Publications
Publications
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(1,354)
- Faculty Publications (383)
- November 29, 2023
- Article
To Earn Trust, Climate Alliances Need to Improve Transparency
By: Peter Tufano, Chris Thomas, Knut Haanaes, Matteo Gasparini, Robert Eyres and Christopher Chapman
Businesses are increasingly joining together as part of climate alliances to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels. But these alliances raise antitrust issues: When competitors collaborate, it can come at the expense of customers or workers. To mitigate... View Details
- November 2023
- Case
From Imitation to Innovation: Zongshen Industrial Group (Abridged)
By: Willy Shih and Nancy Dai
Like other small shops based in Chongqing, China, Zongshen Industrial Group started by assembling motorcycles from "standard" parts. The quality of its early products was good enough for rural Chinese buyers, though wealthier consumers usually purchased premium... View Details
- November 2023 (Revised January 2024)
- Case
Bridgit: Persevere or Pivot?
By: Reza Satchu and Patrick Sanguineti
In late 2012, Mallorie Brodie and Lauren Lake, two young women in their final year of college, founded Bridgit, a technology startup that developed solutions to simplify vital but laborious processes within the construction industry. In the Fall of 2013, after months... View Details
- October 2023 (Revised March 2024)
- Case
Fortinet: Cybersecurity Pioneer Ken Xie Considers the Long Game
By: Tsedal Neeley, Jeff Huizinga and Emily Grandjean
Ken Xie, cofounder of cybersecurity giant Fortinet, faced a critical decision that would validate his leadership. Fortinet became the industry’s second-largest pureplay cybersecurity firm by developing differentiated hardware and investing in R&D. However, after a... View Details
- September 2023
- Technical Note
Free and Open Source Software and Hardware
By: Frank Nagle
This technical note surveys the concepts of free and open source software and hardware. It introduces the concepts in general, providing a brief history of their development and numerous examples of how companies employ them in practice. Further, it identifies various... View Details
- September 2023 (Revised September 2024)
- Case
IBJ, Inc. (A): Seeking Matrimony in Japan
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Akiko Saito
In March 2020, Shigeru Ishizaka, founder and CEO of IBJ, Inc., Japan's largest marriage matching service provider, faced a critical decision regarding the company’s planned ¥3.5 billion (US$32.8 million) acquisition of competitor ZWEI Co., Ltd. IBJ, founded in 2006,... View Details
- August 2023
- Case
Beamery: Using Skills and AI to Modernize HR
By: Boris Groysberg, Alexis Lefort, Susan Pinckney and Carolina Bartunek
Unicorn human relationships startup Beamery evaluates it's growth versus depth strategy as its strategic partners and customers could become future competitors in a quickly changing AI based human resources and talent management industry View Details
Keywords: Acquisition; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Startups; Competency and Skills; Experience and Expertise; Talent and Talent Management; Customers; Nationality; Learning; Entrepreneurship; Employee Relationship Management; Recruitment; Retention; Selection and Staffing; Values and Beliefs; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Analytics and Data Science; Applications and Software; Disruptive Innovation; Technological Innovation; Job Offer; Job Search; Job Design and Levels; Employment; Human Capital; Europe; United Kingdom; United States
- May 2023
- Case
Legacy Partners
By: Royce Yudkoff and Richard S. Ruback
Stephen Holbrook and Austin Pulsipher (both HBS '19) had been leading Nutrishare since acquiring the company six months earlier in mid-2021. The company, based in Sacramento CA, was a compounding pharmacy serving Total Parenteral Nutrition ("TPN") patients nationwide.... View Details
- April 12, 2023
- Article
Using AI to Adjust Your Marketing and Sales in a Volatile World
By: Das Narayandas and Arijit Sengupta
Why are some firms better and faster than others at adapting their use of customer data to respond to changing or uncertain marketing conditions? A common thread across faster-acting firms is the use of AI models to predict outcomes at various stages of the customer... View Details
- April 2023 (Revised July 2023)
- Case
Fermenting Accounting Problems at Vermont Kombucha Corp.
