Publications

October 2011 (Revised June 2013)
Case

Novo Nordisk: A Commitment to Sustainability

By: Robert G. Eccles and Michael P. Krzus

The case describes the early commitment of a European pharmaceutical company, Novo Nordisk, to integrated reporting. Novo Nordisk is one of the pioneers of integrated reporting and it emerged out of its commitment to a "Triple Bottom Line approach to managing the... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Business Ventures; Business or Company Management; Integrated Corporate Reporting; Business Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry

December 1998
Supplement

Vermeer Technologies: Making Transitions

By: Ashish Nanda

After being acquired by Microsoft, Vermeer Technologies executives discuss the process of integrating their team into Microsoft. View Details

Keywords: Integration; Acquisition; Information Technology Industry

September 2010 (Revised December 2011)
Case

Southwest Airlines One ReportTM

By: Robert G. Eccles, Beiting Cheng and Susan Thyne

In 2009, Southwest Airlines produced its first integrated annual report, the Southwest Airlines One Report, combing financial and nonfinancial performance information. This case examines Southwest's environmental and corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Accounting; Financial Reporting; Integrated Corporate Reporting; Innovation and Invention; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Air Transportation Industry; United States

March 1991 (Revised May 1995)
Case

Kraft General Foods: The Merger (A)

By: David J. Collis

Describes Philip Morris' acquisitions of General Foods in 1985 and Kraft, Inc. in 1989, focusing on the integration of Kraft and General Foods that forms a $30 billion food subsidiary. Details the steps required to merge these two large companies, emphasizing the... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Subsidiaries; Business or Company Management; Managerial Roles; Business Processes; Cooperation; Integration; Food and Beverage Industry

September 2007
Article

Do Vertical Mergers Facilitate Upstream Collusion?

By: Volker Nocke and Lucy White

We investigate the impact of vertical mergers on upstream firms' ability to collude when selling to downstream firms in a repeated game. We show that vertical mergers give rise to an outlets effect: the deviation profits of cheating unintegrated firms are reduced as... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Profit; Game Theory; Sales; Vertical Integration

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March 1987 (Revised November 1989)
Background Note

Functional Integration: Getting All the Troops to Work Together

By: Benson P. Shapiro

Explains the need for functional integration and the four ways to obtain it. A bibliography is provided. The note is managerial rather than scholarly in tone. View Details

Keywords: Integration

November 2010 (Revised December 2012)
Case

ABB: 'In China, for China'

By: J. Gunnar Trumbull, Elena Corsi and Elisa Farri

ABB, a power and automation Swiss engineering company had to decide if they wanted to be even more integrated into the Chinese economy, ABB's biggest market, or if they should instead increase their presence in other emerging markets such as India and Brazil. View Details

Keywords: History; Multinational Firms and Management; Engineering; Problems and Challenges; Competitive Strategy; Emerging Markets; Global Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Industrial Products Industry; China; India; Brazil

2009
Working Paper

Opening Up or Shutting Down? The Effects of Multiple Identities on Problem Solving

By: Lakshmi Ramarajan

Across three studies, I investigate the distinct effects of multiple identity conflict and enhancement within people on two crucial aspects of resolving problems with others: integrative behavior and openness. The results of two studies support the hypotheses that... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Problems and Challenges; Behavior; Conflict Management; Identity; Integration

16 Apr 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Phenomenological Assumptions and Knowledge Dissemination within Organizational Studies

Keywords: by Corinne Bendersky & Kathleen L. McGinn

Research Summary

Do Vertical Mergers facilitate Collusion?

Joint work with Volker Nocke, University of Pennsylvania In this paper we investigate the impact of vertical mergers on upstream firms' ability to sustain collusion. We show in a number of models that the net effect of vertical integration is to facilitate... View Details

Ta-Wei Huang

Ta-Wei (David) Huang is a PhD candidate in Quantitative Marketing at Harvard Business School. His research integrates causal inference and machine learning to address methodological challenges and unintended consequences in targeting, personalization, and online... View Details

Sep 01 2016
Testimonial

Accessing a World of Experience

August 2013 (Revised November 2013)
Case

Ford vs. GM: The Evolution of Mass Production (A)

By: Willy Shih

This case explores the very different paths taken by the Ford Motor Company and the General Motors Corporation in the first three decades of the twentieth century. Henry Ford's Model T was a car for the masses. After considerable experimentation, Ford Motor... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Exploration; Dominant Design; Business Growth and Maturation; Business History; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Positioning; Product Design; Product Development; Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Vertical Integration; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Michigan

25 Apr 2023
Blog Post

How Short Intensive Programs (SIPs) Transform Your MBA Learning Journey

hear from other leaders about how to approach integrating spirituality with being a leader in the workplace, and engage with peers who are wrestling with similar questions. What was the best part of the SIP? Being able to hear candid... View Details

2009
Other Paper

Trade Policy and Firm Boundaries

By: Laura Alfaro, Paola Conconi, Andrew F. Newman and Harald Fadinger

We examine how trade policy affects firms' organizational choices. We embed a model of firms' vertical integration decisions into a standard perfectly-competitive international trade framework. In the model, integration decisions are driven by a trade-off... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Policy; Ownership; Business and Government Relations; Vertical Integration; Boundaries

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February 2001 (Revised September 2005)
Case

Howard Schultz and Starbucks Coffee Company

By: Nancy F. Koehn

Investigates the entrepreneur's strategic initiatives to develop a mass market for specialty coffee in the 1980s and 1990s. These initiatives included the development of premium products, rapid expansion of company-owned stores--each with attractive retail environments... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Groups and Teams; Brands and Branding; Growth Management; Employee Relationship Management; Consumer Behavior; Organizational Design; Leadership Style; Customer Relationship Management; Competitive Advantage; Vertical Integration; Food and Beverage Industry

2010
Working Paper

Trade Policy and Firm Boundaries

By: Laura Alfaro, Paola Conconi, Harald Fadinger and Andrew F. Newman

We study how trade policy affects firms' ownership structures. We embed an incomplete contracts model of vertical integration choices into a standard perfectly-competitive international trade framework. Integration decisions are driven by a trade-off between the... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Policy; Vertical Integration; Business and Government Relations; Boundaries; Ownership; Mathematical Methods

July 2013 (Revised May 2017)
Case

European Integration: Meeting the Competitiveness Challenge

By: Michael E. Porter and Christian Ketels

The case discusses the origins and development of the European Integration process from the post-war period up to 2007, focusing particularly on the efforts of the Lisbon-agenda under way since 2000 to enhance Europe's competitiveness. It discusses the different policy... View Details

Keywords: Integration; Globalized Economies and Regions; Competition; Development Economics; Global Range; Policy; Failure; European Union; Europe