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- All HBS Web
(2,343)
- People (1)
- News (285)
- Research (1,622)
- Events (1)
- Multimedia (6)
- Faculty Publications (1,132)
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- February 2017 (Revised February 2022)
- Background Note
Creating and Sustaining Competitive Advantage
This note gives students a systematic and comprehensive framework for analyzing and developing competitive advantage. It pays explicit attention to both creating and sustaining advantage and considers both alignment and assets as sources of advantage. View Details
Keywords: Scope; Scale; Competitive Dynamics; Value Proposition; Bargaining Power; Competitive Advantage; Assets; Alignment; Business Strategy; Design
Van den Steen, Eric. "Creating and Sustaining Competitive Advantage." Harvard Business School Background Note 717-479, February 2017. (Revised February 2022.)
- December 2004 (Revised May 2005)
- Case
Nestle: Sustainable Agriculture Initiative
Swiss food giant Nestle attempts to improve the performance of its suppliers of agricultural commodities to raise quality, lower costs, and contribute to sustainable development. Its initiatives focus first on coffee, cocoa, and milk. Nestle managers assert that the... View Details
Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Social Issues; Business and Community Relations; Corporate Strategy; Agribusiness; Supply Chain Management; Marketing Strategy; Value Creation; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry
Reinhardt, Forest L. "Nestle: Sustainable Agriculture Initiative." Harvard Business School Case 705-018, December 2004. (Revised May 2005.)
- 20 Mar 2013
- Research & Ideas
How CEOs Sustain Higher-Ambition Goals
Michael Beer and his coauthors at the Center for Higher Ambition Leadership, the executives underscored the importance of higher-ambition goals, including engaging with and developing employee and customer commitment, contributing to the community in which they... View Details
Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman
- Spring 2012
- Article
Sustainability at Dow Chemical
By: Robert G. Eccles, Kathleen M. Perkins and Mark Weick
Dow Chemical Company, which was founded in 1894, is now the second-largest chemical company in the world. From the outset, the company has been committed to high-technology research and commercial innovation in chemistry, advanced materials, and agro-sciences. But if... View Details
Keywords: Value Creation; Corporate Strategy; Chemicals; Environmental Sustainability; Innovation and Invention; Chemical Industry
Eccles, Robert G., Kathleen M. Perkins, and Mark Weick. "Sustainability at Dow Chemical." Journal of Applied Corporate Finance 24, no. 2 (Spring 2012): 38–44.
- November 2015 (Revised October 2017)
- Case
Nestle's Creating Shared Value Strategy
By: Michael E. Porter, Mark R. Kramer, Kerry Herman and Sarah McAra
This case considers Nestlé’s creating shared value (CSV) strategy, which focused on the three categories of nutrition, water, and rural development. In the packaged food and beverage industry, pressure had mounted since the 1990s to improve supply chain sustainability... View Details
Keywords: Shared Value; Health And Wellness; Nutrition; Health; Labor; Environmental Sustainability; Strategy; Operations; Food and Beverage Industry; Switzerland; Europe; Africa; Latin America; North America; Asia
Porter, Michael E., Mark R. Kramer, Kerry Herman, and Sarah McAra. "Nestlé's Creating Shared Value Strategy." Harvard Business School Case 716-422, November 2015. (Revised October 2017.)
- March 2015
- Case
Sustainable Palm Oil and Self-Regulation
By: Rebecca Henderson and Amram Migdal
This case is designed to be used with HBS Note: Industry Self-Regulation: Sustaining the Commons in the 21st Century, HBS No. 315-074. View Details
Keywords: Governance Compliance
- December 2021
- Case
Bunge: Building a Sustainable Future?
By: Forest Reinhardt, David E. Bell, Pedro Levindo and Ruth Costas
Bunge, one of the world’s leading agribusiness traders and processors, strives to comply with its commitment to having a deforestation-free value chain by 2025 while it considers potential new business growth areas. After a complex turnaround, which involved one of the... View Details
Keywords: Deforestation; Value Chain; Agribusiness; Values and Beliefs; Growth and Development Strategy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Financial Strategy; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry
Reinhardt, Forest, David E. Bell, Pedro Levindo, and Ruth Costas. "Bunge: Building a Sustainable Future?" Harvard Business School Case 522-007, December 2021.
