Publications

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March 2023 (Revised May 2025)
Case

On

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Karolin Frankenberger and Sascha Mader

Founded in 2010, in just one decade, the Swiss company On had established itself as a main player in global sports footwear and apparel. Based on an unconventional strategy which one of the founders labeled as “obsessively distinct,” On grew its sales with a compound... View Details

October 1986 (Revised November 1988)
Case

B-W Footwear

By: David B. Yoffie

As import penetration into the American footwear market reached 81% in 1986, B-W Footwear, along with all of its American competitors, was struggling. Supply lines were deteriorating, retailers and importers were gaining power, and the government had rejected two... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Management; Globalization; Government and Politics; Business Strategy; Trade; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States

Rajiv Lal, is the Stanley Roth, Sr. Professor of Retailing at Harvard Business School. He is currently teaching an elective MBA course on the Business of Smart Connected Products/IOT. He has been responsible for the retailing curriculum and has served as the course... View Details

18 May 2020
Working Paper Summaries

No Line Left Behind: Assortative Matching Inside the Firm

Keywords: by Achyuta Adhvaryu, Vittorio Bassi, Anant Nyshadham, and Jorge Tamayo; Fashion

July 2008 (Revised April 2009)
Background Note

Horizontal Specialization and Modularity in the Semiconductor Industry

By: Willy C. Shih, Chintay Shih and Chen-Fu Chien

Well-codified interfaces have enabled horizontal specialization in the global semiconductor industry. This Technical Note describes the modern integrated circuit value chain, and the motivation for the reuse of blocks of intellectual property in modern IC designs. It... View Details

Keywords: Customer Value and Value Chain; Intellectual Property; Industry Structures; Horizontal Integration; Semiconductor Industry

Program

Agribusiness Seminar

business—and contribute to a more resilient food system. Details Understand the interconnectedness of the global food system and the implications for your business Examine the effects of local and regional events on View Details

Keywords: Agriculture; Agriculture

June 2018 (Revised January 2019)
Case

Membership Rewards® from American Express

By: Shelle Santana, Frances X. Frei and Lauren G. Pickle

Credit and charge card issuer American Express (Amex) had developed a strong reputation among consumers due in part to its Membership Rewards (MR) loyalty program, first established in 1991. Through MR, all Amex cardholders could accumulate and redeem “points” based on... View Details

Keywords: Financial Services; Customer Loyalty; Credit Cards; Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; Brands and Branding; Customer Value and Value Chain; Value Creation; Financial Services Industry; Banking Industry; North America; United States

October 2004 (Revised November 2004)
Case

AWB Limited

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Hal Hogan

Discusses how to evaluate the performance of the Australia Wheat Board in meeting the needs of its Australian wheat farmers and global consumers. Includes color exhibits. View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Customer Value and Value Chain; Globalized Markets and Industries; Performance Effectiveness; Performance Evaluation; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Australia

December 2002 (Revised October 2006)
Case

Tesco Plc.

By: David E. Bell

Tesco, a supermarket chain, has been transformed from a third-rate retailer to a global leader in the past ten years. This case describes how that was accomplished. Interviews with Tesco employees explain the company's approach to understanding customers, motivating... View Details

Keywords: History; Motivation and Incentives; Leadership; Internet and the Web; Supply Chain Management; Global Strategy; Globalization; Customer Focus and Relationships; Business Strategy; Retail Industry

12 Nov 2001
Research & Ideas

Facing the New World Order

Because the two great disturbances that are shaking the world economy are the cyclical downturns in the United States, and especially in the information and communications technology sectors, and the global View Details

Keywords: by Staff

January 1998 (Revised April 2001)
Case

Acer America: Development of the Aspire

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Anthony St. George

Follows the development, national launch, and global rollout of the Aspire, Acer's first new product developed outside of Taiwan. Implementing a very promising new PC concept proves challenging to Mike Culver and his U.S. team, who are plagued by coordination problems... View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Globalized Firms and Management; Organizational Design; Supply Chain; Problems and Challenges; Relationships; Business Subsidiaries; Product Launch; Computer Industry; United States; Taiwan

2007
Working Paper

Retail Market Structure and Dynamics: A Three Country Comparison of Japan, the U.K. and the U.S.

By: Jonathan Haskel, Ron S. Jarmin, Kazuyuki Motohashi and Raffaella Sadun

This paper compares structure and dynamics of the Retail Trade Sectors in Japan, the U.K. and the U.S. This is done using confidential establishment and firm level data for each country. By using micro data we are able to perform much more detailed comparisons than... View Details

Keywords: Industry Structures; Market Entry and Exit; Jobs and Positions; Size; Performance Productivity; Japan; United Kingdom; United States

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10 Feb 2022
Research & Ideas

Why Are Prices So High Right Now—and Will They Ever Return to Normal?

Nov. 1, 2019 until May 1, 2021, which Cavallo notes was before supply chain issues intensified even further last summer in some areas, including the US, Canada, China, Japan, and sections of Europe. The... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

Program

Managing Turbulence

Summary Even before the global pandemic, businesses and their leaders struggled with the extraordinary challenges of technological change, rapidly evolving consumer tastes, and a reconfiguration of the View Details

02 May 2020
News

The Great Convergence: Mass Schooling and Skill Accumulation in Africa and Asia since 1870

Article

Private and Civil Society Governors of Mercury Pollution from Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining: A Network Analytic Approach

By: Kristin Sippl

Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is both a subsistence livelihood for millions of people and the leading source of mercury pollution globally. The United Nation’s 2013 Minamata Convention on Mercury aims to address this challenge, but such public regulatory... View Details

Keywords: Artisanal And Small-scale Mining (ASM); Private Governance; Gold; Mercury; Mining; Governance; Networks; Pollutants; Research

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November 2002 (Revised May 2006)
Case

Forest Stewardship Council

By: James E. Austin and Ezequiel Reficco

In just a few years the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) made impressive progress toward its mission of promoting "environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable management of the world's forests." By 2001, 25.5 million hectares of forests in... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Corporate Governance; Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Competitive Strategy