Publications

April 2012
Article

Broadening Focus: Spillovers, Complementarities and Specialization in the Hospital Industry

By: Jonathan R. Clark and Robert S. Huckman

The long-standing argument that focused operations outperform others stands in contrast to claims about the benefits of broader operational scope. The performance benefits of focus are typically attributed to reduced complexity, lower uncertainty, and the development... View Details

Keywords: Performance Capacity; Operations; Advertising; Production; Corporate Strategy; Relationships; Medical Specialties; Complexity; Risk and Uncertainty; Experience and Expertise; Diversification; Quality; Health Industry

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2012
Chapter

Firing Your Best Customers: How Smart Firms Destroy Relationships Using CRM

By: Jill Avery and Susan Fournier

With incidences in the 20%–25% range, the practice of firing customers has become increasingly attractive as firms try to maximize the lifetime value of their customer portfolios. This chapter traces the relationship trajectory of a 30-year customer of Filene's... View Details

Keywords: Brands; Brand Management; CRM; Customer Relationship Management; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customers; Marketing; Brands and Branding; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Products Industry

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

March–April 2012
Article

The Rise and Fall of Small Worlds: Exploring the Dynamics of Social Structure

By: Ranjay Gulati, Maxim Sytch and Adam Tatarynowicz

This paper explores the interplay between social structure and economic action by examining some of the evolutionary dynamics of an emergent network that coalesces into a small-world system. The study highlights the small-world system's evolutionary dynamics at both... View Details

Keywords: Culture; System; Relationships; Globalization; Industry Clusters; Information; Networks; Competitive Strategy; Computer Industry

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July 2005 (Revised October 2006)
Case

Global Fun: The Internationalization of Theme Parks

By: Geoffrey G. Jones and Steven Shaheen

A fictitious private equity firm considers whether to buy the international theme park business of the LEGO Group. Considers the origins of theme parks in the United States; the international expansion of Disney theme parks to Tokyo and Paris since the 1970s; and the... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Globalized Markets and Industries; Globalized Firms and Management; Global Strategy; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Germany; Tokyo; Great Britain; Denmark; United States; Paris

July 2005 (Revised April 2006)
Case

Carnival Cruise Lines

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Robert Kwortnik and Gabriele Piccoli

Highlights the potential value of customer data and the choices and challenges the firm faces when attempting to capture this value. Carnival collects a significant amount of individual-level behavioral and demographic customer data. Senior management must now decide... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Behavior; Demographics; Customer Relationship Management; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Performance Improvement; Business Strategy; Travel Industry; Tourism Industry

18 Sep 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, September 18, 2018

Ratcheting, Competition, and the Diffusion of Technological Change: The Case of Televisions Under an Energy Efficiency Program By: Amano, Tomomichi, and Hiroshi Ohashi Abstract—In differentiated goods markets with societal implications,... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

28 Jun 2016
First Look

June 28, 2016

businesses. The strategy literature uses real option theory to explain the transition to scale, but does not consider the complex relationships between corporate ventures and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Career Coach

Jessica Mbaeliachi

to the Board of Directors, and key Enterprise Level strategic initiatives. She previously served as the company’s Head of Strategy and Operations for Intercontinental Markets, driving commercial strategy,... View Details

Keywords: Emerging Markets; Emerging Markets

08 Aug 2016
Blog Post

CS50 for MBAs: Coding at HBS

I was an English major at Yale and worked at JPMorgan Chase in investment banking and corporate strategy in the years before HBS. So I knew enough about words and numbers to be dangerous, but certainly... View Details

May 2008 (Revised September 2009)
Case

Radiohead: Music at Your Own Price (A)

By: Anita Elberse and Jason Bergsman

In October 2007, the British band Radiohead caused a stir when it announced it would allow customers to decide how much to pay for its new album, released exclusively as a digital download and available only from the band's own website. The pricing plan represented a... View Details

Keywords: Music Entertainment; Price; Marketing Strategy; Distribution; Problems and Challenges; Online Technology; Music Industry

06 May 2013
Research & Ideas

How Local Events Shake Up Corporate Philanthropy

philanthropy because even global companies tend to focus corporate giving on local nonprofits. Charitable behavior is a key area of interest for Marquis, whose research and teaching focuses on businesses' social View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

April 1993 (Revised May 1994)
Case

General Dynamics and Computer Sciences Corporation: Outsourcing the IS Function (A)

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Katherine Seger

Designed to generate discussion on the issues of outsourcing from the perspective of a firm thinking about turning over its IS activities to a third-party vendor. View Details

Keywords: Management Systems; Management Style; Information Technology; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Business Strategy; Economic Systems; Business or Company Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business Processes; Employment; Emerging Markets; Activity Based Costing and Management; Information Technology Industry; Consulting Industry

24 Jul 2006
Research & Ideas

How Kayak Users Built a New Industry

the dynamics of these types of markets, and to plan their business strategies accordingly." In this interview, Baldwin discusses the research and its implications for entrepreneurs who would like View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Entertainment & Recreation

March 2003 (Revised March 2011)
Background Note

A Note on Antitrust and Competitive Tactics

By: Dennis A. Yao

Provides an overview of antitrust law as it relates to competitive strategy. Discusses the problem of managing antitrust risk and provides a guide to business actions that pose antitrust risk. View Details

Keywords: Laws and Statutes; Risk Management; Monopoly; Business and Government Relations; Competitive Strategy

August 2001 (Revised April 2005)
Case

Surface Logix

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III, Michael J. Roberts and Kim Slack

Describes a start-up in the field of nano technology--very small physical structures measured in the billionths of a meter. The company, Surface Logix, has assembled a portfolio of intellectual property and completed some of the R&D work required to develop actual... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Research and Development; Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; Product Development; Intellectual Property; Investment Portfolio

06 Nov 2000
Research & Ideas

The Determinants of Corporate Venture Capital Success

clear-cut business strategy for its research laboratory, and, in turn, many of PARC's technologies did not fit into Xerox's strategic objectives. For instance, the Alto's ability to adapt View Details

Keywords: by Paul Gompers & Josh Lerner

December 2004 (Revised February 2005)
Case

Cheetah Conservation Fund Bush Project, The

Laurie Marker, head of the Cheetah Conservation Fund, is trying to form a for-profit institution, the Bush Project, to control the bush encroachment problem in Namibia. Bush encroachment not only destroys the general ecosystem, but it also has a harmful impact on the... View Details

Keywords: Social Enterprise; For-Profit Firms; Emerging Markets; Environmental Sustainability; Financial Strategy; Africa