Publications

Find at Harvard

05 Jul 2022
What Do You Think?

Have We Seen the Peak of Just-in-Time Inventory Management?

(iStockphoto/aydinmutlu) Logistics issues have taken on unexpected and possibly unwanted “glamour” among those who study business and economics, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic and its global aftermath. It’s a throwback to the days when railroad View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Manufacturing; Shipping; Transportation

July 2005
Case

Harvard Business School and the Making of a New Profession

By: Rakesh Khurana, Tarun Khanna and Daniel Penrice

Since its founding in 1908, Harvard Business School's mission has been to perform a much-needed service for American society by turning business management into a profession. One of the most important factors in the founding of HBS and the nation's other new business... View Details

Keywords: Business Education; Mission and Purpose; Alignment; Social Issues; Practice

December 2015 (Revised January 2016)
Case

Woolf Farming and the California Water Crisis

By: Forest Reinhardt, David Bell, Natalie Kindred, Mary Shelman and Laura Winig

This case highlights the tough choices, competing interests, and decision-making mechanisms involved in California's management of its severe drought, entering its fifth year in 2015. Stuart Woolf, CEO of Woolf Farming, a grower and processor of almonds, tomatoes, and... View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Natural Disasters; Climate Change; Resource Allocation; Environmental Sustainability; Government and Politics; Economics; Weather; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; California

February 2003 (Revised April 2003)
Case

Brioni

By: David E. Bell

Should Brioni, an internationally known, exclusive men's suit manufacturer and retailer extend its line to include women's apparel? The opportunity is to enter a much larger and profitable market. The dangers are: 1) compromising the existing image, and 2) failing to... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Segmentation; Expansion; Profit; Risk Management; Demand and Consumers; Fashion Industry

June 2021
Case

Akira Fukabori and Kevin Kajitani at avatarin (A) (Abridged)

By: Linda A. Hill and Emily Tedards

In 2016, Akira Fukabori and Kevin Kajitani, aeronautical engineers at All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd., began to wonder why, in a world of accelerating globalization and digital connectivity, those who lived in far-remote villages or impoverished urban areas could not... View Details

Keywords: Agility; Ecosystem; Innovation Ecosystems; Innovation; Crowdsourcing; XPRIZE; Open Innovation; Partnership; Government; Collaboration; Co-creation; Purpose; Impact; Social Impact; Movement; Organizational Behavior; Organizational Ambidexterity; Ambidexterity; Culture; Culture Change; Global Teams; Experimentation; Space; Space Industry; Airline Industry; Start-up; Platform Business; Platform Strategy; Platform; Digital; Robotics; Robots; Avatar; Telepresence; Innovation Lab; Mobility; COVID-19; Intrapreneurship; Public-private Partnership; Innovation and Invention; Technological Innovation; Partners and Partnerships; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Alignment; Leadership; Leading Change; Diversity; Organizational Culture; Change Management; Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Digital Platforms; Transportation Industry; Aerospace Industry; Japan

2011
Working Paper

The Flexible Substitution Logit: Uncovering Category Expansion and Share Impacts of Marketing Instruments

By: Qiang Liu, Thomas J. Steenburgh and Sachin Gupta

Different instruments are relevant for different marketing objectives (category demand expansion or market share stealing). To help brand managers make informed marketing mix decisions, it is essential that marketing mix models appropriately measure the different... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Forecasting and Prediction; Investment; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Demand and Consumers; Mathematical Methods

Read Now

31 Aug 2021
News

Why the Global Chip Shortage Is Making It So Hard to Buy a Ps5

April 2002 (Revised July 2002)
Case

Imagicast

By: John T. Gourville and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

Imagicast has brought to market an interactive, multimedia retail kiosk designed to increase product sales. In spite of promising projections by industry analysts and detailed demand forecasts by Imagicast management, the company has yet to sell a single kiosk. Time... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Crisis Management; Product Launch; Demand and Consumers; Sales; Technology; Retail Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

2014
Book

Accelerate: Building Strategic Agility for a Faster-Moving World

By: John P. Kotter

Based on the award-winning article in Harvard Business Review, from global leadership expert John Kotter. It's a familiar scene in organizations today: a new competitive threat or a big opportunity emerges. You quickly create a strategic initiative in response and... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Organizational Structure

Find at Harvard

07 Nov 2016
HBS Seminar

Vishal Gaur, Johnson, Cornell University

07 Jun 2004
Research & Ideas

What Drives Supply Chain Behavior?

managers and executives who purposefully address the behavioral issues in demand planning. They see the problem in demand planning in terms of the behavioral dynamics involved... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Johnston

February 2025
Supplement

Align Partners and SM Entertainment: Korean Shareholder Activism Meets K-Pop (B)

By: Charles CY Wang and Billy Chan

For years, institutional investors had experienced very limited success in influencing the management of listed companies through shareholder activist campaigns in Korea. The common practice of circular ownership and public resentment toward foreign shareholder... View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Public Equity; Stocks; Investment Activism; Music Entertainment; Corporate Governance; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; South Korea

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

May 2002 (Revised May 2002)
Case

Tim Blanchard at Jones Mendel & Co.

By: John J. Gabarro

Tim Blanchard struggles to balance all the demands facing him as a partner of a consulting firm. He must decide how to serve clients, mentor his people, provide strategy and direction to the high-tech group, and spend time with family. A rewritten version of an earlier... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Managerial Roles; Work-Life Balance; Consulting Industry

16 Feb 2023
HBS Case

ESG Activists Met the Moment at ExxonMobil, But Did They Succeed?

The impact-investment hedge fund Engine No. 1 made a big splash in May 2021 when it managed to get three nominees elected to the ExxonMobil board of directors. It was an open effort to prod the oil giant toward renewable energy and test whether activist investing could... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Financial Services

July 2005 (Revised February 2011)
Case

Tanpin Kanri: Retail Practice at Seven-Eleven Japan

By: Rajiv Lal and Arar Han

Toshifumi Suzuki, chairman and CEO of Seven and I Holding Co., was widely credited as the mastermind behind Seven-Eleven Japan's spectacular rise. Although Seven-Eleven Japan began as a small licensee of U.S. convenience store chain 7-Eleven, Inc. (then Southland... View Details

Keywords: Framework; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Practices and Processes; Demand and Consumers; Distribution; Logistics; Technology; Retail Industry; Japan

January 2022 (Revised February 2022)
Case

Envision Group

By: Gunnar Trumbull, Bonnie Yining Cao and Dawn H. Lau

Based in China, Envision was one of the world’s leading Greentech companies. Chief Executive Officer Lei Zhang had set the goal of achieving carbon neutrality across the company’s global operations and supply chain by 2022 and 2028 respectively. As part of its... View Details

Keywords: Green Technology; Climate Change; Emerging Markets; Information Technology; Strategy; Management; Renewable Energy; Energy Policy; Environmental Sustainability; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry; Green Technology Industry; Battery Industry; China; United States; Japan; United Kingdom; France