Publications

2005
Article

Increasing Exploration: Evidence from International Expansion

By: Juan Alcacer, Heather Berry and Wilbur Chung

While firms balance exploitation and exploration to maximize profits, specifics of how firms pursue this balance are scarce. We focus on how firms increase their exploration after obtaining greater capabilities and experience via sequential international expansion.... View Details

Keywords: Price Bubble; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Industry Growth; Research and Development; Profit; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Disruptive Innovation; Five Forces Framework; SWOT Analysis; Duopoly and Oligopoly; Manufacturing Industry; Japan; United States

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15 Mar 2011
First Look

First Look: March 15

incorporating their qualitative and quantitative measures in central organizational planning, decision making, and accountability mechanisms. We call the experts that achieve... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

July 23, 2019
Article

Is the U.S. on Its Way to Becoming a Cashless Society?

By: Shelle Santana

The rise of digital payments, including credit cards, debit cards, and mobile payments systems, have contributed to the steady shift in payment practices among consumers. According to the FDIC, cash represented just 30% of all payments in 2017, and the percentage of... View Details

Keywords: Payment Methods; Cash; Credit Cards; Consumer Behavior; Change; United States

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February 1998 (Revised May 2007)
Case

Winthrop Park Development

By: William J. Poorvu and Elizabeth McLoughlin

Describes a real estate development project in Cambridge, MA and evaluates the market, financial, and design issues in this $20 million mixed-use property. View Details

Keywords: Property; Real Estate Industry; Cambridge

October 2022 (Revised September 2023)
Supplement

SolarWinds Confronts SUNBURST (B)

By: Frank Nagle, George A. Riedel, William R. Kerr and David Lane

Supplements the (A) case, describing actions taken by SolarWinds as well as by regulatory agencies in the aftermath of the immediate crisis. The case also includes reflections by SolarWinds managers on the choices they made with respect to disclosure, media relations,... View Details

Keywords: Cyberattacks; Cybersecurity; Corporate Disclosure; Crisis Management; Customer Focus and Relationships; Legal Liability; Governance Compliance; Business and Government Relations; Information Technology Industry; United States

December 2021 (Revised May 2022)
Case

Troverie (A)

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Lindsay N. Hyde and Olivia Graham

Six months after the August 2018 launch of Troverie, a U.S.-based online retailer of luxury watches, the average cost of acquiring a customer is much higher than originally projected, and the startup is incurring a substantial loss on each sales transaction. Could... View Details

Keywords: Startup; Luxury Goods; Customer Acquisition; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Luxury; Failure; Internet and the Web; Revenue; Fashion Industry; United States

2022
Case

Charting a Course for Boston: Organizing for Change

By: Lisa C. Cox, Mitchell B. Weiss and Jorrit De Jong

Michelle Wu had been elected on the promise of systemic change, but four days after her November 2021 election and just eleven days before taking office as mayor of Boston, she was still considering how best to staff and manage a range of over-arching priorities.... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Selection and Staffing; City; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Boston

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May 13, 2021
Article

The Big Benefits of Employee Ownership

By: Thomas Dudley and Ethan Rouen

Wealth inequality in the U.S. has been increasing for decades: The richest 1% own a majority of all business wealth, and the top 10% own more than 90%. Companies, which have played a vital role in the growth in inequality can also play one in reducing it. One place to... View Details

Keywords: Wealth; Equality and Inequality; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Employee Ownership; United States

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September 2012 (Revised March 2013)
Teaching Note

Ultimate Fighting Championship: License to Operate (A) & (B) (TN)

By: George Serafeim

The case describes the challenges that Ultimate Fighting Championship faced as a result of regulatory opposition and loss of the license to operate. The genesis of the business idea, the subsequent growth, and the fall of the UFC are described. The case concludes with... View Details

Keywords: Governance Compliance; Ethics; Judgments; Investment; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States

March 2013
Case

Massachusetts Financial Services (Abridged)

By: Brian J. Hall and Karen Huang

This case describes the compensation and performance evaluations at an investment management company. The senior management team of Massachusetts Financial Services (MFS) Investment Management was contemplating an introduction of hedge funds at the firm, but many... View Details

