Publications

January 2017 (Revised August 2019)
Case

X Fire Paintball & Airsoft: Is Amazon a Friend or Foe? (A)

By: Feng Zhu and Angela Acocella

Three years after launching his brick-and-mortar store, X Fire Paintball and Airsoft, Steve Herbert Sr. and his sons began selling products on Amazon.com’s third-party Marketplace, and online sales expanded rapidly. Over time, X Fire noticed that products of which it... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Competition; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Small Business; Retail Industry; Canada

June 2011
Teaching Note

Knight the King: The Founding of Nike (TN)

By: Noam Wasserman

Teaching Note for 810077. View Details

Keywords: Market Participation; Public Ownership; Transformation; Business Startups; Going Public; Competition; Technology; Apparel and Accessories Industry

2007
Other Unpublished Work

Effects of Inventory on Demand for Rentals in the Home Video Market

By: Ioannis Ioannou, Julie Mortimer and Richard Mortimer

Retailer inventory decisions can greatly influence observed demand for a product by affecting, among other things, product availability (stock-outs) and product visibility in the store. These inventory decisions are affected by numerous factors including vertical... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Demand and Consumers; Supply Chain Management; Competition; Contracts; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States

September 1991 (Revised May 1994)
Background Note

Note on the PC Network Software Industry--1990

By: David B. Yoffie

Examines the economics, technology, customer segments, and competitors of the PC networking software industry. View Details

Keywords: Customers; Economics; Competition; Applications and Software; Technology Adoption; Information Infrastructure

11 Apr 2000
Research & Ideas

Financial Services 24/7

brave new world. The transformation ignited by the Internet is creating a new paradigm in the financial services industry, characterized by surprising business structures. "The competitive landscape is changing dramatically," says Dwight... View Details

Keywords: by Susan Young

01 Feb 2000
News

Financial Services 24/7

compete in this brave new world. The transformation ignited by the Internet is creating a new paradigm in the financial services industry, characterized by surprising business structures. "The competitive landscape is changing... View Details

Keywords: Susan Young

29 Aug 2017
Blog Post

3 Insights from My First Year at HBS

classmates (Iceland, the Dominican Republic, Brazil, and Mexico) I met hundreds of new classmates/friends from across the globe I planned a New Venture Competition pitch as part of the 19th annual Africa Business Conference, which had... View Details

October 1998 (Revised June 2002)
Case

Austin, Texas: Building a High-Tech Economy

By: Bruce R. Scott and Srinivas Sunder

Members of the community decide to try to diversify the economy of Austin, Texas, by welcoming high-technology firms and by augmenting the electrical engineering faculty at University of Texas--Austin. View Details

Keywords: Development Economics; Diversification; Information Technology; Policy; Government and Politics; Engineering; Technological Innovation; Competitive Advantage; Higher Education; Texas

Find at Harvard

01 Jun 2017
News

Case Study: Something New

revenue share on transactions and provide curated fulfillment/logistics. —Tony Chao (MBA 2007) Stay the course and focus only on made-to -order, which is the best way to build a sustainable competitive advantage. The made-to-order model... View Details

Keywords: April White

spring 1981
Article

From Competitor to Consumer: The Changing Focus of Federal Regulation of Advertising, 1914-1938

By: R. S. Tedlow

Keywords: Competition; Change; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Advertising

Find at Harvard

July 2008 (Revised September 2008)
Case

Work is Good: Branding the Employ+Ability Mission

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Monica Higgins and Susan Saltrick

Employ+Ability, a small company employing developmentally disabled adults, finds itself competing with low-cost producers of its core products-therapeutic hot and cold packs. How might an innovative branding campaign, centered on the company's core value of "Work Is... View Details

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship; Values and Beliefs; Brands and Branding; Competition

Find at Harvard

February 1995
Case

Catalan Leather Industry, The

Antoni Subira, the Minister of Industry in Catalonia, Spain, must decide whether to impose strict European Union environmental guidelines on the local leather industry. Failure to impose new regulations would result in substantial fines. Imposition, on the other hand,... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Industry Structures; Environmental Sustainability; Spain

Teaching Interest

Overview

21st Century Energy — Dr Crawford teaches this EC course, which exposes students to business models and management diilemmas, all along the energy value chain — from oil sands and pipelines, to coal and natural gas, hydro and nuclear, wind and solar, to biofuels. The... View Details

28 Oct 2019
Research & Ideas

Brick-and-Mortar Stores Are Making a Comeback

"Clicks and Mortar." [Image: iStock] Related Reading How to Use Free Shipping as a Competitive Weapon Should Retailers Match Their Own Prices Online and in Stores? Research Paper Where Should We Build a Mall? The Formation of... View Details

Keywords: by Jen McFarland Flint; Retail

20 Feb 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, February 20, 2018

through the New Deal era. This history of American capitalism argues that business associations partnered with regulators to create codes of fair competition that reshaped both public and private regulatory power. Rather than viewing the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

15 Sep 2020
News

How To Make Diversity a Reality

their Competition and Strategy professor Michael Porter. The group thought it would be a good opportunity to take some of Porter’s ideas about what makes a nation competitive... View Details

August 2008 (Revised May 2009)
Case

Consumer Payment Systems — Japan

By: Benjamin Edelman and Andrei Hagiu

In 2008, the Japanese consumer payments landscape featured ongoing widespread use of cash, limited use of credit cards and rapid rise of e-money systems based on contactless technology embedded in cards and especially mobile phones. The case details the alliances that... View Details

Keywords: Personal Finance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Digital Platforms; Alliances; Competitive Strategy; Information Infrastructure; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Japan

February 2017 (Revised March 2018)
Case

BIM: Finding New Ways to Grow

By: Michael Chu and Gamze Yucaoglu

BIM, Turkey’s giant retailer with a hard-discount model for the popular segments, must decide whether to launch a brand-new format challenging the modern supermarkets. Since its founding in 1995, BIM has adhered to a business model based on a relentless focus on costs... View Details

Keywords: Turkey; Decision; Emerging Markets; Private Sector; For-Profit Firms; Business Model; Business Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Growth and Development Strategy; Value Creation; Change Management; Decisions; Growth Management; Retail Industry; Turkey