Publications

SSRN

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February 2001
Case

Sun Microsystems, Inc.: Solaris Strategy

In the late 1990s, Sun Microsystems' Solaris has emerged as the dominant UNIX-based alternative to Microsoft for server operating systems. At the same time, the open source operating system Linux has appeared unexpectedly, and it is generating significant excitement... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Competition; Open Source Distribution; Standards

June 2008
Case

From xiaonei to hainei: The Quest for the Social Networking Service Market in China

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III, Michael Shih-Ta Chen and Keith Chi-ho Wong

Wang Xing, the founder of Hainei.com, one of the fastest growing social networking service (SNS) providers in China, was preparing to raise funds from venture capitalists. Since late 2003, Wang had established several Internet startups in China. Xiaonei.com, which he... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Social and Collaborative Networks; Competition; Internet; China

Web

The New Role for Government & NGOs - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

For example, the Kenyan government modified banking regulations, which supported the launch and expansion of a revolutionary mobile phone-based money transfer and loan service... View Details

February 2018 (Revised October 2019)
Case

HubSpot and Motion AI: Chatbot-Enabled CRM

By: Jill Avery and Thomas Steenburgh

HubSpot, an inbound marketing, sales, and customer relationship management (CRM) software provider, announced that it had acquired Motion AI, a software platform that enabled companies to easily build and deploy chatbots, fueled by artificial intelligence, to interact... View Details

2020
Working Paper

How to Build Enduring Brands in the Digital Age

By: David J. Collis and William Collis

What makes a brand last? It’s a deceptively simple question, but its answer separates sustainable success from eventual obscurity. Almost every company devotes significant resources to defining their brand. But few ask the more important question: how to... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Adaptation; Strategy

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January 2023 (Revised February 2024)
Teaching Note

Perfect Diary (完美日记)

By: Shunyuan Zhang and Sunil Gupta

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 522-030. View Details

Keywords: Digital Marketing; E-commerce; E-Commerce Strategy; Marketing; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; China

March 2023 (Revised August 2023)
Case

Majid Al Futtaim: Adapting the Shopping Mall to the Digital Era

By: Antonio Moreno and Gamze Yucaoglu

The case opens in August 2022, as Ahmed Galal Ismail, CEO of Majid Al Futtaim Properties and Fatima Zada, digital and omnichannel director at Majid Al Futtaim Shopping Malls, go over the plans to roll out the omnichannel mall offering for the Mall of the Emirates they... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Strategy; Information Technology; Technology Adoption; Value Creation; Competition; Expansion; Profit; Corporate Strategy; Retail Industry; Real Estate Industry; United Arab Emirates

2008
Book

Ownership Quotient: Putting the Service Profit Chain to Work for Unbeatable Competitive Advantage

By: James L. Heskett, W. Earl Sasser Jr. and Joe Wheeler

Hundreds of large organizations worldwide have used the groundbreaking Service Profit Chain to improve business performance. Now The Ownership Quotient reveals the next generation of the chain: customer and employee "owners" of your business. Employee-owners exhibit... View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Customer Ownership; Employee Ownership; Competitive Advantage; Value Creation

May 2018 (Revised July 2018)
Case

EY China (A): Strengthening Presence in a Critical Market

By: Ashish Nanda, Das Narayandas and Lisa Rohrer

Soon after being named regional managing partner for Ernst & Young (EY) China in September 2009, Albert Ng reflects on the enormity of challenges facing EY China. Despite EY Global's commitment to the China practice, EY China’s growth agenda has been reversed, post... View Details

Keywords: Professional Services; International Management; Big Four; Strategy And Execution; Emerging Market; Strategy; Leadership; Global Range; Growth and Development Strategy; Emerging Markets; Accounting Industry; China

June 2015 (Revised October 2016)
Case

Denver Museum of Nature & Science

By: Jill Avery and Jim Rosenberg

Digital was on Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Programs Bridget Coughlin's mind these days. DMNS had been dabbling in digital for the past few years, but had never fully committed to it. The time had come to establish a strategic vision, and to decide... View Details

Keywords: Digital; Nonprofit; Arts; Education; Marketing; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Nonprofit Organizations; Social Media; Education Industry; North America; United States

July–August 2016
Article

Stick to the Strategy or Make the Sale?: A Manufacturer of High-tech Streetlights Considers an Exception to Its New Subscription Model

By: Mitchell Weiss

A manufacturer of high-tech streetlights considers an exception to its new subscription model. A fictionalized case study based on the HBS Case 816-005, "Bigbelly," by Mitchell Weiss and Christine Snively. This case is an example of public entrepreneurship. View Details

Keywords: Public Entrepreneurship; Smart Cities; Anything As A Service; Xaas; Bigbelly; Entrepreneurship

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September 2016
Teaching Note

Apple Pay

By: Shelle Santana and Sunil Gupta

February 2024
Case

Adventures Inc: 21st Century Brand Building

By: Boris Groysberg and Sarah L. Abbott

Founded in 2020, Adventures worked with celebrities in Brazil to create and launch digitally native brands. The idea was to match the celebrity’s skill in creating content and entertaining fans with Adventures’ skill in consumer packaged goods marketing and operations.... View Details

Keywords: Digital Brand; Influencer Marketing; Growth And Scaling; Capital Constraints; Brand Portfolio Strategy; CPG; Start-up; Celebrity Endorsement; Digital Marketing; Growth and Development Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Advertising; Social Media; Business Startups; Joint Ventures; Brands and Branding; Brazil

24 Apr 2014
News

Improving the service experience requires excellence—but not in everything

Everyone knows what bad service feels like—and that’s something Frances Frei, Professor at HBS, wants to fix. Making the service experience better for everyone, from customers to employees, begins with... View Details

10 May 2022
News

The Digital Mindset: What It Really Takes to Thrive in the Age of Data, Algorithms, and AI

February 2021
Case

Yellow Digital Retailers: Providing Solar Electricity to Transform Rural Africa

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Frank V. Cespedes and Michael Norris

In 2020, Mike Heyink and Maya Stewart, co-founders of the Pay-as-you-Go Solar company Yellow were considering how to grow their startup. They had achieved some success in their first market, Malawi, and had recently entered Uganda, where business was slower. What did... View Details

Keywords: Solar Energy; Business Model; Business Startups; Developing Countries and Economies; Alternative Energy; Renewable Energy; Social Entrepreneurship; Green Technology; Salesforce Management; Diversification; Expansion; Energy Industry; Africa; South Africa; Malawi; Uganda

May 2018 (Revised July 2018)
Supplement

EY China (B): An Emerging Giant

By: Ashish Nanda, Das Narayandas and Lisa Rohrer

The case outlines how regional managing partner (RMP) Albert Ng steered Ernst & Young (EY) China through a period of significant growth from 2009, when it was the smallest of the Big Four firms in China, to 2017, by when it had become the second largest firm. Partners... View Details

Keywords: Professional Services; International Management; Big Four; Strategy And Execution; Emerging Market; Strategy; Growth Management; Leadership; Global Range; Emerging Markets; Competitive Strategy; Accounting Industry; China