Publications

Read Now

20 Oct 2011
News

Higher Ambition Leadership

2013
Book

Judgment in Managerial Decision Making

By: Max Bazerman and Don A. Moore

Is your judgment influenced by personal biases? In situations requiring careful judgment, we're all influenced by our own biases to some extent. But, with Judgment in Managerial Decision Making, you can learn how to overcome those biases to make better... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Judgments; Management Practices and Processes; Management Skills; Managerial Roles; Performance Improvement; Prejudice and Bias

27 Jan 2003
Research & Ideas

New Cluster Mapping Project Helps Companies Locate Facilities

with HBS Working Knowledge editor, Sean Silverthorne, Porter discusses the importance of cluster research and the value of the CMP. Silverthorne: How can data from the Cluster Mapping Project help... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

Joseph B. Lassiter

Joe is the Senator John Heinz Professor of Management Practice in Environmental Management, Retired. He focuses on one of the world’s most pressing problems: developing clean, secure and carbon-neutral supplies of reliable, low-cost energy all around the world. He... View Details

Keywords: green technology; high technology; internet; oil ＆ gas; private equity (LBO funds); utilities; software; energy

16 Apr 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Gray Markets and Multinational Transfer Pricing

Keywords: by Romana L. Autrey & Francesco Bova

21 Nov 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Intellectual Property Rights Protection, Ownership, and Innovation: Evidence from China

Keywords: by Lily Fang, Josh Lerner, and Chaopeng Wu

January 2004 (Revised November 2004)
Case

Rwandan Tea Industry, The: Looking into the Future

By: Debora L. Spar

In 2003, the Rwandan government was focused on transforming the nation's tea industry into a world-class competitor. To accomplish this objective and stave off the downward prices that plagued the international tea market, the government believed that the industry... View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Market Entry and Exit; Competitive Strategy; Privatization; Government and Politics; Developing Countries and Economies; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Rwanda

21 May 2019
News

Meet The Female Physicist Who Sifts Through Corporate Babble For Trades To Beat The Street

August 2000 (Revised November 2001)
Case

Edmunds.com (A)

By: Stephen P. Bradley and Christina Akers

Edmund's began in 1966 as a publisher of new and used vehicle guides and grew into one of the leading third-party automotive web sites of today. This case explores how Edmunds.com gained a competitive edge using strategic partnerships and alliances, as well as careful... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; Success; Product Positioning; Partners and Partnerships; Competitive Advantage; Auto Industry; Information Technology Industry

26 Sep 2016
News

No More Excuses: Candidates Need to Address Tax Reform

Research Summary

Exclusivity and Control (joint with A. Hagiu)

We analyze platform competition for content in the presence of strategic interactions between content distributors and content providers. Contrary to standard results concerning double marginalization and pricing of complementary goods, we prove that a platform gaining... View Details

May 2013
Article

Hybrid Innovation in Meiji Japan

By: Tom Nicholas

Japan's hybrid innovation system during the Meiji era of technological modernization provides a useful laboratory for examining the effectiveness of complementary mechanisms to patents. Patents were introduced in 1885, and by 1911, 1.2 million mostly non-pecuniary... View Details

Keywords: Prizes; Technological Innovation; System; Patents; Knowledge; Value; Cost vs Benefits; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Performance Effectiveness; Japan

Read Now

September–October 2012
Article

Relational Contracts and Organizational Capabilities

By: Robert Gibbons and Rebecca Henderson

A large literature identifies unique organizational capabilities as a potent source of competitive advantage, yet our knowledge of why capabilities fail to diffuse more rapidly—particularly in situations in which competitors apparently have strong incentives to adopt... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Advantage; Organizations

November 2021 (Revised December 2022)
Case

Babban Gona: Great Farm

By: Kristin Fabbe, Tarun Khanna, Caroline M. Elkins, Zeke Gillman, Eleni Kyrkopoulou and Thomaz Teodorovicz

In 2020, Babban Gona was one of the world’s largest farming operations with over 140,000 acres of maize farms, an area over ten times as large as Manhattan, and over 80,000 member-farmers in Nigeria. According to the company, the average Nigerian farmer’s net income... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Value Creation; Agribusiness; Capital Budgeting; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Nigeria; Africa

Educators

2002
Case

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

By: Vijay Govindarajan and Julie Lang

Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart in 1962, had the vision for his store to sell low cost, branded products. By setting up its own distribution system and truck fleet, and evaluating retail stores as separate investment centers, Wal-Mart's control systems helped to build... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Advantage; Retail Industry; United States

Research Summary

Microfinance

"Tying Odysseus to the Mast: Evidence from a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines." (with Dean Karlan and Wesley Yin) Quarterly Journal of Economics 121, no. 2, 2006.
View Details

04 Jun 2013
News

4 Ways Big Business Can Be a Keystone in Entrepreneurship Ecosystems

October 2008 (Revised June 2011)
Case

JetBlue Airways: Managing Growth

By: Robert S. Huckman and Gary P. Pisano

Considers the situation facing David Barger, President and CEO of JetBlue Airways, in May 2007 as he addresses the airline's need to slow its growth rate in the response to increasing fuel costs and the effects of major operational crisis for the airline in February... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Operations; Performance Capacity; Performance Efficiency; Competitive Strategy; Air Transportation Industry

Educators

July 2009 (Revised January 2014)
Case

Alacra, Inc.

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Aldo Sesia

In 2009, the CEO of Alacra, a venture-backed information services firm that provides customized data primarily to financial services firms, must decide how to respond to the global economic crisis. View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Entrepreneurship; Crisis Management; Information Industry

Educators