Publications

16 Jun 2016
News

How Companies Can Solve the Innovator’s Dilemma

June 2012 (Revised November 2012)
Case

The Rise of Circuit City Stores, Inc.

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

In fiscal 2000, Circuit City was at the top of its game. The world's leading consumer electronics retailer had delivered record sales and profits for the first year of the new millennium. It was a fitting moment for Richard Sharpe, the CEO of the last 14 years, to step... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Strategic Planning; Competition; Retail Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Electronics Industry; North America

04 Jan 2022
Research & Ideas

Scrap the Big New Year's Resolutions. Make 6 Simple Changes Instead.

the world at large. Their ideas recently appeared in the article Humanizing Strategy in the journal Long Range Planning. Here, Takeuchi explains how business leaders can use the six practices to guide their own self-improvement efforts in... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

27 Oct 2015
Blog Post

Alumni: Where Are They Now? Featuring Claire Friedman...

resident, it was a big transition to move out west, but once I learned how to drive, it was smooth sailing. I spent some time at Warner Bros., working on strategy projects for... View Details

Keywords: Entertainment / Media / Sports

09 May 2017
What Do You Think?

Should Management Be Primarily Responsible to Shareholders?

But the ascendancy of agency theory—the idea that shareholders are owners of the corporation and managers their agents in a quest to maximize shareholder value—need not be one of them. Agency theory will not be a problem if we bend it to... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

June 2007 (Revised April 2010)
Case

Comcast Corporation

By: Anita Elberse and Jason Schreiber

In October 2006, Comcast executives had entered negotiations with broadcast networks to broaden the selection of free network content distributed via its video-on-demand (VOD) service. The major broadcast networks, however, were unsure of the effect it would have on... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Consumer Behavior; Competitive Strategy; Technology Adoption; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry

January 2016 (Revised March 2016)
Case

HNA Group: Global Excellence with Chinese Characteristics

By: William C. Kirby, F. Warren McFarlan and Joycelyn W. Eby

By 2015, the HNA Group had grown from its roots as Hainan Airlines, a small airline founded in 1993 into a global conglomerate that ranked #464 in the Global 500. Much of this success it had achieved by cross-industry expansion within China, but since 2008, it had... View Details

Keywords: China; Aviation And Aerospace; Airline Industry; Airlines; Globalization; Corporate Culture; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Global Strategy; Globalized Markets and Industries; Growth and Development; Air Transportation; Air Transportation Industry; China

08 Jul 2008
First Look

First Look: July 8, 2008

economic distress, or did it just bail out foreign investors and prepare the way for Wall Street to up buy Korean banks and firms? Had Korea's long move toward democracy helped or hindered government efforts to reform View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

31 Jan 2022
News

Leading Disruption in a Legacy Business

March 2003 (Revised December 2003)
Exercise

Organizational Alignment Exercise

By: Michael Beer and John J. Gabarro

Presents an overview of a method for diagnosing and developing an organization's capability to achieve its goals and implement its strategy, with exercises for application. A rewritten version of an earlier exercise. View Details

Keywords: Organizational Structure; Alignment

October 2006 (Revised August 2007)
Case

Marketing Chateau Margaux

By: John A. Deighton, Leyland Pitt, Vincent Marie Dessain, Daniela Beyersdorfer and Anders Sjoman

Chateau Margaux, luxury brand or connoisseur brand? Although France is awash with unsold wine, demand has never been stronger for the very finest Bordeaux. How should Margaux sustain and grow its business? The Chateau management team is wondering if it can take more... View Details

Keywords: Price; Growth and Development Strategy; Brands and Branding; Distribution; Luxury; Food and Beverage Industry; France

31 Mar 2022
Op-Ed

Navigating the ‘Bermuda Triangle’ in Professional Services

congenial work atmosphere for doctors and nurses, and handsome economic returns for its owners. The hospital’s leadership has forsworn expansion to avoid diluting its unique offering. But then we also have... View Details

Keywords: by Ashish Nanda

January 2008 (Revised February 2010)
Case

Microsoft adCenter

By: Peter Coles and Benjamin Edelman

Microsoft considers alternatives to expand its presence in online advertising, especially text-based pay-per-click advertising. Google dominates, and it is unclear how Microsoft can grow, despite considerable technical and financial resources. Microsoft considers a set... View Details

Keywords: Digital Marketing; Growth and Development Strategy; Competition; Advertising Industry

April 2011 (Revised January 2012)
Case

Kumon India in 2007

By: Hirotaka Takeuchi and Yoshinori Fujikawa

Kumon is wondering how to expand its student base in India. View Details

Keywords: Knowledge; Strategy; Expansion; India

13 Oct 2010
First Look

First Look: October 13, 2010

showing attack strategies in action. It then provides several specific counterstrategies for each basic category the authors have defined—including the following: Death-by-delay: Your enemies push discussion... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

June 2011 (Revised May 2012)
Case

Procter & Gamble: Marketing Capabilities

By: Rebecca M. Henderson and Ryan Johnson

P&G had become known and recognized as a marketing machine. It was the largest advertiser in the world, with 2010 spending of $8.68 billion. From the company's early exploitation of broadcast media (radio and television) for its soap products to more recent experiments... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Change Management; Globalized Markets and Industries; Innovation Strategy; Brands and Branding; Marketing Communications; Expansion; Consumer Products Industry

September 1995 (Revised March 1996)
Case

HCL America

Shows students how a custom software programming company takes advantage of differences between the United States and India in the cost of skilled labor (software engineers) to give its customers rare expertise and lower prices. Asks students to examine the company... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Service Delivery; Software; Information Technology Industry; United States; India