Publications

03 Sep 2013
First Look

First Look: September 3

profitability. Using a sample of 42,337 unique firms from 49 countries, we find that corporate profitability mean reverts faster in countries where product and capital markets are more competitive. Moreover, holding constant product, capital, and labor market View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

John L. Collyer

In 1940, Collyer brought to market the first tire with a substantial man-made rubber content. Goodrich’s tire was 50% synthetic rubber at a time when man-made rubber was not yet cost competitive with crude rubber. However, shortly... View Details

Keywords: Automotive & Aerospace

August 1986
Article

Global High-tech Sangyou: Kawaritsutsu aru Kyousou no Gensoku (Global High-tech Industries: Changing Paradigms of Competition)

By: Hirotaka Takeuchi

Keywords: Business Ventures; Competition

Find at Harvard

April 1995 (Revised July 1995)
Case

Power Play (B): Sega in 16-bit Video Games

Home video-game systems were pioneered by the U.S. company Atari in the mid-1970s. After going through boom and bust in the early 1980s, the industry was resurrected in the mid-1980s by the Japanese company Nintendo. With its 8-bit video-game system, Nintendo... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Competition; Video Game Industry; Japan; United States

2000
Book

Can Japan Compete?

By: Michael E. Porter, Hirotaka Takeuchi and M. Sakakibara

The result of a major piece of research, this book reveals that there have long been two Japans, the familiar one that was highly competitive, and another Japan, almost invisible, that was highly uncompetitive. The authors unravel this puzzle, and provide a solution... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Economy; Japan

29 Sep 2015
News

Harvard Study Highlights Business, Education 'Game Changer'

28 Sep 2015
News

Harvard Researchers Envison Better Business, Nonprofit Cooperation in K-12

01 Jun 2012
News

Bringing ‘Global’ Back Home

be flexible in, a complex and evolving competitive environment. They need decisiveness—the ability to act with appropriate urgency and scale on key business issues. And, most importantly, global leaders need to be extremely good at... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons; Transportation Equipment Manufacturing; Manufacturing

Vincent C. Ziegler

position in the highly competitive shaving arena. He also introduced the Cricket Lighter (one of the fastest growing new product introductions in Gillette history) and acquired selected non-toiletry companies to diversify Gillette’s... View Details

Keywords: Personal Care & Home Products

Portrait Project

John Brown

failure. I've been rejected by some of the finest educational institutions and most prestigious companies in the world. I've lost public competitions like student elections in front of my friends and peers and been beaten on the football... View Details

01 Sep 2011
News

Every Gift Counts

Salem, continued to set the pace for 20th Reunion classes by raising more than $3 million, with 64 percent participation. The big story, though, came from Sections A and F—both of which achieved 100 percent participation! With Section F the first to claim victory,... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

01 Sep 2005
News

Flying High

regulatory issues, as well as intense competition from Europe’s Airbus. “The task here is growth,” said McNerney of his new assignment at Chicago-based Boeing. “That’s the thing we’ve got to get right over the next couple of years”... View Details

Keywords: Air Transportation; Transportation

05 Feb 2001
What Do You Think?

Do MBA Programs Face “The Innovator’s Dilemma”?

content ... [with] aggregation and interpretation of knowledge [as] ... their core competency," all of which gives them significant competitive advantages in the educational market. However, this doesn't mean that onsite programs can... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

William R. Hearst

Beginning with the San Francisco Examiner in 1887, Hearst used aggressive acquisition techniques to build a publishing empire. His acquisition of the New York Journal in 1895 set the stage for fierce competition with cross-town rival... View Details

Keywords: Publishing & Print Media

October 2023
Case

Fixie and Conversational AI Sidekicks

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Carin-Isabel Knoop

In March 2023, Fixie Co-Founder and Chief Architect Matt Welsh and co-founders had the kind of meeting no founders want to have. The president of leading artificial intelligence (AI) research and deployment firm OpenAI, which had catapulted into fame with its ChatGPT... View Details

Keywords: Large Language Model; Entrepreneurship; Decision Choices and Conditions; AI and Machine Learning; Technological Innovation; Competitive Strategy; Technology Industry; United States

October 18, 2021
Article

To Regulate Network-Based Platforms, Look at Their Data

By: Chiara Farronato and Daniel Björkegren

Historically, antitrust authorities have taken a laissez-faire approach under the assumption that it is better to err on the side of not intervening when there is uncertainty. This has allowed companies like Google and Facebook to go on a shopping spree to acquire... View Details

Keywords: Antitrust Issues And Policies; Risk and Uncertainty; Digital Platforms; Competitive Advantage; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Innovation and Invention; Information Technology Industry

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Read Now

August 2010 (Revised March 2012)
Case

The UCLA Medical Center: Kidney Transplantation

By: Michael E. Porter, Jennifer F Baron, Jacob Mathew Chacko and Robin Jian Tang

In 2010, organ transplantation remained among the few sets of medical conditions in the U.S. for which bundled payments were a dominant reimbursement model, and for which patient health outcomes were universally measured and reported. In 1986, UCLA Medical Center was... View Details

Keywords: Insurance; Health Care and Treatment; Health Disorders; Measurement and Metrics; Outcome or Result; Competitive Strategy; Integration; Health Industry; California

January 2005 (Revised August 2005)
Case

Changing Times at the NBA

By: Thomas J. DeLong, Tonika Cheek-Clayton and Daniel Reed

David Stern, commissioner of the National Basketball Association (NBA), faces myriad challenges: globalization of product, young players entering the league, loss of fan base, etc. Stern must put together a plan for the Board of Governors that confronts these... View Details

Keywords: Business Plan; Governing and Advisory Boards; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Problems and Challenges; Sports; Competitive Strategy

February 1998 (Revised May 1998)
Case

Merck-Medco: Vertical Integration in the Pharmaceutical Industry

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Marie Bell

Records the analyses and actions taken by Merck Pharmaceuticals in its acquisition of Medco, a channel intermediary (called "pharmacy benefit manager"). While many of its competitors seem to be faring poorly, Merck seems to have managed the Medco integration superbly. View Details

Keywords: Vertical Integration; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Competitive Strategy; Marketing Channels; Mergers and Acquisitions; Pharmaceutical Industry