competition - Publications - Faculty & Research

14 Apr 2009
First Look

First Look: April 14, 2009

Competition Between Differentiated Products with Demand for More Than One Variety Author: Andrei Hagiu Abstract We analyze the existence of pure strategy symmetric price equilibria in a generalized version of Salop's (1979) circular model... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

June 2022
Case

The SAH Group: The Time is Right

By: Juan Alcacer and Alpana Thapar

In January 2021, Jalila Mezni, cofounder and CEO of the SAH Group, was preparing to present the company’s future growth plans to its board of directors. The Tunisian company was a leading producer and distributor of personal care and packaged hygiene products. In 2019,... View Details

Keywords: Growth Management; Expansion; Business Divisions; Product Positioning; Brands and Branding; Competition; Presentations; Consumer Products Industry; Tunisia; Kenya

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December 1998 (Revised May 2000)
Case

Lebenthal and Co., Inc.

By: Thomas J. DeLong and Susan Harmeling

Lebenthal and Co. has prospered in the bond business since 1924. Alexandra Lebenthal, granddaughter of the founders, has stepped up to lead the firm. She faces many challenges as the nature of the financial services business changes in dramatic ways. Can this firm... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Talent and Talent Management; Bonds; Leadership Development; Service Operations; Problems and Challenges; Competition; Financial Services Industry

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01 Dec 2021
What Do You Think?

How Will the Metaverse Affect Productivity?

relatively soon? How will the Metaverse affect productivity? What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments below. Editor's note: Heskett explores the leader's role in his upcoming book, Win From Within: Build Organizational Culture for View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

06 Aug 2020
Research & Ideas

Who Will Give You the Best Professional Guidance?

encourage intimate conversations. They should be from a diverse set companies with varying personal backgrounds to allow for different perspectives and to avoid any awkward competitive conversations, although there should be an inherent... View Details

Keywords: by Julia B. Austin

21 Oct 2013
Research & Ideas

Missing the Wave in Ship Transport

there were about 9,000 bulk carriers, which varied in dimensions from small to supersized. The bulk shipping market was valued at roughly $180 billion. Owners in this highly competitive industry make money either by transporting cargo for... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard; Transportation

06 Nov 2013
What Do You Think?

Is Top-Down Resource Allocation on the Rise?

Joseph L. Bower, Managing the Resource Allocation Process: A Study of Corporate Planning and Investment Process, (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1970) Joseph L. Bower and Clark G. Gilbert, From Resource Allocation to Strategy, (London: Oxford University Press,... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

02 Jan 2008
Research & Ideas

Most Popular Stories 2007

two contrasting approaches to delivering digital content to users. Can Apple and the recording industry seriously compete against free? Do iTunes and p2p help each other in some ways? Professor Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and collaborator Andres Hervas-Drane discuss their... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

07 Nov 2005
What Do You Think?

Is Less Becoming More?

without endangering its competitive position? Or does the answer lie in increasing levels of disruptive competition, the strategy of providing less for much less? What do you think? Original Article The issue of whether less is more, both... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Consumer Products

16 May 2005
Research & Ideas

Confronting the Reality of Web Services

services, what benefits have they realized? Do they gain competitive advantage? A: It sure looks like Amazon and eBay are strengthening their positions and continuing to grow by using Web services well. I studied an effort by IBM and its... View Details

Keywords: by Sara Grant

16 Nov 1999
Lessons from the Classroom

Leading Change and Organizational Renewal

From another viewpoint, sustainable competitive advantage is diminishing because, increasingly, firms can locate plants anywhere, and call on human, financial, and other resources without regard for locale. How is organizational design... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

19 Jun 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, June 19, 2018

competitive pressures in a saturated market. As 2018 dawned, all parties were assessing the deal’s implications. Had the stock market overreacted to news of the deal? Why was Amazon buying Whole Foods? What were the long-term implications... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

28 Jun 2016
First Look

June 28, 2016

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=51195 Spring 2016 Business History Review California Fair Trade: Antitrust and the Politics of 'Fairness' in U.S. Competition Policy By: Sawyer, Laura Phillips Abstract—In the decades before... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

29 Sep 2015
First Look

September 29, 2015

facing growing dissatisfaction with traditional cable packages and the rise of online streaming, was ripe for disruption, but would Apple be able to build a competitive offering? The automotive industry, with the rise of electric cars and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

04 Oct 2011
First Look

First Look: October 4

environmental protection was decoupled from regulation. These mechanisms include (a) the intense emphasis on economic growth leading to misaligned incentives and regulatory competition across regions, (b) fragmented bureaucratic... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

23 Jan 2006
Research & Ideas

Financial Reporting Goes Global

aspects of developing globally competitive businesses. Much of their growth is driven by a wealth of smart, hard working, well-educated individuals. In other words, great human capital. However, they do not have fully formed financial... View Details

Keywords: by Cynthia Churchwell; Accounting; Financial Services

17 Oct 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, October 17, 2017

Digital Agility: The Impact of Software Portfolio Architecture on IT System Evolution By: MacCormack, Alan, Robert Lagerström, Martin Mocker, and Carliss Y. Baldwin Abstract—The modern industrial firm increasingly relies on software to support its View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2023 (Revised January 2024)
Case

Bridgit: Persevere or Pivot?

By: Reza Satchu and Patrick Sanguineti

In late 2012, Mallorie Brodie and Lauren Lake, two young women in their final year of college, founded Bridgit, a technology startup that developed solutions to simplify vital but laborious processes within the construction industry. In the Fall of 2013, after months... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneur; Founder; Co-founders; Women Executives; Pivot; Startup; Business Model; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Applications and Software; Product Launch; Research and Development; Competition; Construction Industry; Technology Industry; United States; Canada

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Educators

December 2015
Supplement

An Intern's Dilemma (B)

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Matthew Preble

An HBS student is asked to misrepresent himself during the course of his student internship by his employer in order to obtain data from a competitor. This case describes how the student handled the situation and what he learned about himself from it. View Details

Keywords: Conflict; Leadership; Conflict Management; Competition; Ethics; Knowledge Acquisition; Organizational Culture; Employees; Power and Influence

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December 2015
Case

An Intern's Dilemma (A)

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Matthew Preble

An HBS student is asked to misrepresent himself during the course of his summer internship by his employer in order to obtain data from industry competitors. View Details

Keywords: Conflict; Leadership; Conflict Management; Competition; Ethics; Knowledge Acquisition; Organizational Culture; Employees; Power and Influence

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