Keywords: Compensation; Incentives; Investment Management; Performance Measurement; Portfolio Management; Motivation and Incentives; Asset Management; Performance Evaluation; Compensation and Benefits; Financial Services Industry; Massachusetts

January 1991 (Revised May 1991)
Case

Hoechst in the United States (A)

Describes the U.S. market for chemicals following WW II to the present and the attention of the market for global chemical companies. Traces the involvement of Hoechst in this market up to the 1980s when minimum growth has been offered through Hoechst's U.S.... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Chemicals; Acquisition; Chemical Industry; United States

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19 Dec 2005
Research & Ideas

The Regional Slice of Your Global Strategy

geographically contiguous but dispersed region. At times, the parts of a region aren't even contiguous. Spain, for example, can be thought of as "closer" to Latin America than to Europe because of long-standing colony-colonizer... View Details

Keywords: by Pankaj Ghemawat

January 2021 (Revised March 2021)
Supplement

Juno (C): Leveraging Student Power

By: Joshua Schwartzstein, Kathleen L. McGinn and Amy Klopfenstein

In May 2020, Juno co-founders Chris Abkarians and Nikhil Agarwal decided to hold the annual auction for their student loan assistance startup. Five lenders submitted bids, and the co-founders ultimately opted to select Eager Bank as their partner for the 2020-2021... View Details

12 Jul 2006
Research & Ideas

Competition the Cure for Healthcare

finally, the right question became, why is competition failing? And that led us to the distinction between zero-sum competition and positive-sum competition, and the View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson; Health

January 1994
Article

Foreign Multinationals in British Manufacturing, 1850-1962

By: G. Jones and Frances Bostock

This article draws on a new database to describe the dimensions and characteristics of 685 foreign companies which established British manufacturing subsidiaries between 1850 and 1962. The numbers of foreign companies grew from the 1890s, expanded rapidly in the... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Business Subsidiaries; Expansion; Chemicals; Metals and Minerals; Food; Mergers and Acquisitions; Market Entry and Exit; Research and Development; Trade; Investment; Production; United Kingdom; United States; Scotland; Wales

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April 2002 (Revised March 2006)
Background Note

Economics of Retail Banking Note

By: Frances X. Frei and Dennis Campbell

Explains the financial operations of retail banking, highlighting profitability challenges facing the industry. For U.S. banks, it is quite common for more than half of the customer base to be unprofitable and to have relatively few customers make up the vast majority... View Details

Keywords: Customers; Economics; Cost; Banks and Banking; Profit; Revenue; Service Operations; Banking Industry; United States

December 2014
Technical Note

The Thermostat Industry: Transformation from Analog to Digital

By: Karim R. Lakhani, Kerry Herman and Christine Snively

This note examines the evolution of the thermostat industry as it transitioned from analog to digital technologies. It presents an overview of key industry participants and the shift in value creation and value capture models for firms. View Details

Keywords: Digital; Digital Convergence; Business Models; Digital Transition; Technology Change; Technology Strategy; Information Technology; Digital Transformation; United States

January 2025 (Revised February 2025)
Background Note

A High-Tech Revolution with Chinese Characteristics: China's Drive Towards EV Supremacy

By: William C. Kirby, Daniel Fu and Matthew Ngai

This background note explains and documents the rise of China's EV industry. Moreover, it identifies the challenges facing it and posits several questions about the decisions needed to be made to sustain the industry's global dominance. Would Chinese producers be able... View Details

Keywords: State Capitalism; Electric Vehicles; Tesla; Renewable Energy; Global Strategy; Taxation; Technological Innovation; Industry Growth; Competition; Auto Industry; China; United States; Japan; European Union

February 2023
Supplement

Nexus Market (B): After the Ultimatum

By: Tsedal Neeley and Jeff Huizinga

This case reveals how the situation with Nexus Market and its Ukrainian and Russian subcontractors was resolved. The conclusion to the story of a Silicon Valley start-up executive facing an ultimatum from a team of Ukrainian subcontractors to cut ties with a separate... View Details

Keywords: International Relations; Conflict and Resolution; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Technology Industry; United States; Ukraine; Russia; Europe