Publications

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June 1989 (Revised September 1992)
Case

Dominion Motors & Controls Ltd.

The leading manufacturer of motors in Canada is threatened by a loss of market share in oilfield pumping motors because a major customer, having tested several competing motor brands, finds a competitor's motor to be superior. A central issue is whether to make a... View Details

Keywords: Product; Competition; Product Marketing; Manufacturing Industry; Canada

May 2013
Teaching Plan

High Wire Act: Credit Suisse and Contingent Capital

By: Clayton Rose and David Lane

Late in 2010, Credit Suisse CEO Brady Dougan and his team considered whether or not to issue contingent capital, which Swiss regulators would require by 2019. They faced a number of substantial issues, including: Would contingent capital actually work as conceptualized... View Details

Keywords: Financial Institutions; Capital Markets; Financial Crisis; Decision Choices and Conditions; Leadership; International Finance; Financial Liquidity; Risk and Uncertainty; Competitive Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Switzerland

August 2012 (Revised November 2012)
Case

Colorscope, Inc. (Abridged)

By: V.G. Narayanan

A small company in the graphic design business faces severe price competition. The company must respond by cutting costs and making process improvements. View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Price; Business Processes; Performance Improvement; Competition; Fine Arts Industry

22 May 2007
First Look

First Look: May 22, 2007

resulting currency position tends to rise in value when equity markets fall. This strategy works well for investment horizons of one month to one year. In the past 15 years the risk-minimizing demand for the dollar appears to have... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

March 2007
Teaching Note

Lobbying for Love? Southwest Airlines and the Wright Amendment (TN)

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee

Teaching note to 707470. View Details

Keywords: Business Headquarters; Competition; Opportunities; Law; Business and Government Relations; Air Transportation Industry; Texas

December 1998 (Revised February 2003)
Case

Trilogy (A)

Trilogy is a rapidly growing company that is taking a highly unusual approach to capturing an enterprise software market (the "selling chain") that is also the target of much larger competitors. The case offers students an opportunity to assess the company's methods,... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Competition; Growth Management; Business Growth and Maturation; Software; Web Services Industry

16 Jul 2024
Research & Ideas

Weighing Digital Tradeoffs in Private Equity

innovation, PE firms are discovering new sources of value creation, new research shows. Moreover, the PE industry itself has become more competitive as the number of PE firms grows, prompting firms to explore a new way of boosting the... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services

16 Jan 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, January 16, 2018

explores whether the strategy will save the Chinese economy or generate social and political problems that imperil the country's growth and stability. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=53716 Lone Wolves in... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

17 Dec 2015
News

Examining Global Workforce Management

practices that enable them to respond to shifting economic and competitive forces while still making good on responsibilities to their workers and the communities in which they do business. By studying multinationals, she hopes to learn... View Details

01 Mar 2004
News

Toy Story

developers that couldn’t play by the discounters’ strict rules had fewer sales channels. With all the fun that toys bring to kids, the business is characterized by copycats, empty piggy banks, and aggressive competition that might make a... View Details

Keywords: Susan Young; toys; Amusement, Gambling, and Recreation Industries; Arts, Entertainment

June 2001 (Revised March 2003)
Case

Alibris (B)

Takes place more than two years after the (A) case. Alibris has weathered the storms and has built a popular, growing business. As the Christmas season of 2000 approaches, the company is confronted with two IT projects that both seem urgent and important. The first is... View Details

Keywords: Resource Allocation; Information Technology; Service Operations; Competitive Advantage; Information Management; Service Industry

21 Nov 2019
Blog Post

The Power of Business in the Energy Transition

can play critical roles in the energy transformation. Keynotes from business leaders such as Michael Skelly (MBA 1991), Advisor at Lazard, and Patricia DiOrio, VP of National Grid US Strategy outlined the continued development needed for... View Details

Keywords: Manufacturing; Energy / Cleantech

Profile

Jonathan Assayag

Player two years in a row. More importantly, he says, "My school is still competing in the competition today, and the robotics program has become a key differentiator against the public high schools in the region." Jonathan... View Details

01 Dec 2002
News

Faculty Updates

of Business Administration, Emeritus. Yoshino is an expert in the areas of global strategy and management, competitive strategy, and general management. He served as a director of Research twice — from 1987... View Details

November 1992 (Revised December 1994)
Case

BEA Associates: Enhanced Equity Index Funds

By: Andre F. Perold

BEA's enhanced index fund product uses derivatives and cash market securities to find the most efficient way to "track an index." The considerations involve transaction costs, custodial fees, withholding taxes on dividends, and fees from securities lending. In this... View Details

Keywords: Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Investment Portfolio; Management; Investment Banking; Competitive Advantage; Cost Management

20 Feb 2001
Research & Ideas

What’s Next for Japan

In the opening panel of the conference, titled "Japan Towards the 21st Century: How Should Japan Compete?" moderator and Harvard University professor Michael Porter laid a framework for experts from Japanese business, government, and politics to discuss... View Details

Keywords: by Hilah Geer

March 2008 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Facebook

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, Thomas R. Eisenmann, Aaron Smith, David Chen and Brian Feinstein

As Facebook topped one billion monthly users in October 2012, the online social network continued to face questions about how best to monetize its surging traffic. The company could invest further in new advertising products, which represented the majority of the... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Profit; Open Source Distribution; Social and Collaborative Networks; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Internet and the Web; Digital Platforms; Information Technology Industry

April 2017 (Revised November 2017)
Case

BlackRock (D): Organizing for the Future (with video links)

By: Ranjay Gulati, Jan W. Rivkin and Aldo Sesia

By the end of 2015, BlackRock had succeeded beyond any of the early dreams of its founders. The firm remained the world’s largest asset manager, with more than $4.6 trillion under management, and other financial services companies used BlackRock’s Aladdin platform to... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Competition; Information Technology; Asset Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Financial Services Industry; United States