Publications

June 2012
Case

Microsoft IT India

By: Willy C. Shih, Margaret Pierson, Alexander Down, William Gustave Jair-Shemuel Jurist, Diego Medicina and Helen Wang

Raj Biyani faced tough challenges managing Microsoft IT India: leading a remote development organization in which key decisions were made in Redmond, and managing an organization that was perceived as less strategic than its sister Microsoft India Development Center... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Development; Cross-functional Management; Foreign Subsidiaries; Strategy Alignment; Organizational Behavior; Indian Software Development; Global Distributed R＆D; Software Industry; Organizational Structure; Research and Development; Operations; Leadership; Globalized Firms and Management; Business Subsidiaries; Information Technology; Applications and Software; Technology Industry; India

November 2016 (Revised December 2016)
Module Note

Strategy Execution Module 14: Managing Strategic Risk

By: Robert Simons

This module reading provides an overview of the business conduct boundaries, strategic boundaries, and internal control systems used to manage risk. Boundary systems—linked to clear, enforceable sanctions—are essential whenever demanding performance goals are set and... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Strategy Execution; Boundary Systems; Innovation; Internal Controls; Fraud; Human Behavior; Staff Experts; Strategy; Risk Management; Behavior; Governance Controls; Management Practices and Processes; Boundaries; Employees; Business Strategy; Innovation and Invention

March 2019 (Revised July 2020)
Case

MoviePass: The 'Get Big Fast' Strategy

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel W. Fisher

In August 2017, MoviePass dramatically lowered its subscription price from $50 per month to just $10 for up to one movie per day. The idea was to rapidly scale the business to the point where they could generate incremental revenue streams from related businesses... View Details

Keywords: Market Entry; Growth Strategy; Profit Vs. Growth; Subscription Business; Cash Burn; Data Analytics; Get-big-fast; Buyer Power; Strategy Implementation; Movie Industry; Racing; Entrepreneurship; Market Entry and Exit; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; Value Creation; Disruption; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; United States

2016
Book

Strategy Beyond Markets

By: John de Figueiredo, Michael Lenox, Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Rick Vanden Bergh

Strategy beyond markets has been an active area of research inquiry since the early 1990s. Since its inception, the scholarship emanating from this research stream has grown substantially in quantity, quality, and breadth. Likewise, firms across the world have... View Details

Keywords: Strategy

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March 2019 (Revised March 2023)
Case

Accion's Fintech Strategy

By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Michael Chu and Tricia Gregg

Accion, an NGO, had been a pioneer in microfinance since its entry into that sector in the early 1970s. Its investments in Banco Compartamos paid off, when the microfinance bank went IPO in 2007, leaving an influx of $138 million for Accion. Under a new CEO, Michael... View Details

Keywords: Fintech; Impact Investing; Financial Inclusion; Technological Innovation; Strategy; Strategic Planning; Performance Effectiveness; Non-Governmental Organizations; Microfinance; Financial Institutions; Business Growth and Maturation; Customer Focus and Relationships; Industry Growth

November 1998
Article

Global Strategy and Its Impact on Local Operations: Lessons from Gillette Singapore

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Thomas D. Dretler

Keywords: Global Range; Strategy; Local Range; Operations; Learning; Production; Consumer Products Industry; Singapore

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16 Apr 2001
Research & Ideas

Strategy and the Internet

approach to competition becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Without a distinctive strategic direction, speed and flexibility lead nowhere. Either no unique competitive advantages are created, or improvements are generic and cannot be sustained. Having a View Details

Keywords: by Michael E. Porter

October 2016 (Revised February 2019)
Module Note

Strategy Execution Module 5: Building a Profit Plan

By: Robert Simons

This module reading describes how to build a profit plan to reflect the strategy of a business in economic terms. After introducing the profit wheel, cash wheel, and ROE wheel, the module illustrates how to use a profit plan to assess the viability of different... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Execution; Profit Planning; Cash Flow Analysis; Asset Utilization; Return On Equity; Business Planning; Testing Strategy; Analyzing Strategic Alternative; Strategy; Asset Management; Cash Flow; Investment Return; Management Systems; Profit

October 2011 (Revised March 2012)
Case

AQR's DELTA Strategy

By: Daniel Bergstresser, Lauren Cohen, Randolph B. Cohen and Christopher Malloy

In the summer of 2008, AQR Capital Management was considering the launch of a new hedge fund strategy. The proposed DELTA portfolio would offer investors exposure to a basket of nine major hedge fund strategies. The DELTA strategy would be innovative in two ways.... View Details

Keywords: Investment Portfolio; Investment Funds; Financial Strategy; Financial Services Industry

23 Oct 2018
News

Driving digital strategy

14 May 2012
News

Message to Managers: Your Strategy Is Not What You Say It Is

2019
Working Paper

Why Has Strategy Become Irrelevant? Understanding the Complete Strategy Landscape

By: David J. Collis

Developing the firm’s strategy was once seen as the most important task facing a CEO. Yet in the last 20 years, the practice of strategy has been relegated to a routinized function—part of the annual planning process, like performance management and succession planning... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Value Creation; Organizational Change and Adaptation

SSRN

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Teaching Interest

Strategy For Entrepreneurs

By: Rembrand M. Koning

Strategy for Entrepreneurs (SFE) helps students develop better strategies for the ventures they start, the startups they will join, and the new companies they might invest in. The course pushes students to write down a theory of value and then design and run... View Details

11 May 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Creating an R&D Strategy

Keywords: by Gary P. Pisano

February 2010
Module Note

Strategies of Influence

By: Deepak Malhotra

Strategies of Influence (SOI) is a stand-alone session that teaches students about the psychology of persuasion. Students are presented a series of mini-case vignettes, each of which illustrates a specific strategy that negotiators can use to make their ideas, offers,... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Management Teams; Negotiation; Groups and Teams; Power and Influence; Strategy

November 2016 (Revised December 2016)
Module Note

Strategy Execution Module 11: Using Diagnostic and Interactive Control Systems

By: Robert Simons

This module reading introduces diagnostic and interactive control systems. Diagnostic control systems are the management-by-exception systems that managers use to monitor the achievement of their business strategy. Interactive control systems are the systems that top... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Execution; Performance Measurement; Diagnostic Control Systems; Interactive Control Systems; Emergent Strategy; Goal Setting; Incentives; Strategy; Motivation and Incentives; Goals and Objectives; Management Systems; Performance Evaluation

March 1999 (Revised January 2005)
Case

Newell Company: Corporate Strategy

By: Cynthia A. Montgomery and Elizabeth Gordon

In 1998, Newell Co., a manufacturer of low-tech, high-volume consumer goods, acquired Calphalon Corp., a high-end cookware company, and Rubbermaid, a $2 billion manufacturer of consumer and commercial plastic products. The case focuses on Newell's strategy and its... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Consumer Products Industry

January 2006 (Revised February 2006)
Case

E.ON Corporate Strategy

By: Forest L. Reinhardt and Sebastian Frankenberger

Examines the corporate strategy of German energy giant E.ON. The firm is vertically integrated, horizontally diversified across electricity and natural gas, and active in numerous countries in Europe as well as in the United States. Explores the costs and benefits of... View Details

Keywords: Diversification; Vertical Integration; Corporate Strategy; Globalization; Energy Sources; Economics; Energy Industry; Germany; United States; Europe