Publications

March 2014
Case

MediaTek: From Feature Phones to Smartphones

By: Willy Shih

MediaTek was the third largest fabless semiconductor company in the world, and was the second largest supplier of the silicon microchips that powered mobile phones. Yet as the company's chairman reflected on his R&D strategy, he wondered why it hadn't moved faster on... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Decisions; Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Technology Adoption; Telecommunications Industry; Semiconductor Industry; China; Taiwan

January 1994 (Revised June 1994)
Case

Dean Witter, Discover & Co.

By: Dwight B. Crane and W. James Whalen

Early in 1993, Sears was in the process of spinning off its Dean Witter, Discover subsidiary. This subsidiary consisted of a securities brokerage that was acquired in 1981 and also the Discover Card, a general purpose credit card, the firm introduced in 1985. The key... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Business Subsidiaries; Initial Public Offering; Credit Cards; Corporate Strategy; Asset Pricing; Financial Services Industry

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March 2007 (Revised March 2013)
Teaching Note

Edelnor (TN) (A) and (B)

By: Jordan I. Siegel

Teaching note to 707473 and 707530. View Details

Keywords: Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Restructuring; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Energy Industry; Chile

October 2004 (Revised April 2005)
Case

Lexar Media: The Digital Photography Company?

Examines growth options for a start-up that has parlayed its core technology in flash memory controllers into a rapidly growing position in the emerging digital photography industry. The new CEO must decide whether LexarMedia should maintain its identity as a digital... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Growth Management; Market Entry and Exit; Business Startups; Business Strategy; Technology Industry

March 2007
Teaching Note

Lobbying for Love? Southwest Airlines and the Wright Amendment (TN)

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee

Teaching note to 707470. View Details

Keywords: Business Headquarters; Competition; Opportunities; Law; Business and Government Relations; Air Transportation Industry; Texas

December 1998 (Revised February 2003)
Case

Trilogy (A)

Trilogy is a rapidly growing company that is taking a highly unusual approach to capturing an enterprise software market (the "selling chain") that is also the target of much larger competitors. The case offers students an opportunity to assess the company's methods,... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Competition; Growth Management; Business Growth and Maturation; Software; Web Services Industry

01 Sep 2015
News

Opening Minds Through Expanded Learning Opportunities

combined undergraduate/MBA classroom. "It was definitely a departure for both sides of the river," says Moss, the School's Paul Whiton Cherington Professor of Business Administration, an eight-time recipient of the HBS Student... View Details

August 1997 (Revised March 1999)
Case

VeriFone (1997)

By: Richard L. Nolan, Anne Donnellon and Donna B. Stoddard

VeriFone, a leading manufacturer of payment systems technology, was acquired by Hewlett-Packard in June 1997. The case describes the strategic challenges that VeriFone faces as it positions itself to compete in the Internet payment systems marketplace. View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Internet; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Business Strategy; Information Technology Industry

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2024
Working Paper

Do Collusive Norms Maximize Profits? Evidence From a Vegetable Market Experiment in India

By: Abhijit Banerjee, Greg Fischer, Dean Karlan, Matt Lowe and Benjamin N. Roth

Social norms have been shown to facilitate anti-competitive behavior in decentralized markets. We demonstrate that these norms can also reduce aggregate profits. First, we present descriptive evidence of competition-suppressing norms in Kolkata vegetable markets.... View Details

Keywords: Collusion; Competition; Market Entry and Exit; Small Business; Microeconomics; Kolkata

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August 2016
Case

S'well: The Mass Market Decision

By: Youngme Moon

This case tells the story of how Sarah Kauss, a young female entrepreneur, built a premium water bottle brand from scratch. After having built a high-end brand, the key decision in the case is whether to begin expanding the S'well product portfolio to the mass market. View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Marketing; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Distribution; Strategy; United States

01 Dec 2020
News

In Review

Nitin Nohria planned to step down as dean of Harvard Business School on June 30. But in March, as the University shifted to remote learning in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, President Lawrence Bacow asked Nohria to extend his term... View Details

18 Oct 2016
News

Leading the Way for Women Entrepreneurs

Growing up, Hayley Barna (MBA 2010) thought she was unstoppable. Then she entered the business world. “I grew up thinking I lived in a post-feminist world, “ she said. “I saw no impediment in my way based on my gender.” Six years ago, she... View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Myers; Birchbox; Rent the Runway; Hello Alfred; Retail Trade; Finance

September 2013 (Revised November 2023)
Case

Antoine Leboyer and GSX

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Antoine Leboyer (HBS '92) acquired the Swiss-based software company GSX in February 2008. He managed through the recession of 2008–2009, dealt with a tumultuous separation from the founder/owner, rebuilt the management team, and upgraded the company's software... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Small Business; Finance; Private Equity; Growth and Development Strategy; France; Switzerland

June 2010
Teaching Note

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (TN)

By: Anita L. Tucker

Teaching Note for 609109. View Details

Keywords: Quality; Performance Improvement; Management Practices and Processes; Strategy; Business Units; Science; Health Industry

28 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

Why Manufacturing Matters

After decades of destructive outsourcing, America's ability to innovate and create high-tech products essential for future prosperity is on the decline, argue professors Gary Pisano and Willy Shih. They won the prestigious McKinsey Award for their July-August 2009... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson; Manufacturing

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Courses by Title - Course Catalog

Spring 2026 Q3Q4 3.0 Creating Value in Business and Government (HKS-HBS Joint Degree Seminar) General Management Andy Zelleke Fall 2025 Q1Q2 3.0 Creating and Sustaining Competitive Advantage Strategy Eric J.... View Details

April 2025
Teaching Note

Aramco: Navigating the Energy Transition

By: Tarun Khanna and Samir Junnarkar

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 725-358. View Details

Keywords: Energy Transmission; Oil ＆ Gas; Economic Diversification; Corporate Strategy; Leadership; Business Strategy; Goals and Objectives; Transition; Environmental Sustainability; Diversification; Energy Industry; Saudi Arabia