Publications

June 2001 (Revised October 2001)
Case

Netonomy

A new software product enables wireless telcos to offer a self-service customer service solution, lowering costs and improving service levels. Discusses the definition of good self-service. Examines how the company should prioritize its growth opportunities and what... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Service Delivery; Applications and Software; Globalization; Customer Focus and Relationships; Growth and Development Strategy; Information Technology Industry; Service Industry

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2010
Working Paper

The Unbundling of Advertising Agency Services: An Economic Analysis

By: Mohammad Arzaghi, Ernst R. Berndt, James C. Davis and Alvin J. Silk

We address a longstanding puzzle surrounding the unbundling of services occurring over several decades in the U.S. advertising agency industry: What accounts for the shift from bundling to unbundling of services and the slow pace of change? Using Evans and Salinger's... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Change; Forecasting and Prediction; Cost; Price; Analytics and Data Science; Surveys; Marketing Strategy; Media; Service Operations; Agency Theory; Mathematical Methods; Advertising Industry; United States

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April 1993 (Revised December 2001)
Case

General Dynamics and Computer Sciences Corporation: Outsourcing the IS Function (B)

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Katherine Seger

Designed to look at outsourcing from the perspective of a major computer services company trying to get into the business. View Details

Keywords: Communication Technology; Business Startups; Business Plan; Business Strategy; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Financial Management; Management Teams; Communication Strategy; Organizational Design; Product Design; Accounting; Activity Based Costing and Management; Computer Industry; Information Technology Industry

28 Sep 2010
First Look

First Look: September 28, 2010

Review (forthcoming) Abstract Companies in Victorian Britain operated in a laissez-faire legal environment from the perspective of outside investors, implying that such investors were not protected by the legal system. This article seeks... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

08 Sep 2010
First Look

First Look: September 8, 2010

markets, where they were losing market share to the likes of Apple and Samsung, or defend its market leadership in the low-margin, high-volume emerging markets. This case poses the following questions: Should Nokia stay the course, View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

15 Sep 2008
Research & Ideas

The Coming Transformation of Social Enterprise

themselves more and worry about mission impact. I believe nonprofit leaders get too bogged down in operational issues, be it fundraising, or managing the board, or program execution. They need to be more strategic. Q: What role can HBS... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson

Profile

Jeremy Andrus

like? We went public in July 2011, a few months after I was put in the CEO role, so there wasn’t a lot of breathing time. I had worked closely on day-to-day operations with the firm’s founder since 2005, so I was up to speed on most... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Consumer Products; Entertainment / Media

12 Aug 2002
Op-Ed

Using Big Business to Fight Poverty

and have become active politically. Health facilities have also improved. Although this operation will eventually turn a profit for DaimlerChrysler, it could not have happened without the help of the German and Brazilian governments. This... View Details

Keywords: by George C. Lodge

18 Dec 2012
First Look

First Look: December 18

on Patient Length of Stay Authors:Berry Jaeker, Jillian, and Anita L. Tucker Abstract High workload, from high inventory levels, impacts unit processing times, but prior operations management studies have found conflicting results... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

09 Dec 2009
News

Meet the White House Manufacturing Czar

Keywords: Finance; Manufacturing

April 1993 (Revised November 1994)
Case

Chiron Corp.

By: Steven C. Wheelwright

Pablo Valenzuela, vice president of R&D at Chiron Corp., faces several choices for how to allocate scarce resources across several promising projects. These choices will determine Chiron's position in several emerging biotechnology and diagnostic markets, including... View Details

Keywords: Health Testing and Trials; Research and Development; Failure; Business Strategy; Joint Ventures; Strategic Planning; Opportunities; Product Development; Biotechnology Industry; California

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01 Sep 2011
News

Capitalism’s False Mantra

Related Links Martin discussing his book One of the most influential papers defining the role of business, “Theory of the Firm: Managerial Behavior, Agency Costs and Ownership Structure,” was coauthored in 1976 by Michael Jensen, the Jesse Isidor Straus Professor of... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne; Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information; Management

12 Sep 2005
Research & Ideas

The Broadband Explosion: Thinking About a Truly Interactive World

it's easy to start up a session, people will start to figure out many new ways to create value. This will change a lot about how businesses operate and also about what they can sell and how they sell it. A second insight: A lot of the... View Details

Keywords: by Sara Grant; Technology; Communications; Telecommunications

01 Jun 2005
News

Profiles from the Class of 2005

her analytical skills to the social sector, she returned to Washington as director of program strategy and development at Teach For America. At HBS, Abramson has left her mark on a range of activities, from serving on the University... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; Julia Hanna; James E. Aisner; Graduate profiles; Government; Transportation Equipment Manufacturing; Manufacturing

July 2009 (Revised March 2010)
Case

Sotheby's & Christie's Inc.

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Catherine Jane Wise

The fine art auction business has remained a duopoly over its 250 year history. The industry is dominated by Sotheby's and Christie's Inc. Curiously, neither competitor has been able to overtake the other by a notable margin despite the clear network effects of this... View Details

Keywords: Arts; Business Model; Restructuring; Economics; Auctions; Market Entry and Exit; Duopoly and Oligopoly; Operations; Competition

15 Jun 2020
News

Alumni and Faculty Books for June 2020

system clash with the digital age, and how to take action. Presenting examples of companies already making a difference, the authors show how business must serve both as innovator and activist, developing corporate strategies that effect... View Details

01 Sep 2004
News

Promise & Perils

Long remembers eating lots of pumpkin — the only food readily available. The early engines of growth were holdovers from the Maoist era: township and village enterprises (TVEs) rooted in China’s vast rural regions, and state-owned enterprises (SOEs). The TVEs were... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

March 1995 (Revised July 1996)
Case

Mattson Foods, Inc. (Revised): The Bardolini Division

By: Steven C. Wheelwright

The Bardolini Division of Mattson Foods, with plants in the northeast and midwest, wants to open up the western market for its pizza. Management must decide whether to build a new plant on the West Coast, and what type of technology to put in the plant if they decide... View Details

Keywords: Logistics; Emerging Markets; Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Business Plan; Capital Budgeting; Expansion; Buildings and Facilities; Strategic Planning; Marketing Strategy; Technology; Economic Systems; Food and Beverage Industry

June 2024
Case

Aidoc: Building a Hospital-Centric AI Platform

By: Ariel D. Stern and Susan Pinckney

In 2023, Israel-based AI health care company Aidoc evaluated its future. The company, founded in 2016, had grown from commercializing a single AI product for radiologists to a software platform that could detect 20 conditions and immediately notify care teams of... View Details