- April 2002
- Background Note
Local Institutions and Global Strategy
By: Tarun Khanna
Explores how location affects a firm's strategy and identifies the different ways location affects industry structure, choice of a firm's position, and the sustainability of that position. The intellectual foundations lie in an appreciation of institutional economics.... View Details
Keywords: Global Range; Global Strategy; Product Positioning; Market Transactions; Industry Structures; Negotiation Deal; Organizational Design; Outcome or Result; Strategic Planning
Khanna, Tarun. "Local Institutions and Global Strategy." Harvard Business School Background Note 702-475, April 2002.
- October 2023
- Case
Driving Sustainability at AB InBev
By: Ethan Rouen and Antonio Manuel Oftelie
It was the height of the summer in 2022, and Michel Doukeris, the CEO of Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev), and Peter Kraemer, the company’s Chief Supply Officer, gazed across the vast desert surrounding Zacatecas, Mexico. They were visiting their Grupo Modelo Brewery,... View Details
Keywords: Innovation; Transformation; Decisions; Environmental Sustainability; Leading Change; Growth Management; Business Model; Food and Beverage Industry; Mexico
Rouen, Ethan, and Antonio Manuel Oftelie. "Driving Sustainability at AB InBev." Harvard Business School Case 124-037, October 2023.
- Article
Making 'Green Giants': Environment Sustainability in the German Chemical Industry, 1950s–1980s
By: Geoffrey Jones and Christina Lubinski
This article examines the evolution of corporate environmentalism in the West German chemical industry between the 1950s and the 1980s. It focuses on two companies, Bayer and Henkel, that have been identified as "green giants," and traces the evolution of their... View Details
Keywords: Business History; Green Business; Regional Strategy; Pollution; Henkel; Bayer; Globalization; History; Chemical Industry; Germany; United States
Jones, Geoffrey, and Christina Lubinski. "Making 'Green Giants': Environment Sustainability in the German Chemical Industry, 1950s–1980s." Business History 56, no. 4 (July 2014): 623–649.
- Research Summary
Competitive Strategy
Porter is engaged in a major new body of work on the theoretical foundations of competitive positioning and the underpinnings of sustainable competitive advantage. This research highlights the distinction between positioning and operational effectiveness; the... View Details
- 19 Jun 2018
- Research Event
Has Environmental Sustainability Lost its Relevance?
iPhoto For businesses and other organizations seeking to overcome roadblocks to sustainability over the last few decades, much can be learned from the debates I heard at the recent Harvard Business School conference, Understanding and... View Details
- January 2012 (Revised June 2013)
- Case
Dow Chemical: Innovating for Sustainability
Dow Chemical is one of the few major American industrial corporations that was founded in the late 19th century that is still in existence. From its origins producing bromine out of the brine underneath Midland, Michigan, the company has evolved from a diversified... View Details
Eccles, Robert G., George Serafeim, and Shelley Xin Li. "Dow Chemical: Innovating for Sustainability." Harvard Business School Case 112-064, January 2012. (Revised June 2013.)
- November 1998 (Revised July 2000)
- Case
Deere & Company: Sustaining Value
By: Malcolm S. Salter and Marlowe Dayley
The question facing Deere & Co. is whether or not to adopt some of the organizational technologies of private equity investors (decentralized equity holdings, use of leverage to control the disposition of cash flows, the externalization of the capital budgeting... View Details
Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Decision Choices and Conditions; Cash Flow; Private Equity; Wealth; Adoption; Manufacturing Industry
Salter, Malcolm S., and Marlowe Dayley. "Deere & Company: Sustaining Value." Harvard Business School Case 899-001, November 1998. (Revised July 2000.)
