Publications

18 Sep 2020
HBS Seminar

Megan Frederickson, University of Toronto, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

14 Aug 2007
First Look

First Look: August 14, 2007

http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/08-005.pdf Can Higher Prices Stimulate Product Use? Evidence from a Field Experiment in Zambia Authors:Nava Ashraf, James Berry, and Jesse M. Shapiro Abstract The controversy over whether View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

June 2010 (Revised January 2011)
Case

Scientific Glass Incorporated: Inventory Management

By: Steven C. Wheelwright and William Schmidt

Scientific Glassware is a fast-growing, privately held company that provides specialized glassware for laboratory and research facilities. Excess inventory is tying up extra capital needed to fund the company's expansion plans. The newly hired Manager of Inventory... View Details

Keywords: Inventory Control; Inventory Management; Materials Management; Order Processing; Warehousing; Salesforce Management; Logistics; Operations; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Finance; Consumer Products Industry; Technology Industry

Research Summary

Overview

By: Matthew C. Weinzierl

My academic research centers on uncovering and closing gaps between the theory and reality of tax policy. My main contribution has been to identify and address a mismatch between the goals for taxation typically assumed in theory and the goals the public and... View Details

08 Jan 2018
News

Associate Professor John Beshears Wins TIAA Paul A. Samuelson Award

January 2013 (Revised October 2015)
Case

Pittsburgh

By: Eric Werker, Meg Rithmire, Benjamin Kennedy and Andrew Knauer

The case narrates the development of Pittsburgh from the 1940s to 2012. It analyzes the collapse of the steel industry in the early 1980s, the city's subsequent decline, and the city's later re-emergence as a hub for higher education, the tech sector, and the... View Details

April 1986 (Revised September 1993)
Case

Sun Microsystems, Inc. (A)

By: Steven C. Wheelwright

Sun Microsystems managers must decide whether to launch a new product into manufacturing. Teaching objectives include: 1) an analysis of the competitive environment, 2) examination of technological choices, 3) understanding of the new product development process, and... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Product Launch; Product Development; Production; Competitive Strategy; Computer Industry

November – December 2011
Article

Competitive Strategy for Open Source Software

By: Vineet Kumar, Brett Gordon and Kannan Srinivasan

Commercial open source software (COSS) products-privately developed software based on publicly available source code-represent a rapidly growing, multibillion-dollar market. A unique aspect of competition in the COSS market is that many open source licenses require... View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Competitive Strategy; Product Development; Growth and Development; Markets; Motivation and Incentives; Quality; Policy; Perspective; Profit; Open Source Distribution; Emerging Markets

Read Now

May 1997
Teaching Note

Managing Product Development: Matching Technology with Context, Instructor's Note

By: Marco Iansiti

This overview to Managing Product Development (MPD) both previews course material, cases, exercises, and lectures--and provides its conceptual and academic underpinnings. Additionally, this note links these materials to the activities students will be undertaking in... View Details

Keywords: Curriculum and Courses; Product Development; Knowledge Management; Performance; Projects; Management Practices and Processes; Opportunities; Strategy; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques

Article

Timing is Everything: The Importance of Finding the Right Moment in Leading Teams

Great team leaders have superb timing. We explore in this article two different types of timing that leaders need to help their teams. First, they understand when teams are naturally open to help, and what kinds of help to give teams at predictable times in... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Groups and Teams; Leadership Style

December 2018 (Revised December 2020)
Module Note

What Is Strategy?

By: Ashish Nanda

This note introduces the first module of the RC Strategy course, What Is Strategy? It helps students develop their perspective on what is a strategy, what is a good strategy, and how strategy development differs across contexts. View Details

Keywords: Strategy

September 2021 (Revised February 2023)
Case

Harambe: Mobilizing Capital in Africa

By: Anywhere (Siko) Sikochi, Dilyana Karadzhova Botha and Francesco Tronci

Harambe was a non-profit organization whose mission was to build an ecosystem to identify promising young African entrepreneurs and provide them access to training, markets, capital, and support networks. From 2007 to 2021, Harambe had grown to a network of 367... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Nonprofit Organizations; Business Model; Strategy; Organizational Structure; Business Startups; Capital; Venture Capital; Social and Collaborative Networks; Networks; Developing Countries and Economies; Emerging Markets; Africa; South Africa

2024
Working Paper

Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell Therapy—Living Drugs: Case Histories of Transformational Advances

By: Amar Bhidé and Srikant M. Datar

In 2017, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved an immunotherapeutic treatment, called CAR-T therapy, for two kinds of blood cancers—acute leukemia (ALL) and a lymphoma. We describe 1) how CAR-T works, 2) the foundational advances and discoveries, 3) the... View Details

Keywords: Immunotherapy; Health Care and Treatment; Innovation and Invention; Research and Development; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

SSRN

Read Now

December 1999 (Revised October 2003)
Case

BRL Hardy: Globalizing an Australian Wine Company

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Two new product launch decisions face Christopher Carson, managing director of BRL Hardy, Europe. Responsible for the European operations of a major Australian wine company, Carson has begun to globalize his strategy beyond selling the parent company's wines. After a... View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Joint Ventures; Product Launch; Brands and Branding; Competitive Strategy; Business Subsidiaries; Negotiation Style; Food and Beverage Industry

30 Sep 2015
Research & Ideas

Political Polarization: Why We All Just Can't Get Along

Incorrect beliefs are easier to overcome than an ingrained lack of trust. However, as the researchers later demonstrate, even that remedy may prove hard to achieve. Dylan Minor, a visiting assistant professor of business administration in... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Banking; Financial Services

January 2002
Case

Global Business Council on HIV/AIDS on World AIDS Day 2001, The

Explores the motivation for businesses to be concerned with the global AIDS epidemic. The formation of the council serves as an example of how business leaders are building a network of companies to develop an effective business response to AIDS-both through workforce... View Details

Keywords: Health; Social Issues; Global Strategy; Business and Community Relations; Growth and Development Strategy; Business and Government Relations; Health Industry

November 1999
Case

Lucent Technologies: Optical Networking Group

By: Marco Iansiti and Barbara Feinberg

Set in June 1999, this case describes the development of a new platform product, the Wavestar OLS 400G, that responded both to a demand for greater "bandwidth" and aggressive competitors seeking to supply it. The 400G's development process took only 14 months and... View Details

Keywords: Customers; Operations; Product Development; Performance Improvement; Information Technology; Information Infrastructure

October 2023 (Revised March 2024)
Case

Fortinet: Cybersecurity Pioneer Ken Xie Considers the Long Game

By: Tsedal Neeley, Jeff Huizinga and Emily Grandjean

Ken Xie, cofounder of cybersecurity giant Fortinet, faced a critical decision that would validate his leadership. Fortinet became the industry’s second-largest pureplay cybersecurity firm by developing differentiated hardware and investing in R&D. However, after a... View Details

Keywords: Leadership Development; Leadership Style; Marketing Strategy; Communication Strategy; Cybersecurity; Competitive Advantage; Information Technology Industry; United States; Sunnyvale