Publications

1994
Chapter

The Product Development Imperative: Competing in the New Industrial Marathon

By: K. B. Clark and T. Fujimoto

Keywords: Product Development; Competitive Advantage

Article

How Long Can a Company Thrive Doing Just One Thing?

By: Andy Wu and Scott Duke Kominers

The news that the chat app Slack was being sold to veteran customer relationship management company Salesforce for $27.7 billion raised a lot of eyebrows. Why sell after a year of explosive growth? The deal, however, epitomizes a question facing so-called best-of-breed... View Details

Keywords: Best-of-breed Companies; Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy

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19 Jul 2004
Research & Ideas

Your Customers: Use Them or Lose Them

customer is such an apparent risk that the quoted Progressive rate is higher than the competition's, Progressive is happy if that customer goes elsewhere to buy cheaper insurance. "They are happy to have the competition get those... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

March 2011 (Revised November 2013)
Case

The Dutch Flower Cluster

By: Michael E. Porter, Jorge Ramirez-Vallejo and Fred van Eenennaam

Describes the Dutch Flower cluster, or the group of interconnected growers, suppliers, service providers, and flower-related institutions located in The Netherlands. Examines the role of the FloraHolland auction in the value chain. Also describes the flower clusters in... View Details

Keywords: Globalization; Auctions; Industry Clusters; Competition; Competitive Advantage; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Netherlands

October 1994 (Revised March 1995)
Case

Marsh Supermarkets, Inc. (B): The Entry of Meijer Supercenters

The Marsh chain of supermarkets is challenged by the entry of Meijer Supercenters into the Indianapolis market. Marsh management must decide how to select, price, promote, and merchandise its products in order to retain the loyalty of its customers and maintain... View Details

Keywords: Distribution; Marketing Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Retail Industry; Indianapolis

November 1987 (Revised January 1988)
Case

Farmland Industries

By: Ray A. Goldberg

Keywords: Cooperative Ownership; Competitive Strategy; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

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April 1970 (Revised December 1983)
Case

Norton Co. (A)

Introduces the "Norton Plan" designed to halt Norton's declining share of the grinding wheel market. View Details

Keywords: Machinery and Machining; Competitive Strategy; Sales; Manufacturing Industry; Industrial Products Industry

September–October 1995
Article

Leveraging Processes for Strategic Advantage

By: David A. Garvin

Keywords: Competitive Advantage

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May 1999
Case

African Communications Group (Condensed)

Describes the opportunities that confront the African Communications Group, an entrepreneurial organization that plans to introduce a wireless pay-phone system in Tanzania. Provides a foundation for the analysis of value creation and of value capture. The possibility... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Telecommunications Industry; Tanzania

The MBA course on "Risks, Opportunities, and Investments in an Era of Climate Change" is ideal for students who aspire to become entrepreneurs by starting their own company or joining a start-up that is driving innovation and solving challenges posed by climate change.... View Details

July 2005 (Revised October 2006)
Exercise

Ready-To-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption, The

Describes a simplified economic model that serves as a vehicle for understanding the strategic and possibly anticompetitive aspects of product proliferation. View Details

Keywords: Competition; Economics