Filter Results:
(125)
Show Results For
- All HBS Web (125)
- Faculty Publications (83)
Show Results For
- All HBS Web (125)
- Faculty Publications (83)
- February 2018 (Revised January 2020)
- Case
SoulCycle: The Road Ahead
By: Ashish Nanda, Eric Van den Steen and Jeffrey Boyar
Julie Rice and Elizabeth Cutler founded SoulCycle, an indoor cycling studio chain, in 2006 as more than a health club; they wanted it to become a lifestyle brand that would “empower riders in an immersive fitness experience.” By early 2015, SoulCycle had grown to 38... View Details
Keywords: Fitness; Fitness Industry; Exercise; Cycling; Boutique Fitness; Exit Strategy; Growth; Bicycles; Retail; Pricing; Community; SoulCycle; Vision; Health; Leadership; Strategy; Marketing; Decision Making; Health Industry; United States
Nanda, Ashish, Eric Van den Steen, and Jeffrey Boyar. "SoulCycle: The Road Ahead." Harvard Business School Case 718-499, February 2018. (Revised January 2020.)
- Article
The Strategy in Competitive Interactions
This paper reviews, discusses, and expands the “core guidance” definition of strategy as “the smallest set of choices to optimally guide (or force) other choices.” It first discusses what this definition contributes to the existing proposed definitions. It then... View Details
Keywords: Strategy Formulation; Strategy Definition; Strategy; Competition; Analysis; Competitive Strategy; Decision Making
Van den Steen, Eric J. "The Strategy in Competitive Interactions." Strategy Science 3, no. 4 (December 2018): 574–591.
- Article
On the Origin of Shared Beliefs (and Corporate Culture)
This article shows how corporate culture, in the sense of shared beliefs and values, originates (often unintentionally) through screening, self-sorting, and manager-directed joint learning. It shows that such culture will be stronger among more important employees and... View Details
Keywords: Organizational Culture; Learning; Values and Beliefs; Employees; Decisions; Power and Influence; Performance; Perspective
Van den Steen, Eric J. "On the Origin of Shared Beliefs (and Corporate Culture)." RAND Journal of Economics 41, no. 4 (Winter 2010): 617–648.
- March 2010
- Article
Interpersonal Authority in a Theory of the Firm
This paper develops a theory of the firm in which a firm's centralized asset ownership and low-powered incentives give the manager, as an equilibrium outcome, interpersonal authority over employees (in a world with open disagreement). The paper thus provides... View Details
Keywords: Theory; Assets; Ownership; Motivation and Incentives; Governance Controls; Power and Influence; Projects; Perspective; Employees
Van den Steen, Eric J. "Interpersonal Authority in a Theory of the Firm." American Economic Review 100, no. 1 (March 2010): 466–490.
- 2007
- Working Paper
Interpersonal Authority in a Theory of the Firm
This paper develops a theory of the firm in which a firm's centralized asset ownership and low-powered incentives give a manager 'interpersonal authority' over employees (in a world with differing priors). The paper derives such interpersonal authority as... View Details
Keywords: Governance Controls; Employee Relationship Management; Managerial Roles; Motivation and Incentives; Boundaries; Theory
Van den Steen, Eric J. "Interpersonal Authority in a Theory of the Firm." Sloan School of Management Working Paper, No. 4667-07, July 2007. (Available at SSRN.)
- September 2004
- Article
Rational Overoptimism (and Other Biases)
Rational agents with differing priors tend to be overoptimistic about their chances of success. In particular, an agent who tries to choose the action that is most likely to succeed, is more likely to choose an action of which he overestimated, rather than... View Details
Keywords: Prejudice and Bias; Decision Choices and Conditions; Performance Expectations; Outcome or Result; Opportunities; Risk and Uncertainty; Failure; Success; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Personal Characteristics; Values and Beliefs; Ethics
Van den Steen, Eric J. "Rational Overoptimism (and Other Biases)." American Economic Review 94, no. 4 (September 2004): 1141–1151.
- 2006
- Working Paper
On the Origin of Shared Beliefs (and Corporate Culture)
This paper shows why members of an organization often share similar beliefs. I argue that there are two mechanisms. First, when performance depends on making correct decisions, people prefer to work with others who share their beliefs and assumptions, since such... View Details
Van den Steen, Eric J. "On the Origin of Shared Beliefs (and Corporate Culture)." Sloan School of Management Working Paper, No. 4553-05, January 2006. (Available at SSRN.)
- Article
Organizational Beliefs and Managerial Vision
Can managers have an impact on their firm that goes beyond their direct actions and decisions? This article shows that a manager with strong beliefs about the right course of action will attract, through sorting in the labor market, employees with similar beliefs. This... View Details
Keywords: Organizations; Goals and Objectives; Decisions; Labor; Markets; Employees; Motivation and Incentives; Recruitment; Risk and Uncertainty; Values and Beliefs
Van den Steen, Eric J. "Organizational Beliefs and Managerial Vision." Journal of Law, Economics & Organization 21, no. 1 (April 2005): 256–283. (Reprinted in The Economics of Organisation and Bureaucracy, Peter M. Jackson (ed.), Edward Elgar (Cheltenham, UK), 2013.)
