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- All HBS Web
(1,369)
- People (2)
- News (209)
- Research (1,033)
- Events (5)
- Multimedia (2)
- Faculty Publications (545)
- August 2015 (Revised June 2021)
- Case
Amazon.com, 2021
By: John R. Wells, Benjamin Weinstock, Gabriel Ellsworth and Galen Danskin
In February 2021, Amazon announced 2020 operating profits of $22,899 million, up from $2,233 million in 2015, on sales of $386 billion, up from $107 billion five years earlier (see Exhibit 1). The shareholders expressed their satisfaction (see Exhibit 2), but not all... View Details
Keywords: Strategic Analysis; Retail; E-commerce; Amazon; Internet; Amazon.com; AmazonFresh; Jeff Bezos; Cloud Computing; Marketplaces; Streaming; E-reader Market; Digital Media; Mobile App; Online Retail; Shipping; Database; Tablet; Kindle; Kindle Fire; Smartphone; Delivery; Digital Platforms; Competition; Internet and the Web; Corporate Strategy; Digital Marketing; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Business Organization; For-Profit Firms; Film Entertainment; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Music Entertainment; Television Entertainment; Profit; Revenue; Global Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Taxation; Business History; Human Resources; Resignation and Termination; Books; Human Capital; Working Conditions; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Management Practices and Processes; Industry Growth; Industry Structures; Media; Distribution; Distribution Channels; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Infrastructure; Logistics; Product Development; Supply Chain; Supply Chain Management; Organizational Culture; Public Ownership; Work-Life Balance; Problems and Challenges; Labor and Management Relations; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Diversification; Expansion; Integration; Horizontal Integration; Vertical Integration; Information Infrastructure; Information Technology; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Price; Applications and Software; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Working Capital; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Value and Value Chain; Distribution Industry; Distribution Industry; Distribution Industry; Distribution Industry; Distribution Industry; Distribution Industry; Distribution Industry; Distribution Industry; Distribution Industry; Distribution Industry; Distribution Industry; Distribution Industry; Distribution Industry; Distribution Industry; United States; Washington (state, US); Seattle
Wells, John R., Benjamin Weinstock, Gabriel Ellsworth, and Galen Danskin. "Amazon.com, 2021." Harvard Business School Case 716-402, August 2015. (Revised June 2021.)
- Web
Negotiation, Organizations & Markets - Faculty & Research
than £1 and 87% received an automatic payroll contribution in month 12. However, product take-up was very low: no more than 0.7% of eligible employees ever activated an account. Opt-in access to short-term savings programs does not elicit... View Details
- 28 Mar 2016
- Research & Ideas
What's a Boss Worth?
quite a lot. “If you have a better boss on a team, you get more out of each individual worker” Academics and practitioners alike are interested in how to construct the best teams to get the most productivity out of people working... View Details
- 08 Sep 2014
- Research & Ideas
The Strategic Way To Hire a Sales Team
Recruitment and selection are now more important for various reasons. Due to the data and analytical tasks facing many sales forces, productivity ramp-up times have increased. Each hire then represents a bigger sunk cost for a longer... View Details
Keywords: by Carmen Nobel
- 07 Dec 2010
- First Look
First Look: Dec. 7
the company's marketing department into an integral part of product development, product management, and strategic planning after years of relative neglect is considered. The role of Chief Executive Officer... View Details
Keywords: Sean Silverthorne
- 2012
- Chapter
The Confederacy of Heterogeneous Software Organizations and Heterogeneous Developers: Field Experimental Evidence on Sorting and Worker Effort
By: Kevin J. Boudreau and Karim R. Lakhani
Software development occurs in a patchwork or "confederacy" of different types of institutions (universities, small start-ups, multinational enterprises, government agencies, etc.) utilizing varied work approaches. Here we speculate on one possible explanation for this... View Details
Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Applications and Software; Product Development; Organizations; Employees; Behavior; Competition; Cooperation; Creativity; Information Technology Industry
Boudreau, Kevin J., and Karim R. Lakhani. "The Confederacy of Heterogeneous Software Organizations and Heterogeneous Developers: Field Experimental Evidence on Sorting and Worker Effort." In The Rate and Direction of Inventive Activity Revisited, edited by Josh Lerner and Scott Stern, 483–502. University of Chicago Press, 2012.
- June 1994 (Revised October 1999)
- Background Note
Beer Game, The: Board Version
The beer game is an exercise that demonstrates supply channel dynamics. Simulates the flow of material and information in a simplified channel of beer production and distribution, focusing on the linkages among a beer manufacturer, its distributors, a wholesaler, and a... View Details
Keywords: Cost Management; Information; Distribution Channels; Production; Supply Chain Management; Problems and Challenges
Hammond, Janice H. "Beer Game, The: Board Version." Harvard Business School Background Note 694-104, June 1994. (Revised October 1999.)
