Publications

February 2010 (Revised June 2011)
Case

Zotter Living by Chocolate

By: Mukti Khaire, Stefan Aichinger, Monika Maria Elisabeth Hoffmann and Maximilian Georg Manfred Schnoedl

This case is about a boutique chocolate manufacturer's decision to grow. Zotter, an Austrian company that was a pioneer in the organic and Fairtrade chocolate movement, uses the traditional confit technique to make premium hand-scooped chocolates in unusual and... View Details

Keywords: Market Entry and Exit; Entrepreneurship; Global Strategy; Innovation and Invention; Growth and Development Strategy; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Austria

17 Oct 2023
HBS Case

With Subscription Fatigue Setting In, Companies Need to Think Hard About Fees

over the past decade, according to coauthor Amy Konary, senior vice president of the Subscribed Institute & Marketing Strategy at Zuora. Consider companies like the cloud storage provider Dropbox; Apple, which charges monthly for... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald; Consumer Products; Information; Information Technology

March 2010 (Revised January 2011)
Case

Carrot or Stick? Getting Paid for Innovation at Tessera Technologies

By: Willy C. Shih

Tessera Technologies has been very successful developing technologies for the semiconductor and mobile device industry, and then licensing them broadly to manufacturers. In addition to licensing patents, it also supplies know-how to help manufacturers move into... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Innovation Strategy; Patents; Courts and Trials; Rights; Mobile Technology; Semiconductor Industry; California

September 1995 (Revised December 2018)
Case

Managing Innovation at Nypro, Inc. (A)

By: Clayton M. Christensen and Rebecca Voorheis

Nypro is the world's leading injection molder of precision plastic parts, operating a global network of 21 plants. Nypro's strategy is for each plant to offer identical capabilities, because its customers are global companies with worldwide sourcing needs. The case... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Innovation and Management; Operations; Performance Consistency; Manufacturing Industry

February 2014
Article

Learning by Supplying

By: Juan Alcacer and Joanne Oxley

Learning processes lie at the heart of our understanding of how firms build capabilities to generate and sustain competitive advantage: learning by doing, learning by exporting, learning from competitors, users, and alliance partners. In this paper we focus attention... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Advantage; Organizations; Learning

Find at Harvard

September 2007 (Revised December 2008)
Case

Michael Fernandes at Nicholas Piramal

By: Michel Anteby and Nitin Nohria

Michael Fernandes, the Director of Custom Manufacturing Operations at the pharmaceutical company Nicholas Piramal India Limited (NPIL), schedules a meeting with three of his reports, whose interpersonal conflicts with one another are causing his business development... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Management Skills; Groups and Teams; Conflict Management; Cooperation; Pharmaceutical Industry; India; United Kingdom; Canada

15 Jul 2019
Blog Post

Exploring the World of Electric Adventure Vehicles

not only graduate school at HBS—but also a summer 2019 retail strategy internship with Ford- and Amazon-backed electric car startup, Rivian Automotive. Founded in 2009, Rivian is an independent American automaker that develops electric... View Details

Keywords: Manufacturing; Manufacturing

February 2010 (Revised October 2010)
Case

Re-THINK-ing THINK: The Electric Car Company

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and David Kiron

On January 5, 2010, 48-year-old Richard Canny was on his way to meet the governor of Indiana. He was reading his newly issued press release announcing that THINK planned to start automobile production in Elkhart County, Indiana to launch its THINK City battery-operated... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Investment; Global Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Product Development; Production; Pollutants; Environmental Sustainability; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Norway; Indiana

March 2024 (Revised July 2024)
Case

H2 Green Steel: A Clean-Tech Triple Play?

