Publications

December 2008 (Revised October 2009)
Case

Wal-Mart Stores in 2003 (Abridged Version)

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Examines Wal-Mart's development over three decades and provides financial and descriptive detail of its domestic operations. In 2003, Wal-Mart's Supercenter business has surpassed its domestic business as the largest generator of revenues. Its international operation... View Details

Keywords: Equality and Inequality; Business Growth and Maturation; Competitive Advantage; Labor Unions; Operations; Global Strategy; Problems and Challenges; Gender; Retail Industry; United States

February 2000 (Revised August 2000)
Case

Boston.com

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Jon K Rust

How aggressively should an incumbent move when developing an online business that threatens its core product? With Internet competitors taking direct aim at the traditional print newspaper business model, the Boston Globe fought back with its own web initiative,... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Decision Making; Change Management; Internet and the Web; Customer Relationship Management; Competitive Strategy; Publishing Industry; Information Technology Industry; United States

April 2005
Teaching Note

Boeing 787: The Dreamliner (TN)

By: Richard L. Nolan and Suresh Kotha

Teaching Note to (9-305-101). View Details

Keywords: Commercialization; Competition; Production; Transformation; Service Operations; Air Transportation Industry

September 1999 (Revised November 2002)
Background Note

Indian Software Industry in 2002, The

The Indian software industry, growing at more than 50% per annum and largely dependent on exports of services and products, is one of the few industries in that country considered to be globally competitive. This note allows a discussion of the uses and limits of... View Details

Keywords: Geographic Location; Competition; Applications and Software; Globalization; Information Technology Industry; India

March 1996
Case

African Communications Group

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: Value Creation; Competition; Entrepreneurship; Forecasting and Prediction; Wireless Technology; Telecommunications Industry; Tanzania

15 Feb 2000
Research & Ideas

Growing Pains: Prescriptions for U.S. Health Care

computer manufacturers to steel mills and retailing, he has discovered consistent patterns in the way technological innovation affects both companies and industries. Health care, he declares, is no exception. According to Christensen's research, View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Health

02 Mar 2015
Research & Ideas

Retail Reaches a Tipping Point—Which Stores Will Survive?

retail, the book offers prescriptive advice to store-based retailers caught in the squeeze. "First off, there is no one size fits all answer," says Alvarez, a senior lecturer. "Your strategy depends on what type of items you sell, who your View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

09 Dec 2014
First Look

First Look: December 9

as a major threat for startups and small companies; big companies have more financial resources and greater scale, market power, and brand awareness than small ones. However, our research finds that a smaller brand can actually benefit if consumers can see the View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

12 Mar 2014
Research & Ideas

Entrepreneurship and Multinationals Drive Globalization

manufacturer whose brands and trademarks lay at the heart of its competitive advantages in international markets, the loss of these intangible assets was especially damaging. However, worse was to come. During the 1930s as a so-called... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Beauty & Cosmetics; Manufacturing; Consumer Products; Pharmaceutical

06 Apr 2010
First Look

First Look: April 6

competition for the past 20 years: an ad hoc, laissez-faire vision promoted by the United States versus a managed vision relying on multilateral rules and international organizations promoted by the European Union. Although the American... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

02 Sep 2008
First Look

First Look: September 3, 2008

http://papers.nber.org/papers/w14222 Cases & Course MaterialsCognizant Technology Solutions Harvard Business School Case 408-099 In the highly competitive information technology outsourcing industry, Cognizant Technology Solutions... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

21 Nov 2006
First Look

First Look: November 21, 2006

recommendations, and feeds, to help members manage their experiences with their online friends. The two choices have very different value propositions and have very different competitive implications. Also describes the dynamics of... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

23 Oct 2012
First Look

First Look: October 23

paper: http://www.whatworksforamerica.org/ideas/inflection-point-new-vision-new-strategy-new-organization/ Customer-Driven Misconduct: How Competition Corrupts Business Practices Authors:Victor Manuel Bennett, Lamar Pierce, Jason A.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2024
Teaching Note

CoPilot(s): Generative AI at Microsoft and GitHub

By: Frank Nagle and Maria P. Roche

This teaching note is the companion to case N9-624-010 CoPilot(s): Generative AI at Microsoft and GitHub, which takes place in late 2021. The case briefly describes the history of both GitHub and Microsoft with a particular focus on open source software (OSS)—software... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; AI and Machine Learning; Applications and Software; Technological Innovation; Product Launch; Open Source Distribution; Product Development; Commercialization; Competition; Resource Allocation; Technology Industry

May 2007
Article

Location Strategies and Knowledge Spillovers

By: Juan Alcacer and Wilbur Chung

Given the importance of proximity for knowledge spillovers, we examine firms' location choices expecting differences in firms' strategies. Firms will locate to maximize their net spillovers as a function of locations' knowledge activity, their own capabilities, and... View Details

Keywords: Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; For-Profit Firms; Knowledge Management; Research and Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Disruptive Innovation; Five Forces Framework; Cost Management; Technology; Competition; United States