Publications

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15 Sep 2003
Lessons from the Classroom

HBS Cases: Developing the Courage to Act

Harvard Business School professor David A. Garvin has studied the development of the case method of teaching at Harvard's law, business, and medical schools. Garvin wanted to see how the schools are similar and different in their use of... View Details

Keywords: by David A. Garvin

2006
Working Paper

Can Higher Prices Stimulate Product Use? Evidence from a Field Experiment in Zambia

By: Nava Ashraf, James Berry and Jesse M. Shapiro

The controversy over whether and how much to charge for health products in the developing world rests, in part, on whether higher prices can increase use, either by targeting distribution to high-use households (a screening effect), or by stimulating use... View Details

Keywords: Price; Attitudes; Health Industry; Zambia

June 2009
Teaching Note

Curled Metal Inc. - Engineered Products Division (TN)

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Teaching Note for [709434]. View Details

Keywords: Sales; Product Development; Customers; Business Divisions; Price; Business Strategy; Cost; Production; Mining Industry

June 2019 (Revised August 2024)
Module Note

Purpose Brands

By: Rory McDonald, Clayton M. Christensen and Shaye Roseman

Introduces a framework for innovation and brand building that is connected to an understanding of customers' Jobs to Be Done. View Details

Keywords: Brand ＆ Product Management; Brand Architecture; Brand Building; Innovation; Product Development Strategy; Product Differentiation; Brands and Branding; Product Development

21 Apr 2003
Research & Ideas

Are Crummy Products Your Next Growth Opportunity?

participate because of low skill level or low wealth. The initial product for this new market usually isn't very good; in fact, it's usually "crummy," Christensen said. But it's good enough. When Sony in 1955 View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

August 2018 (Revised July 2019)
Background Note

Conducting a Kaizen

By: Willy Shih

Kaizen, meaning change for the better in Japanese, is a set of activities directed at improving standardized work, equipment, and procedures for carrying out daily production or other business operations. It was popularized by Toyota as an integral part of its Toyota... View Details

Keywords: Best Practices; Continuous Improvement; Kaizen; Process Improvement; 5S; Muda; Toyota Production System; Production; Service Operations; Performance Improvement; North and Central America; Asia; Japan

2015
Working Paper

Business Groups Exist in Developed Markets Also: Britain Since 1850

By: Geoffrey Jones

Diversified business groups are well-known phenomena in emerging markets, both today and historically. This is often explained by the prevalence of institutional voids or the nature of government-business relations. It is typically assumed that such groups were much... View Details

Keywords: Business Groups; Business History; Economic History; Conglomerates; Entrepreneurship; Globalization; Management; Organizations; United Kingdom

SSRN

January 1994 (Revised April 1994)
Supplement

Suzanne de Passe at Motown Productions (B)

By: Linda A. Hill

Provides an update of the (A) case. Describes de Passe's career from 1986 to 1993. View Details

Keywords: Personal Development and Career; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Music Industry

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2013
Article

The Strategic Fitness Process: A Collaborative Action Research Method for Developing Organizational Prototypes and Dynamic Capabilities

By: Michael Beer

Organizations underperform and sometimes fail because their leaders are unable to learn the unvarnished truth from relevant stakeholders about how the design and behavior of the organization is misaligned with its goals and strategy. The Strategic Fitness Process (SFP)... View Details

Keywords: Organization Alignment; Dynamic Capabilities; Organization Design; Organizational Prototyping; Organizational Silence; Organizational Learning; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategic Planning; Organizational Design

May 2012 (Revised February 2014)
Teaching Note

Learning About Reducing Hospital Mortality at Kaiser Permanente

By: Anita Carson Tucker

Keywords: Patient Safety; Process Improvement; Standardization; Organizational Learning; Knowledge Development; Safety; Knowledge Management; Health Care and Treatment; Business Processes; Health Industry

Article

The Perils of Excellence: Barriers to Effective Process Improvement in Product-Driven Firms

By: Rebecca M. Henderson, Jesus del Alamo, Todd Becker, James Lawton, Peter Moran, Saul Shapiro and Dean Vlasak

Keywords: Product; Performance Improvement

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29 Oct 2014
Research & Ideas

Inventing Products is Less Valuable Than Inventing Ideas

social network that would allow everyone to share their lives with one another across geographies. "Compared to the value of the global network idea, the value of the actual product of a platform for college kids was much less,"... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Technology

02 Apr 2009
Working Paper Summaries

The Flattening Firm and Product Market Competition: The Effect of Trade Liberalization

Keywords: by Maria Guadalupe & Julie M. Wulf

2009
Working Paper

Female Empowerment: Impact of a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines

By: Nava Ashraf, Dean Karlan and Wesley Yin

Female "empowerment" has increasingly become a policy goal, both as an end to itself and as a means to achieving other development goals. Microfinance in particular has often been argued, but not without controversy, to be a tool for empowering women. Here, using a... View Details

Keywords: Saving; Microfinance; Personal Finance; Decision Making; Microeconomics; Gender; Power and Influence; Philippines

September 2012 (Revised April 2013)
Case

Digital Microscopy at Carl Zeiss: Managing Disruption

By: Willy Shih

Ulrich Simon, the head of the Microscopy business group at Carl Zeiss AG knew that his unit was facing a disruptive threat, so he chartered a special team to tackle the industrial segment. Given a high degree of autonomy, the project team developed an understanding of... View Details

Keywords: Modularity; High Technology Products; Emergent Strategy; Product Lines; Corporate Strategy; Digital Platforms; Disruptive Innovation; Technology Industry; Germany

02 Apr 2024
Research & Ideas

Employees Out Sick? Inside One Company's Creative Approach to Staying Productive

can’t control absenteeism, and you don’t know when you will receive an order for a very important buyer,” he says. “So how do you execute your strategy?” While studying a factory in India, Tamayo found one efficient way businesses can remain View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Fashion

February 1997
Case

Enron Development Corporation: The Dabhol Power Project in Maharashtra, India (A) (Abridged)

By: Louis T. Wells Jr.

A large, lucrative power plant is negotiated for construction/operation by an American power company in India's evolving privatized power sector. The process of incorporating the project is captured in this case. The American company will own and operate the plant in... View Details

Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Transition; Energy Generation; Construction; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Emerging Markets; Negotiation Process; Production; Privatization; Energy Industry

December 1999
Case

Sun Microsystems, Inc. (A5): Solaris 7: Rich Green on Product Strategy and Culture Change

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Jane Roessner

Solaris, Sun Microsystems' version of the UNIX operating system, was an amorphous collection of capabilities that had accumulated over the years, a product the company vaguely wished it could market and sell better. Developing and marketing Solaris 7 would help... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Applications and Software; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Product Positioning; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Culture; Success; Change; Diversification; Technology Industry; Computer Industry