competition - Publications - Faculty & Research

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

Citation

Educators

Purchase

July 2007 (Revised February 2010)
Case

Saffronart.com: Bidding for Success

By: Mukti Khaire and R. Daniel Wadhwani

Saffronart, a five-year-old online art auction company, leads the market for modern Indian art and now faces competitors in the market it created. Established in 2000 by the wife-and-husband team of Minal and Dinesh Vazirani, Saffronart.com is an innovative online... View Details

Keywords: Arts; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Auctions; Industry Growth; Competition; Online Technology; Fine Arts Industry; India

Citation

Educators

Purchase

06 Aug 2012
Research & Ideas

Strategic Intelligence: Adapt or Die

corporate strategy, Wells has learned that the seeds of failure are often planted years before they sprout, and only by overcoming complacency and constantly adapting to the changing competitive environment can companies prosper in the... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

27 Oct 2002
Research & Ideas

Want a Happy Customer? Coordinate Sales and Marketing

Financial performance is the result of operating performance. Operating performance includes all the things that a company must do to win the competitive battle in its industry to attract, retain, and profitably serve customers. It varies... View Details

Keywords: by Benson Shapiro

07 Sep 2021
Research & Ideas

Who Pays For Wildfire and Hurricane Damage? Everyone.

New Mexico homeowners might think their inland location buffers them from the financial toll of climate change, but they’re still paying for climate-related property damage occurring in coastal states. New research finds that homeowners in New Mexico and other states... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Insurance

18 Jun 2013
First Look

First Look: June 18

regulatory requirements, and some existing taxi booking vendors feel threatened by SaferTaxi's efforts to enter the market. As SaferTaxi attempts to satisfy these diverse constituents, international competition looms. What should... View Details

Keywords: Anna Secino

15 Jun 2007
Research & Ideas

Remembering Alfred Chandler

network of individual contracts or the vision of its entrepreneur. The people inside firms learned, developed effective routines, and innovated. While we have sophisticated theories of competition in economics, the cooperative teamwork... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

25 Jul 2016
Research & Ideas

Who is to Blame for 'The Great Training Robbery'?

1980s, when the companies he studied scrambled to boost quality in response to the competitive threat posed by Japan. “In many of the cases [companies] employed experts in improving quality,” Beer says. “These experts ran vast amounts of... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Education

12 Jul 2004
Research & Ideas

Enron’s Lessons for Managers

five-legged cow; it doesn't really make sense. I think that Enron's pathologies are not unique, save in their collective occurrence and collective impact. Very few of us who engage in competitive endeavors have not in some way been... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

10 Feb 2003
Research & Ideas

Commodity Busters: Be a Price Maker, Not a Price Taker

two primary competitors, Checkpoint and Sensormatic, went at each other mercilessly, unbridled competition can be destructive. Sensible business managers focus primarily on their own success, not on creating failure for their competitors.... View Details

Keywords: by Benson P. Shapiro

March 2016 (Revised May 2018)
Case

ASOS PLC

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

Launched in 2000, ASOS was one of the world’s largest online fashion specialists in 2018. Focusing on young consumers aged 16–25 years, the company offered over 85,000 items on its websites, many times more than the largest fashion stores, and added several thousand... View Details

Keywords: ASOS; AsSeenOnScreen; Online Fashion; Online Apparel; Nick Beighton; Nick Robertson; E-commerce; E-Commerce Strategy; Online Retail; Multichannel Retailing; Omnichannel; Social Media; Marketplaces; Shipping; Advertising; Digital Marketing; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Business Startups; For-Profit Firms; Customer Focus and Relationships; Age; Gender; Currency Exchange Rate; Profit; Revenue; Geography; Geographic Scope; Global Range; Global Strategy; Globalized Firms and Management; Globalized Markets and Industries; Business History; Selection and Staffing; Journals and Magazines; Human Capital; Business or Company Management; Crisis Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Management Succession; Brands and Branding; Marketing Channels; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Product Positioning; Social Marketing; Media; Distribution; Distribution Channels; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Infrastructure; Logistics; Public Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Vertical Integration; Segmentation; Internet and the Web; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Fashion Industry; Retail Industry; United Kingdom; England; London

Citation

Educators

Purchase

February 2025
Supplement

eBee: Affordable Mobility for Africa

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Gamze Yucaoglu and Jordan Mitchell

The case opens in March 2023, as Sten van der Ham and Jaap Maljers, CEO and co-founder of eBee, an electric bike (e-bike) company in Africa, are contemplating the different avenues for growth and path to profitability for the young and ambitious company. In 2023, the... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Value Creation; Competition; Logistics; Profit; Resource Allocation; Expansion; Business Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Bicycle Industry; Africa; Kenya

Citation

Purchase

27 Sep 2011
First Look

First Look: September 27

explain how to generate ideas with these skills, collaborate with "delivery-driven" colleagues to implement ideas, and build innovation skills throughout your organization to sharpen its competitive edge. They also provide a... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2004
Working Paper

Regulation and Reaction: The Other Side of Free Banking in Antebellum New York

By: David A. Moss and Sarah Brennan

Free banking, which first appeared in the United States in the late 1830s, comprised two essential features: general incorporation for banks and rigorous security requirements for note issue. Because the general incorporation feature is what allowed free entry, it has... View Details

Keywords: History; Law; Competition; Financial Liquidity; Money; Market Entry and Exit; Financing and Loans; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry

Citation

01 Mar 2008
News

THE 6 MYTHS OF CREATIVITY

that they’ll make a cognitive association that incubates overnight and shows up as a creative idea the next day. One day’s happiness often predicts the next day’s creativity. Competition Beats Collaboration. The most creative teams are... View Details

Keywords: Arts, Sports, Language, Driving, and Other Schools; Educational Services; Management

Web

Commercialization of the Polarizer - Edwin H. Land & Polaroid | Harvard Business School

Clubs Faculty & Research Business & Environment Business History Christensen Center for Teaching & Learning Entrepreneurship Faculty & Research Global Healthcare HBS Working Knowledge Institute for Strategy & Competitiveness Leadership... View Details

28 Oct 2014
First Look

First Look: October 28

expense of longer-term investments―makes it difficult for firms to make the investments necessary to build competitive advantage. "Short termism" has been blamed for everything from the decline of the U.S. automobile industry to... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel