Publications

Educators

January–February 2017
Article

Africa's New Generation of Innovators

By: Clayton M. Christensen, Efosa Ojomo and Derek van Bever

With a young, urbanizing population, abundant natural resources, and a growing middle class, Africa seems to have all the ingredients necessary for huge growth. Nevertheless, a number of multinationals have recently left the continent, discouraged by widespread... View Details

Keywords: Innovation Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Economic Growth; Africa

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2014
Book

Business History

By: Walter A. Friedman and Geoffrey Jones

This volume contains a selection of 42 foundational articles on the discipline of business history written between 1934 and the present day by scholars based in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. A wide-ranging editorial introduction describes the... View Details

Keywords: Economic History; Business History; History

2015
Working Paper

The Market That Wasn't: The Non-Emergence of the Online Grocery Category.

By: C. Navis, G. Fisher, Ryan Raffaelli and Mary Ann Glynn

In this paper, we examine the non-emergence of a potential new market category. In the late 1990s, the entrepreneurial firms that attempted to sell groceries online in the US attracted significant resources, made impressive technological advancements, and generated... View Details

Keywords: Emerging Markets; Failure; Food; Online Technology; Food and Beverage Industry; Web Services Industry

Article

To Drive Efforts...Don't Tiptoe Around Your Legal Risk

By: Edward Chang and Bonnie Levine

Many Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives are scuttled because DEI leaders and legal teams feel themselves to be at odds over questions of acceptable risk. DEI leaders see lawyers as guardians of the status quo, whereas legal experts, trained to... View Details

Keywords: Diversity; Risk Management; Legal Liability

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August 2019 (Revised February 2020)
Teaching Note

Sidewalk Labs: Privacy in a City Built from the Internet Up

By: Leslie John and Mitch Weiss

Email mking@hbs.edu for a courtesy copy.

The case serves as a microcosm of issues of digital privacy: the availability of data – personal data in particular – has tremendous potential to improve people’s lives... View Details

Keywords: Privacy; Privacy By Design; Privacy Regulation; Platforms; Data; Data Security; Behavioral Science; Analytics and Data Science; Safety; Entrepreneurship; Business and Government Relations; Consumer Behavior; Digital Platforms

2012
Teaching Note

Beyondsoft Co., Ltd. (B) (TN)

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Donghong Li and Hong Zhang

The case "Beyondsoft Co., Ltd. (A)" completed in early 2010 described the strategic path of Beyondsoft over its history of more than 10 years since its foundation in 1995, containing its major business lines and the relations with the major customers at that time, the... View Details

Keywords: Computer Software; Entrepreneurship; Information Technology; Outsourcing; Strategy; China; Applications and Software; China

2010
Chapter

Revisiting the Meaning of Leadership

By: Joel Podolny, Rakesh Khurana and Marya Hill-Popper

During the past 50 years, organizational scholarship on leadership has shifted from a focus on the significance of leadership for meaning-making to the significance of leadership for economic performance. This shift has been problematic for two reasons. First, it has... View Details

Keywords: Communication Intention and Meaning; Economics; Leadership; Performance Improvement; Behavior

28 May 2024
In Practice

Job Search Advice for a Tough Market: Think Broadly and Stay Flexible

market, some considerations remain constant: Analytical and technical skills are still important. In other research, I find that more employers are looking for what I call foundational skills. These not only include social skills, but... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

25 Apr 2012
Research & Ideas

The Importance of Teaming

interdependence, establishing trust, and figuring out how to coordinate. But there usually isn't time to build a foundation of familiarity through the careful sharing of personal history and prior experience, or the development of shared... View Details

Keywords: Re: Amy C. Edmondson

26 Jun 2007
First Look

First Look: June 26, 2007

Working PapersTaxes, Institutions and Foreign Diversification Opportunities Authors:Mihir A. Desai and Dhammika Dharmapala Abstract Investors can access foreign diversification opportunities through either foreign portfolio investment (FPI) or foreign direct... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

25 Oct 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Management: Theory and Practice, and Cases

Keywords: by Richard L. Nolan; Education

November 2016 (Revised December 2016)
Module Note

Strategy Execution Module 13: Identifying Strategic Risk

By: Robert Simons

This module reading begins by describing the three sources of strategic risk—operations risk, asset impairment risk, and competitive risk—and demonstrates how these risks can undermine an entire business. To assist in the identification of these risks, the risk... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Execution; Risk Assessment; Operational Control; Asset Impairment; Franchise Risk; Fraud; Strategy; Information Management

September 2016 (Revised March 2017)
Module Note

Strategy Execution Module 3: Using Information for Performance Measurement and Control

By: Robert Simons

This module reading explains how managers use information to control critical business processes and outcomes. The analysis begins by illustrating how managers use information to communicate goals and track performance. Then the focus turns to the choices that managers... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Strategy Execution; Organization Process; Feedback Model; Innovation; Uses Of Information; Big Data; Benchmarking; Decision Making; Information; Performance Evaluation; Analytics and Data Science

May 2016 (Revised April 2018)
Case

Building the Digital Manufacturing Enterprise of the Future at Siemens

By: Willy Shih

This case describes the motivation for and the development of Siemens' digital manufacturing enterprise vision, which became the foundation for its implementation of Industrie 4.0. While the effort started with a purely defensive move by Anton Huber, head of the... View Details

Educators

June 2011 (Revised November 2014)
Case

Vehbi Koç and the Making of Turkey's Largest Business Group

By: Asli M. Colpan and Geoffrey Jones

The case describes the creation of Turkey's largest business group by Vehbi Koç. The foundation of this group in the interwar years, and its subsequent diversification into many industries, including automobiles, household goods, and services, is analysed. The case... View Details

Keywords: Emerging Markets; Entrepreneurship; Globalization; Organizational Structure; Diversification; Manufacturing Industry; Turkey

Educators

July 2010
Supplement

Marketing Analysis Toolkit: Pricing and Profitability Analysis (CW)

By: Thomas J. Steenburgh and Jill Avery

Pricing is one of the most difficult decisions marketers make and the one with the most direct and immediate impact on the firm's financial position. This toolkit will introduce the fundamental terminology and calculations associated with pricing and profitability... View Details

Keywords: Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Marketing Strategy; Decisions; Strategic Planning; Price; Partners and Partnerships; Cost; Demand and Consumers; Revenue; Profit; Mathematical Methods; Measurement and Metrics

30 Jun 2022
HBS Case

Peloton Changed the Exercise Game. Can the Company Push Through the Pain?

Baker Foundation Professor, examines what business leaders can learn from Peloton’s journey in his case study, Peloton Interactive, Inc.: Creating the Immersive Connected-Fitness Category. The main takeaway: The company could have avoided... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Media & Broadcasting; Health; Bicycle

01 Nov 2021
What Do You Think?

How Long Does It Take to Improve an Organization’s Culture?

Business Journal, April 2015. John Doerr, Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs (Portfolio/Penguin, 2018). John R. Graham, Campbell R. Harey, Jillian Popadak, and Shivaram Rajgopal,... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

2024
Working Paper

Old Moats for New Models: Openness, Control, and Competition in Generative AI

By: Pierre Azoulay, Joshua L. Krieger and Abhishek Nagaraj

Drawing insights from the field of innovation economics, we discuss the likely competitive environment shaping generative AI advances. Central to our analysis are the concepts of appropriability—whether firms in the industry are able to control the knowledge generated... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; AI and Machine Learning; Open Source Distribution; Policy