Publications

22 Mar 2024
Research & Ideas

Open Source Software: The $9 Trillion Resource Companies Take for Granted

become, illuminating that the products are often the backbone on which many companies build tech operations and the products they sell, Nagle says. “To be able to say, ‘Look, this is no longer small. This is... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Computer; Information Technology; Technology

April 2024 (Revised July 2024)
Case

Market Dynamics and Moral Dilemmas: Novo Nordisk’s Weight-Loss Drugs

By: Joseph L. Badaracco, Tom Quinn and John Schultz

Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk was owned by a charitable foundation, and since its founding in the 1920s had focused on producing insulin to treat diabetes. In 2017, however, it released Ozempic, a diabetes treatment with the revolutionary side effect of... View Details

February 2018 (Revised August 2018)
Case

OpenInvest

By: Shawn Cole, Boris Vallée and Nicole Tempest Keller

Founded by a team of hedge fund and NGO alumni, OpenInvest launched its platform in 2015 to enable retail investors to tailor their portfolios to their personal values in an automated way, for instance by screening out weapons manufacturers stocks or overweighting... View Details

Keywords: Fintech; Impact Investing; Investment Portfolio; Customization and Personalization; Technological Innovation; Social Issues; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Model; Financial Services Industry

February 2010 (Revised March 2013)
Case

Zynga (A)

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski and David Chen

In January 2010 Mark Pincus is deciding how to double the number of Zynga games' players to 500 million without sacrificing profitability. These ambitious growth plans required changes to product, corporate strategy, and customer acquisition and retention. With regard... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Decision Choices and Conditions; Growth and Development Strategy; Distribution Channels; Product Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Corporate Strategy; Video Game Industry

Web

Tools & Training - Alumni

you for case interviews in consulting, product management, and product marketing. It deconstructs interviews into clearly defined skills and gives you the tools to help you master them. Learn how to approach... View Details

10 Jan 2018
Blog Post

8 Tips to Help You Prepare for the Case Method

graduation, I hope to continue pursuing my passion while focusing on the building and scaling of innovative products in the renewable energy space. About the Case Method The case method is at the core of the HBS academic experience. In... View Details

August 2001 (Revised March 2003)
Background Note

Comments on the Second Toyota Paradox: With appendix on modularity for managing complex-systems design

Two groups of people start out with the same task, equipped with the same resources and the same initial conditions. One, however, consistently beats the other. What are the differences between what the two groups are doing, and what can we adopt from the better... View Details

Keywords: Management; Product Design; Auto Industry; Japan

Find at Harvard

19 Mar 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, March 19, 2019

forthcoming Academy of Management Discoveries Creativity, Artificial Intelligence, and a World of Surprises By: Amabile, Teresa M. Abstract—In recent years, progress has been made toward AI Creativity, which I define as the production of... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

February 2011
Case

ABICI

By: Mukti Khaire, Elena Corsi and Elisa Farri

The co-founder of an Italian, design based bicycle manufacturer evaluates if reducing costs by outsourcing would impact its brand. The company was founded in 2005 in Italy by three friends and in its first five years, it had enjoyed steady growth and built a strong... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Entrepreneurship; Profit; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Brands and Branding; Product Design; Product Development; Production; Bicycle Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Italy

Web

Finance - Faculty & Research

clients, mainly primary and secondary schools in India. The product aimed to improve student engagement and performance, reduce the time it took teachers to develop and grade learning assessments, enable administrators to better track... View Details

12 Dec 2023
Research & Ideas

COVID Tested Global Supply Chains. Here’s How They’ve Adapted

diversification Companies are also starting to recognize—and rediscover, as in the case of Intel Corp.—the benefits of diversifying their global production and supply chains, Alfaro says. The chip manufacturer downsized its plant in Costa... View Details

Keywords: by Scott Van Voorhis

27 Jun 2016
Research & Ideas

These Management Practices, Like Certain Technologies, Boost Company Performance

important as other inputs in production and can create significant competitive advantage” over each other and across a wide variety of countries and sectors, says Sadun. “Originally it was like a bet—can we quantify management?” she says.... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

Research Summary

Resource Relatedness and the Location Strategy of the Multi-Business Firm

We provide new insights into firm location decisions by disentangling and comparing location strategies of multibusiness firms and standalone firms in the same industries. We find that units of multibusiness firms exhibit internal agglomeration, which is stronger than... View Details

Keywords: Multibusiness Firm; Agglomeration; Resource Redeployment; Corporate Strategy

Research Summary

Research overview

The growth of consumer review websites over the past decade has revolutionized the way in which consumers learn about product quality. The centrality of information to consumer welfare has also been underscored in public policy debates, where quality disclosure has... View Details

Research Summary

Environmental Policy and Competitiveness

By: Michael E. Porter

Michael E. Porter has been exploring (with Claas van der Linde of St. Gallen University, Switzerland) the relationship between environmental regulation, industry competition, and international competitiveness. He finds that many forms of environmental pollution... View Details

November 2011 (Revised August 2012)
Background Note

Customer Visits for Entrepreneurs

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Provides practical guidelines for conducting customer visits to explore and validate demand for an entrepreneurial offering. Reviews conditions under which visits will yield superior insights, compared to other research methods. Describes criteria for selecting visit... View Details

Keywords: Customers; Entrepreneurship

July 1989 (Revised April 2001)
Case

Kanthal (A)

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Multinational company needs an improved cost system to determine the profitability of individual customer orders. Its strategy is to have significant sales and profitability growth without adding additional administrative and support people. The new cost system... View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Earnings Management; Cost Management; Financial Management; Multinational Firms and Management; Business or Company Management; Customer Relationship Management; Sales; Business Strategy; Profit; Electronics Industry

August 2005 (Revised March 2007)
Case

Leitax (A)

By: Noel H. Watson, Rogelio Oliva and Laura Winig

Leitax, a young digital camera manufacturer selling its cameras mainly through retailers, experienced poor matching of inventory availability with demand for new and existing products in 2002. Describes the implementation and details of a consensus forecasting... View Details

Keywords: Demand and Consumers; Supply Chain Management; Forecasting and Prediction; Supply and Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Retail Industry

May 1993 (Revised May 1994)
Case

Managing for Integrity: Three Vignettes

By: Lynn S. Paine

Three situations are described. A branch manager for a retail brokerage firm must decide whether to change the branch's cash management techniques to increase interest earnings. An auto mechanic must decide whether to oversell parts and repairs to meet sales and... View Details

Keywords: Growth Management; Ethics; Decision Making; Organizational Culture; Financial Management; Sales; Organizational Change and Adaptation