Publications

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Research Summary

Technological Change and Competitive Strategy

Richard S. Rosenbloom continues to explore issues in the strategic management of technology and the relationship between technological change and competitive strategy. He is currently investigating the histories of radical technological innovations and their... View Details

January 2010 (Revised February 2011)
Case

The Random House Response to the Kindle

By: Bharat N. Anand and Peter Olson

In early 2010, e-readers, like Amazon's Kindle and Apple's impending iPad, threatened to disrupt the book publishing industry. The case provides an overview of the industry, describes the broader trends regarding e-readers, and asks: how should major publishers like... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Trends; Disruptive Innovation; Technological Innovation; Consumer Behavior; Industry Structures; Corporate Strategy; Hardware; Publishing Industry

24 Apr 2007
First Look

First Look: April 24, 2007

little impact. Download working paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/07-065.pdf What Causes Industry Agglomeration? Evidence from Coagglomeration Patterns Authors:Glenn Ellison, Edward L. Glaeser, and William Kerr Abstract Many View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2008 (Revised August 2017)
Exercise

The Book Deal: Confidential Instructions for the AGENT

By: Deepak Malhotra and Max H. Bazerman

A two-party negotiation between an Agent representing a new author and an Editor at a large Publishing Firm. The exercise involves a one-issue, zero-sum negotiation concerning the advance on royalties that the publisher will pay to the author. View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Agreements and Arrangements; Negotiation Preparation; Negotiation Tactics; Negotiation Types; Publishing Industry

June 2003 (Revised September 2004)
Exercise

The Pacific Sentinel: Role for Chris Coleman

By: Kathleen L. McGinn and Dina R. Pradel

A new publishing company has just purchased the Pacific Sentinel, a fictional West Coast newspaper. The new publisher is willing to invest $1 million in the future success of the paper and has asked the executive editor and advertising manager to develop a joint plan... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Conflict of Interests; Decision Making; Publishing Industry

31 Aug 2015
Research & Ideas

How Ben Franklin’s ‘Way to Wealth’ Introduced American Capitalism to the World

of wisdom and many others were made famous by Benjamin Franklin in his 1758 essay known as The Way to Wealth, first published as a sermon delivered by “Father Abraham” in Poor Richard’s Almanack. “I’m interested in how ideas reflect but... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

Research Summary

The Future of MBA Education

David Garvin, together with Srikant Datar and Patrick Cullen, is examining the future of MBA education and the evolving role of business schools. The research has several components: interviews with business school deans and business executives to identify the... View Details

October 2004 (Revised March 2005)
Case

Langer Lab, The: Commercializing Science

By: H. Kent Bowen, Alex Kazaks, Ayr Muir-Harmony and Bryce LaPierre

Professor Robert Langer's laboratory at MIT is the source of an unusually large number of published papers, patents, and technology licenses to start-up and established companies in the biomedical industry. Explores Langer's leadership and other factors that create a... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Technological Innovation; Business Startups; Research and Development; Patents; Innovation Leadership; Science-Based Business; Commercialization; Biotechnology Industry; Biotechnology Industry

2007
Working Paper

The Seer of Wellesley Hills: Roger Babson and the Babson Statistical Organization

By: Walter A. Friedman

Roger Babson was a pioneer of the business-forecasting industry in the United States in the early twentieth century. He built the largest private economic forecasting agency in the period and published a great range of economic statistics in his weekly newsletters. As... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Economics; Business History; Newsletters; Personal Development and Career; United States

June 2003 (Revised May 2004)
Exercise

The Pacific Sentinel: Role for Alex Martinez

By: Kathleen L. McGinn and Dina R. Pradel

A new publishing company has just purchased the Pacific Sentinel, a fictional West Coast newspaper. The new publisher is willing to invest $1 million in the future success of the paper and has asked the executive editor and advertising manager to develop a joint plan... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Acquisition; Business Strategy; Publishing Industry; Western United States

18 Apr 2023
Research & Ideas

What Happens When Banks Ditch Coal: The Impact Is 'More Than Anyone Thought'

Consumers who are eager to mitigate climate change can take many actions, such as reducing the number of airline flights they take or installing solar panels on their homes. But the planet is in a race against time, and individual action alone won’t help most countries... View Details

Keywords: by Barbara DeLollis; Financial Services; Mining

May 2018 (Revised September 2018)
Case

BuzzFeed—What Future for Native Advertising and Branded Content?

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee

Jonah Peretti, CEO of digital publishing company BuzzFeed, needs to decide how to respond to Facebook’s announcement that it would prioritize posts from friends over content from publishers. View Details

Keywords: Information Publishing; Internet and the Web; Digital Marketing; Problems and Challenges; Business Model; Strategy; Publishing Industry; Publishing Industry; United States

24 May 2021
Op-Ed

Can Fabric Waste Become Fashion’s Resource?

COVID-19 has broken fashion’s supply chain. As a result, an already wasteful industry has become more wasteful. Even before the pandemic, the global apparel industry was producing about 92 million tons of textile waste a year. That’s about one garbage truck’s worth of... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones and Shelly Xu; Fashion

July 1998 (Revised February 2004)
Case

The Pellegrins (A)

By: John A. Davis

A father and son working together in their family-owned publishing company are at a decision point because the son feels he is ready to become president at the age of 31. View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Management Succession; Family and Family Relationships; Family Ownership; Publishing Industry

15 Nov 2004
Research & Ideas

Solving the Health Care Conundrum

The U.S. health care industry is unique in that despite the presence of significant competition, which usually drives increased value through decreased costs and improved quality, the nature of the competition in health care has been... View Details

Keywords: by Michael E. Porter; Health

July 2015 (Revised March 2021)
Case

Proxy Contest at DuPont

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Emily McTague

On January 9, 2015, Nelson Peltz of Trian Fund Management launched a proxy fight for four out of the twelve seats on the DuPont board. The fund had previously published a public letter addressed to shareholders outlining its proposal to break the company into three... View Details

Keywords: Board Of Directors; Hedge Fund; Activist Investing; Activist Investors; Proxy Fight; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Investment Activism; Chemical Industry; United States

March 2018 (Revised December 2019)
Case

Edward Lewis: Essence Magazine

By: Steven Rogers and Jacqueline Adams

Essence, the first magazine aimed at African-American women, was created by four, young, Black entrepreneurs in the aftermath of massive racial and political upheaval in the United States in 1968. The venture was a financial, branding and cultural success. By 2005, the... View Details