Publications

August 2000 (Revised November 2001)
Case

Edmunds.com (A)

By: Stephen P. Bradley and Christina Akers

Edmund's began in 1966 as a publisher of new and used vehicle guides and grew into one of the leading third-party automotive web sites of today. This case explores how Edmunds.com gained a competitive edge using strategic partnerships and alliances, as well as careful... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; Success; Product Positioning; Partners and Partnerships; Competitive Advantage; Auto Industry; Information Technology Industry

Article

Market Interest in Nonfinancial Information

By: R. G. Eccles, Michael P. Krzus and George Serafeim

Market interest in nonfinancial (e.g., Environmental, Social, and Governance [ESG]) information, including data produced by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), is growing. Using data from Bloomberg we analyze this interest from a variety of different perspectives, and... View Details

Keywords: Markets; Analytics and Data Science; Perspective; Environmental Sustainability; Social Issues; Corporate Disclosure; Projects; Interests

Profile

Paul Scharfman

public funding to upgrade the Reeseville, Wisconsin, water treatment plant, which processes his company’s effluent. “It’s important to assist projects that can upgrade local infrastructure and support business growth,” he explains.... View Details

Keywords: Manufacturing; Retail

2021
Working Paper

Racial Inequality in Organizations: A Systems Psychodynamic Perspective

By: Sanaz Mobasseri, William Kahn and Robin Ely

This paper uses systems psychodynamic concepts to develop a theory about the persistence of racial inequality in U.S. companies, treating White men as the dominant group and Black people as an illustrative subordinate group. We theorize that this persistence is rooted... View Details

Keywords: Systems Psychodynamics; Organizational Inequality; Masculinity; Equality and Inequality; Race; Gender; Identity; Power and Influence

Read Now

March 2000 (Revised July 2001)
Case

Microsoft: Competing on Talent (A)

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Meg Wozny

Describes the evolution of Microsoft's human-resource philosophies, policies, and practices and how they used as a core of the company's competitive advantage. In particular, the focus is on how Microsoft tried to retain its ability to recruit, develop, motivate, and... View Details

Keywords: Human Resources; Retention; Recruitment; Competitive Advantage; Motivation and Incentives; Business Startups; Talent and Talent Management

December 2001 (Revised February 2008)
Case

Borealis

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Bjorn N. Jorgensen

When Borealis, a European producer of plastics, used a traditional, time-consuming budgeting process, the budget was quickly out of date in a competitive environment characterized by continually changing input and output prices and dynamic market conditions. This case... View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Budgets and Budgeting; Forecasting and Prediction; Investment; Governance Controls; Balanced Scorecard; Management Systems; Manufacturing Industry; Europe

June 2003 (Revised December 2003)
Case

Nehemiah Strategy, The: Bringing it to Boston

By: Diana Barrett, Arthur I Segel and Sheila McCarthy

In 2003, Lee Stuart, who had successfully used the Nehemiah Strategy to create thousands of units of affordable housing in the South Bronx, was working with the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization to implement the strategy in Boston. She and her colleagues faced a... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Boston

February 2008 (Revised November 2008)
Case

Radical Collaboration: IBM Microelectronics Joint Development Alliances

By: Willy Shih, Gary Pisano and Andrew A. King

IBM's "Radical Collaboration" model has been an innovative approach to meeting the challenges of the huge R&D and capital investments that are needed to stay competitive in the global semiconductor industry. This model has required a rethinking of what is proprietary,... View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Investment; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Problems and Challenges; Alliances; Networks; Partners and Partnerships; Research and Development; Competitive Advantage; Semiconductor Industry

14 Feb 2019
Blog Post

LOVE At HBS

day-to-day together. Many projects lie ahead that make us dream about what’s going to happen with our lives. The cities where we will live, the careers we will build, the puppies we will adopt – that is the... View Details

James I. Cash

Professor Cash received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Texas Christian University; a Master of Science in Computer Science from Purdue University's Graduate School of Mathematical Sciences; and a Doctor of Philosophy in Management Information... View Details

Keywords: accounting industry; computer; e-commerce industry; financial services; health care; information technology industry; software

September 2024
Case

Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners: Leading the Energy Transition

By: John Macomber and Maxwell Nii Laryea

A leading global infrastructure fund debates whether and when to become engaged in the electrolysis and distribution of hydrogen, as part of the hydrogen economy and the global transtion to a net zero energy world. The proposed billion dollar project consists of wind... View Details

Keywords: Infrastructure; Energy Generation; Renewable Energy; Project Finance; Decision Making; Risk and Uncertainty; Energy Industry; Spain

February 2004 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Pratt & Whitney: Engineering Standard Work

By: H. Kent Bowen and Courtney Purrington

As the engineering of state-of-the-art jet engines becomes more and more complex, Pratt & Whitney leaders face major competitive problems. Product development projects are not meeting the cost, quality, and lead-time targets. The leadership develops a design,... View Details

Keywords: Design; Engineering; Cost; Knowledge Management; Time Management; Product Launch; Standards; Product Development; Problems and Challenges; Quality; Creativity; Competitive Strategy; Manufacturing Industry

27 Jun 2016
Research & Ideas

These Management Practices, Like Certain Technologies, Boost Company Performance

important as other inputs in production and can create significant competitive advantage” over each other and across a wide variety of countries and sectors, says Sadun. “Originally it was like a bet—can we quantify management?” she says.... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

March 1990 (Revised July 1991)
Case

Digital Equipment Corp.: Complex Order Management

By: Janice H. Hammond

Describes the proposed creation of a low end 3000 configuration workstation using Digital's competitive advantage of offering a la carte configuration capability and ability to build different options for customers. Disadvantages of this 3000 configuration workstation... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Cost; Management Practices and Processes; Distribution; Competitive Advantage

Jeremy S. Friedman is an associate professor of business administration in the Business, Government, and International Economy Unit and taught the course of the same name in the MBA required curriculum over the past six years. Currently, he is teaching Business and... View Details

November 2003 (Revised March 2004)
Case

Federal Express: Early History

Describes key events in the start-up of Federal Express. Outlines the company's value proposition and provides an overview of key competitors in the air freight industry. This case is used with Teledesic (Abridged), HBS No. 9-804-096, which describes a failed project... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Network Effects; Business Startups; Transportation Industry; United States

March 1998 (Revised March 2001)
Case

Concordia Electronic Systems Test

By: Thomas R. Piper

The management of an electronics company must decide whether to use a single hurdle rate for all projects or to move to a system of different hurdle rates for each of its two divisions. The divisions differ substantially in terms of risk and seem to have substantially... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Risk and Uncertainty; Cost of Capital; Valuation; Business Divisions; Electronics Industry