By: Tatiana Sandino and Marshal Herrmann
Founded in 2005, Vermont Kombucha Corp. (V-Ko) was an early mover in the fledgling U.S. market for kombucha, a drink brewed for its health benefits. Early on, the company captured more than 90% of market share. Under the leadership of its founder and CEO, Joe Williams,... View Details
- February 2023 (Revised March 2025)
- Case
Graphic Packaging: Project Cowboy (A)
By: Benjamin C. Esty and E. Scott Mayfield
In July 2019, Graphic Packaging CEO Michael Doss was proposing a $600 million investment in a new machine to produce coated recycled board (CRB), a type of paper packaging used for consumer products (cups, cereal boxes, beverage boxes, etc.) that utilized recycled... View Details
- February 2023
- Supplement
Graphic Packaging: Project Cowboy (A) Courseware
By: Benjamin C. Esty and Scott Mayfield
In July 2019, Graphic Packaging CEO Michael Doss was proposing a $600 million investment in a new machine to produce coated recycled board (CRB), a type of paper packaging used for consumer products (cups, cereal boxes, beverage boxes, etc.) that utilized recycled... View Details
- January 2023
- Case
Cleave Therapeutics: Taking a Risk on Oncology Drug Discovery
By: Regina Herzlinger and Brian Walker
What should a successful executive (HBS Baker Scholar) assess as her next move as the CEO of a firm with a promising and yet uncertain new drug? Amy Burroughs’ mandate to successfully commercialize Cleave Therapeutics’ drug for a cancer with no current successful... View Details
- November 2022 (Revised April 2023)
- Supplement
HTC and Virtual Reality (B)
By: Andy Wu and Matt Higgins
In April 2023, Cher Wang, CEO and Chairwoman of HTC, reflected on her time as a leader in the virtual reality industry from her office high above Taoyuan City, Taiwan. It had been a roller coaster ride of new product introductions and unexpected challenges for HTC and... View Details
Keywords: VR; Virtual Reality; Strategy; Metaverse; Market Entry and Exit; Competition; Technology Industry; Taiwan; China; United States
- November 15, 2022
- Article
What Really Makes Toyota’s Production System Resilient
By: Willy C. Shih
Toyota has fared better than many of its competitors in riding out the supply chain disruptions of recent years. But focusing on how Toyota had stockpiled semiconductors and the problems of other manufacturers, some observers jumped to the conclusion that the era of... View Details
Keywords: Supplier Relationships; Manufacturing; Supply Chain; Production; Auto Industry; United States; Japan
- 2024
- Working Paper
Adjusting Prices in the Long-tail: The Role of Competitive Monitoring
By: Ayelet Israeli and Eric Anderson
Most e-commerce retailers offer a long-tail of very low demand products. Individually, these items may have low sales but collectively they are critical to the overall e-commerce business model. Because of their minimal sales, pricing is a constant challenge. The... View Details
- 2022
- Working Paper
Coordination and Incumbency Advantage in Multi-Party Systems: Evidence from French Elections
By: Kevin Dano, Francesco Ferlenga, Vincenzo Galasso, Caroline Le Pennec and Vincent Pons
In theory, free and fair elections can improve the selection of politicians and incentivize them to exert effort. In practice, incumbency advantage and coordination issues may lead to the (re)election of bad politicians. We ask whether these two forces compound each... View Details
- October 2022
- Supplement
Framebridge (B): A New Approach
By: Rembrand Koning and Alicia Dadlani
In 2022, after revamping operations and expanding retail stores, Framebridge founder and CEO Susan Tynan is optimistic for the future but realizes changing market dynamics. New competitors are entering the market, and margin pressures remained. This case is part two of... View Details
- July 2022 (Revised February 2025)
- Case
A Soul and a Service: North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance
By: Tom Nicholas and John Masko
The North Carolina Mutual and Provident Association (the Mutual) was founded in 1898 as a for-profit entity selling life insurance catering to the Black community. The Mutual was entering a field crowded with established White-owned competitors that largely refused to... View Details
- 2022
- Article
Values and Inequality: Prosocial Jobs and the College Wage Premium
By: Nathan Wilmers and Letian Zhang
Employers often recruit workers by invoking corporate social responsibility, organizational purpose, or other claims to a prosocial mission. In an era of substantial labor
market inequality, commentators typically dismiss these claims as hypocritical: prosocial... View Details