Publications

01 Jun 2014
News

What’s Next

global work. My predecessor, Dean Kim B. Clark, adopted a strategy in the 1990s predicated on the belief that strengthening our international research was the most effective way of globalizing the School. He launched a number of regional... View Details

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

November 2002 (Revised May 2003)
Case

ConAgra Foods

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Ingrid Vargas

In 2002, ConAgra Foods CEO Bruce Rohde was deliberating the next steps in the process of transforming the company from an agribusiness giant to a value-added food processor. ConAgra had become the second largest food company and number one food service supplier in the... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Leading Change; Change Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Food; Agribusiness; Product; Business Processes; Management Teams; Expansion; Brands and Branding; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; United States

19 Mar 2006
Research & Ideas

Unlocking Your Investment Capital

replace it with a fixed-rate debt-like return that matches the risk characteristics of the pension liabilities. Since the typical large pension fund equity portfolio has a very high correlation with the general equity market returns, this... View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen; Financial Services

02 Aug 2004
Research & Ideas

Health Care Research and Prospects

is a lot other work at the school going on around these issues by many other faculty. For instance, Dave Scharfstein is doing great work on how capital market forces influence the development strategies of... View Details

Keywords: by Wendy Guild Swearingen; Health

February 2022
Case

Launching the Social

By: Tom Eisenmann, Lindsay N. Hyde and Tom Quinn

This case features the same protagonists as Ample Hills Creamery (HBS No. 822-073), and can be used as a continuation of that story.
Ample Hills Creamery started in 2010 as a temporary ice cream pushcart in Brooklyn, New York City. On the strength of inventive... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Small Business; Brands and Branding; Partners and Partnerships; Expansion

2018
Working Paper

Quantile Forecasts of Product Life Cycles Using Exponential Smoothing.

By: Xiaojia Guo, Kenneth C. Lichtendahl Jr. and Yael Grushka-Cockayne

We introduce an exponential smoothing model that a manager can use to forecast the demand of a new product or service. The model has five features that make it suitable for accurately forecasting product life cycles at scale. First, the trend in our model follows the... View Details

Keywords: New Product Development; Demand Forecasting; Product Adoption; Innovation Diffusion; Product Development; Demand and Consumers; Forecasting and Prediction; Adoption

SSRN

Read Now

December 2005 (Revised May 2009)
Case

C.R. Smith and the Birth of American Airlines

By: Anthony Mayo and Laura Gaie Singleton

Presents an overview of the path that C.R. Smith pursued to build American Airlines into one of the largest airlines in the world in the 20th century. Over the course of his 30-year tenure as president of American Airlines, Smith deployed a three-pronged... View Details

Keywords: Leadership Style; Growth and Development Strategy; Industry Growth; Operations; Air Transportation Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

17 Jul 2012
First Look

First Look: July 17

sole-sourcing decisions, and/or Renesas' market position as a producer of low-volume customized components, in the context of supply chain disaster recovery. The two OEM's had different strategies with... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

July 1999 (Revised January 2000)
Case

Yahoo!: Business on Internet Time

By: Jan W. Rivkin and Jay R. Girotto

In the wake of major competitive moves, CEO Tim Koogle and his senior team at Yahoo!, an Internet portal, must decide whether and how to adjust their strategy. Following deals between AOL and Netscape, Excite and @Home, Infoseek and Disney, and Snap and NBS, Yahoo!... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; Organizational Structure; Industry Structures; Internet and the Web; Risk Management; Technological Innovation; Business or Company Management; Information Technology Industry; Web Services Industry

January 2022
Supplement

Kornit Digital: The Amazon Warrants (C)

By: Benjamin C. Esty, E. Scott Mayfield and Daniel Fisher

As of 12/31/21, Amazon held $22 billion of equity and warrants in related companies. In fact, it often requests a free grant of warrants when it enters into a new commercial agreement with a supplier. Over the past 20 years, Amazon has gotten warrants almost 20... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Value Creation; Consumer Behavior; Negotiation; Distribution; Ownership; Partners and Partnerships; Business Strategy; Equity; Distribution Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

13 Oct 2003
Research & Ideas

How to Pick Managers for Disruptive Growth

this venture would encounter? Here are a few of the problems that we could know we would face: We know for sure that we aren't sure if our strategy is right—and yet we have to figure out the right strategy, develop consensus, and build a... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Raynor

28 Sep 2010
First Look

First Look: September 28, 2010

revolutionary functionality. We explore a second entry path that does not rely upon Schumpeterian innovation: platform envelopment. Through envelopment, a provider in one platform market can enter another platform market, combining its... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Apr 1998
News

HBS Alumni Association Board of Directors: President's Report

organizations large and small; Professor Michael E. Porter will offer his latest thinking on strategy and the need to move beyond simple "best practice" improvement to actually establishing a unique competitive position; Professor William... View Details

August 2007 (Revised November 2008)
Case

Biocon: Launching a New Cancer Drug in India

By: Sunil Gupta and Das Narayandas

Kiran Majumdar-Shaw, the CEO of Biocon has to make product launch timing, pricing, channel, and communications mix decisions relating to the launch of BioMAb, a new cancer drug in India. View Details

Keywords: Price; Health Care and Treatment; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Planning; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; India

January 1997 (Revised July 1998)
Case

Dendrite International (Condensed)

By: John A. Deighton

This version has been shortened to concentrate on the issue of managing a long selling process and long post-sale account relationship. The focus on the pharmaceutical industry in the United States, Europe, and Japan is preserved. Broader questions of expansion into... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Marketing Strategy; Product Development; Sales; Expansion; Chemical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Japan; Europe; United States

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February 2000 (Revised November 2002)
Case

QuickenInsurance: The Race to Click and Close (A)

By: Lynda M. Applegate

ES Technologies started in 1976 as a storefront in Tempe, Arizona selling personal computer kits to hobbyists. Twenty years later, revenues exceeded $3.5 billion, and the business had evolved from a computer store to a master reseller and full-line integrator of... View Details

Keywords: Customer Value and Value Chain; Entrepreneurship; Technological Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Industry Structures; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Information Technology; Information Technology Industry; Arizona

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January 2009 (Revised February 2010)
Case

Gucci Group in 2009

By: David B. Yoffie and Renee Kim

The Gucci Group had transformed itself into the world's third largest luxury retailer with multiple brands. The company had performed well even after the departure of star designer Tom Ford and former CEO Domenico De Sole. However, the challenging global economic times... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Brands and Branding; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Luxury; Corporate Strategy; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Retail Industry

February 1988
Case

Crown Cork & Seal Co., Inc. (Condensed)

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Richard S. Rosenbloom

A condensed version of Crown Cork & Seal Co., Inc. The principal changes are the elimination of details about the early history of the company and condensation of the final section, Outlook for the Future. View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Industry Growth; Environmental Sustainability; Business Strategy; Trends; Manufacturing Industry