Publications

September 2025
Article

Organizational Emplacement as a Response to Digital Threat: The Novel Resurgence of Independent Bookstores

By: Ryan Raffaelli and Ryann Noe

This study reveals how incumbent actors leverage physical place as source of differentiation in response to the threat of digital commoditization. Through a longitudinal, qualitative analysis of the U.S. independent bookselling industry from 1995 to 2019, we outline... View Details

Keywords: Retail; Place Making; Bookstores; Industry Evolution; Digital; Commoditization; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Digital Transformation; E-commerce; Distribution Channels; Civil Society or Community; Value Creation; Retail Industry

02 May 2005
What Do You Think?

Where is Consumer Generated Marketing Taking Us?

Summing Up Consumer generated marketing is a fact of life to which all of us will have to adapt. Adaptation means learning how to use CGM to provide one form of input in fashioning product and marketing... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

July 2022 (Revised September 2022)
Case

Birla Carbon Egypt: Building Soft Power in a Foreign Country

By: Jeremy Friedman and Malini Sen

Birla Carbon, a flagship business of the nearly $60-billion global conglomerate and India-headquartered Aditya Birla Group (ABG), is one of the world's top manufacturers and suppliers of high-quality carbon black. The largest among its 16 manufacturing plants is Birla... View Details

Educators

Purchase

September 2003
Case

Nelson Mandela, Turnaround Leader

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Euvin Naidoo

Nelson Mandela was the first democratically elected president of South Africa. He had to shift the culture of a country after the end of the apartheid regime, which enforced separation of the races and stifled freedom of the press. He established more open dialogue,... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Government and Politics; Governance; Policy; Political Elections; Culture; Communication Intention and Meaning; Relationships; Leadership Style; Welfare; South Africa

Educators

July 11, 2024
Article

Research: New Hires’ Psychological Safety Erodes Quickly

By: Derrick P. Bransby, Michael J. Kerrissey and Amy C. Edmondson

Across industries, from manufacturing to health care, the luxury of waiting years to benefit from new talent is long gone. Thriving in today’s dynamic economy means bringing new hires up the learning curve faster than ever. Yet, the authors’ latest research suggests... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Learning; Interpersonal Communication; Employees

May 8, 2020
Article

Lead Your Team Into a Post-Pandemic World

By: Hubert Joly

The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic has tested leaders, especially as it relates to how they lead their workers. As the crisis goes on, many that the author has spoken with have begun to frame it around three distinct phases: The Shelter-in-Place Phase, the Re-opening... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Re-opening; Health Pandemics; Leadership; Employees; Communication; Human Needs

18 Jun 2020
Blog Post

Black MBA Students Pen Letters to the HBS Community: Letter 3/5

Black students in our community have spent the last few weeks grappling with the weight of a devastating truth: that our country and society has undeniably and systemically... View Details

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

Throwing Your Opponent: Strategies for the Internet Age

The Internet is changing the nature of competition in virtually every industry. And according to HBS professor David Yoffie, competing in the Internet age is more than just a matter of having to do everything faster. In their book,... View Details

Keywords: by Daniel Penrice

Stephen A. Greyser

Stephen A. Greyser is Richard P. Chapman Professor (Marketing/Communications) Emeritus, of the Harvard Business School, specializes in brand marketing, advertising, corporate communications, the business of sports, and nonprofit management. A... View Details

Keywords: sports

21 May 2019
Blog Post

Asian Pacific American Heritage Month at HBS

Business Association, is proud to introduce this year's APAHM Portrait Project. The Asian Pacific Islander identity extends beyond a checkbox, and we are honored to share stories from the HBS community... View Details

January 1995 (Revised April 1996)
Case

Wildfire

The company Wildfire offers a product that is a virtual secretary--embedded in the phone system. Students can call 1-800-WILDFIRE and hear a product demonstration. All the commands, from calling, to setting up meetings, to providing reminders, are verbal--told to the... View Details

Keywords: Communication Technology; Market Entry and Exit; Product Marketing; Communications Industry; Communications Industry