- 28 Feb 2018
- Sharpening Your Skills
Master the Team Meeting
meeting. Information sharing could be a product demo or draft of a presentation someone is seeking feedback on before it goes out. Always send the agenda for the meeting 24 hours in advance. This sets expectations and ensures no surprises... View Details
Keywords: by Julia Austin
- 18 Mar 2013
- HBS Case
HBS Cases: LEGO
play" and "quality in every detail" that was distributed to everyone in the company. Like his father, Godtfred paid careful attention to every aspect of the business, applying, for example, his knowledge of material science... View Details
- 10 Mar 2009
- First Look
First Look: March 10, 2009
create value. We extend this theory to address value appropriation. A product or process design that is modular with respect to intellectual property (IP) allows firms to better capture value in situations where knowledge and value... View Details
Keywords: Martha Lagace
- 2010
- Working Paper
The Architecture of Complex Systems: Do Core-periphery Structures Dominate?
By: Alan MacCormack, Carliss Y. Baldwin and John Rusnak
Any complex technological system can be decomposed into a number of subsystems and associated components, some of which are core to system function while others are only peripheral. The dynamics of how such "core-periphery" structures evolve and become embedded in a... View Details
Keywords: Innovation and Management; Product Design; Practice; Core Relationships; Software; Information Technology Industry
MacCormack, Alan, Carliss Y. Baldwin, and John Rusnak. "The Architecture of Complex Systems: Do Core-periphery Structures Dominate?" Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 10-059, January 2010.
- February 2014 (Revised March 2022)
- Case
School Specialty, Inc.
By: Stuart C. Gilson and Kristin Mugford
Set in 2013, School Specialty was a financially troubled supplier of educational products to primary and secondary schools in the United States. The company planned to file Chapter 11 in order to address its excessive debt load, but needed to arrange... View Details
Keywords: School Specialty; Bankruptcy; Section 363; Financing; Chapter 11; Capital Structure; Financing and Loans; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Distribution Industry; Distribution Industry; United States
Gilson, Stuart C., and Kristin Mugford. "School Specialty, Inc." Harvard Business School Case 214-084, February 2014. (Revised March 2022.)
- March 1999 (Revised March 2004)
- Case
Georgian Glass and Mineral Water
Georgian Glass and Mineral Water (GGMW), was created in 1995 by a Georgian entrepreneur and Western investors in Georgia (former Soviet Union) to bottle and market the famous mineral water from the Borjomi valley. At the height of the Soviet Union's power, Borjomi was... View Details
Keywords: Privatization; Emerging Markets; Financing and Loans; Distribution Industry; Distribution Industry
Kuemmerle, Walter, and Chad S Ellis. "Georgian Glass and Mineral Water." Harvard Business School Case 899-081, March 1999. (Revised March 2004.)
- January 2011 (Revised January 2014)
- Case
Rebranding Gallagher
By: Rohit Deshpande and Keith Chi-ho Wong
Steve Tucker, the Deputy CEO of Gallagher Group Limited (GGL), the world's largest electric fence company, was about to present a new branding strategy to the company's senior managers and Bill Gallagher, Jr., CEO. After spending more than 18 months with brand... View Details
Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Distribution; Industrial Products Industry
Deshpande, Rohit, and Keith Chi-ho Wong. "Rebranding Gallagher." Harvard Business School Case 511-098, January 2011. (Revised January 2014.)
- Web
Technology & Innovation - Faculty & Research
production workers) are associated with more autonomy and a wider span of control. By contrast, communication technologies (like data networks) decrease autonomy for both workers and plant managers. Treating technology as endogenous using... View Details
- 04 Sep 2018
- First Look
New Research and Ideas, September 4, 2018
have been affected. Just a handful of these children were born in the U.S., where safety concerns were raised by Dr. Frances Oldham Kelsey, the medical officer handling the thalidomide application at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. However, the company hoping to... View Details
Keywords: Dina Gerdeman
- 08 Mar 2021
- In Practice
COVID Killed the Traditional Workplace. What Should Companies Do Now?
A year ago, COVID-19 forced many companies to send employees home—often with a laptop and a prayer. Now, with COVID cases subsiding and vaccinations rising, the prospect of returning to old office routines appears more possible. But will employees want to flock back to... View Details
Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman
- 03 Dec 2007
- Research & Ideas
Authenticity over Exaggeration: The New Rule in Advertising
The past 10 years have seen some level of this direct marketing model bear out. But according to an HBS working paper to be published in the Journal of Interactive Marketing, consumers are using technology to learn about marketers, rather than the other way around.... View Details
- 2012
- Working Paper
The Impact of Modularity on Intellectual Property and Value Appropriation
By: Carliss Y. Baldwin and Joachim Henkel
Modularity is a means of partitioning technical knowledge about a product or process. When state-sanctioned intellectual property rights are ineffective or costly to enforce, modularity can be used to hide information and thus protect intellectual property (IP). We... View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Joachim Henkel. "The Impact of Modularity on Intellectual Property and Value Appropriation." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 12-040, December 2011. (Revised November 2012.)
- 25 Jan 2021
- Book
In a Nutshell, Why American Capitalism Succeeded
How did the United States become the world’s center of business growth following its founding in 1776? Surely a number of nations had powerful natural resources, stable financial and legal institutions, and dynamic entrepreneurs over that same span. Why was American... View Details