Publications

October 2012 (Revised May 2014)
Case

J Sainsbury Plc, Road to Recovery

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

In 2012, J Sainsbury Plc (Sainsbury's), the number three supermarket chain in the UK with £22.3 billion in sales, appeared to have put the troubles of the past behind it. For over 70 years, Sainsbury's had been the UK's largest grocer, but Tesco had overtaken it in... View Details

Keywords: United Kingdom; Retailing; Food; Tesco; Sainsbury; Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Global Strategy; Retail Industry; United Kingdom

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

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

Article

Toward Resource Independence—Why State-Owned Entities Become Multinationals: An Empirical Study of India's Public R&D Laboratories

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury and Tarun Khanna

In this paper, we build on the standard resource dependence theory and its departure suggested by Vernon to offer a novel explanation for why state-owned entities (SOEs) might seek a global footprint and global cash flows: to achieve resource independence from... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Resource Allocation; Supply Chain; State Ownership; Growth and Development Strategy; India

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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

12 Aug 2002
Op-Ed

Using Big Business to Fight Poverty

In recent months, world leaders—including President George W. Bush and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan—have proclaimed their determination to reduce global poverty. Such promises, however, have been made before, and past efforts to follow... View Details

Keywords: by George C. Lodge

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

Read Now

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

April 2014
Teaching Plan

Beidahuang

By: Ray A. Goldberg and David Lane

This teaching plan is designed to support the teaching of Beidahuang, HBS No. 914-412, rev. March 2014. Beidahuang is a major new Chinese player in global grain trading that in 2013 is seeking access to grain both to help assure China's food security and in pursuit of... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Sourcing; Beidahuang; S; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Supply Chain Management; Trade; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Brazil; China

14 Apr 2021
Research & Ideas

The High Cost of the Slow COVID Vaccine Rollout

officials took steps to speed vaccine development last year, the United States and other countries could have paid to build manufacturing infrastructure and shore up the supply chain needed to produce... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Health

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

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

26 Jun 2009
Research Event

Business Summit: Business and the Environment

Managing Partner, Generation Investment ManagementJames McCarthy, Harvard University faculty These experts shared their perspectives on global climate change. Professor McCarthy discussed scientific findings; Blood provided an investor's... View Details

Keywords: Re: Forest L. Reinhardt; Energy; Utilities

June 1994 (Revised October 1999)
Background Note

Beer Game, The: Board Version

By: Janice H. Hammond

The beer game is an exercise that demonstrates supply channel dynamics. Simulates the flow of material and information in a simplified channel of beer production and distribution, focusing on the linkages among a beer manufacturer, its distributors, a wholesaler, and a... View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Information; Distribution Channels; Production; Supply Chain Management; Problems and Challenges

March 2011
Article

The New Path to the C-Suite

By: Boris Groysberg, L. Kevin Kelly and Bryan MacDonald

Job requirements at the top of corporations have changed. Companies have come to expect much more from their C-level executives, who need new and different skills to deal with today's business realities. Exactly what abilities do firms want in their leaders—now and in... View Details

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Leadership; Management Skills; Personal Development and Career

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March 2016 (Revised June 2016)
Case

Gotong Royong: Toward Sustainable Palm Oil

By: Rebecca Henderson, Hann-Shuin Yew and Monica Baraldi

In late 2015, Jeff Seabright, chief sustainability officer at Unilever, had to report to Unilever CEO Paul Polman on the effort to transform palm oil cultivation. Historically, palm oil was produced using unsustainable methods that included burning large tracts of... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Environment; Industry Self-regulation; Corporate Image; Corporate Strategy; Indonesia; Malaysia