Publications

September 1996 (Revised March 1999)
Background Note

Sustaining Superior Profits: Customer and Supplier Relationships

Explains relationships between asset specificity, holdup, and vertical integration. In particular, it emphasizes solutions to the holdup problem through vertical integration and contracting. View Details

Keywords: Competition; Vertical Integration

June 2025
Case

TagHive: Edtech Pricing and Distributor Decisions

By: Isamar Troncoso, Frank V. Cespedes and Stacy Straaberg

Education technology (edtech) company TagHive, founded in 2017, used a direct sales team and third-party distributors to sell its Class Saathi hardware and software solution to 300 clients, mainly primary and secondary schools in India. The product aimed to improve... View Details

11 Mar 2019
Research & Ideas

Branding Sells Cereal, Handbags, and Vacations. Can It Sell a Country?

The 70th anniversary of Israel’s founding last year stirred reflection about the country’s image, values, and position in the world among everyone from former diplomats to Hollywood actors. Despite efforts to portray Israel as modern... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Tourism

10 Feb 2016
HBS Seminar

Hong Luo of Harvard Business School and Julie Mortimer of Boston College, Department of Economics

Article

Family Control of Firms and Industries

We test what explains family control of firms and industries and find that the explanation is largely contingent on the identity of families and individual blockholders. Founders and their families are more likely to retain control when doing so gives the firm a... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Cost vs Benefits; Governance Controls; Family Ownership; Business and Shareholder Relations; Competitive Advantage

Find at Harvard

Read Now

01 Jun 2005
News

School’s Entrepreneurial Spirit Runs Deep

entrepreneurs. “Many HBS alums graduate with a certain attitude and inclination toward entrepreneurship and wind up as self-employed — starting, growing, View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley; Shaping the Waves; A History of Entrepreneurship at Harvard Business School; Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

April 2005 (Revised July 2005)
Case

Ilene Lang and the Catalyst Search (A)

By: Myra M. Hart and Laura L. Nash

Catalyst, the nonprofit organization dedicated to championing women in professional ranks, is searching for a new president--only the third in its 42-year history. Ilene Lang, a corporate executive and entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience in high-tech... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Nonprofit Organizations; Work-Life Balance; Job Search; Gender; Service Industry

Find at Harvard

2002
Chapter

Information and Competition: Early 21st Century

By: F. Warren McFarlan

Keywords: Information Management; Competitive Advantage

31 Mar 2023
News

2023 HBS New Venture Competition: Bringing Out the Best in HBS Students and Alumni, With Ideas and Ventures to Change the World

July 2022
Teaching Note

Netflix: A Creative Approach to Culture and Agility

By: Ranjay Gulati, Matt Higgins and Allison Ciechanover

Teaching Note for HBS Case Nos. 420-055 and 423-026. View Details

Keywords: Netflix; Corporate Culture; Streaming; Media; Technology; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Innovation Leadership; Innovation Strategy; Leadership Style; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; California

November 2023
Article

Knowledge About the Source of Emotion Predicts Emotion-Regulation Attempts, Strategies, and Perceived Emotion-Regulation Success

By: Yael Millgram, Matthew K. Nock, David D. Bailey and Amit Goldenberg

People’s ability to regulate emotions is crucial to healthy emotional functioning. One overlooked aspect in emotion-regulation research is that knowledge about the source of emotions can vary across situations and individuals, which could impact people’s ability to... View Details

Keywords: Emotions; Personal Characteristics; Well-being

Read Now

23 Sep 2013
Research & Ideas

Status: When and Why It Matters

like to believe that people pay for status for purely symbolic reasons, but the empirical evidence for that has been weak at best," says Harvard Business School's Daniel Malter, an assistant professor in the Strategy unit who studies... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

January 1974 (Revised April 1994)
Case

Maxco, Inc. and The Gambit Co.

Maxco and Gambit are bidding for an oil lease. Gambit will soon know the value of the lease with some precision. Maxco is bidding with no such precise information. The objective is to get the student to think hard about how Gambit will bid before deciding on Maxco's... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Bids and Bidding

December 2023 (Revised August 2024)
Supplement

Microsoft Azure and the Cloud Wars (B)

By: Andy Wu and Matt Higgins

By 2023, the global market for cloud infrastructure had consolidated into a three-horse race. As of Q4 2022, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google collectively accounted for 66% of the global market. AWS had a market share of 33%, Microsoft Azure had 23%, and Google Cloud had... View Details

Keywords: Microsoft; Artificial Intelligence; AI; Competition; Information Infrastructure; Market Participation

16 May 2017
First Look

First Look at New Ideas and Research, May 16

quickly as possible in order to maintain market leadership. CEO Eduardo Padilla had to define his strategy and decide whether to focus on improving culture and operations or on... View Details

Keywords: Re: Multiple Faculty

1999
Chapter

Biotechnology, Competitiveness and the Regulatory State

By: Arthur A. Daemmrich

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Government and Politics; Policy; Business and Government Relations; Biotechnology Industry

October 1978 (Revised March 1987)
Background Note

Note on Market Definition and Segmentation

Outlines the problems involved in defining "markets" for purposes of 1) developing competitive strategies, 2) measuring market share, and 3) evaluating the extent of competition. The primary focus is on strategic planning--specifically, the questions of delimiting the... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Markets; Segmentation