- Web
Creating and Sustaining Competitive Advantage - Course Catalog
HBS Course Catalog Creating and Sustaining Competitive Advantage Course Number 1285 Professor Eric J. Van den View Details
- June 2013 (Revised November 2022)
- Exercise
Competition Simulator Exercise
In the Competition Simulator Exercise, students explore through trial and error some important economic foundations of competitive strategy and managerial economics. In particular, the nine simulator exercises let students explore horizontal differentiation with and... View Details
Keywords: Competition; Economics; Game Theory; Competitive Strategy; Learning; Mathematical Methods; Analysis
Van den Steen, Eric J. "Competition Simulator Exercise." Harvard Business School Exercise 713-804, June 2013. (Revised November 2022.)
- 2009
- Working Paper
Culture Clash: The Costs and Benefits of Homogeneity
This paper develops an economic theory of the costs and benefits of corporate culture—in the sense of shared beliefs and values—in order to study the effects of "culture clash" in mergers and acquisitions. I first use a simple analytical framework to show that shared... View Details
Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Cost vs Benefits; Values and Beliefs; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Motivation and Incentives; Theory
Van den Steen, Eric J. "Culture Clash: The Costs and Benefits of Homogeneity." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 10-003, July 2009.
- Web
Events - Business History
Abdelal (HBS) May 28 28 May 2021 BUSINESS HISTORY REVIEW: SPECIAL ISSUE WORKSHOP “Business and Slavery” Marlous van Waijenburg and Sophus Reinert (HBS), sponsoring faculty Presentations by Justene Hill... View Details
- March 2014
- Technical Note
Drivers of Value Creation
This note introduces a concise but comprehensive framework for analyzing value creation and value creation advantage, i.e., a firm's superior ability to increase the spread (or gap) between its offering's customer value (or WTP) and supplier cost (or WTS). (While the... View Details
Van den Steen, Eric. "Drivers of Value Creation." Harvard Business School Technical Note 714-487, March 2014.
- June 2013 (Revised March 2014)
- Teaching Note
Bananas (A) and (B)
- June 2012 (Revised December 2017)
- Technical Note
Strategy and Strategic Decisions
This note introduces a framework for formulating strategy that helps a manager identify which decisions are strategic—and thus which decisions to focus on (both when developing strategy and when executing it)—and that provides a practical test for whether a particular... View Details
Keywords: Formulating Strategy; Strategic Theory; Strategy Test; Strategic Analysis; Strategy; Theory; Strategic Planning
Van den Steen, Eric. "Strategy and Strategic Decisions." Harvard Business School Technical Note 712-500, June 2012. (Revised December 2017.)
- December 2011 (Revised April 2013)
- Supplement
Akamai's Edge (B)
In 2009, Paul Sagan, CEO of Akamai, the leading online content delivery network with a 60% market share, needs to decide how to respond to aggressive market entry, whether and how to pursue the explosive growth in online video, and whether to stay with Akamai's... View Details
Van den Steen, Eric. "Akamai's Edge (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 712-456, December 2011. (Revised April 2013.)
- December 2011 (Revised April 2013)
- Case
Akamai's Edge (A)
In 2009, Paul Sagan, CEO of Akamai, the leading online content delivery network with a 60% market share, needs to decide how to respond to aggressive entry in its market, whether and how to pursue the explosive growth in online video, and whether to stay with its... View Details
Keywords: Competitive Advantage; Market Entry and Exit; Business Model; Competitive Strategy; Values and Beliefs; Business Strategy; Internet
Van den Steen, Eric. "Akamai's Edge (A)." Harvard Business School Case 712-455, December 2011. (Revised April 2013.)
- March 2014
- Teaching Note
Tesla Motors
In mid-2013, Tesla Motors was riding a wave of success: It had launched its first really mass-produced car—the model S—to rave reviews, had recently raised first-year production targets, and had started taking orders for its next car, the Model X. Tesla seemed to be on... View Details
- January 2017 (Revised February 2022)
- Background Note
Assessing and Enhancing Market Attractiveness
This note gives students a systematic and comprehensive framework for analyzing and influencing market attractiveness. It pays explicit attention to value creation, complements, and the dynamics of market attractiveness. It also includes careful sub-frameworks for... View Details
Van den Steen, Eric. "Assessing and Enhancing Market Attractiveness." Harvard Business School Background Note 717-466, January 2017. (Revised February 2022.)
- March 2014
- Technical Note
Performance and Value Analysis
This note introduces the Performance and Value Analysis (PVA) framework, an integrated framework to analyze strategic performance (i.e., performance corrected for temporary and random effects). This framework (quantitatively) decomposes a firm's performance into 3... View Details
Keywords: Strategic Analysis; Economic Analysis; Sustainable Competitive Advantage; Value Capture; Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Strategic Planning; Competitive Strategy; Competency and Skills; Competition; Value Creation
Van den Steen, Eric. "Performance and Value Analysis." Harvard Business School Technical Note 714-490, March 2014.