- November 2015 (Revised August 2016)
- Case
Unilever's New Global Strategy: Competing through Sustainability
In January 2009, when Paul Polman was appointed CEO of Unilever, he inherited a company in long-term decline at the beginning of a major global financial crisis. As the first outsider ever recruited to lead the company, Polman lost little time in challenging the... View Details
Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Competitive Strategy; Environmental Sustainability; Consumer Products Industry
Bartlett, Christopher A. "Unilever's New Global Strategy: Competing through Sustainability." Harvard Business School Case 916-414, November 2015. (Revised August 2016.)
- March 2010 (Revised August 2010)
- Case
Creative Capital: Sustaining the Arts
By: G. Felda Hardymon and Ann Leamon
Creative Capital provides grants to individual artists using a venture capital model—the money comes with guidance and governance. Artists receive money as milestones are reached and also receive guidance on managing their lives and business to increase their... View Details
Keywords: Arts; Business Model; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Growth and Development Strategy; Nonprofit Organizations; Financial Services Industry
Hardymon, G. Felda, and Ann Leamon. "Creative Capital: Sustaining the Arts." Harvard Business School Case 810-098, March 2010. (Revised August 2010.)
- 08 Oct 2014
- Research & Ideas
Who Is the Chief Sustainability Officer?
shows. Innovation: A select number of companies shift to a more advanced innovative stage by integrating sustainability into the core of the business in ways that transform the company. Strategies tend to be... View Details
- October 2022 (Revised February 2024)
- Case
Masdar City: Aiming for Sustainable and Profitable Real Estate
By: Boris Vallee and Fares Khrais
Masdar City broke ground in 2008 and was conceived by the Abu Dhabi government to be an international beacon of innovation in sustainable energy and real estate. It was also to be a profitable investment for the government. At first glance, the two goals pulled in... View Details
Keywords: Analysis; Business Growth And Maturation; Decisions; Public Sector; Financial Crisis; Construction; Climate Change; Green Technology; Borrowing And Debt; Corporate Finance; Capital; Capital Budgeting; Capital Structure; Cost Of Capital; Equity; REIT; Financial Management; Financial Strategy; Initial Public Offering; Innovation; Growth And Development Strategy; Emerging Markets; Urban Development; Middle East; United Arab Emirates; Sustainable Cities; Green Building; Business and Government Relations; Decision Choices and Conditions; Financing and Loans; Real Estate Industry; Construction Industry; Energy Industry; Green Technology Industry; Abu Dhabi
Vallee, Boris, and Fares Khrais. "Masdar City: Aiming for Sustainable and Profitable Real Estate." Harvard Business School Case 223-036, October 2022. (Revised February 2024.)
- Teaching Interest
Strategy and Technology
By: Andy Wu
The Strategy and Technology elective course explores the unique aspects of creating effective strategies for technology-intensive businesses.
- What strategies win in markets with network effects?
- How can technology be... View Details
Keywords: Innovation and Management; Innovation Leadership; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Patents; Business Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Hardware; Information Technology; Internet; Mobile Technology; Online Technology; Search Technology; Software; Technology Adoption; Technology Networks; Technology Platform; Communications Industry; Electronics Industry; Information Technology Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Video Game Industry; Web Services Industry
- August 2019
- Case
Simón Cohen at Henco: Sustaining 'High Performance, Happy People'
By: Francesca Gino, Jeff Steiner, Arianna Camacho and Paul Green
Simón Cohen—Founder of Henco Logistics—transformed a small Mexican logistics company into a major player within the industry. Cohen credits the firm’s focus on employee happiness as the key ingredient to its success, an approach he developed following a personal... View Details
Keywords: Work/life Balance; Growth Strategy; Corporate Culture; Motivation; Values; Authentic Leadership Development; Leadership; Personal Development and Career; Motivation and Incentives; Values and Beliefs; Service Operations; Organizational Culture; Growth and Development Strategy; Service Industry
Gino, Francesca, Jeff Steiner, Arianna Camacho, and Paul Green. "Simón Cohen at Henco: Sustaining 'High Performance, Happy People'." Harvard Business School Case 920-005, August 2019.