Publications

February 2009 (Revised December 2009)
Case

eReading: Amazon's Kindle

By: Bharat N. Anand, Peter W. Olson Esq. and Mary Tripsas

In November 2007, Amazon introduced the Kindle, the first electronic reader with wireless functionality. The case describes the launch of the Kindle and provides information on representative players in the industry (or broader ecosystem) who are likely to be affected... View Details

Keywords: Books; Disruptive Innovation; Technological Innovation; Industry Structures; Standards; Distribution Channels; Competitive Strategy; Publishing Industry

January 2025
Teaching Note

AGENTS.inc: Pathways to Growth at an AI Startup

By: Frank Nagle and Susan Pinckney

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 724-444. In 2024, AI agent startup company AGENTS.inc faced multiple strategic decisions that could shape the company’s ability to grow into the future AI agent market leader. View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; AI and Machine Learning; Growth and Development Strategy; Open Source Distribution; Entrepreneurial Finance; Competition; Computer Industry; Technology Industry; Europe; Germany

May 2013 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Gap, Inc., 2012

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

Between 2000 and 2012, Gap, Inc. (Gap) ceded its world leadership position in specialty fashion retailing to Inditex of Spain and H&M of Sweden. These two companies, each less than a quarter of Gap's size in 2000, were now setting the pace in the global mass fashion... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Change; Fashion; Multinational; Brands; Competition; Multinational Firms and Management; Performance Improvement; Strategy; Brands and Branding; Change Management; Retail Industry; Fashion Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Sweden; Spain; United States

May 1995
Teaching Note

C.K. Coolidge, Inc. (A) TN

By: David E. Bell

Teaching Note for (9-894-017). View Details

Keywords: Patents; Decisions; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Competition; Chemical Industry

15 May 2012
First Look

First Look: May 15

and Yaron Yehezkel Abstract In the context of platform competition in a two-sided market, we study how ex-ante uncertainty and ex-post asymmetric information concerning the value of a new technology affects the View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

December 2001 (Revised April 2002)
Case

Synthes

By: John T. Gourville

Synthes is the recognized leader in the U.S. orthopedic implant market, with a 50% market share in the metallic plates, rods, and screws used to fix severe bone fractures. Synthes' marketplace strength lies in the strength of its sales force and in the quality and... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Risk Management; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Market Entry and Exit; Product Development; Problems and Challenges; Competition; Manufacturing Industry; United States

07 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

Market Investors Pay More for Resilient Companies

The steep market drop in the early days of the COVID-19 crisis is being used as a laboratory to study the importance of companies investing in stakeholder relations with their employees, suppliers, and customers, and how those investments could be strategic resources... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Financial Services

08 Dec 2003
Research & Ideas

Why Europe Lags in Pharmaceuticals and Biotech

Governmental, academic, and cultural differences are hurting Europe's chances of creating more competitive pharmaceutical and biotech industries—and not much hope is on the horizon, according to a panel of experts at the 2003 HBS European... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Biotechnology; Health; Pharmaceutical; Technology

Web

Polaroid Films - Edwin H. Land & Polaroid | Harvard Business School

Clubs Faculty & Research Business & Environment Business History Christensen Center for Teaching & Learning Entrepreneurship Faculty & Research Global Healthcare HBS Working Knowledge Institute for Strategy & View Details

01 Mar 2015
News

Ask the Expert: Inside the Fed

for the first time in nine years, we asked former chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s Board of Directors Kirk Sykes (OPM 26, 1998)—current president and managing director of the Urban Strategy America Fund—to field your... View Details

Keywords: Executive, Legislative, and Other General Government Support; Government; Monetary Authorities-Central Bank; Finance

19 Dec 2006
First Look

First Look: December 19, 2006

theory, we show how and why these anomalies may occur when cross elasticities are estimated for pairs of brands that are substitutes. We empirically examine these issues in the context of the widely used Multiplicative Competitive... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

July 2000 (Revised September 2005)
Case

BMG Entertainment

By: Jan W. Rivkin and Gerrit Meier

As dramatic changes in technology and customer tastes roil the music industry, the top executives of BMG Entertainment, one of the world's largest record companies, must decide how to organize for digital distribution of music. This case includes a brief history of the... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Competitive Strategy; Distribution Channels; Organizational Structure; Technological Innovation; Industry Structures; Customer Focus and Relationships; Growth and Development Strategy; Information Technology; Music Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

26 Jun 2019
Research & Ideas

Why the US-China Tariff Standoff Hurts American Companies More

Reading The UK Needs a Bold Strategy Around Competition to Survive Brexit Free Trade Needs Nurturing—and Other Lessons from History Op-Ed: The Trouble with Tariffs What do you think of tariffs and the... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Retail; Manufacturing; Steel

15 Jun 2020
News

Alumni and Faculty Books for June 2020

political system functions just as every other competitive industry does, and how the duopoly has led to the devastating outcomes we see today. Using this competition lens, Gehl and Porter identify the most... View Details

03 Mar 2015
First Look

First Look: March 3

other forms of competition in strategy and organizations. Next, we organize and review the findings of three ostensibly separate theoretical perspectives that have arisen from game theory, View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

07 Dec 2010
First Look

First Look: Dec. 7

PublicationsSeven Strategy Questions: A Simple Approach for Better Execution Author:Robert L. Simons Publication: Harvard Business Press, 2010 Abstract To stay ahead of the pack, you must translate your organization's View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

December 2012 (Revised April 2025)
Case

AmTran Technology Ltd.

By: Willy Shih, Jyun-Cheng Wang and Karen E. Robinson

As an original design manufacturer (ODM) of television sets and leading supplier to Vizio, a market leader in the U.S. for LCD flat panel TVs, AmTran Technology Ltd. uses what founder Alpha Wu describes as a "WE" model in which western companies perform sales,... View Details