Publications

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November 1984 (Revised March 1985)
Case

Restructuring European Petrochemicals: French Companies and the French Government

By: Francis Aguilar, Joseph L. Bower and Benjamin Gomes-Casseres

Keywords: Restructuring; Corporate Strategy; Business and Government Relations; Energy Industry; Chemical Industry; France

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05 Dec 2012
What Do You Think?

Should Managers Bother Listening to Predictions?

to customer demand for inaccurate predictions. Taleb himself, in a new book, Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder, argues that organizations and individuals should build antifragile mechanisms, "anything that has more upside than downside from random... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

Article

Extending the Role of Headquarters Beyond the Firm Boundary: Entrepreneurial Alliance Innovation

By: Jaeho Kim and Andy Wu

Prior research on corporate headquarters (CHQ) characteristics identifies the impact of CHQ location and composition on the innovation outcomes of internal subsidiaries. However, given that external strategic alliances with high-tech entrepreneurial firms represent a... View Details

Keywords: Alliance; Innovation; Corporate Headquarters; Geographic Proximity; Entrepreneurship; Corporate Strategy; Alliances; Joint Ventures; Innovation and Invention; Business Headquarters; Geographic Location

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June 1991
Background Note

Corporate Advantage: Identifying and Exploiting Resources

By: David J. Collis

Describes the economic theory that was behind the view that resources are central to the creation of value in multibusiness corporations and identifies tests that resources must pass to become part of a firm's "distinctive competence". Describes how those resources can... View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Business or Company Management; Resource Allocation; Competitive Strategy; Theory; Value Creation

01 Mar 2009
News

Alumni Books

questions, presenting unique strategies and concrete steps useful for handling the growing number of giants in our personal and professional lives. The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of... View Details

Keywords: Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

22 Sep 2020
Research & Ideas

Recessions Push Some Entrepreneurs to Launch Too Soon

significant financial resources, prerequisites that are hardly conducive to spur-of-the-moment actions. In the forthcoming paper Lowering the Bar? External Conditions, Opportunity Costs, and High-Tech Startup Outcomes, Maria P. Roche, an assistant professor at Harvard... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

01 Aug 2002
News

For Alumni Only: Breakthrough Insights Program Debuts

community are no exception. To give alumni the chance to sample the latest faculty thinking on some of the most pressing business issues of the day, last May the School launched Breakthrough Insights, a new Executive Education program... View Details

Keywords: Laura Singleton

April 2007 (Revised July 2011)
Case

The Tale of the Lynx (A)

By: Noam Wasserman

The founders of Lynx Solutions have survived major challenges within their board of directors, the firing of Lynx's founder-CEO and departure of its successor CEO, and a crisis sparked by media allegations that it had been spying on its users. Now that the company is... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Governing and Advisory Boards; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Teams; Conflict and Resolution; Business Strategy; Computer Industry

April 1983
Article

Assessing Competition in the Market for Corporate Acquisitions

By: R. S. Ruback

Keywords: Competition; Business Ventures; Mergers and Acquisitions

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January 1990 (Revised May 1991)
Case

Hoechst and the German Chemical Industry

Describes the rise of the German chemical industry and the specific country-based factors that contributed to the rise. Focuses on the German firm Hoechst: its history, its position after World War II, and its subsequent internationalization. Set in 1986 when Hoechst... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Competitive Advantage; Acquisition; Chemical Industry; Germany; United States

September 1989 (Revised January 1990)
Case

Vinod Khosla and Sun Microsystems (A)

Describes how Vinod Khosla got Sun Microsystems started, and a critical marketing challenge the company faced at the end of the first year. Objective is to illustrate how bold creative thinking can make or break start-ups. View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Business Startups; Innovation and Invention; Information Technology Industry; Computer Industry

April 2007 (Revised March 2018)
Case

M-TRONICS (A)

By: Joseph L. Bower and Lynda M. Applegate

The new CEO of a small manufacturing firm pursues growth through the launch of Entrepreneurial Subsidiaries. While the firm grows revenues from $600 million to over $2 billion in 10 years, problems surface as the subsidiaries are integrated into the established... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Business Model; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Integration

March 2019
Teaching Note

KITEA (A)—(F)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Karen Elterman

This Teaching Note accompanies the KITEA series of cases, which details how the Moroccan furniture company KITEA prepared for the entry of IKEA into the Moroccan market and describes the outcome of that entry. View Details

Keywords: Private Sector; For-Profit Firms; Business Strategy; Strategic Planning; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Adaptation; Corporate Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Retail Industry; Africa; North Africa; Morocco

01 Jun 2004
News

How Nonprofits Dilute Their Efforts

“Most of the nonprofits operating today make program decisions based on a mission rather than on a strategy,” writes HBS professor V. Kasturi Rangan in Harvard Business Review. “In fact,” he notes, “many nonprofits don’t have a View Details

Keywords: Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

29 Aug 2018
News

The Value of Valleys

in, in terms of with lower costs and freedom of entry and all those things. So, the question was how do you develop a strategy that is going to give you a fighting chance in this new environment? That's where C. Rowling Christensen, who... View Details

October 2021 (Revised January 2022)
Case

Chia Network: Reimagining Programmable Money

By: William A. Sahlman and George Gonzalez

Chia Network developed a novel blockchain platform that was more eco-friendly, decentralized, and scalable than Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other blockchains. Now, company leadership must decide how to scale the startup and prioritize various partnerships, use cases, and... View Details

Keywords: Blockchain; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Technology Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States

March 1991 (Revised December 1994)
Case

Marks and Spencer Ltd. (B)

By: Cynthia A. Montgomery

Describes the firm's 1988 expansion into the United States through the acquisition of Brooks Brothers, a specialty up-market men's clothing chain and Kings Super Markets, a high quality New Jersey grocer. View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Expansion; Business Strategy; Mergers and Acquisitions; Globalization; Retail Industry; United States

17 Nov 2016
News

Rent the Runway Sets Up Shop at Neiman Marcus

110-year-old department store, which will see new Rent the Runway shops open inside of existing Neiman Marcus locations. (Rent the Runway opened its first physical store in New York City in 2014, and now has a total of seven locations.) The Journal offers some insight... View Details

1988
Chapter

Joint Ventures and Collaboration in the Biotechnology Industry

By: Gary P. Pisano, W. Shan and David Teece

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Cooperation; Biotechnology Industry