Publications

24 Sep 2007
Research & Ideas

The FDA: What Will the Next 100 Years Bring?

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which was created by the passage of the 1906 Federal Food and Drugs Act, regulates companies and industries accounting for one-quarter of all consumer spending, roughly $1.5 trillion worth of consumer goods and medicines. It... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Biotechnology; Consumer Products; Food & Beverage; Health

April 1999 (Revised August 2004)
Case

Women's Professional Basketball and the American Basketball League

By: Stephen A. Greyser and Natalie Zakarian

Chronicles the growth and development of women's professional basketball. Particular emphasis is on the impact of Title IX, the 1996 women's gold medal Olympic team, and the advent of the American Basketball League (ABL). The structure and "basic business model" of the... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Problems and Challenges; Sports; Gender; Planning; Growth and Development; Sports Industry

Find at Harvard

February 2016 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Alvogen

By: Daniel Isenberg and William Kerr

Alvogen is a young Icelandic generic pharmaceutical company, whose CEO believes that his global strategy will give them an edge in this competitive industry.
Robert Wessman, Alvogen’s CEO, was also previously the CEO of Actavis, another Icelandic generics... View Details

Keywords: Pharmaceutical Companies; Generic Drugs; Entrepreneurship; Globalization; Risk and Uncertainty; Pharmaceutical Industry; Iceland

21 May 2018
Blog Post

Harnessing The Power of Collaboration to Create Opportunity in Chicago

Before and after attending HBS, I helped grow Working Assets (now Credo, founded by Laura Scher, MBA 1985) into a successful social enterprise that has generated more than $80 million for nonprofits. Whereas Working Assets is a for-profit enterprise whose business... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit / Government

Research Summary

Selection, Reallocation, and Spillover: Identifying the Sources of Gains from Multinational Production (with Maggie Chen)

By: Laura Alfaro

Quantifying the gains from multinational production has been a vital topic of economic research. Positive productivity gains are often attributed to knowledge spillover from multinational to domestic firms. An alternative, less stressed explanation is firm selection... View Details

Keywords: Gains From Multinational Production; Firm Selection; Knowledge Spillover

June 2014 (Revised October 2015)
Case

Molycorp: Financing the Production of Rare Earth Minerals (A)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and E. Scott Mayfield

Molycorp, the western hemisphere's only producer of rare earth minerals, was in the middle of a $1 billion capital expenditure project in its effort to become a vertically integrated supplier of rare earth minerals, oxides, and metals. Yet it had just reported lower... View Details

May 2006 (Revised April 2009)
Case

Cola Wars Continue: Coke and Pepsi in 2006

By: David B. Yoffie and Michael Slind

Examines the industry structure and competitive strategy of Coca-Cola and Pepsi over 100 years of rivalry. New challenges in 2006 include boosting flagging carbonated soft drink (CSD) sales and finding new revenue streams. Both firms also began to modify their... View Details

Keywords: History; Competitive Strategy; Industry Structures; Growth and Development Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

21 May 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Do Friends Influence Purchases in a Social Network?

Keywords: by Raghuram Iyengar, Sangman Han & Sunil Gupta; Technology

March 2009 (Revised May 2011)
Case

The Credit Suisse/Gerson Lehrman Group Alliance

By: Robert G. Eccles and Laura Winig

The equity research department of Credit Suisse and the expert network firm of Gerson Lehrman Group, historically competitors, have established a strategic alliance which both believe will give them a competitive advantage. Under the leadership of its head of equity... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Financial Crisis; Investment Banking; Innovation and Invention; Alliances; Social and Collaborative Networks; Competitive Advantage; Banking Industry

May 1998 (Revised May 1999)
Case

Biopure Corp.

By: John T. Gourville

It is early 1998 and Biopure Corp., a small biopharmaceutical firm with no sales revenues in its ten-year history, has just received government approval to release Oxyglobin, a revolutionary new "blood substitute" designed to replace the need for donated animal blood... View Details

Keywords: Segmentation; Marketing Strategy; Engineering; Budgets and Budgeting; Sales; Transformation; Markets; Debates; Product Launch; Pharmaceutical Industry

Web

Publications - Faculty & Research

and Joseph Pacelli Citation Purchase Related Zou, Yuan, and Joseph Pacelli. "Pricing an IPO at Allbirds, Inc. - Student." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 125-702, February 2025. February 2025 Supplement AT&T Revenue &... View Details

January 2021
Case

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (A)

By: David J. Collis, Nobuo Sato and Akiko Kanno

This case follows Christophe Weber, President and CEO of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, a leading pharmaceutical company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, as Takeda considers acquiring Shire Plc, a biotech company based in Ireland. The acquisition would turn... View Details

Keywords: Pharmaceutical Companies; Pharmaceuticals; Biotech; Biotechnology; M＆A; Mergers ＆ Acquisitions; R＆D; Talent Management; Mergers and Acquisitions; Globalization; Management; Global Strategy; Talent and Talent Management; Pharmaceutical Industry; Biotechnology Industry; Japan; Asia

Program

Competing in the Age of AI—Virtual

inherent risks Create opportunities to build competitive advantage Reimagine your company's value propositions to create new revenue streams Redesign organizational systems, processes, and roles to be AI driven Build the skills,... View Details

December 2011
Case

Bergerac Systems: The Challenge of Backward Integration

By: David A. Garvin and Sunru Yong

Bergerac Systems is a small, rapidly growing manufacturer of diagnostic instruments used in veterinary practices. The company introduced the OmniVue chemistry analyzer, which enables veterinarians to run a wide range of blood and blood chemistry tests on their animal... View Details

Keywords: Financial Analysis; Manufacturing Strategy; Strategy; Production; Supply Chain Management; Vertical Integration; Performance Capacity; Financial Strategy; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

March 2021
Case

The U.S. Home Improvement Sector in 2020

By: José Alvarez and David Lane

Provides an overview of the U.S. home improvement sector in 2020, reviewing sources of growth in the decade ending in 2020, with special attention to the impact of COVID-19 on market leaders Home Depot and Lowe’s and the spike in online revenues for both. Also noted... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Trends; Leading Change; Operations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance; Technology; Construction Industry; United States

February 2016 (Revised August 2020)
Case

InsightSquared: Developing the Sales and Marketing Plan

By: Mark Roberge, Tom Eisenmann and Frank Cespedes

Fred Shilmover and Sam Clemens prepared for their fourth quarter board meeting. They were excited to have scaled their software startup, InsightSquared, to $2 million in revenue and secured an $8 million round of venture capital. However, they disagreed on the path... View Details

Keywords: Sales Planning; Applications and Software; Marketing; Sales; Planning; Growth and Development Strategy

February 2011 (Revised August 2021)
Case

Gemini Investors

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Gemini Investors was a private equity firm focused on small and lower middle market businesses. Gemini's target investment size was between $4 million and $6 million and a typical portfolio company had revenue of between $8 million and $30 million. In early 2015,... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Investment; Investment Funds; Markets; Size; Financial Services Industry; United States