Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(1,225)
- Faculty Publications (111)
- January 2014
- Technical Note
Learning From Extreme Consumers
By: Jill Avery and Michael Norton
Traditional market research methods focus on understanding the average experiences of average consumers. This focus leads to gaps in our knowledge of consumer behavior and often fails to uncover insights that can drive revolutionary, rather than evolutionary... View Details
- October 2013 (Revised August 2015)
- Case
Outotec (A): Project Capture
By: Robert J. Dolan and Doug J. Chung
Outotec was a market leader in providing mining solutions to large mining companies. The company’s specialization and proprietary technology created value for its customers and helped the firm differentiate from its competitors. Yet, Outotec was not pricing or... View Details
- October 2013 (Revised August 2015)
- Supplement
Outotec (B): Action Plan
By: Robert J. Dolan and Doug J. Chung
Outotec was a market leader in providing mining solutions to large mining companies. The company’s specialization and proprietary technology created value for its customers and helped the firm differentiate from its competitors. Yet, Outotec was not pricing or... View Details
- January 2013 (Revised August 2013)
- Case
First Solar: CFRA's Accounting Quality Concerns
By: Suraj Srinivasan and Ian McKown Cornell
The case relates to accounting quality analysis conducted by the leading research firm Center for Financial Research and Analysis (CFRA) on companies in the solar industry with a focus on First Solar Inc. In 2009, CFRA was concerned that First Solar, like much of the... View Details
Keywords: Accounting; Accounting Quality; Financial Accounting; Financial Statement Analysis; Accounting Fraud; Accounting Red Flags; Accounting Scandal; Risk and Uncertainty; Quality; Earnings Management; Valuation; Crime and Corruption; Financial Statements; Energy Sources; Green Technology Industry; Accounting Industry; Energy Industry
- January–February 2013
- Article
When the Crowd Fights Corruption
By: Paul M. Healy and Karthik Ramanna
Corruption is the greatest impediment to conducting business in Russia, according to leaders recently surveyed by the World Economic Forum. Indeed, it's a problem in many emerging markets, and businesses have a role to play in combating it, according to Healy and... View Details
- August 2012
- Article
A Darker Side to Decentralized Banks: Market Power and Credit Rationing in SME Lending
By: Rodrigo Canales and Ramana Nanda
We use loan-level data to study how the organizational structure of banks impacts small business lending. We find that decentralized banks-where branch managers have greater autonomy over lending decisions-give larger loans to small firms and those with "soft... View Details
- June 2012
- Case
PV Technologies, Inc.: Were They Asleep at the Switch?
By: Frank V. Cespedes and Diane Badame
PV Technologies, Inc. is an industry-leading manufacturer of photovoltaic inverters used to convert the direct current output of solar panels into alternating current for the commercial power grid. In conjunction with a request for proposal, the company's largest... View Details
- April 2012
- Case
Renesas Electronics and the Automotive Microcontroller Supply Chain (A)
By: Willy Shih and Margaret Pierson
The magnitude 9.0 earthquake that struck Japan in March 2011 caused extensive damage to Renesas Electronics wafer fabrication facility, a critical link in the global automotive supply chain. Many OEMs sole-sourced customized microprocessors from the fab, so its... View Details
- 2012
- Book
Teaming: How Organizations Learn, Innovate, and Compete in the Knowledge Economy
By: Amy C. Edmondson
Continuous improvement, understanding complex systems, and promoting innovation are all part of the landscape of learning challenges today's companies face. I show that organizations thrive, or fail to thrive, based on how well the small groups within those... View Details
- 2012
- Book
Uncommon Service: How to Win by Putting Customers at the Core of Your Business
By: Frances Frei and Anne Morriss
Most companies treat service as a low-priority business operation, keeping it out of the spotlight until a customer complains. Then service gets to make a brief appearance—for as long as it takes to calm the customer down and fix whatever foul-up jeopardized the... View Details
- 2012
- Case
Beyondsoft Co., Ltd. (B)
By: F. Warren McFarlan, Donghong Li and Hong Zhang
The case "Beyondsoft Co., Ltd. (A)" completed in early 2010 described the strategic path of Beyondsoft over its history of more than 10 years since its foundation in 1995, containing its major business lines and the relations with the major customers at that time, the... View Details
Keywords: Computer Software; Entrepreneurship; Outsourcing; Strategy; China; Information Technology; China
- 2012
- Teaching Note
Beyondsoft Co., Ltd. (B) (TN)
By: F. Warren McFarlan, Donghong Li and Hong Zhang
The case "Beyondsoft Co., Ltd. (A)" completed in early 2010 described the strategic path of Beyondsoft over its history of more than 10 years since its foundation in 1995, containing its major business lines and the relations with the major customers at that time, the... View Details
- June 2011 (Revised May 2012)
- Case
L'Oréal: Global Brand, Local Knowledge
By: Rebecca M. Henderson and Ryan Johnson
Worldwide, and in the U.S. marketplace in particular, the French cachet of L'Oréal was one of its most powerful marketing tools. However, with the opening up of emerging markets, L'Oréal had to cater to a diverse customer base: an aging population in the West, ethnic... View Details
- 2011
- White Paper
Brands Are People Too! Harnessing the Power of Brand Warmth and Competence
By: Chris Malone, Jill Avery and S. T. Fiske
Research in customer behavior has revealed that the way humans respond to brands is simply an extension of the way they instinctively perceive, judge, and behave towards one another. Understanding how consumers judge brands using social processes akin to those used in... View Details
- 2011
- Book
The Ultimate Question 2.0: How Net Promoter Companies Thrive in a Customer-Driven World
By: Fred Reichheld and Rob Markey
Defines the fundamental concept of Net Promoter, explaining its connection to your company’s growth and sustained success.
*Presents the closed-loop feedback process and demonstrates its power to energize employees and delight customers.
*Shares new and... View Details
*Presents the closed-loop feedback process and demonstrates its power to energize employees and delight customers.
*Shares new and... View Details
- October 2010
- Article
Unleashing the Power of Marketing
By: Beth Comstock, Ranjay Gulati and Stephen A Liguori
The article examines marketing management at General Electric Co. (GE). The transformation of the company's marketing department into an integral part of product development, product management, and strategic planning after years of relative neglect is considered.... View Details
- September 2010
- Teaching Note
"Plugging In" the Consumer: The Adoption of Electrically Powered Vehicles in the U.S. (TN)
By: Elie Ofek and Natalie Kindred
Teaching Note for 510076. View Details
- May 2010 (Revised August 2013)
- Case
Delta Electronics Hybrid Power Train
By: Willy C. Shih and Jyun-Cheng Wang
Delta Electronics, the world's largest manufacturer of switching power supplies, hoped to enter the market for gasoline-electric hybrid power trains for automobiles by being a major component and subsystem supplier. While most public awareness of hybrid vehicles fell... View Details
- 2009
- Book
Reorganize for Resilience: Putting Customers at the Center of Your Organization
By: Ranjay Gulati
In an era of raging commoditization and eroding profit margins, survival depends on resilience: staying one step ahead of your customers. Sure, most companies say they're "customer focused," but they don't deliver solutions to customers' thorniest problems. Why?... View Details
- Article
The Cost Structure, Customer Profitability, and Retention Implications of Self-Service Distribution Channels: Evidence from Customer Behavior in an Online Banking Channel
By: Dennis Campbell and Frances X. Frei
This paper uses the context of online banking to investigate the consequences of employing self-service distribution channels to alter customer interactions with the firm. Using a sample of retail banking customers observed over a 30-month period at a large U.S. bank,... View Details