Publications

March 2015
Case

BOLT: Seed Venture Capital Firm

By: William A. Sahlman and Robert F. White

BOLT is a different kind of seed venture capital firm built to serve the needs of early-stage startups at the intersection of hardware and software.

In the past decade, the cost of entrepreneurial experimentation has dropped dramatically, particularly in web... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Finance; Accelerator; Entrepreneurship; Finance; Venture Capital; Applications and Software; Information Infrastructure; Strategy

26 Nov 2007
Research & Ideas

Best Practices of Global Innovators

a recent setback, Boeing lashed together the efforts of 50 partners in 130 locations working together over 4 years. These firms aren't just manufacturing partners—they actually design the components they make. "In our view, Boeing's... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

19 Sep 2023
Blog Post

2023 Summer Internships in Business & Environment

modeling financial returns of customer DERs, such as behind-the-meter batteries and smart thermostats. Dennis' role prior to HBS was a Strategy Manger, Global Operations at Google. Nabig Chaudhry (MBA 2024, Section J), Summer Internship:... View Details

15 Jun 2009
Research & Ideas

GM: What Went Wrong and What’s Next

strategy of the last decade has been to foster areas of specialization within its subsidiaries around the world—small cars in Europe, subcompacts in Asia, trucks and SUVs in North America—and this has started to yield great results. Now... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Auto

Forthcoming
Book

The World Is Your Office: How Work from Anywhere Boosts Talent, Productivity, and Innovation

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury

A research-based look at a growing phenomenon—companies allowing their employees to work from anywhere in the world—and how those who adopt this model can boost talent, innovation, and productivity.
In recent years, companies in a wide range of industries have... View Details

Keywords: Remote Work; Telecommuting; Employees; Business Offices; Organizational Culture; Retention; Recruitment; Policy; Competitive Advantage

14 Jul 2009
First Look

First Look: July 14

the broader field. Market Research and Innovation Strategy in a Duopoly Authors:Dominique Lauga and Elie Ofek Publication:Marketing Science 28, no. 2 (March-April 2009): 373-396 Abstract We model a duopoly in which ex-ante identical firms... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

25 Aug 2009
First Look

First Look: August 25

Factory" (HBR May-June 1974), Wickham Skinner proposed that manufacturers whose product lines had proliferated create specialized units, each dedicated to a distinct task. To make this economically feasible, he suggested the plant... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

16 Oct 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, October 16, 2018

scholars (such as “p-hacking” and confounding local effects with global effects) pertinent to the norms of empirical research in the fields of strategy and management. We provide a step-by-step roadmap that illustrates how to use four ML... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

27 Nov 2000
Research & Ideas

The Dynamics of Standing Still: Firestone Tire & Rubber and the Radial Revolution

changing competitive environment. By the mid-1960s, however, U.S. tire companies began to feel the first tremors of the competitive earthquake that would ultimately reshape the industry. In 1966, Michelin struck a deal with Sears to View Details

Keywords: by Donald N. Sull; Manufacturing; Manufacturing

May 2023 (Revised June 2023)
Supplement

Novartis (B): Reimagining Medicine

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Claudio Feser, Karolin Frankenberger and David Redaschi

This case unfolds around the first-ever approved personalized cancer treatment, how Novartis wrapped it into a new business model design, and how Novartis scaled it. Novartis — one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world — is, among other ventures,... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Business Model; Production; Business Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry

09 Mar 2003
Research & Ideas

Six Keys to Building New Markets by Unleashing Disruptive Innovation

voracious consumers of theory. Every plan a manager makes, every action a manager takes, is based on some implicit understanding of what causes what and why. The problem is, managers all too frequently use a one-size-fits-all theory. But the ground beneath them... View Details

Keywords: by Clayton M. Christensen, Michael E. Raynor & Scott D. Anthony

January 2025
Case

U.S. Steel: Proposed Acquisition by Nippon Steel

By: Willy C. Shih

The case setting is the proposed acquisition of U.S. Steel by Nippon Steel, which elicited a great deal of controversy. The real purpose of the case is to look at the history of the American steel industry since World War II and understand how the steel minimill... View Details

Keywords: Disruptive Innovation; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States

May 2010 (Revised June 2012)
Case

From Imitation to Innovation: Zongshen Industrial Group

By: Willy Shih and Nancy Hua Dai

As Zuo Zongshen drove the transformation of the Zongshen Industrial Group from an early imitator in the motorcycle business to a company that increasingly focused on innovation as a way to get out of the hyper-competitive commodity business, he continually faced new... View Details

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Learning; Investment; Disruptive Innovation; Knowledge Acquisition; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Competitive Strategy; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; China