Publications

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November 2012
Case

Building a Community at Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation

By: Christopher Marquis, Zucheng Zhou, Mo Chen and Heng Fan

Over the past decade, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) had developed a unique set of benefits and cultural amenities for its employees, including a beautiful residential campus, known as the Living Quarters (LQ), and an award winning... View Details

Keywords: Culture And Community; Cost vs Benefits; Civil Society or Community; Organizational Culture; Profit; Culture; Compensation and Benefits; Semiconductor Industry

June 1995
Case

Quorum Health Group, Inc.

By: William A. Sahlman and Jason Green

Facing increasing competition from much larger industry players, Jim Dalton, CEO of Quorum, and Russ Carson, Managing Partner of Welch, Carson, Anderson & Stowe attempt to set the future direction for Quorum. The company was successfully spun-off from HCA in a... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Consolidation; Leveraged Buyouts; Venture Capital; Acquisition; Health Industry

Find at Harvard

February 1997 (Revised July 2001)
Background Note

Introduction to Activity-Based Costing

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Introduces the fundamental notions of activity-based costing (ABC). Motivates ABC by means of a simple example, a single and a diversified pen factory. Proceeds to show how ABC assigns costs more accurately to products and customers by: 1) identifying the activities... View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management

18 Apr 2005
Lessons from the Classroom

NFL Players Touch Down at HBS

make a smooth transition to life after sports; historically they've had a hard time," said former player Stacey Robinson, now a player development executive with the National Football League Players Association. Another key advantage... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Sports

2011
Chapter

El Sector Privado y las Responsabilidades Públicas: El Rol de las Soluciones Comerciales en la Temática Social

By: Michael Chu

In today's world, certain goods and services are considered so basic that, regardless of culture, they are accepted as public responsibilities. However, for the low-income populations in developing countries, which constitute the majority of the world, access to these... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Developing Countries and Economies; Private Sector; Public Sector; Management Practices and Processes; Human Needs; Poverty; Commercialization

Josh Lerner graduated from Yale College with a special divisional major. He worked for several years on issues concerning technological innovation and public policy at the Brookings Institution, for a public-private task force in Chicago, and on... View Details

Keywords: biotechnology; high technology; venture capital industry

Jan 30 2013
Testimonial

Why OPM?

Career Coach

Kate Shepherd

Kate (Middlebury ’96) is a former investment management professional and real estate investor. She enjoys working with HBS students who are exploring careers in investment management or other areas of... View Details

January 1998 (Revised February 2006)
Background Note

Creating Competitive Advantage

By: Pankaj Ghemawat and Jan W. Rivkin

A firm such as Schering-Plough that earns superior, long-run financial returns within its industry is said to enjoy a competitive advantage over its rivals. This note examines the logic of how firms create competitive advantage. It emphasizes two themes: First, to... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Management; Business Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Innovation Strategy; Management Practices and Processes; Value Creation; Pharmaceutical Industry

14 Nov 2023
Research & Ideas

The Network Effect: Why Companies Should Care About Employees’ LinkedIn Connections

the value they produce. The researchers correlated the network data to measures of success in innovation, such as investments in research and development and the number of awarded patents and their impact. The study found that companies... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand

18 Aug 2008
Research & Ideas

How Disruptive Innovation Changes Education

products are more accessible to users, they are typically still relatively complicated to build. We see this in education; effective and engaging computer-based learning products are not easy to make. Within a few more years, however, two... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Education

August 1965 (Revised December 1987)
Case

L.L. Bean, Inc.

Discusses the development and operations of a small manufacturing and mail order company doing $3 million sales. L.L. Bean operates in violation of most reasonable business principles, but it is profitable and growing. View Details

Keywords: Small Business; Operations; Growth and Development Strategy; Retail Industry; Maine

Web

Podcast - Business & Environment

now Chief Sustainability Officer & Senior Managing Director at Haveli Investments, Lucas Joppa discusses the strategies and tools Microsoft developed to meet its ambitious carbon negative goals, including... View Details

07 Apr 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Better Deals Through Level II Strategies: Advance Your Interests by Helping to Solve Their Internal Problems

Keywords: by James K. Sebenius

12 Nov 2008
First Look

First Look: November 12, 2008

Development (TvT) of Amsterdam, Holland, was deeply worried about the status of his largest ongoing project: the Amsterdam World Trade Center (WTC). As the discretionary developer, van Tartwijk needed to present his firm's recommendations... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

January 2024 (Revised February 2024)
Exercise

Travelogo: Understanding Customer Journeys

By: Eva Ascarza, Nicolas Padilla and Oded Netzer

In late May 2023, Sarah Merino, the newly appointed manager of the Customer Insights group at Travelogo—an online travel booking platform—initiates a comprehensive analysis of clickstream data to understand the varied behaviors and needs of their users. In preparation... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Analysis; Analytics and Data Science; Marketing Strategy; Segmentation; Consumer Behavior; Travel Industry; United States

11 Oct 2004
Research & Ideas

Four Ways to Create Lasting Change

back to their original level over time. The improvements proved to be unsustainable because employees never made the transition from viewing the initiative as this year's "important management program" to View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

May 20, 2024
Article

Porter’s Five Forces and Competitive Advantage in Web3

By: Scott Duke Kominers and Liang Wu

Competitive strategy — the art of crafting and executing plans to achieve an advantageous position in the market — is integral to any business, and especially relevant for platforms because it determines their ability to achieve network effects and scale. But web3... View Details

Keywords: Five Forces Framework; Competitive Strategy; Business Strategy; Network Effects; Digital Transformation

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January 2013
Supplement

Cabot Corporation: The Fuel Cell Decision (B)

By: Willy Shih and Ying Zhou

Managers at Cabot Corporation are faced with deciding the future of its fuel cell program. The (A) case recounts the view of the business manager and the technical project lead, and the (B) case describes the perspective of a senior manager who is the head of the New... View Details