Publications

November 2003 (Revised September 2021)
Case

Ivar Kreuger and the Swedish Match Empire

By: Geoffrey Jones and Ingrid Vargas

Taught in Evolution of Global Business. Globalization and corporate fraud are the central themes of this case on the international growth of Swedish Match in the interwar years. Between 1913 and 1932, Ivar Kreuger, known as the "Swedish Match King," built a small,... View Details

Keywords: History; International Finance; Globalized Firms and Management; Crime and Corruption; Ethics; Monopoly; Business and Government Relations; Sweden

March 2024
Teaching Note

Sonder Holdings Inc.: Using Technology to Solve Hospitality's Frictions

By: John A. Deighton and Leora Kornfeld

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 922-039. Digital disruption is challenging the hospitality industry. Traditional hotels face competition from platforms, most visibly Airbnb but also the homeshare divisions of online travel agencies such as Expedia and Booking.com, that... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Disruptive Innovation; Competition; Market Participation; Accommodations Industry

April 2018 (Revised February 2019)
Case

Gimlet Media: A Podcasting Startup

By: John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld

When digital distribution becomes an option for an analog industry, the effects on incumbents can be devastating. Is podcasting the beginning of the end of radio? Can it do what streaming video did to television and websites did to print? Two former public radio... View Details

Keywords: Podcasting; Business Ecosystem; Business Startups; Media; Disruption; Strategy

05 Jul 2006
Working Paper Summaries

Geographically-Colocated Subgroups in Globally Dispersed Teams: A Test of the Faultline Hypothesis

Keywords: by Jeffrey T. Polzer, C. Brad Crisp, Sirkka L. Jarvenpaa & Jerry W. Kim

11 Dec 2023
Blog Post

Building Iconic Brands and Brighter Futures: Interview with Glossier CEO, Kyle Leahy

Kyle Leahy (MBA 2011) stepped into the CEO role of Glossier in May 2022 ready to take the brand to new heights. Since its founding in 2014, Glossier had disrupted the beauty industry, created a powerful community-driven brand, and was... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Products / Retail

2021
Book

Lead and Disrupt: How to Solve the Innovator's Dilemma

By: Charles A. O'Reilly III and Michael Tushman

Why do successful firms find it so difficult to adapt in the face of change—to innovate? In the past ten years, the importance of this question has increased as more industries and firms confront disruptive change. The pandemic has accelerated this crisis, collapsing... View Details

Keywords: Organization Change And Adaptation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Disruptive Innovation; Innovation and Management; Leading Change

September 2009
Case

ZINK Imaging: 'Zero Ink™'

By: William A. Sahlman and Sarah Flaherty

"ZINK Imaging" describes the issues confronting CEO Wendy Caswell as she uses a partnership model to commercialize ZINK's disruptive printing technology platform, ZINK Paper. The case focuses on the frameworks ZINK has used to decide which markets to target and which... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Capital; Disruptive Innovation; Technological Innovation; Marketing Strategy; Partners and Partnerships; Horizontal Integration; Technology Industry

November 2006 (Revised December 2006)
Case

Pitney Bowes Inc.

By: Clayton M. Christensen and Ho Howard Yu

Pitney Bowes, the world's dominant maker of equipment used in generating and handling mail, is facing flattening growth in its core businesses and needs to create new growth products and businesses. Describes how a group of employees use state-of-the-art techniques for... View Details

Keywords: Expansion; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Distribution Channels; Growth and Development Strategy; Manufacturing Industry

18 Apr 2018
News

Layoffs That Don’t Break Your Company

2017
Performance & Appearance

How Fabulous is too Fabulous? The Masculinity Dilemmas of Daring Dressers at Work

January 2018 (Revised March 2019)
Case

Autonomous Vehicles: The Rubber Hits the Road...but When?

By: William Kerr, Allison Ciechanover, Jeff Huizinga and James Palano

The rise of autonomous vehicles has enormous implications for business and society. Despite the many headlines and significant investment in the technology by early 2019, it was still unclear when truly autonomous vehicles would be a commercial reality. Students will... View Details

Keywords: Technology Management; Artificial Intelligence; General Management; Robotics; Technological Innovation; Transportation; Disruption; Information Technology; Decision Making; AI and Machine Learning; Auto Industry; Technology Industry

December 2010
Article

Life in the Fast Lane: Origins of Competitive Interaction in New vs. Established Markets

By: Eric L. Chen, Riitta Katila, Rory McDonald and Kathleen M. Eisenhardt

Prior work examines competitive moves in relatively stable markets. In contrast, we focus on less stable markets where competitive advantages are temporary and R&D moves are essential. Using evolutionary search theory and an experiential simulation with in-depth... View Details

Keywords: Balance and Stability; Competitive Advantage; Supply and Industry

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November 2023
Case

From Imitation to Innovation: Zongshen Industrial Group (Abridged)

By: Willy Shih and Nancy Dai

Like other small shops based in Chongqing, China, Zongshen Industrial Group started by assembling motorcycles from "standard" parts. The quality of its early products was good enough for rural Chinese buyers, though wealthier consumers usually purchased premium... View Details

Keywords: Disruptive Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Competitive Strategy; Supply Chain; Product Positioning; Manufacturing Industry; Motorcycle Industry; China

07 Aug 2013
News

Does the Washington Post Have a Future?

Sunil Gupta

Co-Chair, Driving Digital Strategy

Sunil Gupta is the Edward W. Carter Professor of Business Administration and co-chair of the executive program on Driving... View Details

Keywords: advertising; communications; consumer products; credit card; education industry; financial services; high technology; marketing industry; telecommunications

10 Nov 2021
News

How the Pandemic has Affected the Economy, From Empty Shelves to Higher Prices

2016
Book

Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice

By: Clayton M. Christensen, Taddy Hall, Karen Dillon and David S. Duncan

The foremost authority on innovation and growth presents a path-breaking book every company needs to transform innovation from a game of chance to one in which they develop products and services that customers want to buy and are willing to purchase at a premium price.... View Details

Keywords: Disruptive Innovation; Consumer Behavior

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