Publications

January 1990 (Revised March 1991)
Case

American Red Cross Blood Services: Northeast Region

By: Robert L. Simons

Recounts the financial difficulties and management changes experienced by American Red Cross Blood Services: Northeast Region (NER) during the 1980s. After summarizing industry-wide changes in the collection, testing, and distribution of blood and blood products, the... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Budgets and Budgeting; Financial Management; Restructuring; Health; SWOT Analysis; Social Enterprise; Marketplace Matching; Management Style; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Health Industry; North and Central America

March 1987 (Revised April 1987)
Background Note

Specialties vs. Commodities: The Battle for Profit Margins

By: Benson P. Shapiro

Explains the differences between commodities and specialties and defines four different types of specialty products. The analysis is customer oriented. Special attention is given to the distinctions between functions (product- ) and relationship (vendor-oriented)... View Details

Keywords: Goods and Commodities

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August 1986 (Revised May 2005)
Case

Mike Finkelstein (B)

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin, Charles Bryan and Ken Leet

Following his successful turnaround of WTXX, Waterbury, Mike Finkelstein joined Odyssey Partners with a mandate to build a communications company. From 1982-1985, he acquired three more stations, financing each as an independent partnership. However, increasing... View Details

Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown; Cash; Business or Company Management; Bonds; Cost vs Benefits; SWOT Analysis; Alignment; Acquisition; Financial Strategy; Corporate Finance; Communications Industry

June 1983 (Revised April 1991)
Case

Dominion Engineering Works

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Dominion Engineering Works faces important strategic decisions about whether to continue its focused strategy of selling newsprint machines to the Canadian paper industry or whether recent changes in industry conditions and the emergence of three global competitors... View Details

Keywords: Machinery and Machining; Globalized Markets and Industries; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Partners and Partnerships; Competitive Strategy; Customization and Personalization; Diversification

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1980
Working Paper

Components of Manufacturing Inventories: A Structural Model of the Production Process

By: Alan J. Auerbach and Jerry R. Green

This paper presents a structural model of production and inventory accumulation based on the hypothesis of cost minimization. It differs from previous attempts in several respects. First, it integrates the analysis of input inventories with output inventories, treating... View Details

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January 1980 (Revised August 1986)
Case

General Electric vs. Westinghouse in Large Turbine Generators (A)

By: Michael E. Porter

Describes the U.S. large turbine generator industry in early 1963, a period of severe price cutting and depressed industry conditions. Presents data to allow a structural analysis of the industry and an analysis of the strategies of the major players since 1946. The... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Customer Focus and Relationships; Machinery and Machining; Cost Management; Price; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Marketing Strategy; Industry Structures; Competition; Manufacturing Industry; United States

March–April 1979
Article

How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy

By: M. E. Porter

Many factors determine the nature of competition, including not only rivals, but also the economics of particular industries, new entrants, the bargaining power of customers and suppliers, and the threat of substitute services or products. A strategic plan of action... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Strategy

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Research Summary

Background

By: Gerald Zaltman

A major theme underlying most of Gerald Zaltman's research concerns the representation of thought. This includes how managers and customers represent their thinking to others and how they represent ideas and knowledge given to them. This theme finds expression in a... View Details

Research Summary

Competitive Strategy

By: Michael E. Porter

Porter is engaged in a major new body of work on the theoretical foundations of competitive positioning and the underpinnings of sustainable competitive advantage. This research highlights the distinction between positioning and operational effectiveness; the... View Details

Research Summary

Corporate Reputation

By: Stephen A. Greyser

Stephen A. Greyser is undertaking an empirical analysis of corporate reputation based on interviews conducted by Opinion Research Corporation with more than four thousand executives in nineteen countries. His study is examining public awareness of, familiarity with,... View Details

Research Summary

Customer-Centricity as a Vehicle for Organic Growth

By: Ranjay Gulati

This body of work examines the mechanics of how firms grow profitably in commoditizing markets. Underlying the "customer-centricity" that many firms embrace today is a factor that will determine their success with this effort: enabling collaboration across... View Details

Teaching Interest

Deals

By: Kevin P. Mohan

This advanced negotiation course includes both negotiation simulations and analysis of actual corporate deals. In the first part of the course, students will participate in complex negotiation simulations and debrief their results in class. In the second part of the... View Details

Teaching Interest

Decision Making Under Uncertainty

By: David E. Bell

Many of the decisions we face are made complicated by having uncertain consequences: how should I set my inventory when I don’t know what demand will be, should I refinance my mortgage when rates might go lower, how big a bet shall I make in a new business, and so... View Details

Research Summary

Design Driven Innovation

By: Roberto Verganti

Firms, managers and scholars have often balanced between two approaches to innovation: user centered (where incremental innovation is pulled by the market) and technology push (where innovation comes from breakthrough development in technologies). However there is a... View Details

Forthcoming
Article

Engaging Customers with AI in Online Chats: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment

By: Shunyuan Zhang and Das Narayandas

We examine how artificial intelligence (AI) affected the productivity of customer service agents and customer sentiment in online interactions. Collaborating with a meal delivery company, we conducted a randomized field experiment that exploited exogenous variation in... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Customer Focus and Relationships; Performance Efficiency