challenges for the Underprivileged Latecomer

By: Willy Shih and Nancy Hua Dai

As Mr. Li Chunrong visited the new assembly line for the Dongfeng Passenger Vehicle Company in Wuhan, China, he contemplated the position his business unit found itself in: a latecomer. As a state-owned enterprise Dongfeng had entered into numerous joint ventures to... View Details

Keywords: Market Entry and Exit; Problems and Challenges; Auto Industry; China

April 2012
Article

Emotion-induced Engagement in Internet Video Ads

By: Thales S. Teixeira, Michel Wedel and Rik Pieters

This study shows how advertisers can leverage emotion and attention to engage consumers in watching Internet video ads. In a controlled experiment, joy and surprise were assessed through automated facial expression detection for a sample of ads. Concentration of... View Details

Keywords: Behavior; Online Advertising; Emotions

June 2011 (Revised January 2013)
Case

Home Essentials: Building a Global Service Business with Local Operations

By: Lynda M. Applegate, William R. Kerr and David Lane

Chris Exline founded Home Essentials, a furniture rental business targeted toward expatriates, in Singapore but rapidly moved the base of operations to Hong Kong. The company was highly successful in Singapore and Hong Kong and then pursued rapid global expansion.... View Details

Keywords: Growth Management; Renting or Rental; Corporate Governance; Global Strategy; Failure; Singapore; Hong Kong

March 2009 (Revised January 2025)
Background Note

A Strait of Uncertainty: Taiwan's Development in the Shadow of China

By: William C. Kirby, J. Megan Greene, Tracy Yuen Manty, Daniel Fu, Yuanzhuo Wang, Noah B. Truwit and Aqib Zakaria

Relations between the People’s Republic of China (PRC), on the Chinese Mainland, and the Republic of China (ROC), on Taiwan, had improved significantly since 2008. Taiwan investment in China had played a major role in China’s economic boom in recent decades. ... View Details

Keywords: History; Development Economics; Investment; Economic Growth; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Financial Crisis; China; Taiwan

2011
Chapter

An Exploration of the Japanese Slowdown during the 1990s

By: Diego A. Comin

Why was the 1990s a lost decade for Japan? How is it possible that the Japanese economy stagnated for a decade if none of the shocks that arguably hit the economy seemed to have persisted for much more than three years or so? In this paper I show that the endogenous... View Details

Keywords: Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Performance Productivity; Mathematical Methods; Research and Development; Technology Adoption; Japan

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February 1991 (Revised July 1993)
Case

Cultural Change at Nissan Motors

By: John P. Kotter

Depicts the reformation of Nissan Motor Co.'s corporate culture and the company's subsequent turnaround in market share and profits. In 1985, Yutaka Kume became president of Nissan and thereafter, he continually emphasized the need for internal change throughout the... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Leadership; Behavior; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Change Management; Management; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry

28 Apr 2020
News

Coronavirus apps: the risk of slipping into a surveillance state

The Rate and Direction of Inventive Activity Revisited (National Bureau of Economic Research Conference Report)

While the importance of innovation to economic development is widely understood, the conditions conducive to it remain the focus of much attention. This volume offers new theoretical and empirical contributions to fundamental questions relating to the economics of... View Details

2020
Book

Work, Mate, Marry, Love: How Machines Shape Our Human Destiny

By: Debora L. Spar

Covering a time frame that ranges from 8000 BC to the present, and drawing upon both Marxist and feminist theories, the book argues that nearly all the decisions we make in our most intimate lives—whom to marry, how to have children, how to have sex, how to think about... View Details

07 Feb 2024
News

The Sound of Success

A groundbreaking gene therapy developed by Akouos, Inc., a precision genetic medicine company founded in 2016 by Emmanuel (Manny) Simons (MBA 2012), has enabled an 11-year-old boy from Morocco to hear sounds for the first time. According to a recent New York Times... View Details

Profile

Christina Byrd

the amount of time it took to get things done.” As she approached graduation, “several companies recruited for executive compensation consultants among the poly-econ majors,” Christina says. She accepted an offer from Compensia. “It was a... View Details

Fast Answer

Financial databases: certification and training

learning catalogue, you can upskill and prepare at your own pace, with a final test that is accessible online for you to self-register for and take at a time that suits you. View Details

09 Jun 2022
Blog Post

The MBA Class of 2022 Looks Back

career exploration. You may come into HBS wanting to pursue something specific, but this is the time to test uncharted waters and learn from all your peers who have worked in diverse fields! What is your favorite memory of your View Details

28 Feb 2022
Research & Ideas

How Racial Bias Taints Customer Service: Evidence from 6,000 Hotels

administration at Harvard Business School, and Tami Kim, assistant professor at University of Virginia-Darden, conducted the research. The findings come at a time when many companies are taking a hard look at whether their interactions... View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds

24 Apr 2017
Op-Ed

Op-Ed: Courage: The Defining Characteristic of Great Leaders

carefully to determine if they have the courage to navigate their organizations through turbulent times while enduring hardship, risk, and criticism to ensure they are building sustainable enterprises. With more courageous leaders like... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George; Auto; Food & Beverage

28 Mar 2016
Research & Ideas

What's a Boss Worth?

than Boss B for everyone.” Measuring boss quality To measure boss quality, the researchers looked at transaction times for the workers under them on any given day (due to confidentiality agreements, he can’t say what the transaction... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Service

07 Jun 2012
Working Paper Summaries

How Short-Termism Invites Corruption--And What to Do About It

Keywords: by Malcolm S. Salter

January 2, 2020
Article

Changes in Quality of Care After Hospital Mergers and Acquisitions

By: Nancy Dean Beaulieu, Leemore S. Dafny, B. E. Landon, Jesse Dalton, Ifedayo Kuye and J. Michael McWilliams

Background: The hospital industry has consolidated substantially during the past two decades and at an accelerated pace since 2010. Multiple studies have shown that hospital mergers have led to higher prices for commercially insured patients, but research about effects... View Details

Keywords: Hospitals; Mergers and Acquisitions; Health Care and Treatment; Quality