Publications

Awards

Newcomen-Harvard Award

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

Winner of the Newcomen-Harvard Award for Best Paper Published in the Business History Review in 1994 for "Capital Budgeting Systems and Capabilities Investments in U.S. Companies after World War II" (with Kim B. Clark, spring 1994). View Details

October 2008 (Revised October 2009)
Case

Shaklee Corporation: Corporate Social Responsibility

By: Christopher Marquis, V. Kasturi Rangan and Alison Comings

Having bought Shaklee Corporation from Yamanouchi, Roger Barnett, its owner and CEO, wrestled with the question of how to grow the company and its reputation for environmental sustainability. In addition to preserving the "network marketing" nature of its sales channel... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Channels; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Reputation

April 1996 (Revised March 2008)
Exercise

Canonical Decision Problems

Involves seven canonical decision problems--basic problems in management that arise with surprising frequency. Although these exercises are simplified versions of these problems, they have been written to preserve the "essence" of the decision situations. The problems... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Management Skills; Negotiation; Problems and Challenges

03 Dec 2016
News

Help Wanted: More Jobs for America

January 2013 (Revised October 2013)
Case

Chef Davide Oldani and Ristorante D'O

By: Gary Pisano, Alessandro Di Fiore, Elena Corsi and Elisa Farri

This case examines the unique business model of Ristorante D'O, a high end gourmand restaurant located near Milan, Italy. Founded by Chef Davide Oldani, D'O offers meals at approximately one-third the price of other Michelin starred restaurants. Oldani has made this... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Expansion; Creativity; Competitive Strategy; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Milan

September 2010 (Revised August 2013)
Case

Liza Davis and the Bargain Hunting Customer

By: Francisco de Asis Martinez-Jerez and Lisa Brem

Liza Davis, an upscale women's fashion retailer, is reeling from worldwide recession and lower demand. Should the company target the fast-growing bargain hunter segment or hold the line on price discounts to preserve their brand image? Customer profitability... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Price; Product Positioning; Customer Value and Value Chain; Business Cycles; Financial Crisis; Profit; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Fashion Industry; Retail Industry

February 2020
Case

Leading Change in Talent at L'Oréal

By: Lakshmi Ramarajan, Vincent Dessain and Emer Moloney

Jean-Claude Le Grand just stepped into a new role as Executive Vice-President for Human Resources at the global cosmetics company, L’Oréal. He is now responsible for the hiring, development, promotion, and retention of 83,000 employees worldwide. The highly successful... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Business Headquarters; Business Divisions; Business Organization; Change; Change Management; Transformation; Competency and Skills; Experience and Expertise; Talent and Talent Management; Demographics; Diversity; Gender; Nationality; Multinational Firms and Management; Human Resources; Employees; Recruitment; Retention; Selection and Staffing; Innovation and Management; Jobs and Positions; Employment; Human Capital; Leadership; Leadership Development; Leadership Style; Leading Change; Management Practices and Processes; Marketing; Brands and Branding; Product Marketing; Organizations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Personal Development and Career; Planning; Strategic Planning; Problems and Challenges; Networks; Social Psychology; Attitudes; Power and Influence; Social and Collaborative Networks; Business Strategy; Advertising Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Consumer Products Industry; France; Paris

Article

Surviving Radical Technological Change through Dynamic Capability: Evidence from the Typesetter Industry

Recent work in the field of management has focused on "dynamic capability," the ability of a firm to develop new capabilities in response to shifts in its external environment, as a significant source of competitive advantage. This paper enhances our understanding of... View Details

Keywords: Management; Technology; History; Competition; Competency and Skills; Investment; Technological Innovation; Business Ventures; Geographic Location; Knowledge Acquisition; Competitive Advantage; Change

Find at Harvard

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06 Jul 2016
News

Who could fill the Brexit leadership vacuum?

January 2015 (Revised July 2019)
Case

Rebranding Godiva: The Yıldız Strategy

By: Rohit Deshpande and Esel Çekin

This case concerns Yıldız Holding’s acquisition of Godiva Chocolatier from its previous owner, Campbell Soup, and its salient strategy in preserving Godiva’s “made in Belgian” brand position. Provenance Paradox, a problem faced by companies in emerging countries trying... View Details

Keywords: Branding; Internationalization; Provenance Paradox; Acquisitions; Positioning; Innovation; Customer-centricity; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Emerging Markets; Product Positioning; Change Management; Innovation and Management; Customer Focus and Relationships; Food and Beverage Industry; North America; Turkey; Japan

October 2008 (Revised February 2009)
Case

Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering

Explores the journey of aggressive learning and capability building in the operations of a major Korean Shipbuilder. While DSHM had once used its superior learning capability to topple its Japanese competition, it now faced the potential for a similar attack from new... View Details

Keywords: Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Ship Transportation; Competitive Strategy; Globalization; Manufacturing Industry; Japan; China; South Korea

2021
Book

Why Startups Fail: A New Roadmap for Entrepreneurial Success

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann

Why Startups Fail explores entrepreneurial failure, examining its predictable patterns, how to avoid them, and how to cope when failure does occur. Part I looks at three common failure patterns for early-stage startups, illustrating each with an anchor case... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Failure; Success; Framework

11 Apr 2017
News

Some Strategies to Limit Sugary Drinks May Backfire

08 Feb 2019
Video

Building Innovation Capacity

John Jong-Hyun Kim

John J-H Kim is a Senior Lecturer and part of the Social Enterprise Initiative at the Harvard Business School. He created and teaches the course Transforming Education Through Social Entrepreneurship—leaders and entrepreneurs who are improving the... View Details

July 2020
Article

Reframing Value in a Crisis

By: Frank V. Cespedes and David Hoffeld

Reframing is the process of moving buyers from their current perspective(s) to one that motivates a different response. The current crisis makes this capability more important than ever. View Details

Keywords: Sales; Customers; Perspective; Value; Change; Health Pandemics

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October 2014
Background Note

Leader-as-Architect: Alignment

By: Ethan Bernstein, Ryan Raffaelli and Joshua Margolis

Part of a leader's job is to equip the organization to transform inputs into outputs by defining organizational strategy, shaping organizational identity, and then managing four organizational components—formal organizational structure, culture, people, and critical... View Details

Keywords: Organization; Resource Management; Leadership; Business Processes; Design; Organizational Design; Identity; Strategy; Resource Allocation; Strategic Planning; Alignment