Publications

24 May 2011
First Look

First Look: May 24

and field hospitals). In 13 years it developed from a start-up garage business into a successful firm of global reach and reputation. In 2010 its founder and CEO Philippe Prévost must decide the product and market View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

15 Feb 2000
Research & Ideas

The Right Connections

connections can be a source of information about the FDA approval process and offer insights as to how to market and sell the young firm's products. They can also provide... View Details

Keywords: by Judith A. Ross

19 May 2008
Research & Ideas

Connecting School Ties and Stock Recommendations

other people who went to the University of Chicago (where Chris and I received our Ph.D.'s ), we seemed to have a topic of conversation with our shared experiences there. We suspected this was likely View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Financial Services

10 Dec 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Multi-sided Platforms

Keywords: by Andrei Hagiu & Julian Wright; Technology

04 Nov 2008
First Look

First Look: November 4, 2008

Sanwal of CMI's Engineered Products Division are responsible for formulating a strategy for the new product. A key issue is the price to charge for the pads. The case raises issues of analyzing View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

May 2007 (Revised July 2011)
Case

The West German Headache Center: Integrated Migraine Care

By: Michael E. Porter, Clemens Guth and Elisa M. Dannemiller

Describes the joint efforts of the German health plan KKH and Essen University Hospital to develop an integrated practice unit (IPU), and the West German Headache Center's efforts to improve the quality of migraine care. Provides an overview of the German health care... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Health Care and Treatment; Medical Specialties; Industry Structures; Service Delivery; Integration; Health Industry; Germany

October 2008 (Revised October 2009)
Case

Shaklee Corporation: Corporate Social Responsibility

By: Christopher Marquis, V. Kasturi Rangan and Alison Comings

Having bought Shaklee Corporation from Yamanouchi, Roger Barnett, its owner and CEO, wrestled with the question of how to grow the company and its reputation for environmental sustainability. In addition to preserving the "network marketing" nature of its sales channel... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Channels; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Reputation

June 2005
Case

CarMax

By: Rajiv Lal and David Kiron

Carmax is the largest multi-market used car dealer in the U.S., and has no format-to-format competitor in the $375 billion used car market. CarMax is trying to do what some analysts believed to be impossible: sell used cars profitably on a national scale, and at the... View Details

Keywords: Profit; Brands and Branding; Digital Platforms; Segmentation; Auto Industry

15 Apr 2008
First Look

First Look: April 15, 2008

specializing in building and managing prisons. Students must assess the firm's strategy and risks, evaluate key financial reports, derive forecasts of future performance, and use these forecasts to value the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

October 1984 (Revised May 1990)
Case

NIKE (A)

Describes the history of Nike, its economic strategy, and the industries in which it competes. The teaching objective is to ask the student to identify and evaluate Nike's economic/technical strategy. View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Business History; Supply and Industry; Financial Strategy; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Sports Industry

Blog

Two-Year Action Plan Update: Q+A with Terrill Drake, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at Harvard Business School

overview of the services, which will give everyone more concrete information and clarity about what we do and where to go for resources. With these foundational pieces in place, people will have clarity... View Details

2012
Article

The Internalization of Advertising Services: An Inter-Industry Analysis

By: Sharon Horsky, Steven C. Michael and Alvin J. Silk

This study investigates the extent to which U.S. advertisers use in-house rather than independent advertising agencies and examines inter-industry variation in such internalization. Contrary to the widely held impression that use of an in-house advertising agency is... View Details

Keywords: Advertisers; In-house Advertising; Inter-industry Variation; Internalization; Scale Economies; Transaction Costs; Vertical Integration; Advertising Costs; Creative Industries; Marketing Strategy; Advertising Industry; Europe; North and Central America

Read Now

April 2000 (Revised June 2001)
Case

DoubleClick Buys Abacus (A)

By: John A. Deighton

By acquiring Abacus, DoubleClick won the power to serve ads with unprecedented precision, because it brought together Web surfers' online and offline identities. Several competitors had developed advanced systems for serving ads on the web, but DoubleClick had the... View Details

Keywords: Information; Rights; Internet and the Web; Ethics; Competitive Advantage; Social Issues; Customer Focus and Relationships; Digital Marketing; Advertising Industry

Find at Harvard

13 May 2013
Blog Post

3 Projects, 1 Priceless Picture

the company. The 100,000 Foot View: My first project with the Corporate Strategy & Development group was in support of the annual corporate strategic planning meeting for Nike’s CEO and executive team. View Details

Keywords: Consumer Products / Retail

February 1992 (Revised January 1999)
Background Note

Selected Profitability Data on U.S. Industries and Companies

Describes the importance of industry structure and competitive positioning to the profitability of U.S. corporations between 1981 and 1994. Cites recent research indicating that persistent industry differences and persistent competitor differences account for 19% and... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Industry Structures; Profit; United States