Publications

03 May 2010
Research & Ideas

What Is the Future of MBA Education?

the limitations of models and markets. At these crossroads, how should business education proceed? We wrote the book to outline the needs and to explain how schools are addressing them in surprisingly innovative ways. We include in-depth... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Education

13 Jul 2009
Research & Ideas

Diagnosing the Public Health Care Alternative

think the chances of a government plan supplanting private options are slim," he writes. But the existence of both public and private insurance plans might provide enough competition to improve overall value for patients. Professor... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Health

January 2025
Case

Hebbia: Redefining Productivity for Knowledge Workers Using AI

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Minoshka Narayan

In early 2025, George Sivulka, founder and CEO of Hebbia, reflected on the company’s rapid ascent as a pioneer in GenAI-powered productivity tools for knowledge workers. With its proprietary technology, Hebbia had redefined information retrieval and analysis and earned... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Customer Relationship Management; AI and Machine Learning; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Service Delivery; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; Technology Industry; United States; New York (city, NY)

Research Summary

Managing Workplace Reforms and Organization-Wide Transformations

Richard E. Walton is studying (with doctoral candidate Scott Hamlin and research associate Kathleen Scharf) the development and diffusion of new forms of union-management partnership together with other new practices in the steel industry. To test and elaborate... View Details

2022
Working Paper

Are Experts Blinded by Feasibility?: Experimental Evidence from a NASA Robotics Challenge

By: Jacqueline N. Lane, Zoe Szajnfarber, Jason Crusan, Michael Menietti and Karim R. Lakhani

Resource allocation decisions play a dominant role in shaping a firm’s technological trajectory and competitive advantage. Recent work indicates that innovative firms and scientific institutions tend to exhibit an anti-novelty bias when evaluating new projects and... View Details

Keywords: Evaluations; Novelty; Feasibility; Field Experiment; Resource Allocation; Technological Innovation; Competitive Advantage; Decision Making

SSRN

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February 2024 (Revised April 2024)
Case

Finberg: Corporate Venture Capital in Türkiye

By: Paul A. Gompers and Namrata Arora

In December 2021, Murat Özyeğin, Chairman of Fiba Holding, along with Ömer Mert and İhsan Elgin, engaged in discussions about the future of United Payment, a fintech company in which Finberg, a subsidiary of Fibabanka, held a 20% stake. Finberg, established in 2018 as... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Venture Capital; Technology; Return On Investment; Venture Capital; Investment; Strategy; Technological Innovation; Competition; Valuation; Acquisition; Business Startups; Information Technology Industry; Banking Industry; Middle East; North Africa; Turkey; Ukraine; Romania; Poland

18 Dec 2006
Lessons from the Classroom

Grooming Next-Generation Leaders

as foundational skills, critical business functions, strategy formulation and implementation, and personal leadership. For the organization, according to Sasser and Narayandas, talent is key to competitive advantage. And for the talented... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

June 2022 (Revised March 2024)
Case

Netflix's Culture: Binge or Cringe?

By: Hubert Joly, Leonard A. Schlesinger, James Barnett and Stacy Straaberg

In May 2022, streaming entertainment company Netflix lost customers for the first time in more than 10 years. Once a first mover in the streaming landscape, Netflix was facing competition from Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, HBO Max, and others. A key component of... View Details

2012
Book

Strategic IQ: Creating Smarter Corporations

By: John R. Wells

In today's world, only the smartest survive. The competitive landscape is littered with graves of well-known firms whose revenues, profits and stock prices rose for decades until they suddenly imploded.
In fast-changing business environments, firms must adapt... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Competition; Business Growth and Maturation; Adaptation; Corporate Strategy; Decision Making; Innovation and Invention

2010
Book

Seven Strategy Questions: A Simple Approach for Better Execution

By: Robert L. Simons

To stay ahead of the pack, you must translate your organization's competitive strategy into day-to-day actions that will enable your company to win in the marketplace. This means channeling resources into the right efforts, striking a balance between innovation and... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Innovation and Management; Resource Allocation; Business Processes; Organizational Culture; Competitive Strategy

Find at Harvard

09 Apr 2014
Research & Ideas

A Playbook for Small-Business Job Creation

experience as a policy maker—as well as 25 years of experience as an investor and small business owner—to the U.S. Competitiveness Project at Harvard Business School. Mills left the SBA last summer and accepted a two-year fellowship at... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Banking; Financial Services

May–June 2020
Article

The New-Market Conundrum

By: Rory McDonald and Kathleen M. Eisenhardt

Brand-new markets are like the wormholes of science fiction, where the usual rules of time and space do not apply. When a market has just been born, the forces of competition there are constantly in flux, it’s unclear who your customers really are, and conventional... View Details

Keywords: New Markets; Markets; Business Model; Strategy; Framework; Innovation and Invention; Value Creation

Find at Harvard

Read Now

20 Dec 2004
Research & Ideas

The U.S. Patent Game: How to Change It

firms are frequently targets of patent litigation. In many cases, an established firm, frequently one whose competitive position and innovative activity are declining, realizes it has a valuable stockpile of... View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen

December 1999 (Revised December 2000)
Case

Charles Schwab: A Category of One

By: Stephen P. Bradley and Thomas H. Esperson

Examines Charles Schwab's on-line discount brokerage firm and questions whether or not Schwab has effectively balanced the old and new world of stock trading, and has remained a leader between giants like Merrill Lynch and Internet pure plays like E-Trade. Also looks... View Details

Keywords: Financial Institutions; Banks and Banking; Technological Innovation; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry

09 Jul 2014
Research & Ideas

How Business Leaders Can Strengthen American Schools

School's U.S. Competitiveness Project. Rivkin is the Bruce V. Rauner Professor of Business Administration. “Study after study has shown that a country's long-term prosperity depends on the quality of its human capital” Rivkin and fellow... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Education

December 2020 (Revised March 2022)
Case

Thinx, Inc.—Breaking Barriers in Feminine Care (Abridged)

By: Rembrand Koning, Elie Ofek and Nicole Tempest Keller

An examination of the strategic marketing challenges facing Thinx as it tries to grow in the face of menstruation taboos and competition from large incumbents. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Strategy; United States

March 2020 (Revised November 2020)
Case

Thinx, Inc.—Breaking Barriers in Feminine Care

By: Rembrand Koning, Elie Ofek and Nicole Keller

An examination of the strategic marketing challenges facing Thinx as it tries to grow in the face of menstruation taboos and competition from large incumbents. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Strategy; United States