Publications

March 2006 (Revised January 2011)
Case

CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers

CEMEX has pursued an aggressive decommoditization strategy focused on its relationship with small Egyptian retailers. In particular, the strategic role and effectiveness of the Rewards Program, a tournament that rewarded the sales performance of the retailers, was... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Performance Improvement; Sales; Motivation and Incentives; Construction Industry; Egypt

11 Sep 2020
HBS Seminar

Janet Freilich, Fordham University, School of Law

December 2017
Supplement

Data-Driven Manufacturing: The Kutesmart System

By: Willy C. Shih

This supplementary video shows the Kutesmart System at Redcollar Group. It is an example of a mass customization system that is data-driven, but is predominantly based on manual operations. It is offered as a contrast to highly automated data-driven manufacturing. View Details

Keywords: Data-driven Manufacturing; Clothing; Bespoke Manufacturing; Production; Manufacturing Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; China

February 2011 (Revised November 2013)
Case

The Cheezburger Network

By: John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld

Cheezburger Network was a Web publisher of humorous, user-contributed content, using social media for dissemination, and selling advertising against the traffic of 1 billion page views per quarter. In January 2011, it raised $30 million in venture capital for the... View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Digital Marketing; Customer Relationship Management; Venture Capital; Emerging Markets; Strategic Planning; Sales; Internet and the Web; Publishing Industry; Web Services Industry

May 2009 (Revised August 2013)
Case

The DiagnoFirst Opportunity

By: Robert C. Pozen and Rukmini Balu

John Mason, a principle at Oldwell Partners, was facing a decision of whether or not to invest in DiagnoFirst, a molecular diagnostics firm. DiagnoFirst's key product was a genetic test that identified a subset of prostate cancer patients with a high risk of clinical... View Details

Keywords: Genetic Engineering; Genetically Modified; Genomics; Venture Capital; Patents; Genetics; Decision Choices and Conditions; Laws and Statutes; Investment; Science-Based Business; Biotechnology Industry

Program

Leading and Building a Culture of Innovation

Summary Today's leaders are evolving their approaches to leadership and innovation in response to quantum shifts in how we work and live. In the midst of economic, societal, and technological disruptions,... View Details

2019
Working Paper

Self-Interest: The Economist's Straitjacket

By: Robert Simons

This paper examines contemporary economic theories that focus on the design and management of business organizations. In the first part of the paper, a taxonomy is presented that describes the different types of economists interested in this subject—market economists,... View Details

SSRN

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December 2006 (Revised August 2008)
Case

Keggfarms (India): Which Came First, the Kuroiler(TM) or the KEGG(TM)?

Vinod Kapur has founded a unique enterprise, Keggfarms, based on a special poultry chicken he bred to address the nutritional and income needs of some of the poorest people on earth: India's rural villagers. As of November 2006, Keggfarms was supplying chicks to about... View Details

Keywords: Animal-Based Agribusiness; For-Profit Firms; Social Entrepreneurship; Competition; Expansion; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; India

04 Feb 2010
What Do You Think?

What’s the Best Way to Make Careful Decisions?

the Complete Solution ought to be the key." Most argued for a process involving intuition based on analysis and experience. Rowland Freeman commented, "A great deal... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

05 Aug 2011
Working Paper Summaries

An Exploration of Optimal Stabilization Policy

Keywords: by N. Gregory Mankiw & Matthew C. Weinzierl

2020
Working Paper

Design and Analysis of Switchback Experiments

By: Iavor I Bojinov, David Simchi-Levi and Jinglong Zhao

In switchback experiments, a firm sequentially exposes an experimental unit to a random treatment, measures its response, and repeats the procedure for several periods to determine which treatment leads to the best outcome. Although practitioners have widely adopted... View Details

Keywords: Switchback Experiments; Design; Analysis; Mathematical Methods

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July 2023
Article

Design and Analysis of Switchback Experiments

By: Iavor I Bojinov, David Simchi-Levi and Jinglong Zhao

In switchback experiments, a firm sequentially exposes an experimental unit to a random treatment, measures its response, and repeats the procedure for several periods to determine which treatment leads to the best outcome. Although practitioners have widely adopted... View Details

Keywords: Switchback Experiments; Design; Analysis; Mathematical Methods

01 Sep 2017
News

City of Dreams

he speaks of with such passion. “John Keells is probably the only company based in Sri Lanka that has the scale and commitment to create systemic... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; photographed by Alice Carfrae; Sri Lanka; Construction of Buildings; Construction of Buildings; Construction of Buildings; Construction of Buildings

28 May 2008
News

Harvard Professor Michael Porter Honored by U.S. Department of Commerce

September 2008
Case

TCS: The MCA 21 Project

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a leading outsourced software services provider based in India, must decide whether to bid on a high-profile government project within India. The project, if completed successfully, would mark another step in TCS's progression from a... View Details

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Developing Countries and Economies; Globalized Firms and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Service Operations; Projects; India

January 2007 (Revised January 2010)
Case

Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart (A)

By: James K. Sebenius and Ellen Knebel

Describes the retailer-supplier negotiations of Tom Muccio, one of the earlier Proctor & Gamble (P&G) employees to be based in Bentonville, Arkansas, in negotiating the early operational components of the supplier-retailer partnership between P&G and Wal-Mart in the... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Process; Supply Chain Management; Partners and Partnerships; Conflict and Resolution; Bentonville

24 Apr 2019
HBS Seminar

Dimitris Papanikolaou, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University

February 2021 (Revised July 2022)
Case

Sarah Breedlove: Changing the World

By: Robert Simons and Max Saffer

This case describes the rise of Sarah Breedlove, who later called herself Madam C.J. Walker, from the cotton fields of Louisiana to the head of a successful, nationwide beauty company providing opportunity and hair care products to Black women. The case describes how... View Details

Keywords: Brands; African-american Entrepreneurs; Entrepreneurship; Values and Beliefs; Personal Characteristics; Success; Work-Life Balance; Business Startups; Brands and Branding; Marketing; Personal Development and Career; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; United States