Publications

February 2008 (Revised December 2023)
Case

Digital Music: From MP3 to Streaming

By: Willy Shih

The emergence of the MP3 file-based music format not only disrupted the market for portable audio players, it also impacted the business models of major record labels. Modularity, and the commoditization spillover enabled by modularity in the personal computer... View Details

Keywords: Recording; Digital Devices; Digital Media; Digital Music; Digital; Digital Economics; Consumer Electronics; Customer Value and Value Chain; Disruptive Innovation; Technological Innovation; Information Technology; Music Industry; Technology Industry; Electronics Industry; United States

2013
Working Paper

Entrepreneurs, Firms and Global Wealth since 1850

By: G. Jones

This working paper integrates the role of entrepreneurship and firms into debates on why Asia, Latin America and Africa were slow to catch up with the West following the Industrial Revolution and the advent of modern economic growth. It argues that the currently... View Details

SSRN

June 2015
Case

The Coca-Cola Company's Case for Creative Transformation

By: Thales S. Teixeira and Elizabeth Anne Watkins

In 2013, the Coca-Cola Company was awarded Creative Marketer of the Year by the Cannes Lions Festival (known as the "Oscar of Advertising") for the first time ever in history and nearly 50 years after the Festival's inception. Just one year before that, Jonathan... View Details

Keywords: Attention Economics; Creating Connections; Digital Marketing; Marketing Innovations; Social Networks; Advertising Content; Networked Brand; Beverage Industry; Coca-Cola; Digital Innovation; Digital Transition; Marketing; Marketing Communications; Innovation Strategy; Social and Collaborative Networks; Advertising; Creativity; Consumer Products Industry

April 1997 (Revised February 2002)
Case

Europe in 1996

By: Huw Pill and Effie Anagnostopoulos

Describes the process of economic and political integration in Europe in the period since 1945. The main issues discussed are: the common market; the single market; economic and monetary union; EU enlargement encompassing the former centrally planned economies; and EU... View Details

Keywords: Integration; Trade; Macroeconomics; Europe

Research Summary

Overview

We are studying the practical application of Michael Porter's value-based strategy to reform health care by examining best practices of integrated practice units, outcome measurement, cost measurement, value-based payment, episode based payment, regionalization of... View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Health Care Outcomes; Healthcare IT; Health Care Quality; Health Economics; Value Agenda; Information Technology; Mobile App; Big Data; Electronic Health Records; Pers; Value Creation; Information Technology Industry; United States

16 Apr 2001
Research & Ideas

Breaking the Code of Change

examining the strategies for change employed. Instead of this halfhearted approach, managers are better off picking a pure model: a clear Theory E approach with its benefits and costs or a pure Theory O approach with its benefits and costs. Theory E has as its purpose... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Beer & Nitin Nohria

15 Sep 2011
Research & Ideas

High Ambition Leadership

What is welcome and all too rare? Leaders who care about building great institutions, not just profits. What sets these leaders apart in their practice and outlook? Harvard Business School's Michael Beer in his new book, Higher Ambition: How Great Leaders Create View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

November 2015
Article

Multi-Sided Platforms

By: Andrei Hagiu and Julian Wright

We study the economic tradeoffs that drive organizations to position themselves closer to or further away from a multi-sided platform (MSP) business model, relative to three traditional alternatives: vertically integrated firms, resellers or input suppliers. These... View Details

Keywords: Two Sided Markets; Reseller; Multi-Sided Platforms; Vertical Integration

07 Aug 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, August 8, 2018

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=54819 Economic Integration and Democracy: An Empirical Investigation By: Magistretti, Giacomo, and Marco Tabellini Abstract—We study whether View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

2015
Working Paper

Multi-Sided Platforms

By: Andrei Hagiu and Julian Wright

We study the economic tradeoffs that drive organizations to position themselves closer to or further away from a multi-sided platform (MSP) business model, relative to three traditional alternatives: vertically integrated firms, resellers or input suppliers. These... View Details

Keywords: Two Sided Markets; Reseller; Business Model; Multi-Sided Platforms; Vertical Integration

