Publications

December 1999
Case

Sun Microsystems, Inc. (A4): Sun Peak: Helen Yang and Mark Walden on "Running Sun on Sun"

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Jane Roessner

SunPeak was the largest project Sun Microsystems, Inc. had ever undertaken: shifting Sun's entire business transaction system from a mainframe-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to a Sun-based system. Making the shift would be complicated and financially... View Details

Keywords: Projects; Transformation; Organizational Structure; Business Strategy; Complexity; Risk and Uncertainty; Success; Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Technology Industry; Computer Industry

Michael Porter is an economist, researcher, author, advisor, speaker and teacher. Throughout his career at Harvard Business School, he has brought economic theory and strategy concepts to bear on many of the most challenging problems facing corporations, economies... View Details

Keywords: information; information; information; information; information; information; information; information; information

22 Aug 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, August 23

industrial production (Alfaro and Chen, 2014). Using a unique worldwide plant-level dataset that reports detailed location, ownership, and operation information for plants in over 100 countries, we construct a spatially continuous index... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Research Summary

Corporate Governance and International Competitiveness

By: W. Carl Kester

W. Carl Kester's research involves comparisons of national or broad regional systems of corporate governance (e.g., German, Japanese, Anglo-American), and the influence these systems exert on corporate investment and international competitiveness. Kester has found... View Details

Research Summary

Cooperation and Solidarity

A third line of work explores the determinants of cooperative behavior within groups specifically the phenomenon of solidarity, which is understood as pro-social helping behavior which is not likely to be reciprocated directly by the receiver. Such behavior can be... View Details

October 2021 (Revised February 2022)
Case

Newsweek: Driving a Digital First Strategy

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Suraj Srinivasan

The case describes the transformation at Newsweek, the storied news magazine that had fallen from its commanding position as a premier print publication unable to find its footing in the fast changing digital media landscape. After buying Newsweek and taking over as... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Strategy; Internet and the Web; Analytics and Data Science; Performance Evaluation; Partners and Partnerships

2015
Working Paper

Online Word of Mouth and Product Review Disagreement

By: Frank Nagle and Christoph Riedl

Studies of online word of mouth have frequently posited―but never systematically conceptualized and explored―that the level of disagreement between existing product reviews can impact the volume and the valence of future reviews. In this study we develop a theoretical... View Details

Keywords: Online Word Of Mouth; Online Communities; Viral Marketing; Online Product Reviews; Quality; Internet and the Web; Consumer Behavior; Marketing Reference Programs; Social and Collaborative Networks; Digital Marketing; Analytics and Data Science

SSRN

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23 Jun 2009
First Look

First Look: June 23

Principles that Matter: Sustaining Software Innovation from the Client to the Web Author:Marco Iansiti Abstract Economic analysis often reviews the role of principles—such as respect for intellectual property rights—in driving innovation. Given the interdependent... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

October 2019
Case

Regtech at HSBC

By: Aiyesha Dey, Jonas Heese and James Weber

Mark Cooke, Global Head of Operational Risk, needed to decide between a traditional regulatory control system and a new regtech system to manage non-financial risks. Non-financial risks failures such as money laundering and tax evasion had cost HSBC billions of... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Banks and Banking; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; United Kingdom; United States

March–April 2012
Article

The Rise and Fall of Small Worlds: Exploring the Dynamics of Social Structure

By: Ranjay Gulati, Maxim Sytch and Adam Tatarynowicz

This paper explores the interplay between social structure and economic action by examining some of the evolutionary dynamics of an emergent network that coalesces into a small-world system. The study highlights the small-world system's evolutionary dynamics at both... View Details

Keywords: Culture; System; Relationships; Globalization; Industry Clusters; Information; Networks; Competitive Strategy; Computer Industry

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January 2023 (Revised November 2023)
Technical Note

Ethical Analysis: Honesty and Self-Interest

By: Nien-hê Hsieh and Christopher Diak

Information asymmetry is pervasive in business and can often confer great advantage. This note distinguishes forms of deceptive behavior in the face of information asymmetry and aims to help students analyze their impermissibility. View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Analysis; Balance and Stability

January 2014 (Revised May 2014)
Case

Tech Mahindra and the Acquisition of Satyam Computers (A)

By: Srikant M. Datar, Anjali Raina and Namrata Arora

Set in 2008, the case details Tech Mahindra, an information technology (IT) company within the Mahindra Group, an Indian multi-industry company with a diverse stable of businesses including automotives, farm equipment, and financial services, and its decision to... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Corporate Governance; Computer Industry; India

April 2006
Case

Nutricia Middle East: Measuring Sales Force Effectiveness

Nutricia's Middle East and African region is transitioning from a trading to a customer focus. CEO Ernest Vandenbussche must decide how to market infant milk formula most effectively in a region where the information environment is much less rich than in other... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Salesforce Management; Customer Relationship Management; Emerging Markets; Nutrition; Performance Effectiveness; Business Strategy; Commercialization; Health Industry; Middle East; Africa

Our recent work investigates dealers' trading behavior and pricing strategy in the corporate bond market to shed new light on the role of the network of existing relationships among dealers in shaping the transmission of risk and influencing market liquidity. We show... View Details

January 2016
Article

Incorporating Longitudinal Pediatric Patient-centered Outcome Measurement into the Clinical Workflow Using a Commercial Electronic Health Record: A Step Toward Increasing Value for the Patient

By: Kathleen Carberry, Zachary Landman, Michelle Xie, Thomas W. Feeley, John Henderson and Charles Fraser Jr.

Patient-centered outcomes measurement provides healthcare organizations with crucial information for increasing value for patients; however, organizations have struggled to obtain outcomes data from electronic health record (EHR) systems. This study describes how Texas... View Details

Keywords: Epic; Electronic Health Records; Outcomes; Value; Patient-Centered Outcomes Measurement; Value Creation; Information Technology; Health Care and Treatment; Customer Focus and Relationships; Health Industry; Texas

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June 2004 (Revised September 2007)
Case

Zara: IT for Fast Fashion

In 2003, Zara's CIO must decide whether to upgrade the retailer's IT infrastructure and capabilities. At the time of the case, the company relies on an out-of-date operating system for its store terminals and has no full-time network in place across stores. Despite... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Customer Value and Value Chain; Information Management; Infrastructure; Supply Chain Management; Information Technology; Retail Industry

May 1999 (Revised March 2001)
Case

Marshall Industries

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

Confounding predictions that the Internet would "disintermediate" commerce, making "middle man" companies all but obsolete, Marshall Industries, a leading electronics distributor, used the Internet and digital technologies to reinvent itself. Marshall continued to sell... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Supply Chain; Emerging Markets; Customer Focus and Relationships; Distribution Industry; Electronics Industry

February 1997 (Revised April 1998)
Case

first direct (A)

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

Describes the operations and strategy of the world's largest, fastest growing branchless bank. Using a person-to-person interface over conventional phone lines, First Direct provides standard banking and related financial products to nearly 700,000 customers throughout... View Details

Keywords: Service Delivery; Customer Satisfaction; Banks and Banking; Innovation and Invention; Banking Industry; United Kingdom

July 2008 (Revised August 2008)
Case

In-Vitro Fertilization: Outcomes Measurement

By: Michael E. Porter, Saquib Rahim and Benjamin Chung-Shi Tsai

As of 2007, there were very few examples of widespread measurement and reporting of health outcomes, a critical quality measure. In-vitro fertilization clinics have been required to report their patient's health outcomes since 1995. The protagonist of the case, Dr.... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Medical Specialties; Measurement and Metrics; Operations; Outcome or Result; Health Industry; Cleveland