Publications

October 2009 (Revised January 2010)
Case

The Joslin Diabetes Center

By: Michael E. Porter, Elizabeth Olmsted Teisberg and Scott Wallace

The Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, Massachusetts is a leading center for diabetes care, clinician training, and research. The incidence of diabetes is rising precipitously worldwide, challenging quality of life with its complications and rapidly accelerating health... View Details

Keywords: Integration; Service Delivery; Medical Specialties; Health Care and Treatment; Outcome or Result; Corporate Finance; Health Industry; Boston

2009
Working Paper

Taking a 'Deep Dive': What Only a Top Leader Can Do

By: Howard H. Yu and Joseph L. Bower

Unlike most historical accounts of strategic change inside large firms, empirical research on strategic management rarely uses the day-to-day behaviors of top executives as the unit of analysis. By examining the resource allocation process closely, we introduce the... View Details

Keywords: Leading Change; Management Practices and Processes; Resource Allocation; Business Processes; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure

SSRN

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2006
Article

The Long-Term Value of M&A Activity to Enhance Learning Organizations

Viewing the automobile industry as being made up of independent learning-organisations may reveal some tie-ups that can generate value not easily revealed by traditional financial metrics. The key question to be answered when considering M&A activity between automakers... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Processes; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry

January 1994 (Revised August 1998)
Case

Hold or Fold?: The War of Attrition

Costly "wars of attrition" are common. Examples include: 1) the battle over the business of market-making in British government bonds that took place following the 1986 deregulation of the London financial markets, and 2) the battle that took place in the late 1980s... View Details

Keywords: Competition

August 1997
Case

Orbital Sciences Corporation: ORBCOMM

By: Das Narayandas and John A. Quelch

In late 1993, Orbital Communications Corp. (OCC), a subsidiary of Orbital Sciences Corp., is developing a global two-way wireless data communications system, called "ORBCOMM," based on a 26-satellite constellation in low earth orbit. Service is scheduled to begin in... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Business Model; Business Startups; Price; Global Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Demand and Consumers; Partners and Partnerships; Salesforce Management; Telecommunications Industry

11 Jul 2017
First Look

First Look at New Ideas and Research, July 11

systems to help people succeed in both the short and long run. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=52834 Harvard Business School Case 709-417 Betfair vs. UK Bookmakers Betting exchanges provide an... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

18 Jul 2019
News

Lessons from the Rise and Fall of VisiCalc

VisiCalc is long gone—but the tech industry has embraced lessons learned by its experience that continue to shape strategy and decision-making of engineers and executives alike. Among those lessons: First, new empires take shape at the dawn of a new platform. In the... View Details

29 Jun 2010
First Look

First Look: June 29

fragile, even without leverage, precisely because the volume of new claims is excessive. Purchase the paper from SSRN ($5): http://papers.nber.org/papers/W16068 Cases & Course MaterialsVirginia Mason Medical Center (Abridged)... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

01 Sep 2023
News

End Game

Illustration by James Steinberg In the 1960s and 1970s, as the environmental movement dawned in the United States, a new generation of activist-minded entrepreneurs appeared. Among them were companies like Body Shop, Aveda, Tom’s of Maine, and Whole Foods—all founded... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; Miscellaneous Store Retailers; Retail Trade

30 Mar 2010
First Look

First Look: March 30

in formulating environmental regulations in three areas: automotive emissions for health related (criteria) pollutants, packaging waste, and global climate change. Automotive emissions are relatively centralised in both political systems. In the View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

11 Apr 2023
Blog Post

BTG Bioliquids: Creating Fast Pyrolysis Bio-Oil from Biomass Residue Streams

can be blended up to 10% without the need to retrofit or replace the existing assets. BTG Bioliquids first fast pyrolysis facility, Empyro, was financed by the EU and Dutch development funds and some private investors. Its business case... View Details

22 May 2017
Lessons from the Classroom

A Luxury Industry Veteran Teaches the Importance of Aesthetics to Budding Business Leaders

Brown teaches a case about Disney in her MBA elective course, The Business of Aesthetics (Photo courtesy of Pauline Brown) Brown has honed that ability to the point of poetic brevity. Asked recently what’s so great about Hermès silk... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Beauty & Cosmetics; Apparel & Accessories; Auto; Tourism

29 Jan 2008
First Look

First Look: January 29, 2008

unobserved heterogeneity bias. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/08-051.pdf Cases & Course MaterialsTata Motors: The Tata Ace Harvard Business School Case 108-011 Considers the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

14 Jan 2014
First Look

First Look: January 14

Education Leveraging Crowdsourced Peer-to-Peer Assessments to Enhance the Case Method of Learning By: Avery, Jill Abstract—Many marketing educators use the case method to help their students strengthen their... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

05 Sep 2012
First Look

First Look: September 5

http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/12-064.pdf Cases & Course MaterialsPerformance Management at Vitality Health Enterprises, Inc. John B. Bingham and Michael BeerHarvard Business School Case 913-501... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

16 Jan 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, January 16, 2018

January–February 2018 Harvard Business Review More Than a Paycheck: How to Create Good Blue-Collar Jobs in the Knowledge Economy By: Campbell, Dennis, John Case, and Bill Fotsch Abstract—Fifty years ago a good blue-collar job was with a large manufacturer such as... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Research Summary

Building Career Foundations

Building Career Foundations is a multi-dimensional longitudinal project that focuses on the career development of MBAs from HBS, the Class of 1996. Employing a relational approach to career development, Higgins... View Details

June 2025
Supplement

The Miccosukee Tribe and the Battle to Save the Everglades (B): The Art of Coalition Building

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jacob A. Small

Supplement to the (A) case, 324-002 Curtis Osceola, Chief of Staff to the Chairman of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, exercised leadership to mobilize allies, deal with opposition, and forge internal and external multi-sector coalitions to help preserve the... View Details

Keywords: Communication Strategy; Environmental Sustainability; Leadership; Projects; Alliances; Natural Environment; Power and Influence; Florida; Everglades National Park