01 Feb 2008
What Do You Think?

How Sustainable Is Sustainability in a For-Profit Organization?

sustainability is more achievable "if the concept is integrated into the business model at inception." And as Laura Howard put it, "This works best in small companies who can design their entire business and brand around a... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

2022
Book

Private Equity

By: Paul A. Gompers and Steven N. Kaplan

This Advanced Introduction provides an illustrative guide to private equity, integrating insights from academic research with examples to derive practical recommendations. Paul Gompers and Steven Kaplan begin by reviewing the history of private equity then exploring... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Investment Funds; Value Creation

2010
Working Paper

The New Face of Chinese Industrial Policy: Making Sense of Anti-Dumping Cases in the Petrochemical and Steel Industries

By: Regina Abrami and Yu Zheng

Why have China's petrochemical and steel industries behaved so differently in seeking trade protection through antidumping measures? We argue that the patterning of antidumping actions is best explained in terms of the political economy of economic restructuring in... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Price; Policy; Business and Government Relations; Competition; Chemical Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Steel Industry; China

March 2009 (Revised January 2025)
Background Note

A Strait of Uncertainty: Taiwan's Development in the Shadow of China

By: William C. Kirby, J. Megan Greene, Tracy Yuen Manty, Daniel Fu, Yuanzhuo Wang, Noah B. Truwit and Aqib Zakaria

Relations between the People’s Republic of China (PRC), on the Chinese Mainland, and the Republic of China (ROC), on Taiwan, had improved significantly since 2008. Taiwan investment in China had played a major role in China’s economic boom in recent decades. ... View Details

Keywords: History; Development Economics; Investment; Economic Growth; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Financial Crisis; China; Taiwan

March 2002 (Revised January 2010)
Case

BP and the Consolidation of the Oil Industry, 1998-2002

By: Forest L. Reinhardt, Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and David J Hanson

Examines the economics of the oil and gas industry with a focus on 1998 through 2001. Discusses the rationale behind using a growth in scale as a means to increase profitability and to gain competitive advantage. Also examines the classic strategic implications of... View Details

Keywords: Non-Renewable Energy; Growth and Development Strategy; Industry Structures; Competitive Advantage; Consolidation; Horizontal Integration; Vertical Integration; Energy Industry

February 2008 (Revised July 2008)
Case

Wanxiang Group: A Chinese Company's Global Strategy

By: Regina M. Abrami, William C. Kirby, F. Warren McFarlan, Keith Chi-ho Wong and Tracy Manty

With an almost forty-year history as a business in China, the Wanxiang Group has navigated through the significantly different political and economic changes in China to succeed as a global leader in the auto parts industry and to develop into a broad business... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Conglomerates; Global Strategy; Business History; Growth and Development Strategy; Vertical Integration; Auto Industry; Hangzhou; United States

August 2002 (Revised December 2003)
Case

Italy: A New Commitment to Growth

By: Richard H.K. Vietor and Rebecca Evans

Examines Italy's efforts to comply with the Maastricht Treaty and become integrated with Europe in the European Union. By 2002, Italy has achieved macroeconomic stability, but slow growth threatens the country's future competitiveness. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi... View Details

Keywords: Macroeconomics; Economic Growth; Competitive Strategy; Integration; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Government and Politics; Globalized Economies and Regions; International Relations; Alliances; Italy; European Union

15 Jul 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Trade Policy and Firm Boundaries

Keywords: by Laura Alfaro, Paola Conconi, Harald Fadinger & Andrew F. Newman

May 1999 (Revised December 2003)
Case

European Monetary Union

By: Richard H.K. Vietor and Sabina M. Ciminero

On January 1, 1999, 11 European countries unified their currencies--48 years after their first integrative efforts. This marks a huge development in the structure of Europe and the world's economy. This case examines the integrative process, the Single Europe Act and... View Details

Keywords: Money; Currency; Globalized Economies and Regions; Markets; International Relations; Alliances; System; Integration; Macroeconomics; Business and Government Relations; European Union