Publications

October 1993 (Revised September 1994)
Case

Northern Telecom (A): Greenwich Investment Proposal (Condensed)

By: Robert J. Dolan

The business products division has developed a business proposal asking for $50 million to fund the creation of a new telephone system for the small business market. The company's last entry into this marketplace lost $70 million. The new product would face 100... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Communication Technology; Market Entry and Exit; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Investment; Product Development; Telecommunications Industry; Canada

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January 2008 (Revised February 2008)
Case

South Dakota Wheat Growers

By: David E. Bell and Mary L. Shelman

As a farmer-owned cooperative, South Dakota Wheat Growers (SDWG) serves the needs of its 3,600 active farmer-members by supplying farm inputs and organizing the marketing and transportation of grain produced in the co-op's service territory. For almost 80 years, the... View Details

Keywords: Cooperative Ownership; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Production; Rail Transportation; Marketing Strategy; Expansion; Economic Growth; Global Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; South Dakota

January 2016 (Revised July 2018)
Case

Cyberdyne: A Leap to the Future

By: Doug J. Chung and Mayuka Yamazaki

Cyberdyne Inc. was a Japanese technology venture that wanted to commercialize a hybrid assistive limb (HAL). HAL was a robotic exoskeleton system for people who had difficulty walking due to nervous system disabilities resulting from stroke, spinal cord injury (SCI),... View Details

Keywords: Go-to-market Strategy; Pricing; Sales Channel; Technological Innovation; Marketing; Sales; Distribution; Strategy; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

18 Nov 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Standardized Color in the Food Industry: The Co-Creation of the Food Coloring Business in the United States, 1870–1940

Keywords: by Ai Hisano; Food & Beverage

Research Summary

Optimal Decision Making Under Uncertainty

Inventory control problems in supply chains. In this stream of theoretical research, Professor Goh has investigated how inventory should be optimally managed in supply chains. Specifically, he has studied how supply chains can make decisions to operate... View Details

April 2024
Article

Pay-As-You-Go Insurance: Experimental Evidence on Consumer Demand and Behavior

By: Raymond Kluender

Pay-as-you-go contracts reduce minimum purchase requirements which may increase market participation. We randomize the introduction and price(s) of a novel pay-as-you-go contract to the California auto insurance market where 17 percent of drivers are uninsured. The... View Details

Keywords: Contracts; Consumer Behavior; Price; Personal Finance; Insurance Industry; California

September 1991 (Revised December 1993)
Case

Tombow Pencil Co. Ltd.

Tombow Pencil Co. Ltd., one of Japan's two premier pencil manufacturers, has been using a subcontractor network in order to respond to changing market conditions. The system currently faces a new challenge as Tombow moves to address a volatile business market for... View Details

Keywords: Production; Supply Chain Management; Manufacturing Industry; Japan

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

09 Jul 2014
Research & Ideas

How Business Leaders Can Strengthen American Schools

its human capital," says Rivkin. "So if we're really falling down in that arena, we have an economic problem so important that business leaders can't sit on the sidelines." On the positive side, this could be a promising moment View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Education

24 Jan 2012
Video

2012 Alumni New Venture Prize Contest: Grand Prize

30 Nov 2021
Interview

TikTok: Super App or Supernova?

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport and Brian Kenny

TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, was launched in 2012 around the simple idea of helping users entertain themselves on their smartphones while on the Beijing Subway. By May 2020, TikTok operated in 155 countries and had roughly 1 billion monthly active users, placing... View Details

Keywords: Apps; Artificial Intelligence; Business Startups; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Business Model; Digital Platforms; Growth and Development Strategy; AI and Machine Learning; Social Media

October 28, 2021
Article

Creating a Meaningful Corporate Purpose

By: Hubert Joly

Today, most company leaders believe that their companies’ larger purpose is to make a positive difference in the world—not just to maximize shareholder value. Defining a corporate why and making sure it guides decisions and operations has therefore become a cornerstone... View Details

Keywords: Corporations; Purpose; Meaningfulness; Organizations; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Change and Adaptation

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October 2017 (Revised October 2022)
Case

Jumia Nigeria: from Retail to Marketplace (A)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Namrata Arora

Founded in 2012, Jumia Nigeria, a startup effort by Germany-based Rocket Internet, aimed to become an African Amazon. The company entered the nascent market and immediately enjoyed an uptick in consumer spending fueled by the strength of Nigeria’s oil-based economy. By... View Details

Keywords: Retail; Marketplace; Inventory; Ecommerce; Funding; Business Ecosystem; Business Ecosystems; Competition; Business Model; Globalization; Emerging Markets; Expansion; Logistics; Competitive Strategy; E-commerce; Retail Industry; India; Nigeria; Africa

April 2025
Article

The Disappearing Index Effect

By: Robin Greenwood and Marco Sammon

The abnormal return associated with a stock being added to the S&P 500 has fallen from an average of 7.4% in the 1990s to 0.3% over the past decade. This has occurred despite a significant increase in the share of stock market assets linked to the index. A similar... View Details

Keywords: Stocks; Investment Return; Value

March 2003 (Revised September 2004)
Case

Worker Rights and Global Trade: The U.S.-Cambodia Bilateral Textile Trade Agreement

Examines the political and economic dimensions of the campaign to improve workers' rights around the world through the inclusion of labor standards in international trade agreements. The U.S.-Cambodia Textile Trade Agreement was the first agreement of its kind to link... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Agreements and Arrangements; Rights; Working Conditions; Globalization; Consumer Products Industry; Cambodia; United States

December 2022
Case

Mission Produce in 2022

By: Forest Reinhardt, Jose B. Alvarez and Natalie Kindred

Founded by CEO Steve Barnard in 1983, California-based Mission Produce was a leading supplier of Hass avocados with a global sourcing, marketing, and distribution network and $892 million in 2021 sales. Barnard had been influential in the global avocado trade’s... View Details

Keywords: Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Retail Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States; California; Peru; Guatemala; Colombia; Mexico; Chile

2012
Article

Wider dem sauren Mund. Beiersdorfs U.S.-Geschaeft mit der Zahnpastamarke Pebeco

By: G. Jones and Christina Lubinski

This article examines the growth and ultimate demise of the toothpaste brand Pebeco, which was created by the German personal care company Beiersdorf in 1903. The brand was an enormous international success, becoming for a time the largest toothpaste brand in the... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development; Market Entry and Exit; Problems and Challenges; Marketing Strategy; Markets; Change; Customers; Social Psychology; Science; Brands and Branding; Competitive Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; United States; Germany