Publications

01 Jun 2015
News

Alumni Take Action to Improve US Competitiveness

focused on the role of business leaders in this issue. For the HBS faculty team, that meant engaging with HBS alumni in multiple ways. First, the Project launched an unprecedented survey of all alumni “to get their perceptions on how the... View Details

Keywords: Erin Peterson; Walmart; Health, Social Assistance; Retail Trade

16 Jan 2019
Research & Ideas

What Football Firings Teach Managers About Staying Relevant

idea with Harvard Business School Dean Nitin Nohria. Nohria remembered that he and his HBS colleague, Rakesh Khurana, had noticed a similar effect in CEO data—that some chief executives had two distinct halves to their careers, a... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg, Evan M.S. Hecht, and Abhijit Naik; Sports

Web

Online Learning Track Programs | HBS Online

HBS Online is currently offering a Learning Track in: Leadership & Management Strategy Entrepreneurship & Innovation Business in Society Finance & Accounting Marketing What You Earn Certificate of... View Details

13 Oct 2016
News

Adding Muscle to the Fight Against Disease

strength and performance, with the goal of preserving and extending patients’ independence and functionality. Blum, who has served Cytokinetics in various roles since its launch in 1998, is quick to point out that the company’s business... View Details

Keywords: Deborah Blagg

January 2002 (Revised March 2002)
Case

Virtualis Systems (Condensed)

By: Michael J. Roberts and Jay O. Light

Focuses on a graduating HBS MBA who has been working part-time with a Web-hosting firm in California. Discusses the question of which of several "business models" make the most sense for the company to pursue. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business Model; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; Cost vs Benefits; SWOT Analysis; Management Practices and Processes; Web Services Industry; California

30 Nov 2016
Op-Ed

Where Could More Regulation Help Small Businesses? Online Lending.

Karen Mills is a Senior Fellow with the Harvard Business School. She served in President Barack Obama’s Cabinet as Administrator of the US Small Business Administration from 2009 to 2013. Brayden McCarthy is... View Details

Keywords: by Karen Mills and Brayden McCarthy; Financial Services

12 Jun 2019
Research & Ideas

Investors Have More Than Money to Offer Entrepreneurs

Conversely, I’ve heard investors say they wish the leaders of their portfolio companies would be more transparent about challenges they are facing and ask for help. As one investor said to me, “They already sold me on the business and... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Austin

October 2003 (Revised March 2004)
Case

Symbian: Setting the Mobility Standard

By: Fernando F. Suarez and Thomas R. Eisenmann

Symbian, a joint venture owned by companies who collectively sold a dominant share of the world's cell phones, faced competition from Microsoft in developing the operating system for "smartphones," which integrated mobile communications and computing functions. In... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Joint Ventures; Information Technology; Software; Wireless Technology; Mobile Technology; Information Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry

Find at Harvard

March 1996
Article

Customer Power, Strategic Investment, and the Failure of Leading Firms

By: J. L. Bower and C. M. Christensen

Keywords: Customers; Strategy; Failure; Business Ventures

Find at Harvard

June 1995
Case

Strategic Countermoves: Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi

Describes strategic acquisitions by Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola in the late 1980s. The context allows students to evaluate the implications of the mergers for the competitiveness of the industry. View Details

Keywords: Competition; Mergers and Acquisitions; Manufacturing Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

November 1989 (Revised January 1991)
Case

Honda Motor Co. and Honda of America (A)

In its 43-year history, Honda grew from an also-ran in the Japanese motorcycle market to a dominant force in the worldwide motorcycle and automobile markets. To do this, Honda has developed a unique organizational style based on constructive conflict and organizational... View Details

Keywords: Expansion; Organizational Culture; Business Processes; Motorcycle Industry; Auto Industry; Japan; United States

Keywords: Garry Emmons;Julia Hanna;Roger Thompson; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

01 Sep 2013
News

Beantown as a Beacon

30-year low, stagnating middle-class wages, and a political system seemingly incapable of agreement. "So what happened—and what are we going to do about it?" asked Porter. These questions were the impetus behind HBS's US Competitiveness Project, launched in March 2012... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

01 Mar 2012
News

Get Creative

21st century. —JH —Carliss Baldwin is the William L. White Professor of Business Administration. She studies the process of design and its impact on firm strategy and the structure of View Details

July 2024
Supplement

Fail Safe Testing, Inc. (B)

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Pre-Abstract: Instructors should consider the timing of making videos available to students, as they may reveal key case details.
Abstract: Fail Safe Testing, Inc., founded in 1988, was the leading provider of fire hose pressure testing, ground ladder and pump... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Business Plan; Acquisition; Customers

December 1986 (Revised January 1988)
Case

Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (C)

By: Benson P. Shapiro and Lawrence B. Levine

Focuses on the development of a "market driven" culture at Hewlett-Packard (HP); the conflict between autonomous, well integrated divisions making products responsive to their own markets and a greater degree of systems integration at the corporate level; and the... View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Production; Organizational Culture; Research and Development; Sales; Integration; Manufacturing Industry

August 2002 (Revised February 2005)
Case

Gillette Company (B): Leadership for Change

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and James Weber

Describes the actions and behavior of a new CEO in his first days and weeks as he sets expectations for his top management team and introduces processes and disciplines to begin the turnaround of a global consumer products company. View Details

Keywords: Business Strategy; Policy; Change Management; Leading Change; Motivation and Incentives; Strategic Planning; Retail Industry