Publications

January 2008 (Revised August 2009)
Module Note

Competing through Business Models (A)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Joan E. Ricart

This note defines the concepts of business model and the value loop. It also introduces business model representations and proposes four tests for evaluating business models in isolation. This is the first note in a series of three written for the HBS elective course... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Competitive Strategy; Value

16 Jul 2001
Research & Ideas

How to Compete Like a Judo Strategist

judo strategists plan two to three years into the future, looking beyond today's pressures and problems to the challenges that lie ahead. Executives at Inktomi, eBay, and Palm all maintain that long-term planning is necessary, even when View Details

Keywords: by David B. Yoffie & Mary Kwak

Teaching Interest

Competing in the Age of Digital Platforms

By: Andy Wu

Without exception, the most valuable companies in the world today are platforms: Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook, and many other firms have built their fortunes by facilitating innovation across global ecosystems or enabling the broad exchange of goods... View Details

Article

The Business of Business Schools: Restoring a Focus on Competing to Win

By: Robert Simons

As business leaders worry about the decline of American competitiveness, business schools are responding by changing their curriculums. But are the topics and approaches taught in today's business schools part of the solution or part of the problem? In this paper, I... View Details

Keywords: Business Schools; Purpose Of Business Schools; Management Education; Business School Curriculum; Strategy Execution; U.S. Competitiveness; Capitalism; Management Profession; Innovation; Competing To Win; Integrated Corporate Reporting; Trends; Customer Focus and Relationships; Decision Making; Design; Business Education; Curriculum and Courses; Innovation and Management

Read Now

January 2017 (Revised November 2018)
Case

Navistar International: Competing Against PACCAR

By: Benjamin Esty, Eric Van den Steen and Jeffrey Boyar

In 2013, Navistar was in the midst of a deep crisis, having lost a third of its market share over the previous three years. Bill Kozek, the new president of Navistar North America Truck and Sales division needs to develop his division’s strategy as part of the... View Details

Keywords: Business Strategy; Alignment; Competitive Advantage; Segmentation; Transportation Industry; Motorcycle Industry

Educators

June 2010
Article

Leadership Competencies for Implementing Planned Organizational Change

By: Julie Battilana, Mattia Gilmartin, Anne-Claire Pache, Metin Sengul and Jeffrey A. Alexander

This paper bridges the leadership and organizational change literatures by exploring the relationship between managers' leadership competencies (namely, their effectiveness at person-oriented and task-oriented behaviors) and the likelihood that they will emphasize the... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Competency and Skills; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Planning; Relationships; Business Processes; Projects; Theory; Change; Behavior; Health Industry; United Kingdom

January–February 2020
Article

Competing in the Age of AI

By: Marco Iansiti and Karim R. Lakhani

Today’s markets are being reshaped by a new kind of firm—one in which artificial intelligence (AI) runs the show. This cohort includes giants like Google, Facebook, and Alibaba, and growing businesses such as Wayfair and Ocado. Every time we use their services, the... View Details

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Algorithms; Technological Innovation; Business Model; Competition; Competitive Strategy; AI and Machine Learning

October 2018
Article

Competing with Complementors: An Empirical Look at Amazon.com

By: Feng Zhu and Qihong Liu

Platform owners sometimes enter complementors' product spaces to compete against them directly. Prior studies have offered two possible explanations for such entries: platform owners may target the most successful complementors so as to appropriate value from their... View Details

Keywords: Amazon; Complementors; Co-opetition; Entry; Platform-based Markets; Competition; Digital Platforms; Competitive Strategy

Read Now

May 14 2021
Short Film

Competing in the Age of AI

Teaching Interest

Competing in the Age of Digital Platforms—(Executive Education)

By: David B. Yoffie

Summary

Without exception, the most valuable companies in the world today are platforms. Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook, and many other firms have built their fortunes by facilitating innovation across global ecosystems or... View Details

Keywords: Platforms; Technology; Strategy; Digital Business; Social Networks; Self-driving Cars; Mobile Gaming; Esports; Financial Services; Online Retail; Ride-sharing; Search; Auctions; United States; Asia; China; Europe

November 2011
Article

Competing Matchmakers: An Experimental Analysis

By: Tanjim Hossain, Dylan B. Minor and John Morgan

Platform competition is ubiquitous, yet platform market structure is little understood. Theory models typically suffer from equilibrium multiplicity—platforms might coexist or the market might tip to either platform. We use laboratory experiments to study the outcomes... View Details

Keywords: Platform Competition; Two-Sided Markets; E-commerce; Competition; Two-Sided Platforms; Monopoly

March 2013 (Revised March 2013)
Course Overview Note

Competing with Social Networks: Overview

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski

September 2009 (Revised March 2010)
Module Note

Competing Through Business Models (D)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Taylor Philip Larson

This note was prepared to aid students in the EC course "Competing through Business Models." View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Competitive Strategy

November 2015 (Revised August 2016)
Case

Unilever's New Global Strategy: Competing through Sustainability

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

In January 2009, when Paul Polman was appointed CEO of Unilever, he inherited a company in long-term decline at the beginning of a major global financial crisis. As the first outsider ever recruited to lead the company, Polman lost little time in challenging the... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Competitive Strategy; Environmental Sustainability; Consumer Products Industry

Educators

May 2001
Supplement

Microsoft: Competing on Talent (B)

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Meg Glinska

Supplements the (A) case. View Details