Publications

14 Mar 2007
Op-Ed

Government’s Misguided Probe of Private Equity

capital." Now modern-day trustbusters have again launched an investigation into collusion in financial services, this time focusing on private-equity firms. The Justice Department is concerned that private-equity firms are teaming up View Details

Keywords: by Josh Lerner; Financial Services

19 May 2020
Research & Ideas

Why Privacy Protection Notices Turn Off Shoppers

privacy notice at checkout, with language drawn from actual notices used by Nordstrom and Macy’s; other’s didn’t. Asked to rate on a scale of 1 to 100 how likely they were to... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Retail

January 2003 (Revised March 2004)
Case

Silverado (A)

By: Jan W. Rivkin and Charles J. Woodard

Silverado has raised $50 million and launched its first product: an Internet-based trivia game with innovative software. In a highly uncertain environment, the young management team must decide whether to continue developing the product and whether to branch out into... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Technological Innovation; Strategic Planning; Internet and the Web; Decision Choices and Conditions; Product Launch; Business Strategy; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

07 Sep 2007
What Do You Think?

Are Elite Business Schools Fostering the Deprofessionalization of Management?

explanation was offered most provocatively by Tony Wanless, who commented that "B-schools are university cash cows, and the only way to justify their fees is to go where... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

02 Mar 2020
What Do You Think?

Are Candor, Humility, and Trust Making a Comeback?

success.” There were several nuanced responses that prompt the question in the title above. Arie Goldshlager commented that, “for every similar (example to that of the Commonwealth Bank) candor marketing... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

06 Mar 2012
First Look

First Look: March 6

U.S. corporations, which enjoy ready access to the deepest capital markets in the world. Venture capital, for example, and the public equity markets that support it, has... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

22 Mar 2017
Research & Ideas

What's the Ideal Frequency for a Sales Quota?

from a Field Experiment, authored by Harvard Business School marketing professors Doug J. Chung and Das Narayandas. “With so many people and resources at stake, the design of the sales force compensation plan becomes of great strategic... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

May 1994 (Revised September 1994)
Case

STAR TV (A)

By: Michael Y. Yoshino and J. Peter Williamson

Concerns the decision whether or not to launch a satellite television service in Asia in the 1990-1991 period. STAR TV was a joint venture between Hutchison Whampoa and Li-Ka Shing and was established to launch such a service. Li-Ka Shing's son, Richard, was CEO.... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Decisions; Product Launch; Service Delivery; Adaptation; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Asia; Europe; United States

20 Oct 2009
First Look

First Look: October 20

One method multinationals use to combat gray markets is to increase internal transfer prices to foreign subsidiaries in order View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

24 Feb 2014
Research & Ideas

Busting Six Myths About Customer Loyalty Programs

There are three ways to differentiate in retailing: location, location, and location. The problem is that as markets mature, location becomes less potent as a competitive advantage because the consumer has a... View Details

Keywords: by Marcel Corstjens & Rajiv Lal; Retail; Consumer Products

22 Nov 2019
Blog Post

Avant Ski Makes Turns in Ski Media Objectivity

extreme skiers, and we’re not a mommy blog,” said Widman. “We’re rolling out a whole line of content about multigeneration ski trips, how to get the kids involved, and how to do so without View Details

20 Feb 2006
HBS Case

Oprah: A Case Study Comes Alive

a unique perspective about leaders and leadership in the twenty-first century. "I think she's a great bellwether for the future of business," Koehn says. "Maybe she and her organization are on a path that a lot of leaders and organizations are View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Media & Broadcasting; Consumer Products; Entertainment & Recreation

March 2021
Article

Assortment Rotation and the Value of Concealment

By: Kris J. Ferreira and Joel Goh

Assortment rotation—the retailing practice of changing the assortment of products offered to customers—has recently been used as a competitive advantage for both brick-and-mortar and online retailers. We focus on product categories where consumers may purchase multiple... View Details

Keywords: Assortment Optimization; Retailing; Imperfect Information; Sales; Strategy; Consumer Behavior

Find at Harvard

20 Aug 2001
Research & Ideas

Making an Ally of Uncle Sam

experts have deemed this approach inadequate. As Pankaj Ghemawat notes: The emphasis on folding non-market considerations into the analysis of market relationships tends to focus on the effects of non-market... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Watkins, Mickey Edwards & Usha Thakrar

2009
Report

Clusters, Cluster Policy, and Swedish Competitiveness

By: Christian H.M. Ketels

Proximity enables firms to take advantage of knowledge spill-overs and exploit supplierdemand linkages with other entities engaged in related activities. Cluster strength thus seems to be one of the important determinants of prosperity differences across geographies.... View Details

Keywords: Policy; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Industry Clusters; Business and Government Relations; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Sweden

Read Now

June 2003
Case

Rise and Fall (?) of Palm Computing in Handheld Operating Systems,The

Describes the evolution of the handheld operating system market. Describes the rise to dominance of Palm's operating system and the significant challenge to that dominance posed by Microsoft's Windows CE. View Details

Keywords: Competition; Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Network Effects; Information Technology Industry; Computer Industry

May 2011 (Revised March 2012)
Case

InterfaceRAISE: Sustainability Consulting

By: Michael W. Toffel, Robert G. Eccles and Casey Taylor

InterfaceRAISE is a sustainability management consulting firm created to leverage the capabilities of its parent company Interface Inc., a carpet manufacturer recognized as a global leader in corporate environmental sustainability. This case illustrates the challenges... View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Integrated Corporate Reporting; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Entrepreneurship; Performance; Environmental Accounting; Profit; Marketing Strategy; Human Resources; Business Model; Leveraged Buyouts; Salesforce Management; Consulting Industry; Manufacturing Industry