By: Debora L. Spar, Gunnar Trumbull, Henry Tao and Julia Comeau

At the end of 2023, the Swedish startup H2 Green Steel was mid-way through construction on an integrated steel plant in Northern Sweden that would use abundant local hydro power to create Europe’s first commercial-scale green steel. Their goal was to help European... View Details

Keywords: Steel; Green Business; Green Technology; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Business Startups; Climate Change; Technological Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Renewable Energy; Steel Industry; Sweden

January 2010 (Revised March 2010)
Case

Transforming ASUSTeK: Breaking from the Past

By: Willy C. Shih, Ho Howard Yu and Hung-Chang Chiu

What happens when an original design manufacturer (ODM) firm tries to transform itself into a branded goods seller? The case traces the evolution of ASUSTeK from a motherboard supplier, to an ODM of desktop and notebook PCs, through its split into three companies that... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Transformation; Disruptive Innovation; Brands and Branding; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Competitive Strategy; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Taiwan

12 Jan 2010
First Look

First Look: Jan. 12

actions. Combining supermarket scanner data with firm-level financial data, we find evidence that differs from prior literature. Instead of reducing expenditures to boost earnings, soup manufacturers roughly double the frequency and... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

January 2001 (Revised July 2003)
Case

Pharmacyclics: Financing Research & Development

By: Malcolm P. Baker, Richard S. Ruback and Aldo Sesia

Pharmacyclics (NASDAQ: PCYC), a pharmaceutical company that manufactures products that will improve existing therapeutic treatments for cancer, arteriosclerosis, and retinal disease, was considering a $60 million private placement in February 2000. The company had more... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Cash Flow; Financing and Loans; Business Startups; Financial Strategy; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Health Industry

November 1993 (Revised September 2018)
Case

Rudi Gassner and the Executive Committee of BMG International (A)

By: Linda Hill and Katherine Seger Weber

Explores the roles of CEO Rudi Gassner and the 9-person executive committee in leading BMG International. BMG International is the international music subsidiary of Bertlesmann, a German company that is the second-largest media conglomerate in the world. Describes a... View Details

Keywords: Managerial Roles; Management Teams; Decision Making; Business Plan; Growth and Development Strategy; Global Strategy; Leadership Style; Organizational Culture; Business Subsidiaries; Business Conglomerates; Cost Management; Change Management; Music Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Germany

February 1990 (Revised August 2001)
Case

Merloni Elettrodomestici SpA: The Transit Point Experiment

By: Janice H. Hammond and Maura G Kelly

Merloni Elettrodomestici is a leading Italian manufacturer of domestic appliances. In 1986, an exposition for Merloni customers is scheduled at its Milano regional warehouse. During the two-month period preceding the event, when the warehouse must be free of inventory,... View Details

Keywords: Logistics; Marketing Channels; Planning; Time Management; Distribution Channels; Competitive Advantage; Customer Relationship Management; Information Technology; Consumer Products Industry; Italy

February 2022 (Revised September 2022)
Case

Lilium: Preparing for Takeoff

By: Navid Mojir, Vincent Dessain, Mette Fuglsang Hjortshoej and Emer Moloney

Lilium is a German company focused on developing electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles (eVTOLs) that can be used to offer air taxi services. The company went public in September 2021 through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) deal, raising more than... View Details

March 2024 (Revised November 2024)
Case

Kawasaki Heavy Industries Bets on Clean Hydrogen

By: Gunnar Trumbull, Nobuo Sato and Akiko Kanno

Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI), an engineering manufacturer headquartered in Japan, was aiming to scale up its hydrogen production and establish a global hydrogen supply chain. The initiative was in line with Japan's energy strategy, as the country seeks to transition... View Details

Keywords: Renewable Energy; Demand and Consumers; Competition; Growth and Development Strategy; Infrastructure; Supply Chain; Manufacturing Industry; Energy Industry

April 2012
Case

Bella Healthcare India

By: Dorothy Leonard and Sunru Yong

Bella Healthcare India was originally established in Bangalore as a low-cost manufacturing facility for a U.S.-based cardiology equipment developer. Under country manager Joseph Cherian it evolved considerably, developing its own research and development capabilities.... View Details

October 2022
Article

How Leaders with Divergent Visions Generate Novel Strategy: Navigating the Paradox of Preservation and Modernization in Swiss Watchmaking

By: Ryan Raffaelli, Rich DeJordy and Rory M. McDonald

How do leaders with divergent visions for their organization come together to create a novel strategy? This paper employs paradox as a lens to investigate how leader-dyads can integrate opposing strategies to produce a new, generative approach. Drawing on a qualitative... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Paradoxes; Senior Leaders; Organizational Reinvention; Leadership; Technological Innovation; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Change; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Switzerland